In rotation: 10/31/22

The Case for Listening to Complete Discographies: In a world of obscene musical abundance, a listener needs a strategy. Earlier this year, the critic and historian Ted Gioia published an essay called “Is Old Music Killing New Music?” At first, this looks like a textbook case of Betteridge’s law, which states that “any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘no.’ ” Nevertheless, old music’s encroachment on the cultural space once occupied by new music has become difficult to ignore. Gioia marshals compelling evidence: from a music-industry analytics firm that found that old songs represented seventy per cent of the U.S. music market in 2021 to recent bidding wars over song catalogues by artists who are now septuagenarians, octogenarians, or dead. own musical life in this decade offers an extreme example, dominated by the likes of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. This resoundingly un-idiosyncratic list is the result not of an ossified musical incuriosity but of a deliberately undertaken project….

Philadelphia, PA | 20 years for Hill music store even surprises its owner: Brian Reisman never thought his business would last 20 years when he opened Hideaway Music Store in the parking lot behind what is now Chestnut Hill Sushi on the 8600 block of Germantown Avenue. “I was tired of freelance writing for many years, and I wanted to try something new,” he said last Friday. “I thought that Chestnut Hill needed a music store, but I am surprised to still be here after all this time.” Reisman and his son Sean, who has worked with him for the entire two decades, are celebrating this Saturday, Oct. 29, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the current store’s location, the ‘hideaway’ spot in the ground floor of 8232 Germantown Ave. (The store has moved around the Avenue over the years, moving to the spot next to Weavers Way and alto to the top of the hill, just opposite Bethlehem Pike before settling in where it is now.) They’re planning cupcakes with the Hideaway logo, and 20 percent off any new or used record except for sealed box sets. Only one per customer.

Should You Buy a Vintage Turntable? There are definite pros and cons to buying a vintage turntable instead of a new one. We weigh them up. Vintage audio is undoubtedly in vogue. Vinyl has been experiencing an incredible renaissance — so much so that it has encouraged a whole industry to making new turntables, preamps, phono cartridges and other components. And it seems to have had a trickle down effect into other old-school playback formats. Interest in CDs and cassette tapes are both experiencing resurgences, as well (albeit not to the same level as vinyl). But it’s not just listening to vintage audio formats that a lot of hi-fi enthusiasts love — it’s listening to them on vintage components and machines. Any purist will tell you that “they just don’t make them like they used to” and that’s actually true in some ways. The look, feel and nostalgia of an old-school turntable or receiver is simply unmatched. The good news is that if you’re in the market for a vintage turntable — like an old-school Rega Planar 3 or a Thorens TD-125 MK II — they are out there. It’s not actually that difficult to find a vintage machine. But purchasing one and getting it in working order might not be as straightforward as you think.

New Westminster, BC | Chat about books and music at this groovy New West bookstore: Bored of adding books to your online cart? Pick up a dog-eared classic, and listen to a vinyl record at the city’s newest bookstore, Groove Cat Books and Records. A slim Kindle is great for your travel bag, but even the most high-tech one cannot replace the faint vanilla scent that an old sepia-coloured book gives off, does it? That’s what the Coquitlam-based couple John and Catherine Hughes thought as well when they decided to open a used book and record store, Groove Cat Books and Records, (Groove Cats because “we love cats and we like the idea of all things hip, groovy and cool”) on New West’s Sixth Street. Starting an independent bookstore in the age of online retail behemoths like Amazon was “terrifying,” said John. “You have to be really sure that it’s what you want to do, and you’ve got to be brave,” he said. Besides that, there should be a business plan that works, the necessary money, and the organization behind all of that, before making the move

Dublin, IE | Dublin Vinyl raises €1m in latest equity round: Dublin Vinyl, the record manufacturer based in the capital that’s carved out a niche in the global vinyl market, is poised to announce an expansion in coming weeks after swelling its coffers during the summer with an additional €1m fundraise. The company has raised more than €4m since it was launched in 2017 by Hugh Scully and Donagh Molloy. It has inked deals with major record labels to manufacture for them and also sells vinyl from its online store. Customers can buy vinyl record versions of works by wide range of artists including Bruce Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, The Arctic Monkeys and Taylor Swift. During the summer, Dublin Vinyl sealed a fresh €1m investment from backers via an Employment Investment Incentive Scheme (EISS). Such schemes offer investors a tax efficient way of supporting businesses via the use of equity capital.

Wendy Dio on Ronnie James Dio versus Ozzy, how the vinyl revival helped Dio legacy, more: As Wendy Dio continues to promote her husband’s legacy, she makes peer comparisons, expresses the importance of Dio’s albums on vinyl and more. “…these days, that’s my goal in life, to keep the legacy of Ronnie’s music alive and show people what he’s done. I think it’s wonderful that vinyl shows like Stranger Things and all sorts of other things have helped me do what I’ve set out to do. I think the vinyl resurgence is fantastic, although I can’t say I saw it coming, and I believe many would agree with me on that. But for me personally, it’s helped me keep Ronnie’s music alive. As for music overall, it’s helped spread awareness for ’70s and ’80s metal, which I think is fantastic, and a much-needed thing. …I’ve always thought vinyl was great, and I remember Ronnie was always wanting to buy vinyl, and buy it, he did. Ronnie would bring records home all the time because he loved to listen to new music. He’d bring a record home, and we’d both look at the album cover and go, “Oh, wow, look at that. Let’s see what’s inside there,”and we found so much music that we fell in love with. And now, kids are doing that again, with that same music, only it’s all these years later, which is crazy to think about, really.

What Ever Happened To Crazy Eddie? The Occasional Podcast Halloween Special: On this week’s episode of The Occasional Podcast we don our Halloween costume as a true crime show. We explore the insane history of Crazy Eddie’s HiFi stores on the east coast, and all the fraud, hijinks and fallout of one of the biggest retail scams that just kept getting bigger and bigger. What started as a small electronics chain grew into 43 stores in four states and an alleged $300 million in sales. If you were around the area in the 80’s, the signature high energy “crazy Eddie” commercials saturated the popular culture at the time. The podcast walks through the meteoric rise, and inevitable fall of iconic HiFi chain wrought with unethical business practices and corruption.

This entry was posted in A morning mix of news for the vinyl inclined. Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.
  • SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL INDIE SHOPS SINCE 2007


  • Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text
  • Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text Alternative Text