Fans of vinyl record music to come together at event in Mumbai

What was once considered a dead format, vinyl records are slowly coming back to the scene with collectors, listeners and DJs finding ways to experience one of the oldest analogue forms of music, again. And starting Sunday, antiSOCIAL, the community space in Khar Social is launching an exclusive meet, titled Drop The Needle, targetting this unique bunch of vinyl fans.

First launched in Bengaluru in April this year, Drop the Needle, will act as a common ground for vinyl collectors, listeners and DJs to play, share and even trade music with each other, says Roycin D'Souza of Social, who is heading the Mumbai chapter of the event. "For us vinyl record is not just a circular disc with music notes pressed into it, but a chunk of history, and rather more importantly, a sound unattainable using digital music. Once you listen to a vinyl you can never get back to digital music," says D'Souza.

Sound appeal
An emotion shared equally by his friend and vinyl collector Vitek Goyal, who will also talking about his collection of over 2,000 vinyl records at the meet. His session will also share advice on how to buy the right vinyl records and turntable. Following him will be a session with musician Arman Menzies (known by his alter ego Zokhuma) talking about his collection of Dubstep, HipHop and Electronic records he has collected during his journeys across the world. And offering a live performance on how to mix using vinyl records will local artiste Cut Shinobi (Arohi Chakraborty) with his 30-minute set on the turntable. These sessions will also have experts talking about how to clean vinyls, store them and buy them.

Roycin D'Souza

D'Souza informs that there's so much one can learn about vinyl records in these sessions. "When you buy a vinyl, you are not just buying music, but lots of information along with it. The large size of the vinyl records means larger inlays, which usually include anecdotes from the band, lyrics of the songs, the story behind them and much more. It's a very immersive experience," says D'Souza.

To heighten the experience, Social has tied up with The Revolver Club, a new vinyl record shop that opened last year to offer participants a chance to buy records and turntables. It will also have two dedicated turntables for collectors and listeners to play their favourite tracks and share it with others. "The idea is to allow people to share their collection of music. So, we will give tokens to each member to play two-three tracks from their vinyl collection to the audience," says D'Souza, who also became of fan of vinyl records in one such session many years ago. Listening sessions will take place before and after the performances.

On: June 26, 2 pm onwards
At: antiSOCIAL, Rohan Plaza, 5th Road, Ram Krishna Nagar, Khar (W).
Call: 65226324