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 "Noizescapes" Vol. 1 |Issue 2
Promise not to hold this against me or my character but, I love the Family Channel. I swear, if I could afford cable Family Channel and HBO would take over my life. Anyways, on Family Channel there is a show called Smart Guy (don’t act like you don’t know what I am talking about), that features T.J. Henderson, a 10 year old that has an IQ of 180 and is in grade ten alongside his older brother Marcus. One day Marcus and Mo decide that since everyone is exploiting their personal styles they are going to dress in ridiculous clothing in hopes that people would stop copying them. Marcus and Mo come dressed up in plastic yellow raincoats, sure that no one would copy them. However, the next day everyone in school is wearing the same silly yellow raincoats.
This is one example of how easily people are swayed. Swayed into dressing in obscure fashions and swayed into purchasing things they don’t need things such as vinyl. Now, I am not referring to everyone, especially not analog sound enthusiast who can notice the quality difference from vinyl to cassette to CD and will pay up to $12,000 for laser turntables. I work at a music store, and perhaps I am being too harsh, but when a Lady Gaga vinyl comes in and someone buys it, I know they are not buying it for the sound quality.
It’s a well known fact, vinyl is on the rise. I have read that for artist, vinyl represents
their release as legitimate. The large scale artwork, the superior sound
quality and the relationship between listener and record (i.e. the work that the listener has to put in)
make vinyl the most obvious choice. Although my store has a relatively small
vinyl section in comparison to the CD section, the demand is definitely there,
and it is not just for the diehard fans.
This is especially true for the indie scene who are willing to pay almost double the price for their precious vinyl. Do they really notice the warmer, richer sound? The records crescendos from beginning to end? Or has everyone just jumped on the bandwagon?
It is also understandble that the music industry is more aware of the
demise of CDs and is therefore producing vinyl that appeals to all
ages. Some vinyl comes in different shapes (hearts, triangles) while others come in different, brighter colors to appeal to the younger audience. Hell, the Twilight soundtrack is even on vinyl, that has to say something. I personally believe that a lot of this has to do with indie music become less “indie” and more mainstream.
I would rather not run myself into a corner arguing what it means to be "indie", as it has always been hard to define. What I will say is that indie originally was not about music itself but instead about finding a different medium of expression. With that in mind, it only makes sense that vinyl became the way to go about listening to music.
Vinyl, without a doubt, is much better than any CD you will ever encounter and vastly greater than any MP3. Logically, vinyl allows for a larger audio resolution while CDs decrease the sonic information which is than further reduced when compressed into MP3 formats. Therefore, every note, snap, crackle or pop that can be missed by your iPod, will be very much there on vinyl.
Although a music enthusiast, I am defiantly not
making enough money to be purchasing vinyl records anytime soon, let alone a
record player. I love music but I can handle missing a twang if it cost me 10
dollars less. In the end, I would just like to say to all the kids: don’t give
into peer pressure.
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