Elle Bogle
October was the month of coloured vinyl. LP discs of varying colours, patterns, and qualities. Recent releases or anniversary editions, came flocking. Unusual vinyl discs are nothing new, but only time will tell whether this latest resurgence will soon become a gimmick, as TikTok starts to fill with ‘that girl’s covering their walls with vinyl art, forgetting that circa 2013 ‘hipsters’ got there first.
Taylor Swift
One of the biggest music moments of October was the release of Taylor Swift’s album Midnights. The album was released in several physical formats. Including, 5 vinyl LPs of various colours and patterns, a translucent ‘moonstone’ cassette and, 5 CDs to match the vinyl releases.
Taylor Swift has people buying multiple, near-identical vinyl LPs and CDs just to make a satisfying clock pattern. The official merchandise team are even selling wooden frames so buyers can hang them on their walls like pieces of art – and they certainly are.
The ‘lavender’ CD version is particularly special. With 3 extra songs: two remixes and a new release, Hits Different. For a time, it was only available in USA Target stores. But people have still found a way to share and listen to the song, ‘ripping’ it from the disc and uploading it onto YouTube.
‘Ripping’ is a practice where you download and copy the song onto a computer or laptop. Traditionally you would have copied it onto a blank CD.
It’s the 90s all over again – history repeating itself. With just this one song (Hits Different), we can see the new rise and the old fall of CDs encapsulated in one moment. However, YouTube and co., have become savvier at finding and taking down illegal downloads so finding copies online gets harder every day.
Other New Releases
October saw the release of some other successful and interesting physical music. With the release of both The 1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language and Arctic Monkeys’ The Car. Both albums have similar aesthetics of black, white and grey with accented colours threaded throughout. Rich blue for The 1975, and grey-green and yellow for Arctic Monkeys.
Being Funny in a Foreign Language has four coloured vinyl LP discs (clear, white, HMV special transparent blue and Dirty Hit special ‘blue galaxy’), a transparent blue cassette, and a CD. The Car is available in 2 vinyl LP discs (black and limited edition ‘custard’ yellow), 2 cassettes (one solid black shell with a yellow label and the other a ‘Spotify Fans First’ solid white with a green-grey label) and CD.
The infinitely successful group BTS also announced this October their EP LOVE YOURSELF 承 ‘Her’ will be available on vinyl despite having originally been released in 2017. A first for any of the band’s records. It will be available to pre-order now, with a UK release expected in January 2023.
Anniversary Editions
October hasn’t been short of anniversary edition vinyl releases either. First up is alt-J, releasing a fern green 10th-anniversary edition of their 2012 album An Awesome Wave.
Albums celebrating their silver anniversary were Duran Duran’s Medazzaland and Kylie Minogue’s Impossible Princess.
Echoing the original album art, Minogue released vinyl LPs in both a bright orange and a marbled version of the dark pink from the original album cover. Duran Duran selected the neon pink from its 1997 CD case tray for its silver anniversary release.
Duran Duran’s vinyl album of Medazzaland is not a rerelease. But is the first time that the album was made and sold in vinyl form — ever. This is something that will undoubtedly happen more as anniversary editions of music from earlier eras start to come out. Irony has never reigned stronger.
On the 14th of October, exactly 45 years after its release, David Bowie’s album Heroes was released. This iconic release came in the form of a grey-coloured vinyl disc. Paired with a burnt-orange central label, the colour combination is said to represent ‘bricks and mortar’.
Other Notable Events
Lots of stuff went down in the physical music recording world in October. Let’s look at all that happened in the world of physical music in October.
Vinyl LPs
The St Albans-based band The Pocket Gods announced that their album, Vegetal Digital, will be released on a vinyl LP. And I mean 1 single vinyl LP record – on sale for a whopping £1 million.
In October, NME announced Harry Styles’ latest album, Harry’s House, was the highest-selling vinyl album of 2022 thus far. But let’s just wait and see if Swift doesn’t overtake him by the end of the year.
Dodie performed and recorded her new EP Hot Mess directly to vinyl. Currently an almost unheard-of practice, it harkens back to the first music recordings. Dodie tweeted the next day “every note [she] sang [she] was so aware it was being ingrained FOREVER”. While the event technically took place at the end of September, I thought it was still worth a mention.
Cassette Tapes
Vinyl LPs haven’t been the only thing seeing a resurgence in fashion lately. Major publications are finally taking notice of new cassettes. David Browne wrote for Rolling Stone about the form’s “baffling revival”. Quoting opinions and experiences from others in the music industry and common consumers on the attention its resurgence is getting.
NPR also hosted an interview with two Syrian cassette collectors and discussed the relationship that cassette tapes had with ordinary people in countries with limited access to music before the invention of cassettes.
Interestingly, the podcast Canadian Politics Is Boring released a 48-minute-long episode only on cassette. The episode ’An Incomplete History of The Hudson Bay Company’ can only be heard via the 50 cassette tapes that were made. Whilst the rest of the series can be heard via usual podcast streaming services.
The phenomenon of cassette tapes has even made its way into modern fashion. Leather accessory company Yoshi announced a new 1980s-inspired line featuring, you guessed it – cassettes. The collection includes bags, purses and wallets, card holders, and keyrings.
CDs
Saving the most wholesome until last. A viral TikTok video showing a woman passionately defending her CD collection to her daughter. Despite apparently having no CD player anymore, the mother “[doesn’t] care” what her daughter thinks of the collection or the seeming inconvenience that her daughter is implying it brings.
She fervently explains why she likes CDs. Further explaining how she might not even remember the songs or artists she likes unless she physically sees their CD. Explaining it allows her to reminisce in her own time. The video sparked conversations on Twitter about the emotional and financial significance of owning music in its physical form for both the listener and the artist.
So when you are streaming your favourite artist on Spotify – why not dust the old walkman off and enjoy the art in its physical form?
Image courtesy of James Stamler vis Unsplash. See image license here. No changes were made to this image.
