Music and Movie Mondays: Vinyl Lovin'

There are some things that, by default, just suck money away. Rent, gas, groceries, etc are all the bane of my wallet's existence, and, while I enjoy eating, having a house, and being able to travel in my car, none of these things really give me any great joy. Being a frugal femme, I'm not a huge fan of spending copious amounts of money on anything, much less things I don't really need for basic subsistence. This is where the concept of "the splurge" comes in.

A "splurge," for those of you who don't know, is the occasional shelling out of too-much-money for something that, while more expensive than you'd like to pay, is an every-once-in-a-while indulgence that puts a smile on your face. While for most women, the "splurge" normally is applied to something in the way of clothing and accessories, for me, it is always applied to music. Not just a 9.99 iTunes download of an album, but a short drive (see, that's what the gas is for) over to the hallowed halls of the Electric Fetus for some good old-fashioned vinyl.

Mmmmmm vinyl. Honestly, I used to be a skeptic of every hipster-kid's assertion that you haven't really "heard" anything until you've heard it on LP, but after doing a compare and contrast of digital, CD, and vinyl, I'll admit that I'm full-fledged on the "I heart vinyl" train.

Old vinyl is spectacular: nothing can really compare to cranking up Earth, Wind, and Fire on LP, but something I'm a big, big, fan of is how new artists are jumping back to releasing their albums on LP. This is great for a few reasons, a. it frickin sounds better, and b. along with most new releases on vinyl, the band will include a download code for the digital copy of the album too. It's a simple measure that I hope will encourage more current artists to jump on the LP train, because their fans can have a great copy of the record as well as the music on their iPod/mp3 players - ta da!

Some things I'm cranking up right now on the record player:

-Beirut's Gulag Orkestar
-Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago
-The White Stripes Icky Thump
-Kings of Leon Only By The Night
-Iron and Wine The Shepherd's Dog
-Silversun Pickups Swoon

All of these are current artists who have realized that the depth, volume, and layering of sound that an LP provides gives their listeners a really badass musical experience. In the TC, check out the Electric Fetus or Cheapo for all your vinylicious needs.

So come on, jump on the bandwagon, I promise you won't be dissappointed!

-K