Squabble is Dead (Long Live Squabble)

In the five years since I started the international mixtape exchange known as Squabble, 186 tapes have been assigned between a couple dozen Squabblers, with 63% of them (117) having been ripped to mp3 for sharing within the club. To celebrate the last assigned tape due December 31st of 2023, I put together a collage of buddy icons representing each digitized mix. (I also went to town on the collection’s ID3 tags, so these 300x300px icons will show up on supporting audio players.)

It’s been a great experience watching the club form, storm, norm and perform; I’m especially grateful for the deliberate, conceptual approaches and original audio creations brought to some of these editions. Those crucial variations on theme make Squabble less like a collection of playlists, and more like Forrest Gump’s mama’s box of chocolates.

In retrospect, Squabble grew a bit like a weed, because I had no clean-cut outline or defined business goal going into it. I never asked anything of anyone apart from sending five cassettes to five other people every 73 days throughout a given year. (73 * 5 = 365) – I wanted to let everyone get their fingerprints on the final product as they defined what it became. I only used my novice skills in audio production, HTML coding, and administrative support around assignments/logistics to bring everyone together to trade these mixtapes.

I’m going to unofficially maintain Squabble going forward in a LIFO distribution method (“Last-in, First-out) as everyone previously involved will be invited to send me a tape at their leisure. When they do, I’ll serialize and digitize it myself, before mailing that artifact back out to the next participant who submits a tape. This feels like a very low-friction way for us all to move on from Squabble without letting go.

A very special thanks to all my Squabblers, my trusty Squabbies, all the Squabbldidons and Squabbledidoñas the world over, the collective Squabblentsia – Could not have put this together without you all!!!! This would not have sounded so good without you all!!

On to the next venture,

Leon