From Your Vinyl Records to Online Music Services
Hey fellow record dreamer,
The TL;DR: Daily Drops now have Apple Music, Spotify, and Discogs buttons, and vibe matches are smarter at plotting a path through your vinyl records.
Read on for the details! Or share Collxn with friends and enemies alike.
Daily Drops connect your vinyl collection and streaming world
We all collect records here, but let's be real: there are times when we want to hear a record without pulling it off the shelf. In the last few months, I've featured some albums in this newsletter that I was listening to on streaming services for different reasons, including when I was in the middle of an international move without a turntable and before I had found a vinyl copy of the record in question.
No matter your reason for digital exploration, Collxn should hyperconnect you to your music interests in-person and online. The first step in that direction came a few weeks ago when Daily Drops got an artist news module.
Starting this week, each Daily Drop includes quick links to Apple Music, Spotify, and Discogs. You can stream, browse, or check collector details directly from your Drop.
This screenshot shows a Drop from my own collection featuring De La Soul with those new handy buttons. You can try it out yourself since my personal Collxn Daily Drops are public.
You might have noticed that each button has a little badge on it. That indicates whether Collxn has verified that the album is available on that service.
- 🟢 Green badges mean "yes, we found it"
- 🟠 Amber badges mean "not sure"
Here's an example where not all online services get the green light:
In this case, you see an amber badge on the Spotify button because King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard has removed their music from Spotify. However, not all amber badges mean "not available": sometimes it's just that Collxn couldn't find a match. If you click the button, you'll be taken to the service to check availability for yourself.
Total side bar but I'll put it out to the universe: I’m still on the lookout for a vinyl copy of De La Soul's and the Anonymous Nobody. The only copy I’ve ever seen IRL was resting on a shelf in a West Village clothing shop as décor and not for sale. If you spot it in the wild, let me know.
Smarter vibe matches for every kind of record
The Similar Vibe system has also been improved.
Daily Drops can now find connections across multi-artist compilations and other complex releases. It will also avoid recommending more than one release by the same artist when possible, and the vibe matching in general is less... uh, naive. That means better musical context and more accurate matches across your entire vinyl record collection.
Here are a couple of examples:
What you see above is:
- Jazz Dispensary: The Golden Hour has no artist matches in my collection (which is accurate), but the vibe matches include John Coltrane, Laufey, and Aldorande, all of which could be great directions to explore based on the vibe of that compilation.
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's Polygondawanaland Drop shows a variety of similar vibe matches from my collection, including Tame Impala, Jimi Hendrix, and The White Stripes, which within the context of my vinyl record collection make a lot of sense.
Improved Related Picks come together with Artist News and the new music service links to give you a more panoramic snapshot of the featured album in the context of your own vinyl collection. You can fall back in love with your own records but also use the Daily Drop as a springboard to explore music online: choose your own adventure!
From Kyoto to New York: Community Event Notes
I started writing this issue at a Starbucks in central Kyoto. But don't start throwing things at me yet: someone suggested it for the view, and they were right. The entire back wall is glass, three stories high, and overlooking Rokkakudo Temple, the birthplace of ikebana (Japanese floral design).
It also happens to be just around the corner from the Ace Hotel Kyoto, where I stopped by the Record Market Wax Works event this past weekend. I didn’t take photos at the vinyl record market, but Hair & Music Parlour FAM from Nagoya did.
Before heading to Osaka in the rain, I picked up two vinyl records: a Peanut Butter Wolf 12" and a 2002 compilation called Tokyo Calling, which caught my eye because of a Towa Tei track.
As I explore Kyoto’s vinyl record scene, I keep thinking about how these little local moments connect across cities.
In New York, Laurent—the friend who gifted me Prison Dorée when he visited Kyoto in September—is doing an in-store session at Catalyst Records LES this week. He’ll be spinning under his Le Son Couture project, sharing vinyl records amassed from all over the planet.
If you happen to be nearby, stop in and say hi. Having gone vinyl record digging with Laurent in Brooklyn, Kyoto, and Osaka, I can tell you that his knowledge is practically encyclopedic and his picks are on point.
💼 Luggage Record #3: Ali
- Artist: Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin
- Album: Ali
- Format: Vinyl
- Acquired at: Turntablelab, Brooklyn
I brought my entire Khruangbin vinyl library when I moved, but lately this one has stayed on the turntable. The collaboration with Vieux Farka Touré adds brightness and energy, which I need as the late-autumn sun starts setting before 5 p.m. in Kyoto. I put it on during one of my wife's ikebana lessons recently, and the students paused mid-lesson to ask what it was.
By the way, if you missed the earlier Luggage Record entries, check out Luggage Record #2: Gorillaz and #1: Hiatus Kaiyote – Choose Your Weapon.
Thanks for being here. More soon.
- Ash