Despite the fact that I often think vinyl as a musical medium can be pretentious, there’s nothing more fun than flipping through crates of 33s, and finding an awesome old or new or old single 7″.  According to the almighty Nielsen, while music sales are still on the decine, vinyl has picked back up. Surprised? You might not be if you’re at Reckless on a Saturday afternoon (like I was yesterday), or if you’ve heard about primary vinyl/digital labels such as Mexican Summer selling out their limited pressings.

From another angle local independent labels are also still releasing to vinyl. I recently discovered Hozac Records, a chicago based punk/garage outfit that has put out many awesome 7″s and 33″ LPs, mainly from Chicago artists.

Still I ask myself (like others), is it just a fad?  Maybe as the formerly ubiquitous CD record store model fades, vinyl can keep record stores from completely going extinct, at least for those who love even causally collecting one of the few lasting physical art forms. As for me I’ll keep my favorite jazz standards, and limited local releases.

Also, if you’re like me and enjoy hunting for vinyl from time to time, check out the CHRIP (Chicago Independent Radio Project) Record Fair next weekend. Looks pretty darn cool to me.

(The title of this post is a quote from american journalist Dave Barry)