“Vinyl records were always a mysterious thing to me. When I was growing up everyone had cassettes and then CDs. I remember going round to my parents’ friends’ houses and being fascinated by their vinyl collections.”
“I distinctly recall picking up a pristine copy of Michael Jackson’s Bad album and opening up this thing of beauty with the giant sleeve pictures and notes. It felt like it was something very special to behold. Putting on the record made the music sound even better with that indescribable vinyl tone…miles away from cassette sound. I also loved sifting through my parents old vinyl singles collection—there were some amazing covers in there! I kept hold of Blondie’s “Atomic” and put it on my wall!
Later on in my teens I had an extensive CD collection and loved those great bands who really made an effort to emulate the vinyl experience on their CD releases through elaborate sleeves and track sequencing. Bands like Pearl Jam and Radiohead have some notable examples of the vinyl influence—particularly their albums Vitalogy and Hail to the Thief. I would love it (like many would) when bands printed the lyrics in their sleeves, so the whole process of listening to the album became ‘an experience.’
Around this time I had one of those old multi-function stereos with cassette, CD, radio…and vinyl player! This was exciting for me and once I really got into my music I wanted to try it out, so I re-bought some of my favourite albums on vinyl. I took great care of these and savoured the experience of listening to them and looking at them, immersing myself in what seemed to me like these huge sleeves and getting stuck into the lyrics. It felt like something really special.
In a way it’s a shame that a lot of these music ‘rituals’ are lost in the generation of streaming, but I’m a huge fan of this way of consuming music too, as it allows people to listen to more music than ever before.
What’s cool though is that vinyl has remained sacred and people actively seek it out, shown by the rise in popularity in recent years. So I think it will always retain its air of mystery and be there for people who want the whole experience.”
—Dan Frau
Caralis’ “Logic” EP is in stores now via Fairfield Records.
Caralis Facebook | Twitter
