Dust and Grooves asks "Why Vinyl?" [interview]

Elion Paz who runs Dust and Grooves, my favorite blog dedicated to records, is back at it again. This time he interviews "Bongo Head" a Latin music collector from North Hampton, MA.

In this electronic world, I get this question a lot - Why vinyl? Especially in light of our Cali Classics project, what motivates us to continue releasing on this "dead" format? For those who live on the periphery of our secret club of dusty grooves, it's sometimes difficult to explain, but I think Bongo Head eloquently pins down much of the reasoning in his interview. You have to care.

Q: Why vinyl?

A: It’s what I grew up with. It’s the ritual of playing records, collecting records, discovering treasure hidden in the grooves. Dealing with vinyl records is so labor intensive, it’s not for just anyone; playing, caring for, and collecting vinyl is a holistic pursuit because you are a very active part of the process, you have to interact with the medium, you have to care. I dig the participation in vinyl, you know? As for the record as an “object” as opposed to downloading and storing a digital file, vinyl is attractive to me because of the size of it, the object-ness, its many parts. Also, I am a graphic designer so of course the cover art makes me high. Yes it’s great that CDs have shrunk down how much space music storage takes up, and double yes it’s great that the digital revolution had made it even smaller and taken the emphasis off our obsession with rarity, collecting, and objects in general, but Hell, call me old fashioned; I love vinyl all the same, and the evils of capitalistic materialism be damned!

Q: Any words from deep within?

A: share the wealth – pass along the good word, that music is the healer and vinyl is the medium. Support current artists that still have the cojones to put out 7”, 10” and 12” plastic! Having records around is like possessing an art collection – enjoy it on your own level, but don’t forget to share it, don’t be greedy like a banker, just let the public enjoy it the way you do – so go out and play it at gigs, or do podcasts, trade and lend, pass around CD-R burns of the best stuff to the young.

Bongo Head Interview on Dust and Grooves