“As I write, I am sitting in my Iowa cabin, listening to a Simon and Garfunkel record. It’s morning, and light is peeking across the corn fields through the East-facing octagonal window to my right.”
“I began collecting vinyl eleven years ago. The first record I bought was Licensed To Ill by The Beastie Boys, which still gets a lot of rotation. I remember digging through my mama’s records and pulling out Rhymes and Reasons by John Denver, with a weathered little piece of paper taped to the front that reads “Billie,” my mother’s name. She listened to it frequently as a kid, and it now holds a prized position in my collection. It’s interesting how all the CDs I collected through my teenage years have all but disintegrated, but this record still sounds vibrant.
What I love most about vinyl is the deliberate nature of the medium. It takes effort, thought, and energy. The required intention makes the experience more valuable and memorable. It’s big, and it feels like something, like a real piece of art. We’re in an age of streaming, where music has become less tangible. You don’t even have to download anything anymore. Where there used to be a square foot of infinite artistic possibility is now an abstract idea that comes and goes so easily that it has no value. A record is a big, beautiful object that feels good to hold in your hands. The sound of vinyl is organic, earthy, and human.
When you convert audio to digital, you’re converting it into ones and zeroes. If you zoom in on the waveform, it becomes a stairstep, as opposed to the smooth waves we hear in real life. You can make the stairstep finer for higher quality digital audio, but it’s always going to be a stairstep.
This is why I decided to master my new album, Truth Sound, to tape and release it on vinyl. I want my music to sound as organic as possible, and I hope that people will find memorability and sweetness in the moments it takes to remove the record from the sleeve, put it on the platter, and lay down the needle. I love the sound of a needle coming down on a record. It’s comforting.
I try not to feel too dependent on objects—I recognize the impermanence of everything, but God damn, my record collection brings me so much joy. It’s a vice that I can feel okay about leaning upon. Putting on a favorite record is a ritual, a ceremony in paying tribute to my idols and the legitimacy and significance of the art they created. It’s important to remember that music is valuable. I am in favor of a move away from the temporary and abstract digital mediums, towards deliberate and physical mediums such as vinyl.
It gives more sweetness and significance to an art form that truly deserves it.”
—Nicholas Sebastian Naioti
MR NASTI released his second full-length album, Truth Sound via Maximum Ames Records on September 23rd. On blue vinyl.
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PHOTO: CODY OSEN
MR NASTI Tour Dates:
10/30/14: St. Louis, MO – The Crack Fox
10/31/14: Murfreesboro, TN – Wall Street
11/1/14: Nashville, TN – Phat Bites
11/3/14: Springfield, MO – College St. Barcade
11/4/14: Branson, MO – Vintage Paris
11/5/14: Lawrence, KS – 8th St. Taphouse
11/7/14: Denver, CO – Deerpile
11/8/14: Colorado Springs, CO – TBA
11/10/14: Ames, IA – DG’s Taphouse
11/11/14: Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
11/12/14: Cedar Falls, IA – The Octopus
11/13/14: Iowa City, IA – Gabe’s
11/14/14: Fairfield, IA – The Arbor Bar
11/15/14: Columbia, MO – Mojo’s
