Rainy Daze

Well, it's kind of cold and rainy in Washington, has been since Thursday and looks to stay that way until Tuesday. And what better way to spend a day inside avoiding the rain than spinning some great music -- and perhaps even blogging about it.

I've already spent plenty of time extolling the Broken Bells release, and if you've seen any of the reviews you'll know that most have come down on the side of great, but not life-changing or earth shattering, record. Most discuss its subdued production, smooth mix of Shins and Danger Mouse tendencies. Well, one more thing: it's great for a relaxed day inside avoiding the rain.

Then it was Vampire Weekend's Contra, which sounds as good as the first day I brought it home. I switched it up a bit and put on my recently acquired Led Zeppelin IV, which is admittedly a different sound than I'd been going with, but what the hell? It's got Black Dog and Rock N' Roll, not necessarily relaxed music. But it's also got Stairway to Heaven and When the Levee Breaks, the latter of which is perfect for this rainy, flood-warning filled day in Washington.

In short, I can imagine worse scenarios to have to deal with on a Saturday afternoon.

On new vinyl... or down with the CD!

Going off my post in re: the Broken Bells release, I thought it was time for something about new vinyl. This whole adventure started with some old records in a basement, and then some used records from Cheapo in the Twin Cities. But eventually, I started buying all my new music on vinyl, assuming it's released in such a format.

It's been great discovering new albums, new music, new bands, and having the first listen be on wax rather than some downloaded MP3 or CD format. My latest purchase was Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion which, in my mind, was the album of the year in 2009 and one of my favorite records ever (criticize if you must). Naturally, I had been wanting to get this for almost a year, and last week I finally did. I've now bought this album TWICE: One on CD and one on vinyl. But I don't care about that.

Another nice feature is most of these records come with a free download, so really, you get this great physical/visual record, with the album art and everything, and the digital version for your MP3 player, which is essentially all you'd buy a CD for anyway, right? Not to mention, these are almost always high-quality, 180-gram-plus records, and they sound great.

Frankly, I don't think I'll ever buy another CD, if I can help it at least. For me, I'll buy it on vinyl if it's available, and then use the free download. It's what I did with Vampire Weekend's Contra, and it's what I did with Broken Bells, and what I'll do with the Black Keys due out next month, and on and on and on. Definitely recommend it.

This also reminds me of a post I read somewhere (I'd link to it, but I don't remember where it was) about someone was going to buy the new Beach House for a friend's birthday (which I haven't heard yet... worth a purchase?). Rather than buying the CD, they got the vinyl, even though said friend didn't have a record player. The record was visually appealing, and they got the MP3 download (legally), which is all they'd use the CD for anyway. Genius.

Really, this goes to the whole music industry. In a time when iTunes runs the show, and people are just buying songs instead of listening to whole albums (gross!) here's your chance. Vinyl has aesthetic value, it's nice to look at, it's part of a past that a lot of people like, but it also comes with this download card for your iPod. It's a win-win-win, and hopefully will get people back in the habit of experiencing albums as a whole, not just random songs in some kind of mix tape.

Contradictions.. or welcome to the blog.

Welcome to this experiment I've taken to calling Wax Fanatical.

Basically, this blog will comprise stories of crate digging, ecstatic posts when I find *the perfect* record, my take on the record stores in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area, thoughts on the records I already own and just general musings on the idea of collecting records in the time of the iPods, MP3s, illegal downloading and that sort of thing.

To the last point, the inherent contradiction in running a blog on a subject some see as utterly arcane and out of date is not lost on me. But since I've started collecting records about a year ago, I've seen each purchase as one step along some kind of journey toward some ideal record collection. Now, thanks to these things we call the Internets, there will be a record of my attempts to get there.

Finally, a caveat: While I love collecting records, to me it's more about the music than the endless search for some obscure, super-rare record. So, yes, some of my collection might be cliche, or ordinary or whatever. But I consider myself a regular person's record collector. I routinely look for some of my favorite records, and if I buy any new albums, it tends to be on vinyl. That means I've got quite the array, from Vampire Weekend, Brother Ali and Wu-Tang Clan to Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan and The Ramones. I hope that keeps it interesting, and I hope you'll agree.

Photo: Unfortunately, not my collection or my photo. It's the BBC's.