Vinyl Roots

No, I'm not talking about the popular Luther all-female jazz choral ensemble. Rather, I'm literally talking about vinyl records. You know, those black things that you see tacked up to the walls at Applebees or the Hard Rock Cafe in the major city of your choice?

On a quick side note, I frekking hate Applebees. Their food tastes like microwaved rubber. I'd much prefer a delicious Chipotle burrito.

Anyways, I'm sitting in my father's basement in St. Paul, listening to some of the vinyl records that lie about in huge wooden cases, lost to the much sexier media formats of cassette, CD's, and mp3's. And I've decided, it's a shame. It's a damn shame that they sit down here, neglected, unloved. I will love them. And let me tell you why.

Now, mind you, this is not a rant against digital music or CD's. That would be hypocritical, as I have an iPod full of music and other wonders of the digital age. Nor is this a call to return to the stone age of music. Rather, I am just requesting equal treatment, and appreciation.

I really think vinyl is the ideal format for music recorded prior to the advent of the CD. For one thing, the sound is much darker, a little dirtier. It doesn't have that sterilized feel of digital mastering. I don't know, I'm listening to Keith Jarrett right now, and I feel like the music is damn near enveloping me. Like I'm literally being tucked into a regulation letter size envelope. The security ones. Except this envelope has big speakers blaring Keith Jarrett, as he's improvising a whole concert in a Swiss metropolis. Maybe it's the fact that records just seem to capture a little bit more of that rock/jazz/funk/classical/pick your genre spirit. The spirit of the age, the sounds of the age. I mean, as we learned in jazz history, the history of jazz is tied up with the recording industry. That has to follow through with other forms as well I think.

In any case, I'm digging it.

Went and saw the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra tonight. A good show, they played a pretty sweet modernist violin concerto, and Schumann No. 4. I enjoyed it. In the morning, I go masquerade as a law student. Bring it, I'm out of here.