Vinyl

Just another time I'm caught inside, every open eye <3

Today I finally tried something I've been wanting to try for a long time! Yup as seen from the photo above, I've finally tried to use my record player mwahaha. I actually bought it last week on Tuesday. However there are a lot of things I need to "complete" the player. I need a voltage step-down adapter and an external speaker. I was afraid that I couldn't find all of these in my hometown but today I did!

I've been wanting to own a record player for quite some time now. Well as you know I've been an avid CD collector. Some people might debate saying that the only proper "physical form" of music comes in vinyls and not CD. Well to me as long as it comes in a physical form (casette/CD/vinyl), they are still physical heh. But I've been drawn to vinyls because people say that they offer a much better sound quality. Although it also depends majorly on the speaker and amplifier you use.

I have like more than a hundred CDs now, and I'm interested to start collecting vinyls, and play them as well! I was being a bit contemplative because first of all this hobby ain't a cheap one. A record here can cost from 300-500 thousand rupiah! Because shipping fees are such a bitch haha. My record player itself costs 2.7 million rupiah (equivalent of 270 SGD). But after researching online, it's worthy of an investment. And record store day this year, taught me why it's an investment!

Brenda gave me Chvrches' EOE vinyl as a birthday present (actually I asked her to buy it for me, but she decided to give it to me instead, so thank you Brendy!! :D). I remember when I first opened it, it felt really special. It's a totally different feel as compared to opening a CD heh. It definitely feels more"physical". And when I spinned it for the first time just now. I was just so amazed.

Prior to getting a record player, I have been researching lots of things about vinyls. How to take care of it, how it's made and so on. I was just pretty awed by the fact that the music that came out of my speaker, were formed from the grooves of the vinyl. It's just amazing really. Well after all, this is the first time in my life that I ever own a record, and play it on a record player. I was born in the cassette era, and I grew up in the CD era. I've never seen or touched a vinyl before (except during RSD haha).

Well I'm really looking forward to expanding my record collection. It is indeed an expensive hobby. But I won't go crazy like I am with CDs. I will only buy a record that I really really really love, or a record that I share special value in it. So far I have 3 albums: Chvrches' EOE, Szymon's Tigersapp and Kings of Convenience's Declaration of Dependence, which is my favourite album from KOC.

Anyway since we're talking about music, time to share you my music discovery of December!

Great Music of December

- Water Under The Bridge by Adele

- When We Were Young by Adele

- Diamonds On The Water by Enya

- The Humming by Enya

- A Head Full of Dreams by Coldplay

- Up&up by Coldplay

- You and I by Sloslylove

- Flesh Without Blood by Grimes

- Realiti by Grimes

- Tibet (A Passage To) by Tibet Project

Okay not gonna talk about Adele, Enya and Coldplay since I talked about them in my previous posts!

I discovered Sloslylove from another music channel on YouTube called Sensei Radio, which was the channel that I discovered Shura last year! They uploaded Sloslylove's You and I and oh my I really love the whole synth and 80s vibe that they have. I checked their bandcamp page out and bought their whole album! I love the album a lot. Cause of the awesome vibe that they gave me. Well like I once said, I love anything with synths haha. Do check them out! :)

As for Grimes, I actually discovered her earlier in this year when her video for Realiti appeared on my recommended page. When I read the description about how she lost the ableton file and how this song won't be in the album, I was a bit bummed. But when I found out that she was releasing Art Angels, and that the demo version of Realiti is included in the physical copy, I quickly went to get it! :D I really love the album as well. No wonder some music publications named it album of the year.

I came across the song Tibet (A Passage To) in YouTube as well. I discovered this channel which has videos of Thai monks chanting some verses from the Sanghanusati with background music. It's super calming! And then this song appeared on the recommended tab as well and I fell in love with it. Well I just love chilout music. Especially when it has some oriental feel to it heh.

Alright that's all for now! I'm going to do a "Music of 2015" post tomorrow! 2015 has been an awesome year of music discovery to be honest. I discovered more music in this year as compared to last. Alrighty see you soon! Music, forever.