Adventures in Vinyl: Vinyl Pinboard, Stuffed Vinyl And The Blood Of Ke$ha

Though vinyl sales are on the rise, I don't think we can attribute the wide-ranging creative approaches artists are taking with vinyl releases to sales figures alone. The tangible nature of such releases combined with nostalgia and the industrial production methods of creating vinyl records seems to inspire musical artists to get visual. Here are some examples that indicate the broad range of what's happening in the vinyl scene.

Many of the following links were found via Erik Peterson's hifidelics Twitter feed. Of course, I could cheat and just take a screenshot of his Vinyl on Pinterest pinboard where I found the Vinyl 2 image above. Hmmm, maybe I will:

Erik Peterson's Vinyl Pinboard

Visual vinyl goodies include glow-in-the-dark plastic from Man or Astro-man, an 8-bit record from League of Space Pirates and Graf Orlock's Doombox boombox.

Other mind's eye-catching examples include stroboscopic vinyl, chocolate vinyl and clear vinyl with a "custom lollipop slipmat."

Given the 2011 growth in vinyl sales, things should only continue to get more interesting.

Third Man Records – Triple Decker Record

Jack White's Third Man Records has been having a lot of fun with vinyl including a whole series of stuffed releases from the Triple Decker Record above to one filled with peach-colored rose petals to one containing psychedelic blue liquid.

Additional oddities include the Third Man 45 iPhone Case and a Flexi Disc Balloon Launch held on April 1st which added a nice touch of indeterminacy.

Wesley Fenlon talks to Ben Blackwell, head of vinyl production for Third Man Records.

Wayne Coyne Narrates Mini-doc on Pressing The Flaming Lips
and Heady Fwends

It's hard to beat some of these vinyl concepts but The Flaming Lips may outdo everybody with The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends release that will include a limited number containing blood from the collaborators possibly including Bon Iver and Ke$ha.

Even the releases without blood will be pretty interesting as you can tell from the pics illustrating Audra Schroeder's tale of a day spent helping make records, as in the above video.

If the above mini-doc was your favorite, you may be ready for induction into The Secret Society of Lathe Trolls.

In closing, please don't forget, the plural of vinyl is vinyl.

Hypebot Features Writer Clyde Smith maintains his business writing hub at Flux Research and blogs about dance at All World Dance. To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.