Whether it was the annual Christmas recording from The Beatles or those better-than-they-deserved-to-be songs glued into copies of Mad magazine, flexible records – usually 45s – used to be the only way to include sound with print.
This month, indie music label Famous Class released “Live at Death By Audio 2012,” an experimental, handmade, spiral-bound book of flexible records featuring tracks from various bands recorded last year at Brooklyn’s Death by Audio venue. (For those without record players, a full digital download of the book plus additional tracks are included in the book’s $32 price.)
At a time when every last print piece seems to interact with your smartphone (whether you want them to or not), there’s something refreshing about seeing flexi-discs again, in whatever form they take. Call it a yearning for the imperfect.
But buyer beware. As the book’s order page warns: “we’ve tested it thoroughly, however some futzing with your turntable may be necessary to make it play correctly.” Ah, imperfection 🙂
