“When I was younger, life was all about the compact disc. I used to live for alternative rock and plenty of top 40, but that was between my full-length mirror, my hairbrush microphone, and me of course. I would listen to the radio or check my dial-up to find out what fresh releases were going to be at Sam Goody.”
“I’m embarrassed to admit that my first real experience with vinyl was in the early 2000s. At that time, I was extremely concerned with doing the good “indie girl thing,” which included having a decent amount of vinyl in my bedroom. So my boyfriend at the time took me to a great record store in Denver called Twist and Shout.
I had been there before for small rock shows. They would clear all the vinyl out almost entirely to convert it to a venue. This was my first time seeing it all dusty and cluttered just so; and certainly my first time really leafing through records. I immediately fell in love with this leafing. I’m not sure if it was for the size of the art on the packaging, recognizing so many old songs, or just having so many different pieces of time between my fingers.
We bought a copy of Death Cab for Cutie’ s Photo Album of all things, and some ’80s record for the ironic cover art. I returned home smiling at my humble beginnings as some sort of record princess amongst my cool friends.
My mom quickly made me feel slightly less cool when I told her about my vinyl adventures. She informed me that if I was interested in vinyl I could move some of her records. I had no clue what she was talking about until she opened this door underneath the stairs to reveal boxes on boxes of vinyl that I never really knew I shared a living space with. She had everything, from Dianna Ross’ self-titled LP, to The Temptations’ Cloud 9, and even some Fleetwood Mac.
I knew enough about the turntable to put some of these records on. I’d heard vinyl played before, but it’s different when you pay close attention. Perhaps it’s not an apples to apples comparison. Maybe it’s more to do with the perception of sound quality. Still, I remember feeling vinyl’s sound being wide and uncompressed—you can almost breathe it in. As a music lover and creator there’s really nothing better.
Of course, to boost my trendy girl status I immediately took claim to all of my mother’s vinyl, but I was also really happy to have access to this quality of recording in a world of compression and re-mastering. While I live as a NYC subway traveler, I use my iPod—nothing like an Mp3 for convenience—but whenever I’m in Denver… vinyl time.”
—Ophelia Cache
