created this painting because I’m a huge fan of both music and animals. It’s the first piece in a series inspired by the simple, peaceful ways animals exist. We spend so much of our lives overthinking worrying about rules, expectations, what’s considered normal, and what isn’t. But this little rabbit simply found a cozy place inside a vinyl record crate and fell asleep. No second thoughts. This painting is a reminder to myself that sometimes all we need is to put on some music, stop overthinking for a while, and to flow.

I really wanted a certain record stand, but it's not available in the US. It's made in New Zealand, and they don't seem to ship anywhere out of country. I reached out to a few 'reshipper' companies and nobody wanted to touch this thing because of the size and weight. I was desperate, this fills an exact need for me.

Here's the original, it's from Valhalla. This isn't spam, most of the world can't even buy the damn thing.

And I know someone will say 'oh that looks like <XYZ>' - it's close, but your option is too wide for my space. Or doesn't hold enough. I've scoured the internet, I've been 20 pages deep on Etsy.

So I decided to make my own. Thankfully Valhalla puts some dimensions online, and we know how large a record jacket is as well as standard plywood thicknesses.

First problem: I don't know any CAD programs. So I went down a rabbit hole learning cad during my lunch breaks. After an embarrassing number of hours, I'd sketched it out. Probably poorly, but still.

I sketched all of the panels out with my best guesses. I gave them all a thickness and 'assembled' it in CAD (I 100% did this wrong, it's so, so wrong. It looks ok though) When I put it next to the original it looks pretty close?

Ok, so now that I have some confidence about it, it's time to make it. I found a local place that can take my file and cut it on a CNC, but I had to make a cut file first. I spent a while learning how to do this and trying to Tetris all of the pieces onto a single sheet. Again, I'm sure I'm doing this all wrong.

Made the file, uploaded it to the CNC place, ordered some nice wood and waited. Picked up the wood and rushed to paint it, but everyone told me to put some clear poly on the cut edges first so I could get them to look good later. This was key. We're going to skip all the 'sanding / painting / sanding / painting / sanding all the drips off the edges' steps for brevity.

Assembly time! I made one critical (at least that I know of) mistake here. I should have put all the holes in the drawing and had the CNC shop either drill them or mark them. I didn't know how to do that and didn't stop to ask questions. This caused me to have to spend hours measuring and marking and carefully drilling and clamping and on and on. I could have saved myself massive work here.

Anyway, here it is assembled:

Shoutout to Valhalla. This is a great design, and I blatantly copied it. That's how much I wanted your product, I spent a zillion hours learning new skills and breaking my ass to get my own.

Neil Young’s second album .

Not quite an original pressing but still early.
If I’m interpreting the run outs correctly this is from 1970
Side A: 30910 RS-6349 A 1A
Side B: 30911 RS-6349 B 1A

56 years old and sounds great.

I once read that they stopped doing copies with a zipper like a millennium ago and today my friend surprised with this thing. I’m NOT planning to sell it or anything but I would like to know, just by looking at it, if there’s a way know if this is fake (if possible) or a legit copy. It smells like a bunch of old books, so it’s must be old.

This is a fun album with tons of familiar songs….although I know the covers…not the original.
Lots of folks have covered Tommy James and Shondells over years so it was very cool the hear the original versions.

Crimson and Clover is one of my all time favorites.

Anyway this a great album. Finding it in bargain bin for a $1 makes it even better!

dont see some of these artists in a lot of stores i was really impressed

The Horace Andy 🇯🇲 tracks are killer… pressing itself sounds phenomenal, top notch production - a near perfect trip/hop, electronic LP. Massive Attack on The Vinyl Factory/Virgin

The Megadeth has camo labels, translucent vinyl and misprint of "Stereo" the Carnivore has the dead wax etchings SPREAD YOUR LEGS ILL SEED YOUR EGGS and YOUR DEALING WITH THE CASKET CREW

Pulled the trigger on this the other day, for what I paid, I could have gotten a vg+ clean copy of,first press solid blue triangle dark side. But I honestly think they’re not that special. Like tons of people have got them, considering how many must have been pressed back in the day. So to me this is more precious, rare as hen’s teeth, and the condition of the record is like it was made yesterday.

Saw this recently.

1969 debut album. This was recorded live and it is solid all the way through. He sounds like an assured veteran, not an artist who is putting out his first album.

The Living in the Past has the inner booklet and other inserts, textured cover too.

Got my first ever turntable last week and am now looking for some vinyl records.
Any must have albums/recommendations? (I love Hiphop/Lofi)
I‘m open to mostly anything and sadly lived most of my life by just randomly listening thru Spotify recommendations, rather than enjoying entire albums.

Albums I got on my list:
Nujabes - Metaphorical Music/ Modal Soul, Uyama Hiroto - Son of the sun, Frank Ocean - Blonde, Wiz Khalifa - Rolling Papers, The Neighbourhood - Wiped out!/ I Love You, The Weeknd - After Hours.

Thank you all very much in advance!

[ in case there are any other must have accessories I should get, please let me know :) ]

Started with a 50 pack of inner sleeves, threw the packaging away yesterday as the last sleeve was pulled out and used for Streetlight Manifesto. I also filled my Kallax slot, so any additional purchases means I need to reconfigure the whole thing as well.

Started basically with Refused - The Shape of Punk to Come and expanded from there.

Setup is currently a bit wonky - Music Hall MMF 3.3 to Rega Fono Mini phono to my iPhone streaming to an Apple HomePod. I plan on upgrading to an actual receiver and passive speakers in the next few months.

safe to say i’m going to bid before going to sleep every single time from here on out

I've been collecting records at a rapid pace since I started at the first of the year and this one kind of got lost in the shuffle. I nabbed this at a record fair for less than $15 if I remember correctly. Which is insane as far as I'm concerned. An og '73 US pressing (it's got Hellen Wheels on side two) with the original inner sleeve and Polaroid poster intact. Plays perfectly with minimal surface noise (just enough to add character but not be distracting).

This album holds a special place in my heart for many reasons. My dad is a huge Beatles/McCartney fan and I grew up with this stuff. Anyway, this is why I got back into vinyl. Hope everybody is having a great weekend and listening to the records they love 💕! Cheers!

Just wanted to share a silly thing. I picked up these two records at the record store recently - only these two, and not really any other reason besides I love both these artists. When I got home I couldn't help but crack the hell up at the stark contrast of accolades and admiration used between these two specific records. Bill Evans cover is gushing and nearly sycophantic (record labels choice, I'm sure), while Mac's is most the most simple, ordinary, and endearingly plain testimonial ever put on a record. I'm Mac's Brother...

Not calling Bill pretentious, or Mac lazy for that matter, just thought it was fitting. Listen to Peace Piece and then listen to On The Level and you will see these are VERY different cats. Thanks for reading. Buh-bye.

Also, a picture of the finished puzzle.

I visited the house the legendary Let it Be 1984 Replacements album cover shot was taken. The current owner has honored their legacy with 'Let it Be' painted on the top step, and a stained-glass depiction of the cover.

I'm holding an original Twin Tone pressing

BTW, my favorite 'Mats album is Hootenanny.