Oh, spare me. I know exactly what you’re thinking right now. Here’s another college student with a Crosley and a few bucks to spare at the record shop. Naw, I don’t have a Crosley. Anymore.
Right now, I’m running a Mitsubishi linear tracking turntable where the ground has been jerry-rigged onto the pre-amp and the belt seems a little loosey goosey. It’s all attached to a Yamaha for the stereo and a couple of 90s Bose speakers, making my current setup. Currently I have Bloom side A playing and I’m set to throw on Animals.
My collection ranges from old and new, with a heathy dose of Led Zeppelin, Vampire Weekend, Tame Impala, MGMT, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and a decent amount of Miles Davis. The annoying part where I drop band names is over. You can breathe now.
Since I started college, I’ve been collecting and listening. You always have some groovy experiences inside of a record shop. Whether it’s listening to two guys questioning whether or not an artist has been “turned on,” or just looking at the cookey records in all their glory. Then, there are the countless times where you just sit and listen to the record in awe.
When asked about why I listen to vinyl, I try my best to avoid the line of conversation about how the sound has more quality or how there’s a certain warmth to a record over the digital version. Honestly, it’s just a lot of fun sitting around, thumbing through a collection, and listening to a record.
So, here’s my blog about vinyl. I’ll talk about record stores, “review” some albums I’ve picked up, and maybe stick a joke or two in there somewhere. I’ll also try to keep you on the up of releases and I’ll track this year’s Record Store day. Also, I plan to get you, yes, you involved in this blog, so stick around.
Reach the writer for suggestions, comments, or angry lofty demands via twitter @jesse_millard or at jamillar@asu.edu.
Jesse Millard, junior, is a journalism major at the school where everyone wears gold “a bit too much.” He spends his time going to class, drinking coffee, listening to records, reading, writing, etc. Also, he finds himself writing quick 2-3 sentence long bios in the third person, more often than not.
