For The Love Of Vinyl
Posted on April 17, 2021
Hello friends of Spare Closet Records, and thank you for taking the time to listen to this whisper, placed gently on the breeze. Perhaps we will shout about it together some day soon! I have a friend, Chelsea, who came to me during a shift we worked together one day to tell me about some albums she owned, vinyl copies to be specific, and to express disappointment in her inability to listen to those copies specifically. I excitedly informed her that we could listen to them that very evening because I own turntables, and I can connect them to my studio monitoring system for some incredibly high quality playback of her records. She, with equal enthusiasm, confirmed that she would bring them to my home and studio, so we could enjoy them together.
Anyone who knows me well can verify the lifestyle I lead. Save the expected times when one tires and requires a recharge, I live energetically, and I remain in motion working on projects of creative and practical purposes which occupy the majority of any time I have when not consumed with earning needed income, writing or rehearsing music, practicing instrumental technique, or assisting friends with personal needs that may require my knowledge, abilities, or expertise. I describe this at length to preface the joy and excitement a pause in such perpetual motion can provide. All those items considered, I couldn’t, at the time this appointment between my friend and I occurred, recall any moment I had spent since I was younger than twenty five years old when the only activity was to sit and enjoy the music contained from start to finish in a recorded work of musical art.
Other than to drink tea and make occasional commentary regarding the music and what memories arose while listening, we had no additional plans, and the thought occurred to me as I realized the quality of enjoyment in simply sitting, sipping a warm beverage, and letting the record spin – I have uncovered one of the intangible items missing from my life! I believe in the beauty and value of music and art. I love to hold albums in my hand, flip through the pages of included booklets, read lyrics, and discuss what I’ve just heard whether critically, analytically, spiritually, and temporally. Such experiences can be found only between their skillfully rendered covers.
I can’t say I don’t like to access music easily prior to making a purchase, and I absolutely love the ability to choose which songs I buy in the case that I may not enjoy certain songs included in such a collective work. I love that we act as program directors in our musical experience and thus eliminate the need for that radio middleman, but our support for the artists we love needs to go just a little deeper. We as lovers and consumers of music and art have lost a little something in the hurricane of file sharing and snap finger results. Endless streams of instant gratification whittle away at our collective attention span. I haven’t lost sight of the thrill of ownership of a copy of a musical work, and my time spent listening with Chelsea certainly helped to awaken an additional bit of awareness I didn’t know I had lost until we dropped the needle on the groove.
I write all this to invite you to spin and chill with us as we here at Spare Closet Records hope to tend the dying fire of such enjoyment so it may rage and roar again and warm the depths of musical hearts that a love may glow again for the album, in whatever form it may take, so we may share such adventures together! Stay tuned for more news as we host more vinyl listening parties and share joy we encounter as the record turns…