The Vinyl Countdown


Book Description

VINYL MAY BE FINAL NAIL IN CD’S COFFIN ran the headline in a Wired magazine article in October 2007. Ever since the arrival of the long—playing record in 1948, the album has acted as the soundtrack to our lives. Record collections—even on a CD or iPod-are personal treasures, revealing our loves, errors in judgment, and lapses in taste. In The Vinyl Countdown, Travis Elborough explores the way in which particular albums are deeply embedded in cultural history or so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible. While music itself has experienced several different movements over the past sixty years, the album has remained a constant. But the way we listen to music has changed in the last ten years. In the age of the iPod, when we can download an infinite number of single tracks instantaneously, does the concept of the album mean anything? Elborough moves chronologically through relevant periods, letting the story of the LP, certain genres, youth cults, and topics like sleeve designs, shops, drugs, and education unfurl as he goes along. The Vinyl Countdown is a brilliant piece of popular history, an idiosyncratic tribute to a much-loved part of our shared consciousness, and a celebration of the joy of records.




Relient K


Book Description




The Long-Player Goodbye


Book Description

For nearly 60 years, since the arrival of the long-playing record in 1948, the album has provided the soundtrack to our lives. Our record collections, even if they're on CD, or these days, an iPod, are personal treasure, revealing our loves, errors of jugdement and lapses in taste. Self-confessed music obsessive, Travis Elborough, explores the way in which particular albums are deeply embedded in cultural history, revered as works of art or so ubiqitous as to be almost invisible. But in the age of the iPod, when we can download an infinite number of single tracks and need never listen to a whole album ever again, does the concept of an album still mean anything? THE LONG-PLAYER GOODBYE is a brilliant piece of popular history and a celebration of the joy of records. If you've ever had a favourite album, you'll love Travis Elborough's warm and witty take on how vinyl changed our world.




Dust & Grooves


Book Description

A photographic look into the world of vinyl record collectors—including Questlove—in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Compelling photographic essays from photographer Eilon Paz are paired with in-depth and insightful interviews to illustrate what motivates these collectors to keep digging for more records. The reader gets an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions, including Gilles Peterson and King Britt, as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. Driven by his love for vinyl records, Paz takes us on a five-year journey unearthing the very soul of the vinyl community.




The Big-Ass Book of Bling


Book Description

"A fun, flashy, and sASSy book for beginner and expert crafters alike--with more than 150 new projects that will add pizzazz to everything from jewelry to tote bags! Now more than ever, most of us are scaling back on shopping sprees and holding on to things longer than usual. But we still need ways to liven up last season's dress or add some sparkle to our everyday shoes. But how? No need for fancy tools or expensive supplies--Mark Montano presents this beautifully illustrated book that's jam-packed with more than 150 easy-to-make projects. Featuring simple, step-by-step instructions for each project, The Big-Ass Book of Bling includes everything from ornate shoe clips to rhinestone-studded cuffs to flashy headbands--anything and everything that needs a little sprucing up. So "bling it on" and see how dazzling you can be!"--




ON THE RECORDs


Book Description

Graham Sharpe's vinyl love affair began in the 1960s and since then he has amassed over 3000 LPs and spent countless hours visiting record shops worldwide along with record fairs, car boot sales, online and real-life auctions. After leaving his job at William Hill, his retirement dream was to visit every surviving second-hand record shop across the world. Vinyl Countdown followed his journey to over a hundred shops across the globe and the adventures he accrued along the way, from Amsterdam and Angus, to Bedfordshire and Budapest, Tennessee and Wellington. Now, ON THE RECORDs: Notes from the Vinyl Revival explores the impact of recent global events on the record industry and considers the reasons why vinyl remains a beloved &– and booming &– format. Far from being yesterday's fading, forgotten format, vinyl records have survived and flourished as the music medium of choice for not only baby-boomers, but all ages. Every record a collector acquires comes with a story of its own, and the recent Covid-19 lockdowns prompted many vinylholics, including Sharpe, to look more closely at their reasons for collecting, take stock of existing collections and rediscover old favourites. ON THE RECORDs: Notes from the Vinyl Revival includes interviews and contributions from voices across the record industry &– shop owners, record company insiders, online/postal sellers, auction organisers, market traders of vinyl, amateur collectors &– who share their stories with candour, warmth and humour. A mesmerising blend of memoir, travel, music and social history that will appeal to anyone who vividly recalls the first LP they bought and any music fan who derives pleasure from the capacity that records have for transporting you back in time.




Vinyl Records and Analog Culture in the Digital Age


Book Description

Analog Culture in the Digital Age: Pressing Matters examines the resurgence of vinyl record technologies in the twenty-first century and their place in the history of analog sound and the recording industry. It seeks to answer the questions: why has this supposedly outmoded format made a comeback in a digital culture into which it might appear to be unwelcome? Why, in an era of disembodied pleasures afforded to us in this age of cloud computing would listeners seek out this remnant of the late nineteenth century and bring it seemingly back from the grave? Why do many listeners believe vinyl, with its obvious drawbacks, to be a superior format for conveying music to the relatively noiseless CD or digital file? This book looks at the ways in which music technologies are both inflected by and inflect human interactions, creating discourses, practices, disciplines, and communities.




The Sound of Laughter


Book Description

Peter Kay's unerring gift for observing the absurdities and eccentricities of family life has earned himself a widespread, everyman appeal. These vivid observations coupled with a kind of nostalgia that never fails to grab his audience's shared understanding, have earned him comparisons with Alan Bennett and Ronnie Barker. In his award winning TV series' he creates worlds populated by degenerate, bitter, useless, endearing and always recognisable characters which have attracted a huge and loyal following. In many ways he's an old fashioned kind of comedian and the scope and enormity of his fanbase reflects this. He doesn't tell jokes about politics or sex, but rather rejoices in the far funnier areas of life: elderly relatives and answering machines, dads dancing badly at weddings, garlic bread and cheesecake, your mum's HRT... His autobiography is full of this kind of humour and nostalgia, beginning with Kay's first ever driving lesson, taking him back through his Bolton childhood, the numerous jobs he held after school and leading up until the time he passed his driving test and found fame.




The Vinyl Revival And The Shops That Made It Happen


Book Description

"It explains why we have more than a hundred more record shops than we had in 2009, and how others have gained the reward from their hard work. Budget turntables, manufactures, supermarkets, chain stores, clothes shops, pressing plants and even the government are amongst the many who have benefited from their efforts. Graham Jones has spent 32 years travelling the UK selling to independent record shops and visited more record shops than any other human. This book guides you around the record shops of the UK who sell new vinyl. He has gathered some fascinating and funny anecdotes told him by our much-loved record shop staff so that when you visit you will feel like you already know the characters behind the counters. It is perfect for vinyl fans to keep with them on their travels around the country."--Amazon.com.




Technologies related to electronic music production


Book Description

We will focus on the most outstanding technologies for modern electronic music production. Therefore, as in the previous book in which sections made the presentation of the instruments, this volume is made up of five of them for reasons of analytical practicality: 1. Audio recording and playback 2. Speakers 3. Communication protocols between electronic instruments 4. Modern electronic music production 5. DJing The first point will clarify how the ability to record sound in an analog mechanism was acquired just a moment ago if we compare that time with human existence. Therefore, since electronic music is intrinsically linked to the technique of sound recording and its playback, it is necessary to know about the technologies that have allowed this process since the 19th century. Subsequently, it will be explained what the speakers are and how their role and development in electronic music have been fundamental. As has already been elucidated throughout this series, it would be practically impossible for electronic music to exist without speakers. After that, we’ll see the two main protocols of communication between electronic instruments: MIDI and OSC, in addition to expressing my point of view about their transcendence because never, in the history of music in its entirety, the instruments had managed to sync through messages and time automation codes, under the master/ slave concept. Understanding the above, we will review all those technologies that facilitate modern electronic music production, such as a DAW, sound effects, sample manipulation, etc. Finally, we will explain the tools that the DJ uses to play, such as turntables, CD players, controllers, etc. Since each invention of these five points has its own story, I will limit myself to mentioning merely basic details so that the reader can investigate more for his account, topic by topic. As in the case of this series’ first and second volumes, the purpose is to establish a conceptual axis in which one can have a reference, not a detailed encyclopedia of each specific device.