In my project of listening to (nearly) every single record in my collection from A to Z and then writing a little poem-like-thing for every artist represented, I have come to the conclusion that my turntable needle is shot to hell. For a while there, I was making annotations to the effect that certain records sounded bad, a certain amount of noise or distortion was inhibiting the pleasure of listening. I chalked that up to either an old record or a bad pressing or a dirty stylus, but as I continued to listen, even new records would sometimes exhibit some nasty audio artifacts. I put on “Morning Phase” from Beck this morning and it was popping and distorting and even skipping, and I said to myself, this sucks. I cannot continue. So I’m compelled to stop my listening project until a new needle can be acquired and installed. An alternative occurred to me that I could simply stream the records in my collection in lossless audio or some audiophile equivalent, but that seems to me to kind of defeat the purpose and to diminish the experience. If vinyl is in fact a superior music listening format, I have concluded, it’s not because vinyl sounds better, necessarily, but rather because the physical act of pulling the jacket from the stacks, removing the album from its sleeve, gently handling the record on the edges with the tips of the fingers, carefully placing it on the turntable, engaging the platter, lifting the needle up, moving it ever so slowly over the top of that lead-in groove that begins every side of every vinyl record, and lowering that needle down, is an enormous part of the pleasure of listening to a record. It is a ritual that is deliberate, careful, thoughtful, meditative. It slows one down. It is ultimately a bulwark against the instant gratification of contemporary music consumption, a practice that has essentially diminished the value of the art form, in my humble opinion. So, while I might stream an album that I own a physical copy of from time to time, out of convenience or expedience, I will not stream the records I am listening to for this project. Geez, I am somewhat dumbfounded by my neglect. I’ve had this particular turntable for a number of years now (five, six, seven?), and I have never swapped out the needle. Shame on me, and thanks to you in advance for your patience, dear reader and fellow listener.
michael jarmer 