Sitting in a comfortable, cloud-like bean bag across from your favorite person in the world. There is a silence. A comfortable silence between the two of you, being filled with the sound of your favorite album. A record is spinning around and around, like a child on a merry-go-round. You can hear the static from the old record. The feeling of the room is warm and inviting. It could make a total stranger want to sit down and join you. This is my happy place, you think. But the mood would not be complete without the fulfilling sound of music.

This is the feeling a record can give you. It is one thing to pop headphones in your ears and listen to the music on your phone. It is easier, more convenient and portable. But, there is nothing quite like watching the vinyl record spin, the butterflies in your stomach as you place the needle on the record, trying your absolute hardest not to scratch your brand-new record. Sure, you can pay $19.99 for an album on iTunes, but wouldn’t you rather pay $5 for a record and have the glorifying feeling that you not only saved money but found your favorite album that you can keep. Some may say that vinyl records are a thing of the past, but there is a unique aesthetic that will never go out of style.

Vinyl records are a time machine to a simpler time in the world. It could take you back to post-World War II when the soldiers are returning from war. A jaunty tune is playing in the background while you anxiously wait for your brother, father, or significant other to get home from the grueling war that they have just endured. The record could take you to the sixties when Americans are protesting for peace during the Vietnam War. You and other protesters are fueled by the music John Lennon and Yoko Ono were creating and asking for others to “Give Peace a Chance.” If you are listening to music from boy-bands, the record could take to the nineties; you are in your bright pink bedroom taking a quiz in a magazine, listening to the Backstreet Boys. Records are a time-machine. You just have to choose the location.

Though records are quite usually associated with older music, many artists are trying to recreate the vintage sound and aesthetic that records produce by releasing their albums on vinyl. These records are shiny and new. They have yet to have been scratched by the abhorred needle that creates the music produced through the record player. The record player is a process that is mind-boggling to many. The idea of nothing more than plastic spinning, a diamond-tipped needle, and electricity creating a variety of music is completely ludicrous, and yet somehow it works.  It is absurd to think that this is considered “old-fashioned” technology when most people in present times can’t even wrap their heads around how this works.

Perhaps the most fun part of records and record players, besides the actual music of course, is going to various record stores and vintage shops. Walking down Bardstown Road, window shopping in the various shops, until you finally find the one. The one record you have been looking for. And its half the price you anticipated. The best way to describe your feelings at that moment is joy. Record stores and shops are the heart of Louisville’s Highlands. You can find incredible records for very inexpensive prices. Vintage record stores are typically only going to have old, dusty records. They are often hole-in-the-wall places that no one would even think of going in. But, upon further observation, you will find, not only records and music, but a community of music lovers who are committed to their favorite bands and albums. Music stores might not look like much, but they are a gateway to another world. Outcasts that listen to lesser-known, alternative music find a place that is home to them. Anyone can go to record stores and immediately feel like they belong. The stores are often unexclusive getaways for many who don’t feel like they fit in.

The love of music and records can unite people. In times of misfortune and despair, many people turn to music as a comforting friend. When the world constantly harps on always being happy and okay, music can represent how you truly feel, as opposed to how you are supposed to feel. If you listen to a sad record, it is more than okay to be sad without judgement from anyone or anything. Records create an irreplaceable vibe. What once was an awkward silence in a room, can become a room of soft music and light conversation about the artist of the record that is playing. Records can set a mood for almost anything. They can create a warm and inviting feeling that could make even a stranger feel welcome. Records and vintage vibes are one of the many things that makes parts of town, like the Highlands, special and keep Louiville weird. Vinyls can wash over a bad day like a tidal wave at the beach and improve your spirits immediately. They can make you joyous and jubilant, and all you have to do is spin the vinyl.