Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Vinyloscopy with Zach Dean of Messora

What do you know about Montreal's Messora?

Here's the real truth, you can learn all you wan to know about Montreal's favorite sons if you head over to their BANDCAMP page and stream their record.

In the meantime, let's just say, Montreal is my favorite city in Canada even though I've never been there and I'm certain that neither Patrick Roy nor the Laval Chiefs have anything to do with it.

But, for now, let's find out about records, records, and more records.

1. Listening to Black Sabbath's eponymous debut the night I got it blew me away. What's the album that sounds the best on vinyl compared to digital sources?

That first Black Sabbath album is definitely an amazing sounding record on vinyl. I have my dad’s old copy from the 70s. 

I don’t think you can say that any one album offers the best vinyl experience, but generally, albums that were recorded analog sound a lot better through an analog medium, like vinyl, than their digital counterparts. 

Really well produced albums from the 70s and 80s, like Dark Side of the Moon, The Snow Goose by Camel, or even Michael Jackson’s Thriller are great examples of this. 

There are also some more modern records, like Jane Doe by Converge and Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age which were produced with more modern techniques but recorded to tape, so they sound super killer on vinyl.

2. I was laying in bed one night and couldn't sleep and I figured, it was time to start buying records. How did you come to the idea that it was time to start buying vinyl instead?

I got into buying records because my dad gave me his old turntable and amp for Christmas of 2018. I also got to pick what I wanted out of his old collection (like the Black Sabbath and Thriller mentioned earlier) which gave me a good start to my collection. 

There are plenty of great record stores where I live so I just started going there, looking for both old used records and brand new ones, and now I’ve got a pretty decent collection.

3. For my old stuff, it's vinyl worthy, for new stuff, it's all vinyl if available. Do you buy everything on wax or do you have a vinyl worthy category?

If I like a record and can afford to buy it/find it then I’ll buy it on vinyl. My record collection isn’t an elite club of only the very best albums, and I often get into an album because I found a cheap used copy and decided to give it a shot. 

I also have a few albums that I don’t really care about because of this. I obviously can’t buy everything that I like on vinyl because that would get very expensive very quickly.

4. My second living room is where I keep it all. Upstairs, my 1971 Sherwood 7100-A, Receiver,  1975 Pioneer PL-200, and 70's Sansui 5 way speakers. Tell us all about your vinyl set up.

I’ve only got one living room and that’s where my collection and system are. I’ve got a Technics SL-3200 turntable from my dad, the cartridge of which I’ve replaced with an Ortofon 2M-Red. 

My amp is a NAD 7130 which replaced my old one that just wouldn’t work anymore. My speakers are these really cool B&W DM100s which sound stellar.

5. Do you read the lyrics and go over the inserts when you're spinning?

I’ll probably look through the inserts and read the lyrics the first few times that I listen to a record but I generally don’t really touch them after that. 

That is except for the inserts that come with my GY!BE records, because they’re so detailed and interesting.

6. When someone says, I'm stupid for buying records, I tell them, thanks, more limited edition colored vinyl for me, what's your answer?

I just think that those people haven’t ever sat down with a good pressing of a great record. I try to explain to them that it sounds better (if it’s a good pressing) than streaming and that it’s nice to own a physical version of something that you appreciate. 

If they don’t believe me I don’t bother to argue with them.

7. My first album ever was Live Evil by Black Sabbath, so I'm stuck on live albums. What's the best live album on vinyl?

I’m not really super big on live albums honestly. That being said, I have a vinyl copy of Friday Nights in San Francisco by John McLaughlin, Al di Meola, and Paco de Lucia, and it’s a great album to listen to. 

You really feel like you’re there in a small club with these guys just annihilating some acoustic guitars.

8. Listening to records is my comfort food for my soul. As mentioned earlier, I have a living room dedicated to it. I normally drink a beer or two whilst listening to music I love. Describe your normal listening experience.

I like to sip on some coffee while I listen to records. Sometimes I’ll play a video game with the sound off and put a record on. Often I’ll just sit on the floor, dangerously close to the speakers, and just swim in the sound of what I’m listening to. 

I definitely agree that it’s comfort food for the soul, and if I find myself in an irritable mood or something like that I realize that it’s because I hadn’t taken the time to immerse myself in the ritual of listening to a record.

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