Intimate Architecture
Really excited to bring you all this month’s collaboration: a mixtape with my colleague and good friend Tony Bader. Tony’s an incredibly talented patternmaker and designer who just recently launched his brand Rorke Bader. Please, I beg you, check it out. His designs are beautiful and so meticulously considered. They evoke optimistic futurism while invoking the classic foundations of historical menswear. The pieces remind me at times of brutalist architecture, both in their perfect geometry and their earthen materials that will become more beautiful with age. It feels like it could easily be discordant, but everything about his brand plays so harmoniously together. I’m, to say the least, a huge fan.
You can expect that same level of aesthetic consideration with this mixtape. I’ll let Tony explain more below.
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That Part of Wonder That Was Mine
Created in collaboration with Tony Bader for future nostalgia drift.
A few words from Tony:
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I wanted to use this mixtape as an opportunity to make a sort of audio moodboard for Rorke Bader. I strive to create clothing that is comforting and enabling, that allows you to be who you want to be and do what you want to do, and to be comfortable doing it, physically and socially. The tracks here are reflective, wistful, frustrated, lonely, and dreamy. They capture the feeling of fictional versions of some of the places that I see when I close my eyes: London 1954, Seoul 2052, Tehran 1967, Paris 2002, New York 1977, Istanbul 2089.
Brady also allowed me to introduce a new format to the newsletter for this mixtape: MiniDisc.
I’ve always been a bit nostalgic, I’ve just never been sure when that nostalgia has been for. I find a bit of beauty and poetry in the relics of failed techno-optimism of the nineties and early two thousands. It was a time when technology wasn’t synonymous with political disinformation, climate crisis, rampant income inequality, and teen social epidemics, but was instead sleek, exciting, utopian, and promised to bring the world to your fingertips. MiniDiscs bring me back to this time and the future that they promised like few other objects can.
Hopefully this mixtape will transport you to somewhere that you want to be.
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Love you all. Hope you enjoy!
Join Me: Rett Madison @ Mercury Lounge / Wednesday, Nov. 8, 9 PM
Good friend of Made You a Mixtape Jess Ruby texted me to see if I wanted to check out Rett Madison when they came to town. I haven’t done a deep dive into their discography, but I truly obsess over this remix of “Pin Up Daddy” (featured quite belovedly on prior mixtape more). I’ve also been reminded of how soul-filling live music can be, so, yes, I do want to check out Rett Madison when they come to town.
Join us!
RIYL: boygenius, Angel Olsen, Chappell Roan
Check out Rett Madison’s “Fortune Teller”.
Some Other Things That Tony Loves
(that you might love too!)
Stretching - A friend once told me that the only advice his grandfather ever gave him was “stretch your body.” As the years accumulate and grow shorter and the joints start to crack, taking a moment to step inside your body and embrace and nurture your mobility can be a welcome respite.
Hackers - I honestly feel like this movie changed my life in 1995. Capturing a subculture that I’m not sure ever really existed, this movie has only gotten better with time. Touching on climate change, gender fluidity, corporate hegemony, and concepts of personal identity, it feels more relevant than ever. Matthew Lillard’s performance is truly sublime.
Dogs - You ever seen dogs? They’re great.
Logitech MX Master 3s - If, like me, you spend most of your time with your hand on a mouse, make sure it’s a good one.
CLO 3D and Grafis - If you have any interest in sewing or making clothes, CLO 3D can change your life. I’ve been sewing and making patterns for almost twenty years, and CLO has completely upended my workflow and made me dramatically more efficient and effective.