{"product_id":"mixtape-1","title":"The Italic Mixtape, Vol. 1","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Italic Mixtape, Vol. 1\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith music by Philipp Johann Thimm, Jens-Uwe Beyer, Conrad Oleak, Lisa Marie Vogel, Johanna Wundling, Tabea Haarmann-Thiemann, Luisa Babarro Fernández, Nikolai Szymanski, Stefan Schwander, Lothar Hempel, Julian Knoth, Sebastian Genzink, Alan Abrahams, Jan Philipp Janzen, Christopher Marquez, Phillip Thielsch, Sebastian Blume, Ella Zwietnig and Florian Zwietnig.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCome to your senses, take a moment to calm down, look back on what has been achieved, take stock, and look ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Italic Mixtape Vol. 1, catalog number 145, compiles ten tracks from the label, with a focus on the 2020s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eItalic, founded in Cologne in 1999 (whoever wants to can also set the beginning in 1995 and Düsseldorf, with the fluid transition from Stewardess to Italic), has always considered itself a representative of a certain, let's call it Rhenish, form of understatement: an unexcited musicality, at least as a claim, which nevertheless contains a lot of musical excitement. And Marc Knauer, label operator and also the man at the mixing desk here, quickly found artists far beyond the Rhineland.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Italic Mixtape Vol. 1 does not claim to be a representative overview of the label, which with twice 21 minutes for 144 releases is also a rather futile endeavor. Rather, it draws our attention to one of the threads – and Volume 1 indicates that more will follow – that has run through the catalog from the beginning. A thread that we may have paid less attention to so far, which deserves that we pay it more attention. Let's call it space music. Music that creates a space where people can come together, where things can be done, which also includes listening to exactly this music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe common thread is pop, but to engage in a bit of genre-hopping, it ranges from hints of drone (Jens-Uwe Beyer), kraut (Lothar Hempel) or 70s ambient (Philipp Johann Thimm), via electronica (Nikolai Szymanski), distorted pop (Stefan Schwander), leftfield pop (Von Spar, Zwietnig) or adult R\u0026amp;B (Alan Abrahams) to something like contemporary chamber music (Berlin Strings, \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eConrad Oleak, Julian Knoth, \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eSebastian Genzink).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe art of the mixtape is the narrative that it unfolds. Beatmatching and smooth transitions are done by the software alone. The Italic Mixtape Vol. 1 creates images, moving images, perhaps a film. And if the common thread is pop, that naturally means that drone is not about threat and distortion is not about disturbance. That the gathered music, even where it drifts out into the open, gently opens new spaces for us, makes us attentive. Moments of surprise: a sensual voice, a guitar melody, strings in an astonishing scale. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Italic Mixtape Vol. 1 is pleasant, a mixtape after all, a gift, a promise, to listen to and listen to again, because we want to listen to it again and upon listening again discover details that make us turn the cassette over once more. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd – just as an aside – also make us curious about the entire Italic catalog.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Italic Recordings","offers":[{"title":"Cassette Tape + MP3 Download","offer_id":53401861521674,"sku":"ITA145CA","price":14.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":53401861554442,"sku":"ITA145DA","price":9.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":53401861587210,"sku":"ITA145WV","price":13.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0566\/9106\/5001\/files\/the-italic-mixtape-1-cassete-italic-recordings.jpg?v=1789052998","url":"https:\/\/www.italic.de\/en\/products\/mixtape-1","provider":"ITALIC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}