We’re delighted to announce that for the third year running, TVD will be taking SXSW. In tandem with our partners Audible Treats and Flüd Watches, we’re presenting Speakers Push Air, an official SXSW artist showcase this Friday night (3/15) at Austin’s Parish Underground. This week we’ll be introducing you to the evening’s line up and talking what else, but vinyl.
“I’ve been recording music for about 23 years, which is (gulp) almost half my life at this point. With all the 7″s and LPs, cassettes, and CDs, it adds up to around 20 some releases.”
“I have started a small label that will be mostly vinyl records and cassettes. This isn’t for aesthetic or a hatred of digital media (as easy of a target as it is) but rather comes from a preference for these mediums that stems from my youth and obsession with music.
I didn’t grow up around CDs or digital music, the first music I heard was on the radio and vinyl record, probably both as soon as my ears worked. My dad had pretty much the same record collection since about 1976. We also had a TEAC reel to reel all the way into the early 90s! I don’t think I saw a CD until I was about 13 years old. This was partially because my father always considered himself sort of an audiophile, which means that now I still consider brands like Teac and Marantz to be “Hi – Fi.” I think he wanted a CD system based on their advertised audio quality, but for most people I knew, players weren’t affordable until the mid 80s or beyond.
I think this was the same for a lot of my friends who started playing music in the late 80s and early 90s—we all came to the table with little (and sometimes large) record collections.
Now, of course, people I know have record collections that fill half their homes—Calvin Johnson and Jonathan Toubin quickly come to mind—wheel and deal records on eBay, DJ, and own their own record stores. It’s this personal attachment to my network of friends and music, some of my fondest memories, and my knowledge of the medium’s still incredible fidelity, that make me lovingly and obsessively dedicated to vinyl records. Emo, sure.
The first record I remember REALLY owning is Queen’s “Another One Bites The Dust” with “Dont Try Suicide” on the B side. I think my parents noticed how much I liked music (I was “DJing” their records since I was around 5) and told my aunt and uncle and cousins.
I think I already had my blue and white Sears record player with a built-in keyboard (what?) and had the Star Wars storybook 7″ and maybe Winnie the Pooh and some other shit, kid’s stuff. So my cousins picked me out “Another One Bites the Dust” and Sheena Easton’s “Morning train” and Pat Benatar for starters. Damn! I listened to them ALL the time. I loved the song “Don’t Try Suicide”—I’d sing along to “…nobody gives, nobody gives, nobody gives a DAMN!” My cousins got a lot of mileage out this and would request I sing it and still to this day are laughing about my rendition of that song.
Lync, Love As Laughter, and more are coming soon available from Trademark Of Quality records and still on Sub Pop and Glacial Pace.”
—Sam Jayne
