Happy Record Store Day!

inthefade:

Today is Record Store Day. To mark this occasion, I will visit a record store or two later today, and I will also repost this piece [updated] I wrote for True/Slant.

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I’ve never met a CD that made me fall in love with it like a record. I’ll still love the music, but the CD is just a container for that music, where a record is part of the entire music experience.

I’ve said it before I think, but the thing is that a vinyl requires attention. The interaction of flipping sides and looking very closely to find a particular song. Unlike a CD or mp3, you can’t push a next button. (Even though there are electric turntables that can lift the needle and move the arm up or down the grooves at the flick of a button. Tommy borrowed mine when I got a new one, I hope you use it!) It’s not a medium for casual listening.

The audiophile medium is probably something like flac, there are too many imperfections in vinyl. It is however the format for people who love music, I have no doubt about that — because of as you say the pops and hisses and personalities each copy develops. In a way, they’re alive.

I like Record Store Day more in theory. Walking around, leafing through stacks of records without any strategy in hopes of finding something you want. Not much can beat that. And then there’s the focus on vinyl and I love vinyl albums. The focus and rituals, the way you need to pay attention and interact to change side.

I do not like the whole limited edition spectacle though. make special editions only for record stores, fine, but please, the whole 500 copies on vinyl is pointless, stupid, and quite against the whole idea of getting people back into the stores and into vinyl or whatever. It does nothing but feeding hype and stupidity. (There’s no need for more of that, charging $75 for a simple 2LP is stupid enough. Yes Young Neil, I’m looking at you.) Music no one can hear isn’t worth shit.