What with the advances in 3D printing resulting in the world’s first printed records from a simple mp3 collection, there’s been some majorly creative uses of vinyl of late.
There’s been the mathematician who turned his daily activities into something he could spin on a turntable and a company in Budapest that turns disused records into a nice pair of spectacles, but the latest record-related curiosity to emerge is something altogether more macabre.
If getting a KISS Coffin just doesn’t cut it for your musical tastes, then British entrepreneur Jason Leach is offering music obsessives the chance to R.I.V. (Rest In Vinyl) by pressing their cremated remains into a vinyl record, as music blogger Alan Cross points out (via a report from The Daily Dot).
Leach’s And Vinyly (as in finally) first launched in 2009 and has grown to a full-blown service complete with a range of options and accepting cremated pet remains. For £3,000 (AU$ 4,976.93) And Vinyly takes a final recording – whether that’s a message from “beyond the groove” or simply leaving the record blank to commemorate your life with the crackle and pops of vinyl – and presses it along with the cremated remains. …Whether that’s a message from “beyond the groove” or simply leaving the record blank to commemorate your life with the crackle and pops of vinyl.
There’s extra services (at a cost) too, you can get sleeve artwork by National Portrait Gallery painter James Hague or street artist Paul Insect, distribution to record stores, as well as “FUNerals”, where your record will be given its airing at a fully organised wake.
Though Leach has received “hundreds” of enquiries of the years for And Vinyly, thus far only four clients have taken advantage of having their remains spun at 33rpm, including a DJ who had his played at his favourite club as part of his dying wishes and an Amsterdam artist named Francesca Grilli who had a classical score specifically written for her passing.
One “written and played by string instruments,” Leach says. “This was filmed. The instruments and score were burning during the performance. We pressed the ashes from the performance into clear vinyl cut with the audio recording from the performance.”
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The tricky part is that the pressed record runs for 24 minutes – 12 minutes a side – meaning that you can’t go out on a version of your favourite album (not even short-form classics by The Beatles and The Strokes would quite fit – unless you cut a few tracks), plus And Vinyly makes it clear that they won’t be held responsible for any copyright infringement lawsuits. But if you’re looking for a way to bring a whole new meaning to the term ‘spinning in the grave’ then And Vinyly is your ticket.
