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Hey, Bob... June 16, 2015 04:16
I gotta piss
Your bones don't break, mine do. That's clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don't get sick, I do. That's also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the exact same way to water. We swallow it too fast, we choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We're on the same curve, just on opposite ends.I can do that
Your bones don't break, mine do. That's clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don't get sick, I do. That's also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the exact same way to water. We swallow it too fast, we choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We're on the same curve, just on opposite ends.Why Vinyl Will Never Die! June 16, 2015 04:10
“Indefinite hiatus.” Count how many times you’ve read that in the last five or six years. Now surely music industry speak for: “Going-away-until-a-stadium-sized-number-of-people-miss-us-enough-to-buy-tickets,” comebacks are a dime-a-dozen, and as predictable as the Swiss Rail Service. However, if there’s one resurgence you’d not have predicted (or even bothered to consider, given the fate of the CD seems all but sealed), it’s the comeback of the humble vinyl record.
Fact: vinyl sounds better. It’s uncompressed, and it sounds closer to what your favourite band heard through the mixing room speakers than any CD or MP3 ever will – In fact, I dare you to go out and buy your favourite band’s album on vinyl and give it a spin. If you don’t fall in love with that album all over again in all it’s heavier, more-detailed glory, bring the vinyl version to the Kerrang! office, and I’ll reimburse you*.
*This is a lie, but you get the point.
Fact: vinyl looks better. Which isn’t hard, really… When was the last time you stood back and admired an album’s art through a scratched plastic CD case, or on your phone? Me either. We live in a time where our entire music collection floats about in cyberspace, existing briefly on a thumb-sized gadget that never leaves our pockets. In rare cases that someone should actually want to own and fully appreciate an album, they should look no further than buying it on LP. It looks fantastic. And that’s before you realise that vinyl records largely aren’t the boring, shiny, black discs that gathered dust in your parents’ attic anymore. More often than not, they’re marbled or splattered in colours that match the glorious large-format artwork that appears on the cardboard sleeve.
Vinyl’s resurgence in popularity has become impossible to ignore; heavy hitters like Green Dayhave once again planned a vinyl release for 2014’s Record Store Day – a global event supporting independent record stores. This time, their release – titled Demolicious – is in the form of an LP full of new and unreleased demos.
While vinyl’s popularity in the mainstream gradually returns, elsewhere it’s as strong as it’s ever been. For many independent labels, vinyl is their bread and butter. It’s not unheard of for vinyl releases to bring websites to their knees as enthusiastic collectors perform a virtual trolly-dash for the most limited pressings and colour variants. Of course, they’ll more often than not get a free MP3 version of the album thrown in with their coveted purchase, which, in many ways, paints a rather depressing picture of what the emergence of said MP3 format has done.
Those unfortunate enough not to bag a limited edition copy straight away will have to begrudgingly part with far more cash on eBay, or via one of the internet’s many forum-based vinyl-swap meets, to get their hands on one of the hundred-or-so copies of a particular variant. Just to paint a picture, and without going into too much detail, I was told last year by a friend who who went into a local record shop that he saw a (framed) vinyl copy of an album (Axe To Fall) by a band I love (Converge) in it’s rarest form (clear with coloured shards – only 100 made), with an attached price tag of £200. When that album came out, I paid $15 for the exact same thing.
So, while the vinyl record will never, ever, in anyone’s wildest dreams, lay a hand on digital music (or whatever format puts that out of it’s misery in 20 years time), it’s thrilling to know that more and more people are still appreciating the joys that an actual, physical, shelf-full of albums can still provide. In three weeks, when Record Store Day rolls around, go out and buy something. Keep it. And maybe, occasionally, buy another one to put beside it. See where you are in five years, because I guarantee, at some point between now and then, the computer you’re reading this on will break.