“I inherited my parents’ record collection at fifteen years old. These days I’ve sort of drifted from adding to my vinyl stock. I can remember vividly how it felt the first night I had their records. I wasn’t exactly miss popular in school, so my Friday nights were often spent listening to Elliot Smith alone. But I connected with music differently after being introduced to records. The touch, the smell, the artwork gives music a sensory experience that you can’t get from your Spotify playlist.”
“Amongst the haul was Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. This album remains one of my all time favorites and I attribute that to the way I first heard it. I felt instantly transported to the seventies the moment the needle dropped. I spent the coming months obsessing over Stevie Nicks and her incredible phrasing. Hearing how the crackle of the dusty record complimented her voice was really how I found my own voice. She’s a huge reason I became a singer and I don’t think that record would have hit me that hard via modern means.
I grew up in Marin County, CA in a little house on the bay. My parents escaped Texas to become the first generations of Californians in my family. Living near SF, everything is classic rock and jam bands. So my first exposure to music culture was the tourist laden strip of Height Ashbury. I knew I loved singing and had a huge interest in performing, but I experienced music on the surface. I hadn’t made any bands my own.
My mom used to be a music journalist for her college paper. She can go on for hours about seeing Led Zeppelin play small clubs or following the Rolling Stones on their first US tours. But I didn’t hear those stories until I was 18 or 19. My childhood wasn’t filled with music. I found most songs I liked on my own. I listened to a lot of Britney Spears. This naivety made the experience of inheriting my parents collection that much more impactful. It was like window into their secret lives.
That small record collection helped me make a deeply personal connection to music. I only keep about half of them on the east coast with me and have since, added some choice picks. Notably, A Bikini Kill LP of live cuts and a copy of my favorite Death Cab for Cutie album Transatlanticism.
But I tend to work my way through albums slowly and intentionally even when I am just listening to something on my laptop. I don’t consume music like fast food even though I know the rest of the world often does. I consume it like vinyl. You have to go through more effort to hear an album. You can’t just skip around frivolously.”
—Kat Hamilton
Iron Heart, the second full-length LP from Manic Pixi is in stores now and available via Bandcamp.
