THE RETURN OF VINYL

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: B1 LOWER INTERMEDIATE

 source of the picture topnews.in

The return of vinyl

Life isn’t easy for the music industry these days. Illegal downloads on the internet have destroyed CD sales and artist now depend primarily on concert tours for their income.

Yet there is one piece of good news: according to official figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, there is a significant increase in sales of vinyl records.

The “death of vinyl” was announced when CDs came along in the early 1980s. Yet “the vinyl revival” began a few years ago. The trend is believed to have originated with teenagers in New York. They followed in the footstep of dance DJs who preferred its warmer and richer sound. This also led to a boom in new generation turntables.

In 2009 the United States saw a vinyl sales increase of one million records. Today US vinyl sales were almost three million that year. In reality this accounted for less than one per cent  of total music purchases, but it was still good news for the music industry.

In the same year 223.000 vinyl records were sold in the UK. To get an idea, the figure for 2001 was 180.000: the figure for 1979, vinyl’s peak year, was 89 million! Experts say that the 2009 figure could be higher because official statistics do not include sales from smaller records shops and albums sold at concerts.

The positive trend is also confirmed by the fact that major retailer HMV has increased its vinyl “floor space” by 50 per cent over the past two years.

As NIGEL House of Rough Trade explains, young listeners are attracted to vinyl because they love its tactile quality and because it represents a badge of honour, the ultimate proof of loyalty to their favourite artist. It shows that they are serious about music.”

INTERVIEW (audio available)

Standard: British accent

Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe

Language level: C1 ADVANCED.

ROUGH AND READY

With the advent of the CD, or “Compact Disc,” in 1980s, experts said that the “vinyl” gramophone record would die. And then, with the advent of the digital download, the “death of the CD” was also announced. And yet it is difficult to make predictions: today vinyl is enjoying a revival. Last year in the United States more than 2.8 million vinyl records were sold. It was the best result in 20 years, even if it is still a fraction of total music sales.

To find out more, we went to Rough Trade, Britain’s largest independent record shop. Nigel House is co-owner of “Rough Trade East” in London’s Brick Lane. He talked about the vinyl revival, as music played in the background.

Nigel House

(Standard British accent)

No, I think it’s a worldwide phenomenon. I think in America maybe CD sales are going down, but vinyl sales and download sales are going up, so sometimes like…there was an album out by Vampire Weekend last year and I think sometimes like 30 per cent of the sales were download and another 20 per cent were vinyl. And there’s a group called Fucked Up. Who (are) from America, and 50 per cent of their sales where from vinyl.

PERSONALITY

We then asked Nigel House about the reasons for the revival.

Nigel House

Well, I think it’s the complete antithesis of a download because, with a download, it’s great for some things, for a pop single or something, it’s great: click, buy, you’ve got it there and then, but the whole experience of going out and buying something going into a record shop and buying a record, it’s something that’ll live with you forever. I also think that when you get home and you put them on you shelves, or put them on the floor or whatever, when people come round to see you, or to come round for dinner or whatever, it’s part of your personality, it’s part of what you’re about is, you know, in your music collection, or your book collection. Now, that’s why I think there’s always going to be a room for physical product in this world of book and music.

And some musical genres are particular suited to vinyl:

Nigel House

I mean, some music just sounds better on vinyl! Reggae: you cannot listen to reggae on CD or download, you need those crackles, you need that feel of a Studio One record that is thick; thick vinyl, crackles all the way through, but it’s got that feel, you can almost be there in Jamaica!

THE “PUNK” ATTITUDE

Nigel House says that the American rock duo The White Stripes played an important role in the vinyl revival:

The White Stripes had a lot to do with it, they kind of got back to basics. I suppose, with their style or music and they did a lot of singles that were very collectible and they also did a free single with the New Musical Express this was about three - or four years ago – and  that really kick-started the 7-inch market.

People want to do vinyl, groups want to do vinyl because it’s more authentic. I suppose, it’s less “corporate,” and it’s a bit more punk rock, I suppose. It doesn’t have to be punk rock music, but it’s got more attitude. Doing a vinyl pressing, it’s just a bit more “anti-corporate,” I suppose. 

September 11th, 9 years after the attacks of WTC

                                 Ground Zero Memorial

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: Advanced

Standard:British accent

September 11th is a dark Day for Americans and this year, which marked the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, was no exception. Next year, the tenth anniversary, will be even worse. And yet September 2011 should see the inauguration of the memorial plaza (see interview below) at the site of the attacks.

      Ground Zero is currently under construction, but one new building, 7 World Trade Center, opened in 2006. Earlier this summer it hosted a remarkable exhibition. “Salt Queen” Bettina Wermet, a Latin artist who has lived in New York for many years, used a gallery space on the 49th floor (the building has 52) for her retrospective. The exhibition title was “Salt Rises Above the Sky: 25 years of Unique Salt Artworks.”

      Ms. Werner was naturally keen to pay homage to the victims of 9/11 and this she did with one work in particular: “Preserving with Salt the Eternal Light of their Souls.”

Interview Ground Zero

Nine years ago one of the most traumatic events in modern history took place: the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. But what will replace the famous Twin Towers at Ground Zero? In order to find out, we met with Steve Coleman, who is a spokesperson for the New York and New Jersey Port Authority:

Steve Coleman

(Standard American Accent)

Currently we have several projects that are under way to rebuild the World Trade Center site. Currently under construction is One World Trade Center site, which will be the 1776 feet (541m) tower, that’ll be the biggest building on the site and, once it’s completed, it’ll be the tallest tower in the United States. We’re also building an 8-acre memorial to those who lost their lives on September 11th, and the plaza level, which is on the street level, for that memorial, is nearing completion and will be completed and opened in time for the tenth anniversary, which is next September 11th, in 2001.

SECRECY?

Many observers believe that the Ground Zero site is surrounded in secrecy. We put this to Steve Coleman:

Steve Coleman

I don’t think there’s a lot of secrecy. I think what people don’t understand is that a lot of the work we’ve done so far is being done below ground and at street level and, with the construction fence that we have to have around the project, to protect workers and tourists, (it’s) difficult to see inside the site, other than the One World Trade Center, which is obviously 32 floors above street level, but we’ve built a 700,000 square-foot (65m2) basement for a good portion of the site, which is basically the size of a larger office tower here in Manhattan, so it’s a lot of space that’s been built bellow ground. The Memorial Plaza, is primarily a street level plaza, so it’s difficult to see over a construction fence. Two years ago we started a new website www.wtcprogress.com, where we have updated construction photos going on a regular basis, to try to keep people informed about what’s going on behind the fence, and we’ve also wrapped the fence that surrounds the site with giant panels that we update on a regular basis, to kind of show you the type of work that’s going on behind the fence, so that tourists that do come to the site can see what we’re going back there.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

But he did admit that there have been quite a few delays in the building projects:

Steve Coleman

I think the biggest reason why it took so long was that a lot of people had a stake in what was going to be built there. You had family members who lost loved ones that had a stake, you know, you had elected officials who had ideas about what was going to be built there, and you had a developer who had the lease to the site, who had ideas of what he wanted to build there and it took a long time to reach consensus as to exactly what the site would look like when it was rebuilt. You know, once that consensus was reached and especially in the last two to three years, once we’ve determined who’s going to build what, who’s going to pay for it and how long it’s going to take to get built, you know, we’ve seen some pretty tremendous progress. A lot of the work that’s gone on for the past couple of years has been below-ground work, where we’ve had to build out a memorial museum, we’ve had to build out a basement for One World Trade Center, we’ve had to excavate the eastern part of the site, which had never been excavated before, that was basically, you know, a street level plaza before 9/11. So it’s been a lot of work that’s gone on in the past two to three years, to work on areas of the site that are at street level, or below street level, which is why people probably haven’t seen much until the tower started to rise above the fence.


Liked this blog? Please twit me for friends. Thank you for your help in advance.