Last week I came across a financial article which stated that you could have gold lying about in your attic! The point was that if you are born in the generation who started to collect music from vinyl during the 1960s and 1970s and you still got some of the original records, they might be worth a fortune. Enough to make your days as a senior a little sweeter.
Check out the article about golden records if you wish (with apologies to my non-Danish readers, it is written in Danish).
This made me think of how much music means to certain people. If you are a diehard fan of The Beatles you will be willing to pay almost everything to get your hands in that original, very seldom, live-recording of “Tell me Why”. And if you already got it in your attic, you are probably not willing to sell it, not in a million years. Even though you will be able to click your way into listening to that very recording – sometimes even for free. It is simply not as good as holding the real dusty, cracked vinyl in your hand while listening.
But what makes it work that way?
Well, there a probably as many answers to that as there are fans of music. Last year I met one of them – and he is not just talk. He does put his passion for music into action, owning his own one-man micro-label; Vortexas Records in Copenhagen.
Since this is a blog of free fun I will not put many words into the fact that he releases and sell music from the Danish underground on both vinyl, cassette and digital items. You can check that for yourself at Vortexas Records.
What fascinates me more is the passion he puts into making music for musicians, with no gimmicks. This is lo-fi if necessary – and the attitude is devil-may-care about making money out of it.
The multicultural Central Library in Krystalgade in Copenhagen kindly hosted a concert for Vortexas Records last Spring. At this time, the company has just released Microcosm; a compilation of Danish lo-fi artists. The term “lo-fi” is defined as trashy music recorded at home for a C90 cassette.
The purpose of the release was to question whether lo-fi traditions and culture actually exist in a country as small as Denmark. Introducing performances from bands such as Younolovebunny and Tail and Feathers the owner of Vortexas Records gave this answer.
– DIY music is not a particularly Danish phenomenon. Perhaps because we do not have this kind of growing environment for artistic outsiders as they have in American campuses at college late at night. As a result, it is hard to make music in Denmark without thinking about making money at the same time. However, the musicians who are playing here today are not afraid of making music for musicians and they don’t give a damn about the conventions.
With Microcosm the voice of musicians who do not make lo-fi music for aesthetic reasons (but more out of need) was heard. In the opinion of Vortexas Records the DIY-culture in music has been sorely neglected in mainstream press. Hopefully this blogpost has done just a bit to change this. After all music is not only for white men, aged 50+ who listen to their expensive The Beatles records in the attic.
Hungry for more music which is far from mainstream?
Check out the music events at the Central Library. A lot of it is free and you can sign up for a special music newsletter.
