Vintage Phases

 

When I think about AI now in comparison to music technologies in the mid and late 80s, I see it as being provisional and experimental, and interesting in that way. When I got my first cassette 4-track in 1988 it was basically a way to experiment with ideas. In 2024 I think AI tools are still in that phase. People who are using them now are how I used them in the late 80s with my new 4-track, the equivalent of things like turning the tape over, using different tape speeds, recording found objects and sounds. It was all about experimentation, yet in the flow of other more "serious" things, or where the experiments turned into something traditionally usable. It's the tinkerers that define the edges of the technology because they're not constrained by the built-in limitations, and are more likely to make cool discoveries.

It's interesting that there's now a renewed interest in cassettes, perhaps because we like certain aspects of the technology, such as the ability to turn it over and see what's there, or to explore one of the extremes that weren't supposed to be usable but are interesting. New technology typically throws out the baby with the bathwater, so it's nice that someone wants to rescue it. I always thought bass sounded better on tape, but certainly classical music didn't, so you don't want to use it where tape hiss is unwanted. CDs had a brittleness when you didn't want it. The revival of cassettes perhaps indicates we don't like new mediums, or are less fun in some way.  People still like making paper Zines because there's a coolness to them. I'm reminded of what Malcolm McLaren said when CDs first came out. He thought they were "nasty things". If you look at technology from the perspective of fashion, all the new mainstream stuff won't be what's cool. Cool is usually things that are about 20-40 years old and enter the "vintage" phase.