Fake Records

Saturday, 30 December 2006

In the 90´s Preston Peek was of great inspiration and influence on my thoughts on record collecting and writing about it. He had a zinelogue called Exotica Etcetera, in which he wrote articles, mainly about records that he sold. That were great records, which were very hard to find here in Holland in those days. The prices he asked for the records were well within my financial reach, but ofcourse the postage and taxes made it difficult to buy from him. At least with my budget. But it were the articles that he wrote for Exotica Etcetera that interested me most. To my knowledge he still hasn’t put any of them up his site, VinylLives. I think that is a pity, because you would love to read them. (If you haven’t already!). I remember three articles in paricular: one about “*vinyl karma*”, one about a very strange record that I will talk about later, and one about Fake Records. If you can find issues of Exotica/Etcetera, buy them! (Many issues are still in stock at VinylLives.)
I collect fake records too, of course. This is fake record sleeve, a bit smaller than a 45, that was made to hold a platenbon. I don’t know if there is an English word for it. It is a sort of cheque with which you can buy records. It is still a popular present in Holland nowadays, although it is now called a CD-bon. On the back of this fake sleeve the record shop that sold it could place a stamp or a sticker.
I just took a look what was for sale on VinylLives at the moment and I found this great record: “Die Pein vom Haupt entfernen” by Felix Knoth:
“Artist Knoth has created 8 short electronic pieces (each ending in a locked groove), as well as 8 short films that play, zootrope style, atop any turntable. Simply place the LP on your spindle, followed by the slitted cylinder. Insert one of the 8 film strips inside the cylinder, cue up the appropriate track, and peer through a ‘slit’ at the proper angle until you can see the motion depicted in the film. Knoth marries a very old technology — indeed, perhaps the first experimental ‘moving pictures’ — with futuristic sound pieces. All items come stored, with sto instructions, in a custom-made box. Only 500 in existence. MINT, Watzmann 009.”
For $50 it is yours, but I guess by the time you read this it is already gone.