“For me vinyl has always brought controversy, rebellion, love, hope, philosophy, sex, truth, irony, and mind expansion. From making up dances to Beatles tunes on my sister’s close n’ play as a toddler, to dropping my new 180g Lights On white vinyl on my vintage Dual turntable, it never ceases to amaze. My dream as a young musician would not be realized till I saw the needle meet the spinning platter and play my song… and now that day is here… a long time coming.”
“My parents had all those crazy records like Martin Denny’s Jungle Themes or A Flurry Of Bongos or Native Ports of Call. I would be entranced in the hipster lingo of the liner notes and the faraway bird calls—who were these exotic cultivated people? Then there was Jobim, Sinatra, Carole King, Neil Young, and all kinds of soundtracks. Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell all played in my home.
In Florida I was living Linklater’s Dazed and Confused reality with Zeppelin, Floyd, Hendrix, Frampton, and the Stones. My sister reported back from college with Bowie, The Clash, The Jam, The Specials…the lyric sheet, the double gate fold, the pictures, the lifestyle I would imagine—many many afternoons with a hifi setup thrown together from whatever was available at the local thrift store or garage sale down the street.
I discovered Motown, Marvin, Sly and The Family Stone, Parliament, Prince. It was a soul journey and an education. I remember going to stereo sections at the mall just oggling the components, making mental lists of all the best cartridges, styli, speaker placements, etc. I was hooked.
Today it’s all changed of course. I can’t tell you how many records I have checked out on Mac laptop speakers or tinny earbuds and hit the skip button—and I know you have too. Convenience has changed everything about our culture and vinyl actually brings us back to the meditative ritual that music listening once was.
Stop, take a minute, power up, and put that record on. These days in their various domains, designers ape each other to maximize sales. Risk is rarely taken for fear of losses. In music we are composing on laptops with the same sounds from the same apps for audiences wearing pricey vintage Hendrix T-shirts sipping champagne cocktails and pumping fists in the air to four on the floor electro beats. All in a night’s party, sure. Yet in the midst this irony, we are at a critical mass of technology, yet discovering that in many ways the joy and the meaning has been lost.
Vinyl is a return. It’s the Noam Chomsky of pop. It’s a reminder that perhaps the internet must feed the “innernet” and an analog LP and it’s listening ritual can usher in the re-discovery of our spiritual and root connections.”
—David Patillo
Strange Majik’s Lights On is available now for pre-order and will be celebrated at its release party tomorrow night, April 28, at NYC’s Bowery Electric.
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