When I return to my desk after lunch following my daily vinyl trawl, I'm always asked by workmates why I'm buying vinyl. Isn't it a dead format? Well for me it's not. It's always been a part of my life since I was a kid. I remember getting my first piece of vinyl when I was about six. Someone gave me a present of a nursery rhyme called 'Ten Little Indians' on 7". Fortunately things picked up after that and being lucky enough to have older siblings there was no shortage of new music in the house. I can also clearly remember spending my confirmation money on vinyl in Crumlin Shopping Centre when i went to visit my Aunt May. Some of the gems I picked up that day included something by Dan Hartman and something else by Five Star. I'm not going to embarass myself by revealing the names of the tunes, I've done that with the band names. In my teens it was de rigeur to bunk off school on a Friday to go shopping in Comet Records and then go to the free lunchtime gigs in the JCR in Trinity College. There were a number of schoolmates who'd slag us off about our record bags from Comet and Freebird and our peculiar choices of sock colour. Those were innocent times. One regretful instant occured in my late teens when I sold off loads of vinyl to provide for my social habits. Secondhand record stores highlight the crueller aspects of depreciation but moreso when you're selling them the records that you've saved hard to buy. These days I spend a lot of money replacing the very records that I sold. Anyway this is a circumlocutory way of saying that vinyl is alive and well. Hooray. May I present my case:
The Don Rosco made it his business to inform me about Trensmat Records. They're an Irish label who specialise in transmitting drone, noise, oscillations & grooves according to their blurb. All of their releases are on limited edition picture sleeve 7" vinyl. I love them already. I love them so much I've signed up and I can't wait to get their next two releases which are due out in March. One release is by Astral Social Club and the other is by The Shining Path. Most peculiarly, Trensmat are based in Trim, Co.Meath, home of a nice castle. I don't think they're based in the castle though.
I also heard about the new selection of seven inches due for release by All City Records. They have a forthcoming 'Beatstrumental' series that will feature seven different producers releasing a seven-inch record each over the same amount of months. More here.
Whilst I'm on the subject of All City Records, I was in there yesterday and I picked up another of the Numero compilations. I haven't heard a bad one yet. This one is a gospel themed one and its called Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. Its number ten in the series and was released a good while back but there are restocks in All City. Get a copy while they're hot. I also picked up the new seven from the producer Diplo and its called 'Bandida'. Once again it's apparently a limited edition of 500 copies but I just can't believe that. It doesn't really matter about its collectability because its a good tune. He's been making some great rhythms over the last couple of years. Rock on Diplo.
And finally, I picked up a new picture disc seven inch by Goldfrapp for the tune 'A&E'. i haven't bothered listening to the a-side because I've been quite taken all evening with the remix on the b-side. It's an instrumental remix by Maps and its just great.
Vinyl is dead. Long live vinyl!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
the groundswell continues
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7 comments:
That Gospel comp is straight outta heaven man, it'd nearly make you feel guilty..
I'm hoping that in the next city I move to I'll have enough space in my flat to unpack my record player and start working on my vinyl collection again.
The Vinyl Frontier eh, love all those puns in cool record shop names although the Vinyl Solution may have been a tad risque. Anyway, well done and I'm sure you saw your name in lights for the blog awards. Vinylly you are famous.
ND - I've only listened to one of the discs and what I heard in All City. It's the biz.
Red - I've been keeping all my turntables in a room in the house but it's suddenly become the nursery for the new baby (due this week). Now I've nowhere to put them all.
Kev - I'm a bit of a reluctant nominee to be honest. That's why I haven't mentioned it at all (unless you count this.)I did have a good laugh about the original nomination for best technology blog.
Yeah, same here. Doesn't feel like much of an achievement anyroad considering the fact that a couple of thousand blogs that have been shortlisted.
Lovely post matt :) Sadly my record player got stolen about 18 months ago when my house got broken into. I'm now living in a tiny room with most of my stuff in the attaic so I don't have room for one, I still buy vinyl regularly enough though, for when I find a bigger place in a year or two. There simply aren't enough places selling it now, so if I see something I like I feel I have to get it because I may not see it again! Even if it means it has to be moved, post-purchase, up to the attic with it's other friends. Do you ever buy stuff online or is it just Tower / Road?
There is a finite number of shops around town to buy vinyl in. They are:
Road Records - Alternative, Reggae, Indie & some good second hand albums from time to time.
Tower & HMV - These guys stock much more mainstream rock & indie stuff on 7".
All City Records - Lots of soul, reggae, funk and rare gems.
Big Brother - More soul, funk and othet stuff.
Freebird Records - good for the odd punk or rock 7" in their shop on Exchequer St. I never go into the one in Temple Bar.
Oxfam(s) & other charity shops on Wexford St & Capel St.
Spindizzy - These guys get great 7"s and albums both secondhand and new.
Macs (Georges St Arcade) - Loads of stuff to trawl through but you'll get dirty fingers.
Borderline Records - Good for ska, reggae, punk and freaky imports.
If I'm online I'll generally order new stuff from Boomkat and look for secondhand stuff from Total Recall.
My secrets are out. I wish you well in your quest.
Shit, I just remembered City Discs in Temple Bar. They're pretty good too.
All the other secondhand shops.
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