No one plays a record by accident.
As scores of eager vinyl enthusiasts flip through neatly organized stacks of records in search of their next sonic gem, the owner of a small storefront in Lower Lonsdale drives home his point that vinyl is special because the experience comes from utmost intentionality.
鈥淪o you鈥檝e decided to put on a record? Well, follow the process,鈥� muses Nicholas Seiflow, owner of The Turntable Shop in North Vancouver. 鈥淵ou better walk over and find the record. You鈥檙e using your eyes. 鈥� If it鈥檚 an old record, as you open it up you may smell it 鈥� old things do have a smell. You鈥檙e going to have to walk to the record player, put it on, clean it, drop the stylus into the groove, run back to the chair, and start listening.鈥�
It鈥檚 a sensory experience, he explains, a possible antidote to the largely passive and random experience that comes from streaming digital music, and, he adds, vinyl鈥檚 tactile nature 鈥渕ay be said to enhance now what you hear.鈥�
But he鈥檚 not totally sure about that. Seiflow dismisses the term 鈥渁udiophile鈥� 鈥� used to describe a person who鈥檚 particularly obsessed by the quality of high-fidelity audio 鈥� and 鈥渦tterly 100 per cent鈥� rejects the notion that vinyl is without question the superior sonic format for listening to music.
鈥淚t鈥檚 got nothing to do with the way it sounds, it has everything to do with the way it feels,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 reject the word 鈥榓udiophile.鈥� I don鈥檛 love audio. I love music.鈥�
Customers at Seiflow鈥檚 shop love music too, but they鈥檙e not just there to browse the store鈥檚 collection of up to 4,000 used records.聽 The Turntable Shop is a veritable Holy Land for kneeling at the altar of the humble record player.聽
Seiflow and his small staff, including technician Connor Ramsbottom, specialize in designing, building, repairing, refurbishing, and restoring turntables of all stripes to their former glory.
Upon entering the shop one is greeted with row after row of record players from different eras, from funky experimental numbers 鈥� a record player inextricably molded onto the body of a guitar lies in wait up front 鈥� to Japanese rarities from the 1980s, as well as other more retro looking designs.
Seiflow sits behind a small desk outfitted with a bright light, mounted magnifying glass, and an army of small tools and gadgets that showcase his attention to detail. Some of his trinkets betray parts of his past life, when he was the owner of a photographic studio, and then an optics business, as well as his penchant for antique telescopes and microscopes.
He gestures behind where he鈥檚 sitting to show off some of the latest rigs he鈥檚 been working on.
鈥淚鈥檝e got one from Australia behind me, I have one from France to the side of me. We get repairs from the states all the time, because apparently I鈥檓 the only person in the world that does this, which of course is not true,鈥� he says with a laugh.
The Turntable Shop is nestled next to a used book store on the ground level of a residential tower on Third Street. It might appear to passersby as a vestige of some bygone era, but Seiflow breaks some astonishing news when asked how long he鈥檚 been in business: 鈥淚t may surprise you 鈥� only about three years,鈥� he says, before warmly admitting: 鈥淚 had no idea whether it would succeed or not, but I suppose it has.鈥�
He鈥檇 be right about that.
鈥� 鈥� 鈥�
Neil Young once notably crooned: 鈥淚t鈥檚 better to burn out than fade away.鈥�
A generation of mythology-obsessed rock stars might have understood what Neil was getting at 鈥� that going out in a flaming ball of glory was preferable to letting the cruelty of Father Time run its course 鈥� but the mantra certainly hasn鈥檛 applied to the steady re-ascendance of vinyl records, a format that shows no signs of either burning out or fading away, and in fact appears to be burning brighter than ever before.
In Canada, the sale of vinyl last year experienced its seventh straight year of growth, according to an annual year-end Nielsen study that looks at the state of the music industry. Sales of vinyl records were up nearly 22 per cent in 2017 over the year before, which marks the single highest sale of vinyl in a year since Nielsen started tracking music sales in the early 1990s.
On April 21, thousands of vinyl lovers across Canada are expected to line up out the doors of their favourite independent record stores in order to score unique releases that are only available on that day. It鈥檚 part of an annual event called Record Store Day that鈥檚 now in its 11th year.
鈥淩ecord Store Day was designed to get foot traffic in those stores, in those mom and pop stores, to help them generate business, as well as giving back to their communities that they鈥檝e been in for god knows how many years,鈥� explains Ryan Kerr, organizer and director of marketing for Record Store Day Canada.
Kerr notes that Record Store Day started in the U.S. but is now an international event, with vinyl collectors across the world scouring their favourite analog music shops in places like Mexico, Israel, and Australia in search of their next big find.
Asked why vinyl has had such a resurgence over the past decade during a period when buying music online has reached an apex, Kerr blames this one 鈥� in a positive way 鈥� on Millennials.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the Millennials that have pushed it,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t really started there, and then the older generation, the parents, starting saying, 鈥榃ell, you know what, if you鈥檙e really into this I鈥檒l either get the turntable refurbished and repaired or why don鈥檛 we just go buy one. It鈥檚 one or the other.鈥欌��
Record Store Day is geared towards merchants that specialize in selling new vinyl, leaving a place like The Turntable Shop, which sells used LPs, unable to officially participate.
But for Seiflow, this isn鈥檛 a problem.
鈥淲e鈥檙e here to support the industry, which we do passionately of course, but we鈥檙e not a record store. We鈥檙e a turntable shop that happens to have a bunch of records for sale,鈥� he says. Seiflow motions to a 60-year-old turntable that he has been tinkering away at, trying to breathe new life into. 鈥淚t will be good probably for another 60,鈥� he says.
Twenty-year-old Connor Ramsbottom might initially look out of place in a shop that deals with hardware from another era, but he has taken The Turntable Shop鈥檚 mission to heart. As a technician at the shop, he鈥檚 responsible for repairing and restoring the record players that grace the facility, where he says the hardest part is often figuring out what鈥檚 wrong with the rig in the first place.
鈥淚s it an automatic mechanism not working? Is sound not coming out properly? Stuff like that,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got a very complex piece of machinery that鈥檚 multilevel.鈥�
Despite its complexities, Ramsbottom says it鈥檚 worth it when a look of nostalgic elation crosses the face of a client after their turntable is returned fixed and restored, after having likely been in the family for generations.
鈥淭hey drop it off as an heirloom, but looking nothing like the thing that they remembered, and then they come back and it鈥檚 all shiny, beautiful, and working flawlessly,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 just a fantastic thing to experience.鈥�
