“Let me start out by saying I do not own any vinyl. But wait, don’t go just yet! You should know that one of my biggest ‘adult’ goals is to buy a great record player with sh*t tons of records. Unfortunately, living in NYC most of the time, there’s not much room in cramped, unreasonably expensive apartments to start a real collection. But I will. One day.”
“So yeah, no actual records but I certainly share a love for it. My first experiences with vinyl was like most kids, through my parents. My dad had a limited, but very hip record collection. Standard classic rock repertoire (Zeppelin, Beatles, Cream, Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones, etc.), some blues (Freddie King, Howlin’ Wolf, etc.), and some songwriters (Dylan, Cat Stevens, etc.).
He didn’t play records often but when he did it was the best. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing vinyl covers, reading the liner notes, and actually touching the album. That tactile feeling. I miss that. That’s what you don’t get with itunes and spotify. Getting that moment to sit down in front of a stereo, listen down to the entire album while reading about it, and seeing the vibes the artist left for us to discover with their art. It was magic.
As a kid, a trip to the record store was the highlight of my week. Our town had a store called Tapesville. It had those huge Grateful Dead tapestries hanging, incense burning, all the rock shirts, band patches, pins, all of it. Part of the thrill of going there was learning about a new band or album that would be playing on their stereo. It was a really organic way to discover new music. They were essentially the first blog, curating your own experience at the store.
When I was in 8th and 9th grade I used to go to this one other store about 45 minutes away in the Paramus Park Mall in Jersey. They were the only place that carried imports. I would go every few months and buy up every single Pearl Jam import. European, Japanese, didn’t matter. Each import had a new song or some sort of different version of the album song. It was the only way to hear new music from the bands you loved. So I had that first Pearl Jam record Ten, but with the imports I had about 3 or 4 additional songs. Unless you owned that import you’d never hear that music!
Eventually, Tower Records became huge and it became all about the listening stations (when they would work). I used to bring a bin of 10-20 CDs over and spend an hour just checking out new music. There was this excitement of listening to 20-30 seconds of a few songs and making the choice to buy the album or not. The thrill of a gamble I suppose. And when you got home you had to find out if the gamble paid off!
These days I do spend a ton of time in LA so I hit Amoeba music when I can. It gives me that same feeling I had as a kid walking into Tapesville. Not only do you enter a music store, you become part of a community when you’re there. Also, my sister’s house has a record player in Silverlake. They throw on records all the time and I dance around with my 4 year-old niece, Rilo. It’s amazing how putting on a record is still an event, ya know?
So in the future, I’m gonna buy records. I would love to get Bon Iver Bon Iver, Sigur Ros ( ), Bob Marley Legend, Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits, Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream, and Grateful Dead American Beauty to name a few. That would be a great start! I wonder what an old Metallica album would sound like in vinyl. Oh man, now you got the wheels turning…”
—Jared Scharff, Pearl Lion
Saturday Night Live guitarist Jared Scharff, whose solo project is known as Pearl Lion, is set to release two mini albums, “Light” and “Dark,” both arriving in stores soon.
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