Sound Wave, Sculpture by Jean Shin

when did vinyl become obsolete?

i hate hearing that too, henrie. plenty of present-day bands continue to produce music on vinyl. sometimes, *just* on vinyl - no CDs.

matt, who released something just on vinyl?

well, as far as my personal collections, plenty of bands that fall under the overarching umbrella of music made by "independent record labels." most of the punk rock records i own were only released on vinyl. some bands in what might be more of the "indie" or "college rock" vein do too. i've even read somewhere that elvis costello is releasing something solely on vinyl (did Radiohead do this recently? i can't remember).

anyways, i'm assuming some bands do it for nostalgia, or genre-"branding" ("7 inches are punk rock"), and others, like Shellac, do / did it because of a strong affinity for analog recording and playing (even though Shellac will throw in an unmarked CD with no case or art into every record they package).

As for the art, I like it. It could equally well be made from CDs and and have the same artistic feel regardless how obsolete the medium may be. Actually, a giant wave made out of melted iPods would be pretty cool, too.

Not to be too technical, but sound waves don't look like water waves hitting a beach. So the pun kinda fails.

Also, vinyl is most definitely not obsolete. The "waves" of technology just provide more convenient options as far as portability.

Finally, my main beef with this concept being actualized is that it trivializes the music that is on those records. I guess, heck, if any were music people like, I coulda used'em!

Peace.

Daniel,
First of all, if the sculpture resembled actual sound waves, the 'pun' wouldn't be a pun at all; it would be a definition. Besides, waves are waves. Ocean waves are the transfer of energy, just the same as sound waves.
Second of all, are you really suggesting that vinyl is just as relevant now as it always was? You can't deny that it has been overshadowed, if not, replaced.
Third of all, the records used in the sculpture were probably headed to a dumpster. The artist wouldn't use records that belonged to peope, of course. Better that they be used in art rather than be discarded. The scupture celebrates, not triviaizes the records.