This Year (2013) in Vinyl

[A guestie from Squeaky]

So as some of you know I buy vinyl, sometimes always too much. In this day and age most people just buy a song here or there off iTunes and are happy. But I’ve always been an album guy. I listen to the whole damn thing. That’s probably why I have very few playlists and still cling to buying albums and not single songs.  People almost always ask me why vinyl.  It’s really a two-fold answer. To me the sound is better on vinyl. So I can hear the difference from any audio file when compared to vinyl. You don’t need a super-duper stereo system to notice the difference. Just get a halfway decent record player.  

Physical media is going by the wayside (CD sales at least) but the art of the LP package has been making a comeback over the last several years and some are pretty damn cool. And this leads me to the second reason, the actual LP sleeve and vinyl record. There are still good artists making some very cool limited edition records out there. And I’m a sucker for most of it.  So instead of rattling off a list of what I think some of the best albums of the year were, I’m going to list a couple of the coolest looking records I picked up this year. And as an aside, the best day of the year to get some limited edition vinyl is Record Store Day. Worth a trip to your local record store. It’s usually the third Saturday of April.

In no particular order:

Califone – Stitches – Good album if you are into them, otherwise only a couple of great tunes in on it. And they played a bunch of these songs in my house this year.

Jack White Plays the Brooklyn Bowl --  Definitely stretches the idea of bowling for this record.  Great live recording.

 The National – Trouble Will Find Me -- Clear vinyl. Big trend this year. I also got a single on Coke Glass clear vinyl. This album, like almost all National albums, grows on you over time.

The Raconteurs – Live at the Ryman Auditorium - butterscotch marble. Not a bad live set by the fellows.

Superchunk – I Hate Music – electric orange. Good punk-pop album.

Then there is my favorite 2 LP of the year. Willie Nelson and Friends - Live at Third Man Records.

LP 1 – Gray Smoke

LP 2 – Electric Green with an image of Trigger imprinted into the second side

Honorable mentions: Neko Case – The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You. Great album with the best production quality this year. Sonically an amazing album. Her voice is the highlight. Side D is an etched side with eels swimming around. The Joy Formidable – Wolf’s Law. Another great album of arty punk-rock. Side D is etched with wolves running.

And if you really need to run through a list of the best albums head over to blog.LargeHeartedBoy.com . He compiles a list of all the best records lists.  There is enough there to waste a day or two wading through all the best of lists for records and books.