“I didn’t know it was vinyl when it was ‘vinyl.’ It was just how the dance party would get started with my sister in the basement on a little portable 45 record player. Or, in the living room on my parents’ old system. It was easier to use than the 8-track. “
“The first records that I remember playing over and over again was the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. My sister had some Madonna 45 singles…and my parents loved Simon and Garfunkel. I have to say that I got into Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass because of the cover. A naked woman covered in whipped cream seemed like a good invitation.
Later in college is when it really came back. I started hanging out with DJs and producers. I fell in love with the Golden Era of Hip Hop’s production techniques, and I started digging. And honestly, that’s when I started falling in love with jazz. Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock obviously… Bitches Brew changed my life. Honestly, after Bitches Brew, my mind exploded.
Also, side note, while I was in high school listening to The Beatles’ “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds,” I finally made the connection that they were talking about LSD. I guess everybody has to figure it out at some point.
As I’ve grown older, I craved the physical representation of sound. A vinyl record is like a sculpture. The contours in each groove are like the curves in a marble masterpiece. Vinyl seems timeless, legitimate, and gives me a tangible representation of a huge amount of work that goes into an album.
Beyond the music, vinyl records allow artists to present their visual art, which is so important to the album experience. Not only does it showcase the band or the artist’s artistic vision, it gives acknowledgement to the players and the engineers that crafted this thing. The liner notes can be like little novels.
When you put the music, the image, and the words together, you start to feel the whole of the music. I hope this format continues on into the future. —Amon Drum
Tilted, the new release from Analog Players Society is in stores now. On October 30 Analog Players Society will release “Chase,” a single from their upcoming album Soundtrack for a Nonexistent Film.
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PHOTOS: JUDE GOERGEN
