I’m listening to Miss Moonlight from Austin, Texas because she just friended me on MySpace. Really haunting, ethereal music - perfect stuff for a cloudy cool fall day.
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yvynyl ('why-vinyl') is a music and art tumblr blog.
the evolution of social music, experimental art and the power of instant self-publishing fascinate me.
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Just listened to a bunch of tunes from Speck Mountain on the recommendation of Sharon van Etten. Beautiful, quiet music with just a hint of darkness. Lovely.
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This is one of the most eye-catching album covers of all time. And you can find your own copy in any thrift store in the United States *right now*. Not sure what that means when records turn up over and over and over again in the bargain bins of the world. Did they sell a ton of ‘em back in the day and the extras trickled into the thriftstream? Or did everyone just dump their copy all at once?
My Exotica collection is growing fast. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy.
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Hipsters of the Universe — Artist Reinterprets He-Man Characters as Cool Kids
The eight-year-old in me just LOL’d.
(via whatevernevermind)
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Collecting records
I stopped at Bleeker Street Records yesterday and made a long overdue acquisition. I picked up a vinyl copy of one of my favorite albums of 2008 that has stayed in heavy rotation throughout 2009. It got me thinking about my approach to buying records.
I don’t keep a huge book collection and I’ve been sparing in my record purchases for the same reason. Books and LPs take up a huge amount of space and weigh a ton — not great possession characteristics for an apartment dweller who moves around a lot. I love to buy and own both, though, so I’m frequently tempted to grab something I hear is good or pick up a classic I think (in the moment) everyone should own. But I’ve amassed more records than I want to store that I don’t really love to listen to.
Yesterday’s score made me consider a new strategy for curating my perfect record collection. The records I most enjoy owning and playing are like the album I bought yesterday — they were top favorites when they were released and they stuck with me long after the initial buzz.
So here’s my new approach: I’m going to look back through all my recent best of the year lists and pick out the albums I still listen to over and over. Then I’m going to get rid of the stuff that doesn’t absolutely thrill me. I still need to think on how to pick the older stuff I most love, but this is a good start.
I kinda look at it like I look at my clothes. Every season, I go in there and root around to find what I’m not wearing anymore and recycle back into thrift stores. Or better, to find old gems that still have a little life in them, forgotten at the bottom of the drawer.
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Celebration - Shelter
A new video for a new song from the beautiful Baltimore crew. <3!
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Listened to Headdress’ album Turquoise all afternoon as the sunshine got enveloped into a dark thunderstorm. It was the perfect soundtrack.
(via BUTTER x FACE)
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Sharing Music (Slight Return)
Just to clarify, I’m not saying that the social behaviour I talked about has vanished, just that it’s no longer a necessary part of the ‘contract’ between sharers.
A lot of social activity online encourages that kind of conversational behaviour - and widens it in ways I would have thought were absolutely amazing when I was 15 and looking desperately for people who’d even heard of the House Of Love (say).
There is now more conversation happening around music than ever before. Which is mostly such a great thing.
I just think the language around “sharing music” is kind of flawed, because it implies (to me) a sociality that isn’t there. Because there’s even more of the next level down of the pyramid, which is simply acquiring music, with no kind of reciprocity implied to artist or sharer.
I’m not, incidentally, trying to say that kind of activity is bad - just getting a clearer picture of the ecosystem we’ve got now.
But there is still conversation and community around sharing music. See: Last.fm, or heck, Tumblr! I’m not sure what you mean when you say that there isn’t sociality there. I still go to shows - I still go to record shops - I still make mixtapes for friends - my feeling is we haven’t lost anything as fans. Only gains.
Reciprocity still happens. I mean, if I emailed you a song (as opposed to lended you my precious vinyl), I would still expect you to email me back and say “bro! sweet track, thanks! I just friended the band on MySpace and am going to see them play a club near my house next week!” Right?
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