We make an effort to seek out record shops wherever we go. Not so much of vinyls. Since we chucked out a beautiful vinyl player and gave away all our records, we haven't accumulated many. It's been cassette tapes and vinyls all our lives. Love that analogue sound, but currently, the smaller cds work for us. Whatever vinyls we have, they're kept for nostalgia or sentimental value, and the new ones are bought because we really really like the band. Maybe one day, we'll buy a turntable again.
Even rock city Seattle isn't immune to the onslaught of music available via digital downloads. Hard copies just don't make sense anymore, especially if people move in and out of a city. I would be quite hard-pressed to find space to store records when moving in and out of flats. My iTunes account and library will follow me. Cds are really just for that tangible nostalgia. A pity I couldn't browse through Easy Street Records' old Queen Anne branch, and could only visit its one store now in West Seattle. After 12 years in business, they closed the Queen Anne branch in January 2013 with a bang- one last concert, Yo La Tengo.
At a record store out of town, it was a quiet afternoon. Felt like we were back in the early 90s. When the cashier rang up our purchases, he couldn't help commenting on them because he liked the same genre too. He was kinda stunned to know that we would be taking these home in a suitcase. Yes, he likes cds, but he couldn't help asking why we would do that instead of buying digital copies. Our purchases at this store alone weigh almost 1.5kg. Well. Weight isn't an issue. It's more of allocating storage space when we get home. That sparked off a surprisingly long and intense conversation about music and whatnots.
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