Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

As I begin to type this entry out, I have my Numark TTUSB Turntable out and a 200-gram pressing by Classic Records of the enduring Miles Davis album Kind Of Blue – one of the greatest albums ever made in any genre – playing; specifically, side two in the middle of Julian “Cannonball” Adderley’s alto sax solo on “All Blues”. I seem to be playing this album in this particular format at least once a week – I have owned Kind Of Blue in a couple of its different CD issues (the early 80’s release with its unnecessary digital remix of the album’s tracks and a totally different cover photo, and the remastered edition released in 1997 that is the version readily available, the master of which the vinyl pressing I am presently playing is based on) and I must say, even through the Logitech iPod speakers that my turntable is presently plugged directly into, the record sounds absolutely incredible. Just mentioning this particular pressing of the album on my LiveJournal led my colleague Vee to remark, “Holy crap, CJ, I got chills just reading that sentence”’ – which makes me wonder how she would react if she had been in the room with me to hear the actual record.

Vinyl has been making a rather unique resurgence over the past few years, notable enough for Time magazine to recently write an article about the phenomenon. The format has never disappeared – punk rock, alternative/indie rock, hip-hop, and electronic dance music have all kept the format alive, but most chain music stores do not stock them (unless they’re as big as Virgin Megastore’s Times Square, New York location).

Ironically, one national chain that is carrying some vinyl is Hot Topic. Don’t laugh. It’s not a wide or even a large selection – the selection is limited to some punk, alternative and metal releases (not surprising given Hot Topic’s sales demographic), but if you wanted to grab Paramore’s Riot! or No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom on colored vinyl, or a picture disc of Fall Out Boy’s Infinity on High or Slayer’s South Of Heaven (not Reign In Blood, American Recordings?), you’d be set.

The vinyl releases of today are often at a much higher quality than twenty years ago when the major labels initially started to phase out vinyl releases. New vinyl releases and most reissues of today almost consistently come out on high quality 180-gram virgin vinyl – a format variation once used only for short-run audiophile vinyl pressings of certain releases by companies like Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. These particular pressings are thick, sturdy, and sonically go toe-to-toe with or better than a well-mastered CD. Even some colored vinyl releases (like the vinyl edition of Against Me!’s New Wave) have been issued strictly in 180-gram pressings in an effort to attract both record collectors (Against Me!’s vinyl releases have almost always been issued in a variety of different color pressings, many in low-count runs of different colors for a single title) and those who just want to slap the damn thing on their turntable and play it. Even Radiohead’s already infamous, once digitally-pre-released album In Rainbows can be found on vinyl through their new label TBD.

The increase in vinyl sales may not be completely reflected on the Billboard charts – most vinyl is being sold through independent stores, most of whom do not participate in Nielsen Soundscan, the system that has tracked album sales and determined placement on Billboard’s album chart since 1991.

“This is all great”, you are probably saying to me, “but you can’t put a vinyl record on an iPod, and why would you buy a record if you have an iPod when you could just buy the CD in a store or a legal download the album from iTunes?”

Most of the labels issuing vinyl have figured that angle out already. Saddle Creek, the independent label that has given us Bright Eyes, Two Gallants, and Cursive, enclose a card with every copy of their vinyl releases, allowing the listener to download a zip-file of high-quality mp3s of the album for their iPod or other mp3 player and/or to burn a CD-R. Two other indie labels, Merge and Matador, have also taken this route, as have major label Columbia with the vinyl release of Coheed And Cambria’s latest album, while the aforementioned Against Me! album on Sire simply includes a free CD copy of the album, as does Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky on Nonesuch. And those are just the labels that I know about – I’m sure that there are others taking one of those routes with their vinyl releases. Fueled By Ramen have gone even further, offering on their website pre-orders of Panic! At The Disco’s forthcoming new album Pretty. Odd in a special package that includes both the vinyl and CD editions of the album plus a T-shirt, and a download of their new single to tide the buyer over for the next month or so. (A good thing too – the vinyl edition of P!ATD’s first album is a motherfucker to find, even on eBay.)

In some stores, especially independent record stores, vinyl records have also ended up a premium for CD buyers. In the past couple of years, I’ve been handed vinyl singles by the New York Dolls, Morrissey, The White Stripes, Silverstein, and The Hives when their new albums were released, while when Bruce Springsteen’s The Seeger Sessions album was first released, the same store I frequent was offering copies of the 180-gram double vinyl edition for an extra dollar.

Not surprisingly, the independent labels seem to be leading the way in large part due to this new vinyl revolution. 95% of Alternative Tentacles’ releases have been simultaneously issued on both CD and vinyl for the better part of 20 years, partly at the instigation of owner/founder Jello Biafra, who collects all sort of unusual vinyl from all over the world. (It was only the advent of discovering Wesley Willis that led Biafra to finally buy a CD player several years ago, since all of the notoriously prolific Willis’ self-released albums were only issued on compact disc.)

And by the way, you can most certainly put a record on an iPod, or even on a CD-R. Further spurring the interest in vinyl again is the USB turntable. Devices like the Numark TTUSB are being snapped up by music fans like this writer who have collections of vinyl, much of which hasn’t appeared on compact disc, allowing the user to pull out these records, record them into their computer, and create sound files that can be burned to CD-Rs and/or converted into mp3 or AAC files for one’s iPod or other mp3 player. This particular model also has a set of RCA plugs attached for those that may want to hook the turntable up to any stereo system with an AUX input. With the help of the right adapter, this turntable could also be hooked up to a set of iPod speakers.

Used vinyl of just about anything can be found on eBay and even in some local record shops, it simply depends on what you’re looking for and what you’re willing to pay for it. (If that baffles you somewhat, it’s OK. Drop me an e-mail and I’ll gladly answer any questions.) A few tips, though: When buying used vinyl, don’t buy anything that’s less than VG+ quality for the vinyl, and invest a few bucks in a good record cleaner, like Stanton’s VC-1 Vinyl Cleaner (there’s many others, but that’s just the one I use). Amazon stocks it. (If one really wants to go vinyl crazy, they could also choose to invest a few hundred dollars in a vinyl vacuum machine like those made and sold by the VPI company – apply a little cleaning fluid, move the specially designed nozzle over your record, and let all of the dust get sucked out of the grooves – or spend a fraction of that if they’re handy and build their own DIY version of a record vacuum. (Google for “DIY Record Vacuum” or “DIY Record Cleaner” and you’ll come across some good directions for building one. I’m very tempted to take this route.) Invest in a good, durable, long lasting needle/cartridge, preferably one more suited to heavy-duty club play. Clean your stylus too – back to front, whether you want to invest in a stylus cleaning system is up to you. They still have to be replaced an average of every year, but fortunately new needles and carts can be found just about anywhere online including Amazon and NeedleDoctor.com (Don’t have a heart attack at some of the cartridge prices NeedleDoctor offers though – a lot of their inventory is geared to vinyl-snob audiophiles who will never buy a CD player or iPod even if someone is putting a gun to their head.)

If you’re buying used vinyl, you may also want to go to Bags Unlimited’s website and order yourself some paper sleeves and maybe even some plastic slip-on bags for your album covers if you really want to get careful.

Amazon.com also recently opened a vinyl section that offers both new and used vinyl, but the descriptions for the latter on Amazon aren’t as plentiful as they are on eBay. Be forewarned, or at least stick to Amazon if you want to just buy new vinyl.

There are plenty of smaller stores that offer or even specialize in new vinyl as well. One online store I’ve discovered is Sound Stage Direct, a PA-based firm whose service is pretty quick and has a nice variety of new releases. There are others, but many of them specialize in audiophile vinyl only and tend to get really pricey. Vinyl Collective, a site owned by the indie label Suburban Home, is billed as “a community for vinyl lovers” with its own online store attached – there seems to be a lot of colored vinyl afoot at this particular store. For those of you punk-oriented, suffice it to say that if its out on vinyl, Interpunk will hook you up quite nicely (two of the newly remastered vinyl editions from Crass’ back catalog arrived in my PO Box thanks to these folks.)

For J-Pop… well, unfortunately at the time I write this, even though Japanese are said to be some of the biggest record collectors out there, the pickings are slim to none for new J-pop at the time of this writing. In the used front, from one of the eBay retailers I blundered upon, and successfully bid upon, some old-school J-pop: Hiromi Iwasaki’s Album (Victor SJX-20089, 1978) and Mariya Takeuchi’s Variety (Moon MOCT-28018, 1984) – immaculately kept and beautiful sounding. (I’ve already committed the Hiromi Iwasaki album to iPod and CD-R with my Numark, and intend to do the same with the Takeuchi album sometime this week.) Morning Musume has only ever had one album and two singles of theirs issued on vinyl: Best! Morning Musume 1 in double vinyl (which Marly Jane of Fashionable Sound fame owns a copy of – I’m jealous!), and “Love Machine” and “Koi No Dance Site” as 12” singles with bonus remixes. Which is odd, considering that in this day and age, they would be the perfect candidates for releases on both 180-gram vinyl and colored-vinyl releases. While I’m sure myself, Vee, and my YODC brother Langdon Alger would be amongst the first in line for MoMusu vinyl, I’m also sure that Celestia from Bikkuri Project would run screaming at the mere mention of a 180-gram pink-and-white-splattered edition of Koharu Kusumi’s Kirarin Land.

Now, in the meantime, if I could only get my mitts on a decent copy of the Parlophone edition of the Beatles’ Revolver…