Always a sucker for a great analog inspired t-shirt, I came across this exploded turntable tee over at the Exploded Store.
They have some other great tees but I like this one in particular.
Available here for just $17.
Jeff Klarin and Rebecca Johnson, the couple behind Bughouse Art & Design, have a great series of analog inspired artwork available for sale through their site. Here's a bit about them:
We are native Angelenos living and working together in Eagle Rock, California with our two dogs, Olive and Beckett. We started Bughouse over 10 years ago to service a commercial clientele and inspire individual art buyers with quirky pop constructions that could both amuse and inform.
Our creative role as artist-designers allows us to subvert the expectations place on functional objects and bring the expressive singularity of fine art to a large audience by producing limited edition prints and paintings. We find beauty in many areas such as vintage ephemera, pharmacology, rock 'n' roll and occult victoriana.
We love making things and finding different materials and techniques in order to expand the vocabulary of the way we all live and see. Our artwork is full of quirky characters and objects. Our home accessories accoummodate teh mentally eccentric - lights that poke, tables made from music, art that ROCKS!
Our world is your world and we want to give it a grin every now and then.
A favorite of mine is the "Albums and Stereo" piece (shown above), a faux-photographic reproduction print of stereo and albums. The archival giclee on archival canvas is gallery-wrapped and measures 16" high X 34" wide X 1.5" deep.
A great addition to your listening room, record store, or office for $165. Available here.
Be sure to check out their other work in the Music Art section of their site.
I came across this great book called For the Love of Vinyl: The Album Art of Hipgnosis. The book highlights the work of Hipgnosis, a design firm formed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell in 1968 responsible for some of the most well known Rock album covers.
Hipgnosis was the biggest and best design firm for the biggest and best bands of the classic rock era. Formed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell in 1968, Hipgnosis was a graphic design studio specializing in creative photography and working mainly in the music business designing album covers for many rock ‘n’ roll bands including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, 10cc, Yes, Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath, Paul McCartney, Syd Barrett and Styx, among others.
For a dozen years Hipgnosis created timeless rock iconography. For the Love of Vinyl is the first book to document their output in detail, focusing on over 60 package designs – from cover to label – written about in entertaining detail by the men who created them. Also included are short essays by musicians (such as Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason), artists (Peter Blake) and fellow designers (Paula Scher) on their favorite covers, as well as unseen photographs and ephemera. Complementing it all is a lengthy critical and historical text examining Hipgnosis and its legacy.
Here's a video with Aubrey Powell highlighting the creation of the book and the stories behind these iconic album covers.
The book is available here from Amazon for $30.
Via PictureBox
We here at Analog Apartment love the look, feel, and build quality of vintage turntables.
We came across this great company called Vintage Turntable Restoration. The Massachusetts based company offers fully restored vintage turntables (several beautiful Marantz models) and a variety of restoration services to bring any vintage turntable back to life.
Claudio, the company's founder, was kind enough to share his story and a special offer to Analog Apartment readers at the bottom.
How did you get started with vinyl and restoring turntables?
I think a long time ago when I was a kid and bought my first 2 vinyl, it was a Patrick Hernandez "Born to be alive" and a Pink Floyd 45 "One of my turns". It was a great day.
I started restoring turntables back in Italy about 20 years ago as a hobby, then moved in the States about 10 years ago and I was doing restorations for a few friends.
Next thing you know it has become a full blown business - custom made plinths, full restorations, upgrades, dustcover polishing etc.
What inspired you to start this business?
I think that what inspired me is just music. There is nothing like the nice sound of a record - it's the whole experience you know, and also I always loved to work with wood. I have been working with wood for about 25 years now. Put the 2 together and boom, here we are.
Do you see more people getting into vinyl?
Business if growing fast, in the past year I have seen a jump in restorations. People are going back to vinyl big time and they dust off their old turntables. There is nothing out there that is affordable and good these days.
There are a lot of customers looking for complete restorations as well as tune ups and upgrades. I have noticed also an increased interest in turntables by young people. They are realizing that vinyl is much better and more fun than cd's or MP3's.
Also a lot of baby boomers are investing in their old turntables or having me build one. Generally they give me carte blanche on the set up and they are not afraid to spend a few extra dollars.
What was your favorite turntable restoration project?
That is a hard question to answer. Custom built I would say a Garrard 401 with a Shure 3009 II improved, RCA upgrade, Litz tonearm wires, ceramic bearing, custom plinth and custom made cover. We are actually working on putting a second tonearm on it.
It came out really good and it sounds just wonderful. The plinth alone weights about 60 pounds. It's made of 3/4 inch plywood and covered with walnut veneer. It's designed in 2 parts, one for the tonearm and one for the turntable itself.
As for a restoration I really enjoy working on Marantz, I am a big fan. I recently worked on a 6300, a truly one of a kind. The plinth was covered with ebony wood and I built 4 custom made ebony feet that are attached to 4 adjustable spikes. Really nice turntable.
---
As a special offer to Analog Apartment readers, Claudio is extending a 10% discount off anything on the Vintage Turntable Restoration website. Just mention you came from here.
---
Thanks again Claudio and keep up the great work!
We've all seen it. Someone combines a simple clock movement with an old vinyl record and voila! - a record clock. Personally, I've never found that approach to be all that attractive.
But, this clock is a different case. Here, an old Realistic Clarinette turntable, a 45, and a clock movement come together to make a great recycled piece. I love the color combination of the tan turntable, light blue album label, and white and red clock hands. The 45 can be replaced as well.
It's available here for $89.
Analog Apartment
Found two more great clocks from the same artist. Both are $89 as well - click image to go to the Etsy page.
