Soundbites: Autumn in Winooski: Attention, vinyl lovers: A new record store called Autumn Records just set up shop in Winooski. The boutique vinyl emporium, located on East Allen Street at the top of the Winooski traffic circle, opened its doors for the first time on Saturday, September 30. Seven Days caught wind of the then-forthcoming music hub this summer when a mysterious Instagram account announced the store’s impending arrival. The name Autumn Records was vaguely familiar. We wondered, Didn’t local experimental music guru Greg Davis once operate a record label with that same name? He did indeed. Davis founded the CD-R label in his DePaul University dorm room 20 years ago. It turns out that he’s the new shop’s proprietor.
Vinyl Supernova Record Fair – October 21, 2017: The needle will be dropped once again on Saturday, October 21 when the Fernwood Community Centre (1240 Gladstone Avenue) is transformed into Vinyl Supernova, Vancouver Island’s biggest vinyl LP fair! Collections from all over Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland will be on display and for sale at this bi-annual event, first launched by organizer Ryan Wugalter in 2013. Local shops The Turntable, Supreme Echo Records, and Screen Test Studios will be represented alongside many first-time sellers whose private collections have never before been available to the public! With over 60 tables of LPs, CDs and assorted music memorabilia, there will be something for everyone, from the causal hobbyist to the most serious collectors!
Nuraphone review: Headphones that scan your ears for a tailored listening experience: What if your headphones could be tailored for your hearing in the same way glasses are tailored for your eyesight? That’s what a Melbourne startup called Nura believes it can do with Nuraphone, a pair of self-learning headphones that it claims can tailor audio playback for every person’s individual way of hearing. Chances are, you’ve not even considered that the way you hear sound might be different from everyone else, but according to Nura, even the most expensive headphones are offering us a less than optimal listening experience. The idea behind Nura’s technology is that the we all hear sonic frequencies differently, and if we can measure how sensitive we are to low, mid and high tones and adjust the output accordingly, we should all be able to hear music more clearly.
National Film and Sound Archive’s Vinyl Lounge turns four with prizes, new lounge: National Film and Sound Archive sound curator Thorsten Kaeding says the imminent fourth birthday of the Vinyl Lounge is “a bit of a surprise, really.” The curator and host of the monthly event – which now regularly attracts up to 80 people, who bring their vinyl records in for others to listen to on the NFSA’s high-quality sound system – says, “We didn’t expect it to get this big.” A wide range of music gets played, Kaeding says, everything from progressive rock like Genesis to comedy songs by Tom Lehrer to Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries to Bulgarian folk music.
Vinyl sales rise once more with nearly 10 million albums sold already this year: Nielsen Music has released its Q3 report, collecting data from album sales in the United States over the first nine months of 2017, Billboard reports. While both physical and digital album sales were down 13.3% and 19.5% respectively, vinyl sales continued to grow, adding 3.1% to 2016’s total of 9.07 million units. Closing in on the 10 million mark with the three months still remaining in 2017, the total of 9.35 million units sold gives vinyl 16% of the physical album sales market – its highest share in the post-CD era. However, it speaks volumes that The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album celebrating its 50th birthday this year, has been this year’s biggest seller, shipping 40,000 units so far.
