“My dad kept his record collection in the basement when I was young, and I used to rifle through it to look at the pictures long before I thought to listen to the music. Some of the covers stood out to me: Steely Dan’s “Pretzel Logic,” Blind Faith’s “Blind Faith,” Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Cheap Thrills.” Others seemed strange or outdated, like the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds.”
Sleepy Vikings | Flashlight Tag
I started actually listening to my dad’s records when I was in middle school. It was 1995 and I had just gotten my first guitar. I sat in the basement for hours trying to learn power chords and how to play a C chord without making the strings buzz. When I would get frustrated I’d search through his records for Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” I liked how mellow it was, and that none of the guitars necessarily sounded like guitars.
He purchased most of those albums when he was in college, I think. Something about collecting records as a primary musical source—by necessity, then, and not by choice—appeals to me. Most of my musical library is digital now, and while I’m generally okay with that it still somehow feels wrong. Part of the beauty of vinyl is the way it ages, grows up with you. I can remember the first time I dropped the needle onto Patti Smith’s “Easter;” I can’t remember the last song that finished downloading on my computer.
Sleepy Vikings | Calm
The internet has changed a lot of things but it hasn’t changed everything. I’ll see you at Record Store Day and I won’t be buying mp3s.” —Conner
Sleepy Vikings will launch a tour of the Eastern US in June in support of the release of “They Will Find You Here” out yesterday—May 10!
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