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Music

'Universal Record' Lets You Spin Any Song on a Turntable

If you, too, long for an "unbearable level of nostalgia," then Jesse England's Dada-esque art project could be for you.
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If you're one of those people who's hung up on listening to music on a record player, then artist Jesse England's Universal Record could be for you. It's a Dada-esque art project that pokes some fun at vinyl fetishists and lets you, rather redundantly, play any audio on a modern turntable for no other reason than to revel in what England calls the "kinetic spectacle" of the spinning wheel.

The device contains a Bluetooth audio receiver attached to an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) which vibrates the hijacked vinyl atop it. You don't even have to spin it to listen to music! Although you'll want to if you want that full retro effect. "Put it in motion," England deadpans in the video, "and you're subjected to an unbearable level of nostalgia."

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When it comes to the hallowed ritual of listening to music, that spinning wheel is very important for some people. "How much of record ownership and enjoyment is tied to space and spectacle?" asks England. "Do we miss the record or do we miss having an outer of sound with its required stillness and cleanliness? With the Universal Record the quasi-religious ceremony of putting on a record is isolated, but leaving the listener to supply their own soundwaves."

Via Waxy.org

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