Final Vinyl ? Everything Is Retro !

I decided to write this after reading a comment on an article which basically rubbished the current resurgence of vinyl records.
The main thrust of the piece was that the resurgence of love for vinyl recordings was driven by ' men of a certain age' reliving their halcyon days, and the piece pointed to examples such as boxed sets of Pink Floyd and the like.
Personally, I find it restores my faith in humanity to see records and cover sleeves back again - okay, disclosure - I am a man of a certain age , but I know many people, including millenials, who love the thrill of vinyl.
It's sad that most of the little indie record shops I used to frequent have gone the way of all things, especially with the encroaching 'homogenisation' of our high streets.
I give thanks for every indie shop that still trades , especially now.
It would also be too easy to bemoan the sudden interest in vinyl records by the supermarket chains, for instance - after all, they only ever stocked the top twenty and a dull array of reliable 'oldie' favourites (and let us not forget the Pick of the Pops albums which offered fairly bland cover versions of mainstream hits...)
Rather than decry the beginnings of a resurgence in old style music love , we should embrace it - and accept that here, in the 21st © , everything is retro.
It's just - weird to see the revival of what, until fairly recently, was the normal...

In the style of the old 'Dansette' players...

As the u.k. charts began to fill with novelty records and acts throughout the Eighties / Nineties , pop began to paint itself into the corner*, and when the Top of the Poppers had started covering punk songs, you knew the writing was on the wall.
And it wasn't graffiti .

In the UK, we can also blame shows like TOTP, with forced miming and bad choreography (although my rampant adolescent hormones were very forgiving).
There were many more issues as the industry grew top heavy with hangers - on and self-appointed 'taste-makers' (hello Mr Cowell).

Ribald and risque outside, nearly but not quite covers inside...

 I've written before on the subject , so I'm not going there again, but I'm genuinely pleased to see this resurgence of actual records , and a new appreciation of them.
After all, it can only be for the greater good - more vinyl pressing plants means more cover art so more print / repro places, more graphic designers, more jobs in record sales / distribution...basically more opportunities in an increasing creative market.

I don't consider myself an audiophile, and I won't slavishly buy everything committed to vinyl - not even by one artist, as I'm not a completist.
The medium is the message, though , and vinyl is tactile and real in a way that an mpeg will never be.

For me, the interest is in seeing how long the integrity is maintained - i.e., without the payola and coke - fuelled distortion that accompanied big music corporate f..kovers.

At the present time, it seems to be in the hands of those who remember the simple pleasures of album covers and their sleevenotes, which often added to the experience.
Of course, there is still the mainstream, with its dwindling côterie of ' stars' , a revolving parade of mix 'n' match personalities feted by brands.
Whether it's Miley or Gaga or RiRi or Taylor or Bieber or Murs, it's all a bit meh , if you ask me.
If anything, the current trend for the revival of stars from yesteryear keen to prove themselves outside of the rarefied corporate environs, is a welcome antidote.

Recent plugs have appeared in my newsfeeds showing excellent quality packages, in which the artwork is as much part of the experience as the music.. .
So let's hear it for hearing it , loud and proud.

 P. S....I know I said I'm not an audiophile, but I am worried about the heavy arms of the new decks - rumour has it that the Crosleys of this world will gouge your grooves, man.
So dig out the old school decks.
- and keep music live.

Lots of live stuff... pic© Uncut / M. Hunt, probably

* I realise that this is a shallow summary of a very complex thing, but this is not a dissertation.
 As I said at the beginning, this piece was 'inspired' by the negative comments of a troll on social media .
It's not supposed to be definitive, but it's my defence of the burgeoning trend for vinyl records.
Let's take them beyond the 'hipster' fad.

Newsflash! Ceres Resolved ...Or Not

False colour image to heighten drama...    ©NASA/JPL/Caltech

This is just a fast post to tie in with the official news from NASA that reveals the bright lights on Ceres are - salt.
Far be it for me to question  NASA , but is that it ?
I'm sure I saw another release that said it was a mixture of a salt (magnesium sulfate) and dirty ice thrown above ground by a collision - or multiple collisions.

In a nutshell, Ceres could provide a new source of  health-giving spa waters...

The assertion is that it derives from some form of subsurface ocean (quite a common theme in our moons and smaller worlds , these days).
Estimates say that Ceres is approximately 25% water, most of which is locked in as subsurface ice, allegedly.
There seems to be a lot of discussion about the incredible refractive index (let's not forget that some of these areas are 6 miles across and glowing...)

So there we have it, and thank you for resolving the mystery, NASA.
Of course, this is not a full and defintive answer...

130 'spots' have been identified...

Atomic Clocks , Bucky Balls and Another Dawn

The ubiquitous 'they' have discovered that time moves forward , even at a quantum level.
This makes for vaguely depressing news for anyone seeking an elixir of eternal youth, in that you can't reverse the flow of the ageing process.
They are however, closer to identifying the mysterious trigger that sets this process in motion.
I love such tantalising information.
It holds a vague promise of greater understanding.
The very carrot that, when dangled before our nose, keeps us moving forward...
In the meantime, back to the anti-aging creams and Botox.

In the never ending attempt to control time, a new material has been created, using  Fullerene, also known as 'Bucky balls,' : in this case, carbon molecules containing nitrogen atoms.
The new variation can be used in atomic clocks, reducing their size and increasing timing accuracy.
Boffins at Oxford University have developed it, and media spin has declared it as 'the most expensive material' ever, at  £ 200 million a gram.
Emperors new clothes then - after all, at that price...

On which note , as we approach the festive season of 2015, how is your world shaping up ?
Personally, I had high hopes for the discovery of alien life in the inner solar system, and a resultant celebration of new technologies as we join our spacefaring companions in an era of endless,blissful, advancement.
Sadly, this has not proven to be the case, but I have cleared a path in the snow on my driveway for any wayward ufos.
Combined with the ufo landing pad on my roof , this should clearly notify any approaching aliens of my welcome.

Which brings us to the equally stultifying news that SETI may be a wholly inappropriate 'listening mode' for intelligent life, given that radio frequencies are inefficient and the maths involved in accurately detecting any signal from a distant star would be wishful thinking to say the least.
Personally, I'm not convinced that any intelligent race would be prepared to spend the time and ludicrous amounts of energy needed to send a signal a thousand light years away on the remote chance of someone intercepting it. .
The recent discovery of Fast Radio Bursts from beyond our galaxy which turned out to be a microwave in the next room , serves to remind us of the frighteningly mundane reality in which we operate (and almost certainly led to a fair amount of egg on the face of the astronomers concerned) .
I particularly like the fact that the mysterious FRB signals could not be detected - unless someone actually opened the microwave , interrupting the power cycle.
Alien contact - or half - heated breakfast?
You decide!
In fairness, all serious arrays of sky watching telescopes are situated far from population centres with their inevitable sources of light pollution: this, combined with extreme boredom and cabin fever might have the inevitable result of even the smallest stimuli  having a disproportionately huge effect.

Akatsuki orbits Venus                                  © JAXA

On a farewell note, the Japanese probe Akatsuki* has finally settled into orbit around Venus (after a delay of five years),  and is now connected to the 'Deep Space Network'.
Ensuing science based on atmospheric conditions may clear a path for proposed Venusian cloud cities...



* Akatsuki literally means ' Dawn'. So now we have Dawn orbiting Ceres , and Dawn orbiting Venus.