Vinyl records scratch back to popularity: “Whistlin” Willie Weber kneels down in the back room of Jerry’s Records stacking several records into a pile to be cleaned. Weber can tell from a simple glance when a record needs to be cleaned because he has been helping out with his father’s record shop since he was 15 years old. Although he said the job wasn’t his favorite when he was that age, Weber, now 37, has come to appreciate records and now takes on more responsibility at Jerry’s Records. “I picked it back up about 15 years ago, but it took me a while to enjoy it,” Weber said. “It all kind of changed when I realized that you could make a living doing this.”
The tables have turned, but will vinyl’s record sales last? This shift to tangible music consumption is a bit of a paradox. As Steve Smith, chief executive of music and sports marketing agency Ear to the Ground puts it, “Kate Bush’s new live album is £65 ($80) – that’s more than a Spotify premium membership for a whole year”. Yet it’s not a wholly unexplainable phenomenon. Most experts believe it comes from a longing for the physical, something today’s 18-year-olds (born just two years before the release of the first iPod) likely never experienced the first time around.
A Second Act for Top Ten Records: Dallas’ oldest record store, known historically as the place where J.D. Tippit may have made a phone call before his fatal run-in with Lee Harvey Oswald, is known today mostly as a purveyor of Tejano CDs. Soon, Top Ten Records could be known as a media and music library where guests can buy or rent Texas-based records and videos. As the Dallas Morning News first reported last week, that’s thanks in large part to the Oak Cliff record store’s neighbors down the street on Jefferson Boulevard. With Top Ten’s longtime owner set to retire, two of the Texas Theatre boys hope to, with some help, operate the store in partnership with the city’s own archivist and SMU’s extensive film and video collection.
Meet the sultan of vinyl and cool: “I think a part of the magic of music, of vinyl records, is the hunt for them. For new and great sounds. For good music.” Jay Amante with his long hair flowing and in garb that wouldn’t be out of place in a grunge rock concert plants himself in a seat of his hidden jazz bar, 78-53-86, along Katipunan Avenue in West White Plains. It’s just across the Bellitudo building where Amante’s record shop, the Grey Market, also sits unobtrusively. The audiophile who owns the Grey Market and 78-53-86 — he named his bar after the family’s old telephone number — waxes equal parts sentimental and mystifying.
Some good news from the aftermath of Canada Boy Vinyl’s closure: A bit of good news from the apparent closure of Calgary’s vinyl pressing plant, Canada Boy Vinyl: some bands are getting back their masters and finding alternate plants to work with. Canada Boy Vinyl originally opened its doors in 2015, and quickly became a go-to for small to mid-sized bands looking for vinyl pressings. Unfortunately, its doors suddenly closed this month and calls stopped going through. Owner Dean Reid told Metro that he would release an official statement on Jan. 9, but a statement never came and follow-up emails went unanswered.
Pioneer PLX-500 review: A turntable for vinyl n00bs and Technics-loving DJs alike, At just under £300, the PLX-500 is a great introduction to the world of hi-fi vinyl: At first glance, maybe glimpsed in a darkened club, the PLX-500 could easily be mistaken for a classic Technics turntable. The PLX-500 is a slimmed-down version of the PLX-1000 that Pioneer introduced two years ago, and is actually a rebrand of a copy. It’s made for Pioneer by the Taiwan ODM specialist Hanpin, which manufactures a huge range of cheap and cheerful turntables. Hanpin turntables are often rebranded by companies that no longer have the expertise or resources to make them in-house.
The Exorcist soundtrack to receive unholy vinyl reissue: The soundtrack to the film is pretty unsettling as well, and today reissue label Waxwork Records announced that it’s giving the spooky sounds of The Exorcist unholy new life with a deluxe vinyl reissue. There’s not much detail on the release just yet, like whether it will include composer Lalo Schifrin’s unused original score for the film or simply the final soundtrack—anchored by Mike Oldfield’s now-infamous “Tubular Bells,” originally released in 1973 as just a regular old New Age instrumental and given scarring new life later that year.
