i want to eat the music
It’s Sunday. On Sundays, I like to sit down at my kitchen table and put on a record, so what better opportunity to write a bit about physical music media and why I love it.
This morning, while reading & eating & writing (amongst other lofty weekend leisure activities), I pulled out I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One by Yo La Tengo (1996), No Secrets by Carly Simon (1972), and a little bit of Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (2005). These are three albums I rarely find myself moving to play on streaming, so it’s like a little treat to see them on my shelf, ready to be savoured and enjoyed.
At times I get a bit hung up on this vinyl record collecting habit I have. It can be a pretty pricey hobby, especially if I’m trying to find special editions of my most favourite albums. I don’t listen to vinyl every day, so I sometimes think that it’s a bit of a waste of money to have my modest collection of LPs just sitting on a shelf. Every now and then though, on the right type of Sunday, I am reminded just why I keep these records around, and why I’ll never stop collecting them.
Vinyl records are an exercise in meditation
It is a very special thing to hold music in your hands, and it reminds me of how music is worthy of attention and contemplation (I often forget this, in our streaming era created for maximum rapid consumption of music). Going through the motions of truly listening to a record is a great way to calm down and focus on one singular thing in a meditative way. First, you have to be intentional about the record you’ve picked. Then you have to slide it out of the sleeve, appreciating the art on the LP jacket and any other inserts. Then you have to brush the dust off of it, set it down and get the needle going. And then - you can close your eyes and have the music flow over you. A glorious way to appreciate the tunes to their fullest. I’ve always felt like my ears hear in higher definition compared to when I listen to music digitally. The nice thing too is that time never gets too far away from you. You've got to get up and flip the record.
Vinyl records are forever (mostly)
I love music streaming as much as the next person but the way we listen to music has radically changed even just in my short life span. I remember listening to CDs in the car, downloading early tunes from LimeWire, and popping cassettes into stereos. Youtube became a cool way to find music after a few years, and it was easy to find mp3 files to put straight onto an iPod. Later came streaming services. I think I would be a fool to think that streaming will last forever. Obviously, ways to listen to music fall in and out of fashion, but I like to think that even if some evil corporate music CEO wants to scrub the internet of an artist’s music, at least I’ll always have a physical copy of it to listen to at home. Records get overplayed, and scratched, and they DO fade, but I am grateful I don’t have to worry about waking up just to find an album I dearly love erased from the internet. It’s also future proof, even if there’s a cool new way to listen to music in the future, I don’t have to take over the tedious task of migrating my thousands of playlists and saved tracks to some other type of technology. I can just put a record on.
Vinyl records support artists
I love that the money I spend on records goes to an artist themselves. I don’t want to pay them a thousandth of a cent every time I listen to a song. I want to pay to see them in concert (the dream). And then I want to pay to hold their songs in my hands and to display them on my shelf. I love supporting artists. I love that so many of them love records too, and thus make really cool limited edition ones.
Vinyl records are an adventure in and of themselves
Record hunting is a good excuse to go to weird places and meet strange and interesting people. I love having a good chat with a store owner who has good recommendations and good stories. Hitting up a record store is also a great way to figure out the local culture while traveling. I’ve learned a lot about cities and neighbourhoods by their record stores, from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Budapest, to Mexico City. There’s also something so lovely about seeing music that has spread from country to country. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, there will always be a Beatles album poking out from the used records section.
Vinyl records feel like home
I love to create an atmosphere. I like to be at home and put on an album and feel cozy and warm inside. I like to dim the lights and light a candle and listen to dark ambient tunes. I like to put on a folky album and cook breakfast. No matter where I go, when I feel the warm sounds of a needle on vinyl, I immediately feel like I’m at home. Which to me of course is more-so a state of mind, rather than a physical place.
Favourite records in my collection
Interstate 8 - Modest Mouse (1996)
Modest Mouse is one of my favourite bands and I love the fact that I own this little EP they put out just after their debut album. The audio quality is part of the charm for me, it sounds a bit like a bunch of young dudes making an album in a garage. Which of course, is exactly what this is. “Edit the Sad Parts” & “Interstate 8” are two of my favourite songs that have ever been written. I often joke about how music can sound so good to me it’s like I want to eat it. I’m glad that having a physical record can bring me one step closer to the experience of physically intertwining with sound.
Purchased in Nova Scotia, from a store where the owner is also a big Modest Mouse fan and managed to special order this for me :)
Mala - Devendra Banhart (2013)
This is my favourite album for just hanging out and doing literally anything. Great background music but also sonically interesting enough to sit and listen to it attentively. I had a hell of a time trying to find this, mainly because I think (?) it was only pressed to vinyl once back in 2013. I couldn’t find it ANYWHERE until I was scrambling through a store and saw a copy of this hidden behind another crate of records and completely covered in dust. Great feeling to see my many hours of searching pay off.
Purchased in Mexico City at La Roma Records
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads (1984)
Yes I know not every band can be my favourite band but THIS for real is my favourite band. This is the best live album that has ever been created and will ever be created. This is sacred to me. They re-pressed this record during the re-release of the concert film that they did a few years ago and I managed to snag a copy with the very cool liner notes and booklet insert. I’ve listened to this more than 500 times easily and I could never ever get tired of it.
Received as a gift <3
Top of my wishlist
Long Season - Fishmans (1996)
This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. Fishmans has kind of a big cult status among many music heads, so this record goes at pretty high prices at auctions in Japan. To my knowledge, it was only ever pressed once, so good copies of it are rare and can sell for upwards of $500. I hope that one day it will be re-pressed! Or maybe a miracle will happen, and I will stumble on it in some little record store in the middle of nowhere. It’s nice to even believe that could be a possibility.
Love in Us All - Pharoah Sanders (1974)
My morning album. It’s good to wake up to Jazz everyday. I simply want to be able to hold this album in my hands, is it too much to ask for?
And so from my big table, I am thinking about listening to records and enjoying them in company. Maybe you can tell me about your favourite records?
As always, I am wishing you the peace that can come from consuming beautiful sounds. Happy Sunday.
Love and hugs,
sam
Special thanks: To Grandpa, who left behind many well-loved and worn records and inspired me to collect my own.
And a mention to: princss.online, whose website has a wonderful music page! And triggered my inspiration for this post 🙂
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