Brocante Diaries
The €1 Record Problem: Why Brocantes Are More Fun Than eBay
There is a point where an online bargain stops being a bargain and starts becoming a shipping invoice. Brocantes have ruined me for sensible record buying.
Journal
The rabbit holes.
Grading arguments, pressing archaeology, brocante finds, cleaning experiments and whatever else happens when a perfectly normal record turns into forty minutes of staring at the dead wax under a lamp.
Pressing Archaeology
How the Fuck Did This a-ha Record Get Here? A German Pressing With an American Manufacturing Trail
The sleeve says Germany. The dead wax says the story travelled further. This is how one copy of Scoundrel Days turned into a small industrial-history rabbit hole.
Grading
Your VG Record Might Sound Better Than Your EX Record: What’s Wrong With Vinyl Grading?
Most grading systems ask one media grade to describe two different things: what the record looks like and what it actually sounds like. Those usually correlate — until…