“What’s Spinnin’?” Recent Vinyl Spins

In lieu of reviews or talking about my overwhelming existential fear of what’s going to happen in a couple weeks at the polls, I thought I’d talk about a handful of records I’ve recently spun at home. It’s something I used to do on here years ago but seem to have fallen out of the habit. With the recent acquisition of a vintage Pioneer turntable I’ve gotten back in the habit of spinning lots of records. One big thing is that this TT is a fully automatic turntable, where as my Audio Technica is not. That made it hard to drop the needle when I was going into the kitchen to put dinner together. It’s pretty hard to pick up a tonearm when your hands are covered in oil, flour, or raw meat. Now, I don’t have to worry about that, so the vinyl has been spinning like crazy at the old homestead.

I also feel like getting back to more personal posts; in-particular the ones about albums of course. This is why I started this page in the first place, to talk about music and how it’s affected my life. So without further adieu, here’s some recent spins.

Longlegs Soundtrack by Zilgi

So despite Longlegs kind of blowing the minds of nearly everyone over its extremely impressive run at the cinema, it was a pretty divisive film amongst viewers. People either thought it was absolutely amazing(me), or they just didn’t. I feel that most folks liked it, to varying degrees, while the rest thought it was another one of those overhyped horror films that was mostly for hipsters and fans of watching Nic Cage go absolutely bonkers in a flick. My opinion was that it wasn’t overhyped. It was hyped just how it should have been hyped. It was Silence of the Lambs, but waaay, waaay darker.

A big part of that was the film score by Zilgi(aka Elvis Perkins, writer/director Osgood Perkins’ younger brother.) The score is menacing in its sparseness. It’s not overtly in-your-face. It sits just under the surface adding a slow burn tension that only fuels the dark visuals. The Perkins’ brothers have worked together on Osgood’s previous films as well and each time it seems to be the perfect collaboration(if you haven’t seen The Blackcoat’s Daughter, you need to.

I recently bought the Longlegs score via Made By Mutant, which is a company comprised of former Death Waltz Recording Company and Mondo folks. They branched out on their own after Mondo was swallowed up by a much bigger company. I’m glad they did, because this pressing and package as a whole is incredible.

The Strange Worlds of Stefan Bachmeier by Stefan Bachmeier

This has been a mainstay on the platter since I first got it back at the end of 2020. 2020 was obviously a dumpster fire of a year, but one thing that remained constant was music. It kept me afloat mentally and emotionally, honestly. UK label Spun Out Of Control was a big part of that as they were a constant source of much needed auditory escape. The Strange Worlds Of Stefan Bachmeier might be my favorite of all the great records they put out that year(and the album art by Eric Adrian Lee is full size poster-worthy.)

What is The Strange Worlds Of Stefan Bachmeier? Supposedly a collection of songs by a short story sci-fi writer/electronic musician that disappeared into obscurity and insanity. His recordings were supposedly found and restored/remastered by Stephen James Buckley, aka Polypores, and sent to Spun Out to be put out.

Is any of that true? Maybe. What is for certain is that this is some of the most bubbly, engaging analog synth music I’ve heard. Wobbly, enchanting, and mysterious, this album feels like coming across some lost music relic and by listening to it you open a portal to another dimension. It’s stunning.

A Light For Attracting Attention by The Smile

Okay, so this isn’t anything new. I absolutely love ALL of The Smile releases and listen to them often. It had been awhile since I’d spun their 2022 debut, and the vinyl in-particular. Mainly because when I bought it I thought it sounded awful. I’ve had this issue with Radiohead and Radiohead-adjacent releases since 2016s A Moon Shaped Pool, in that the vinyl sound terrible on my turntable. Tinny, distorted, and generally just a major bummer to listen to when the songs are so good but they sound like hot garbage. AMSP especially, and I think I’d even had 3 different versions and all of them were bad. Same with Thom Yorke’s Anima.

Well, since I recently bought this new(old) Pioneer table I thought I’d break it out and see if it sounded any different on the new TT. It had a different cartridge from mine, so I figured why not? Well son of a bitch, it sounds great on the new TT. Spun it Saturday afternoon putting some dinner together and was floored that it sounded like it was supposed to. Guess I’ll break out Anima and A Moon Shaped Pool next and see what happens.

Space, Energy, & Light : Experimental Electronic and Acoustic Soundscapes 1961-88

I don’t remember when I bought this compilation, but it’s one that sits high and heavy on the list of influential collections. Bringing together New Age, ambient, and experimental electronic noise from a nearly 30 year span, Space, Energy, & Light is the kind of album you sit down and just let the music transport you to some other locale. Maybe on an empty white-sanded beach, or maybe some space station on a moon of Jupiter, or possibly floating through the Cosmos on a mission to find intelligent life. Whatever you decide, this 3-LP set has the soundtrack you need to get lost in your own head and open the proper portal to enlightenment.

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That’s it for now until next week. Tell me what you’ve been listening to lately in the comments.