Relapse

My name is Matt, and I’m a vinyl record addict.

Thats the first step, right?

I gave up a few years ago, seduced by access to all the music in the world - just a click away, I’m absolutely a user. My last.fm account tells me that I have listened to about 11000 tracks in the last year alone - thats a digital footprint.

When I moved to Ireland, I threw away a lot of records - but reserved about 1000 which I put into storage. A PVC heirloom. A time capsule. Streaming would do, I could listen to anything I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I lasted about a week - and then, exploring the city I stumbled across a ‘secret’ record shop. A flip through the racks couldn’t hurt? No one ever relapses from ‘having a look’, do they?

Turns out they do - the first look in crates, turns into a trip around the various shops and sites that make up the vinyl scene in Dublin. There are some pretty good dealers here, and then online you can get anything you want.

It’s a very quick spiral back into addiction.

Turns out that the quick flip through the racks is a gateway drug to an itch that cannot be scratched. Not until you buy a new setup for listening to vinyl, and you start to feed your addiction again.

Now, the next step is to build my new ‘first 100 records’.

I have a way to go.