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ANALOG RISING: The resurgence of vinyl records

WHO would have thought that demand for vinyl records would come back with a vengeance, so to speak?

The analog format was being pushed into almost extinction by the rise in CD format from the late 80s through the 90s, and later on, by digital streaming at the turn of the century.

Yes, almost.

But like they say: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

The very reason why antibiotics should be taken strictly as prescribed, dose and duration, else, the bacteria it aims to eliminate will only become more potent.

Apparently, this age-old medical truth is holding true in music as well.

News of the steady rise in the sales of vinyl records in recent years have taken many by surprise.

All of a sudden, people are scampering to look for the record collections of their pop, mom, uncles, aunties, and yes, even their grandparents.

Some were lucky enough to have found these stacked in a gloomy and forgotten corner of the storage room.

But some weren’t as lucky.

Either the family record collection succumbed to wear and tear, having been poorly stored for quite a while, or got lost through time.

Due to the market realities during the time, vinyl pressing plants in the Philippines shut down in the early 90s, paving the way to digital format—the reason why nowadays, it is quite difficult and expensive to get hold of your favorite OPM records.

With the resurgence of demand in vinyl records, a number of independent record sellers are popping up in major cities like Manila and Cebu.

Most of these are found online and a few are opening up physical stores. Regular record bazaars and pop-up events are other venues as well where vinylheads can score their favorite and long sought-after records.

To nurture this recently-revived culture of vinyl records, Fred Perry Philippines and Haul Records, teamed up to bring to Cebu, Fred Perry-Record Parade, the biggest gathering of independent record sellers from Manila and Cebu.

The event aptly coincided with the worldwide celebration of Record Store Day 2018—an event that, “celebrates the culture of independently-owned record store”—and was held at the hip and trendy Draft Punk Brewers and Skewers on April 21.

The event featured a record bazaar, including independent Manila-based record sellers like Rootdown Records, Spindle Hole Records, On The Corner
Manila, Treskuleros and Cebu’s very own The Sound Armory, OBLO, Pavement Records, Little Rituals, Rica Records and Haul Records.

It was an afternoon and night of party as top Manila and Cebu selectors/DJ provided the analog vibe with vinyl sets, featuring their respective top playlists of indie music.

Featured selectors are Possiblemusic, Shrinking Violet, Meesterenriquez, Analogeezer, Stereomafia, Activ and DJ Short.

Support acts included Paul Grant, Pedofoxx, July FX, Chinaski and Friday Gang.

There were snippets of Fred Perry Subculture video as well, which served as backdrop all throughout the event, and killer
visuals by Beta_Ops.

Call it vinyl heaven or a mecca of some sort for vinyl collectors and music geeks alike, but one thing’s for sure—it took us all for a spin.

TAGS: Records
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