“That ambient noise with that subtle harshness of the pick against the vinyl… and the profound analog sound when a good vinyl starts playing…the deepness of the lows, “magic” is the word, as Sam Morrow shared before to The Vinyl District.”
“I really discovered vinyl trough old House Music, and a clear path afterwards was into all types of music on vinyl records. Rootsy blues, old rock, post punk… anything. I had a period that I would not listen to anything but vinyl. For 4–5 years I could listen to nothing else, both a romantic search and a young statement of those we have in our twenties. I would spend hours in my trips at record stores. I even used to like an old vinyl player that had a messy motor and would speed up and slow down in a certain way.
With friends, we were into spinning music at electronic parties back in 2001–2006… Progressive, House, Tribal, Tech House, Minimal Tech, Ambient… you only found good tracks that really were pushing a search in vinyl. Later in the night it was really fun, warm-ups was something I really enjoyed. You could mix all types of music when playing warm-up sets.
I remember that when I got to Berlin for my first time, I stayed for five days. Every single day I would spent 5–6 hours on record cult tombs listening to music… then would go to a different club every day (sometimes a couple a day), where they all played vinyl, and a have a few beers listening to local DJs for another 3–4 hours. So that was Berlin for me, vinyl… and vinyl suits..!
Same in other cities… always after seeking out old camera stores and old vinyl stores. I had a friend that once shared… Don’t get high before entering a record store! You’ll buy anything that could be no good! What can I say… it happened a few times. Then you get home and you have to re-polish the search for stuff you were after. Many times having too much music makes you lose track of time.
I find that on top of the unique sound there are other important aspects of the vinyl that seduce us:
The size of the art! You have beautiful big photos of different moods. Many times (it happened with CDs too in the CD years) I would choose a record for the art. Almost half the albums that I got I was attracted by images. I guess I was trying to investigate or play around looking for a direct relationship but it did not really work out… many incredible discoveries, and few important disappointments.. haha. But still, the size of the art is a great asset!
That you listen to a story! For many years the shuffle era accentuated a certain dizziness when listening to music. Every time you play a record… you let go the first side, and after a few minutes you are going for the second chapter… not only music. You really get into the vibe of the band’s sound.
It’s sort of a visual meditation… to see them spinning, while listening to music.
Is it as romantic as the music can get? Yep, another thing.
In the last years, I’ve been really a nomad lately, so I had a small storage in LA (with instruments and my records) and another small storage in Bs As (Buenos Aires), and no house. We recently found a house in LA and unpacked everything. The feeling that I had when I opened the box of my old Technics was unique—most of you guys know exactly what I’m talking about! Made me automatically get the box of vinyls and start listening to music.
I know it will remain forever somehow. The proof is there are many of us that still understand this!”
—Lisandro Aloi
Bonson Berner releases their sophomore album Reflection on March 10, 2015 via Forty Below Records.
