VINYL CONVERT

Last week my lovely friend Ellie

sold me her 7" 45 rpm record player for the nifty

little price of £30.

For well over a year I have poured over vinyl in my

local Oxfam, where I used to volunteer/ spend my time flicking through

the latest vinyl deliveries instead of re-stocking shelves.

I'd pour through my Dad's pretty amazing record collection, which for

some reason he stores in the garage away from prying

eyes and fingers (aka. me) -The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Bob Marley and more- and a nostalgic sigh would escape my mouth.

I don't know about you but I long to experience those days where

you had vinyl and all things vintage and retro...

I'd read NME and they'd talk about Record Store Day,

which occurs every April and raises awareness of vinyl and gives

a publicity boost to all those independent record stores

scattered across the country.

In NME I'd also read musicians and artists describe

their favourite vinyl tracks, and the feeling and sensation of listening

to and playing vinyl. The needle, the crackle, the side A, the side B.

And I wanted to experience it so bad.

Our own 78 rpm record player is apparently non functioning, according

to my dad, so when my friend told me she was selling hers,

I was all in mate.

For the last couple of years vinyl and records seem to be on

the rise. You only have to pop in to your local HMV to find a whole section dedicated to vinyl with many current artists 

such as Arctic Monkeys, The Vaccines, The XX et al not only

releasing new albums via CD, but also via vinyl too.

And oooooh IT'S SO EXCITING.

And now I can kind of take part, with my little 45rpm :)

Although of course, being raised in the technologic generation,

the record player and vinyl itself to to me

are nostalgic beauties that absolutely fascinate me.

I don't know how you could marvel at how an ipod works, because to me,

that's just technology and that's that.

But this, this is essentially a piece of plastic which somehow

has music in it, and if you put a needle on it and spin

it around, sound comes out of it, and the record player

itself may need to be plugged into the socket but still, I don't

understand how you can listen to music without

all that complicated technology.

And what's more, it also amazes me how all us technologic teens

are embracing vintage and retro going against

the grain, and clambering

to get our hands on the things our parents have long since discarded

as being old, whilst our parents have gone

stark raving technology loving mad!

Ahhhh....Life is so weird sometimes...

<3

(This is the first vinyl record I listened to,

'Could You Be Loved' by Bob Marley & The Wailers,

once I'd figured out how to work the thing)

Listen to it here :)