The time to stop
consuming music as I have done up until now is upon me. Not having lived near a
decent physical manifestation of a record shop for quite some time has, no
doubt, played its part. I probably stopped shopping regularly at record stores
around ten years ago, all my purchases since coming from online outlets, and
Discogs. Since the Internet took all the fun out of turning up at a record
store and expecting to find something new or unknown, I suppose it’s been a
blessing to live in a relatively isolated place. The last few visits to record
stores have been fleeting affairs, with as much benefit gained from free
magazines as anything else. I do miss them though; both from my youth and more
recent past. And it’s definitely the case that I bought a hell of a lot less
shit from them than I do online.
As mentioned
before, putting my stuff on Discogs recently has been in a depressing and
nostalgic exercise in equal measure. It’s been great becoming reacquainted with
a lot of my old stuff, but awful when I realize how much absolute tripe I’ve
bought over the years, and how much money has gone to waste. At last though,
like an old junkie I’m kicking the habit, sort of. I will only be buying
digital files regularly. Vinyl purchases will only happen once some of my
collection has been shifted. There will be a lot of downsizing, and that’s
going to be fun. Once I’ve fallen out of love with a record I can’t be
sentimental about it so I will have no qualms about flogging anything I no
longer want.
Even as I write
though, there are records winging their way to me, and I can’t stop looking at
my favourite online outlets. Once received, I know that I shall still look and
survey. I’ll tell myself that I’ll just buy the odd one, but accumulate wants
and then splurge. Nothing wrong with that, it’s been going on for years . . .
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