Tag Archives: vinyl

What Do Anthony Bourdain and Vinyl Records Have in Common?

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anthony bourdain no reservationsby Joe Wallace

As of late I’ve become addicted to Anthony Bourdain’s writing. Bourdain is a kindred spirit–he’s got the kind of take no prisoners attitude and and a love for grit and realism that I find refreshing in the world of overly nice and excessively coiffed media ding-a-lings. In another life, I spent far too much time working in television to see things any other way, especially ON television.

I’ve been digging old episodes of No Reservations, the weekly Bourdain globe-hopping food frenzy, and what did I find in an old collection from 2007? Anthony Bourdain tackling Jamaica in all its ramshackle glory. The food makes me want to brave the trip, but the most exciting part of that particular episode for me was the look behind the Jamaican music industry, complete with in-house vinyl record pressing operations at some of Jamaica’s busiest and most ambitious local recording companies.

There was some amazing footage not only of vinyl records being pressed, but also the sink-or-swim no-nostalgia ruthlessness of these record labels when it comes to product that just isn’t selling well. Jamaica being poor as it is, can anyone blame these record labels for hacking up the unsold stock, melting it down and pressing another potential dancehall hit?

The vinyl-centric part of the clip below comes about three minutes in, but the entire show is really worth a watch as it’s an eye-opener for anybody who isn’t hip to Jamaica food, culture or the truth behind the Marley tee shirts. As Don Letts points out, a lot of people who don’t actually live in these conditions tend to romanticize poverty, Rastafari, and the place in general. To paraphrase Letts, the ghetto isn’t something people want to do anything but escape from. I found Bourdain’s no-nonsense approach to the good and bad of Jamaica to be very refreshing…and the look at the record biz there? Priceless for a vinyl junkie and dub lover like me.



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Shure Whitelabel Integrated Phono Cartridge

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Shure Whitelabel D2 Phono Cartridge record needleA hundred dollar record needle? Well, the DJ in me wants to correct that line to read phono cartridge, but yes, this Shure Whitelabel integrated phono cartridge DOES sell for $100+. Since it’s aimed at party DJs and club DJs, it’s built for heavy-duty use rather than casual record spins–there’s something to be said for a record needle built to withstand an evening of abuse in the club.

And since a DJ can write off the expense of high-end record needles as a legitimate business expense, why not?

Replacement needles are essential for any vinyl junkie, but even more so for the people who spin for a living. What some like about this one, aside from the gold plated connectors or the forward mass design made for better center-of-gravity conditions for playing and scratching, is the color scheme. It’s kinda hard to see a black phono cartridge against the black vinyl in the dim light of a club.

Some record lovers thing a record needle is a record needle. Others are quite picky. We fall somewhere in the middle. It’s enough to be able to spin the LPs at home with decent sound quality from a typical, well-designed phono cartridge…but anybody who wants to play for hours on end three or four nights a week? A rugged design plus the Shure Whitelabel cartridge’s adjustable overhang (50mm – 54mm to help maintain the forward and backward adjustment of a standard-mount headshell, letting you tweak the adjustment whether you’ve got an S-arm or a straight-arm turntable) means you should probably take a look at a couple of these.

Tenebre Soundtrack Vinyl…The Last of the Last?

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Goblin Tenebre LP vinyl albumIt’s been fun, but it looks like the fun is about to end. We have it on good authority that the much-beloved Tenebre vinyl LP released by Dagored is finally going out of print. Once they are gone from your local record stores, they are gone unless somebody in Italy changes their mind and decides to run up some more of these.

What does this mean for us, the rabid record collectors, Goblin junkies, soundtrack lovers everywhere? Unfortunately, in the same vein as the much sought-after release of The Beyond soundtrack, prices on any remaining copies of Tenebre on vinyl released by Dagored will probably go through the roof.

The Beyond OST soundtrack CD by Fabio Frizzi already sells for $199 US for a new, sealed copy. That is utter MADNESS, don’t you think? Used copies of the CD sell for about $50. Will this also happen to the much beloved Tenebre soundtrack? Probably.

Turntabling itself has sold out of the Dagored vinyl release of Tenebre–it flew off our table at the HorrorHound Weekend show in Indianapolis, so alas there will be no profiteering from us thanks to the lack of Tenebre vinyl…however we are always looking for more copies and rest assured, if we find them we will put them up for sale here–without the $100 price tag, thank you very much!
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An Update from HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis

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This is just a quick update to say thanks to everyone who came to the Turntabling booth at HorrorHound on Friday night. It’s been great to meet fellow vinyl junkies and soundtrack heads. I’ve been updating via Facebook and will have plenty more images and such from the show for the rest of the weekend.

A quick note about online orders—HorrorHound Weekend has been successful thus far thanks in part to a stunning lineup of guests including George Romero, Ken Foree, Sid Haig and many other horror luminaries (Clive Barker and Richard Lynch are also here). Some of the Turntabling stock has sold out–we brought quite a lot out for this one. Any online orders will get personal attention via e-mail as soon as the show is over. If your titles are sold out we’ll work out a back order for you, rest assured!

–Joe Wallace
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