As Sujith G Ponoth drops the needle on the record, Amy Winehouse’s sweet deep voice fills the room. She sings ‘Rehab’ from her final and autobiographical album back to Black And Sujit asks: “Hear the difference?” Amy Winehouse’s music sounds quite different on vinyl, I agree, more intimate and warm. “It sounds like authentic vinyl,” he says.
Sujeet wants everyone to experience the joy and warmth of analog music, which is the traditional way of recording music on physical formats like vinyl records and cassettes. “For a generation that is used to streaming music for free, this could be a revelation,” he says.
A turntable on JD’s jukebox | Photo credit: Tulsi Kakkat
Sujeet, who grew up listening to records played by his grandfather and mother, converted his childhood home in Kaloor, Kochi, into a record store, JD’s Jukebox, where he has amassed a collection of over 5,000 records spanning 24 genres, including progressive rock, metal, soul and alternative. He started collecting 10 years ago, crate-digging in obscure places in India and abroad; but when Covid hit he catalogued his collection and shared it on social media. “People started asking me if they could buy records and I found there was an emerging market for vinyl.”
The collection of vinyls at JD’s Jukebox | Photo Credit: Tulsi Kakkat
This cosy space is for everyone who wants to listen to music, buy it or just talk about it. Sujeet is part of a growing tribe of vinylheads in India who are preserving the analogue experience. It is a kind of conscious slowness, he says. The analogue format records sound as continuous waves and is not insulated from ambient sounds. This makes the music sound organic.
For vinyl lovers, this weakness is what makes the romance with vinyl real. Kinjal Gosar, founder of a Mumbai-based record store, shares her experience of listening to Pink Floyd songs Dark side of the moon Her friend took her to a vinyl listening session in Mumbai in 2017. “I knew the album well. But that day, on vinyl, I could hear things I had never heard before,” she says.
Kinjal Gosar, Founder of Droser Records | Photo Courtesy: Special Arrangement
Kinjal never looked back after that, she started collecting records and invested in players and speakers before launching her online store, Droser Records, in 2022. Droser now organises events in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune, where records, turntables and more are sold. “We have tied up with Mumbai-based music school Adagio to organise vinyl nights every Thursday,” says Kinjal.
People look at records at the Turntable Festival and Record Store Day 2024 in Khar, Mumbai | Photo credit: Emmanuel Yogini
Turntable Festival and Record Store Day in Khar, Mumbai in 2024 | Photo Credit: Emmanuel Yogini
Over the past decade, retro music formats have made a comeback globally, with vinyl leading the way. Reports suggest that the market will see a boom between 2023 and 2028. In 2023, Taylor Swift became the first best-selling artist on vinyl, with one in every 15 vinyl albums sold in the US being hers. Things may not be happening as fast in India, but it is growing. Although there are no pressing plants in India, new releases are being pressed abroad. Collectors are primarily millennials, but Gen Z is also a fan of it.
“Generation Z is my biggest customer,” says Nehal Shah, founder-director of independent record store India Record Company in Mumbai. “It’s beautiful to see this interest in young listeners. All the artists they listen to are now on vinyl and they are looking for a connection with the artist. They believe in fair payment and that’s what vinyl is all about; it pays its artist. Some of these young buyers can’t afford to buy a player, but they buy records to keep them safe,” says Nehal, who lives in Goa and grew up listening to records played by her grandfather.
Nehal Shah, founder of India Records | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
“I always wondered why I couldn’t find my favourite Indian independent artists on vinyl. I wanted to see what I could do about it.” And thus began her store in 2021, which aims to help people form a deeper connection with music. Listeners can buy records from a variety of genres, including Hindi vinyl LPs (Bollywood, ghazal and classical); turntables, stereos, amplifiers, even record cleaning kits and vinyl sleeves. If you’re an artist, India Record Company will help press your music on vinyl as well.
Chinmay Madhusoodanan with his collection | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Vinyl also owes part of its appeal to the artwork. Art is a huge part of what attracted Chinmay Madhusudanan from Bengaluru to vinyl. It includes posters, stickers, cover art and inlays. “Even the records come in different colours, some have things put on them, like leaves printed on them…” says Chinmay. With over 500 vinyl records in his collection, Chinmay enjoys this tangible aspect as much as the music. He started collecting in 2012 when he was in Malaysia, where there is a vibrant vinyl culture. Chinmay, who works at a gaming company, is a jazz fan, so it makes up 50% of his collection, which includes rare bands from Japan and South Africa
Reuben Jacob | Photo credit: special arrangement
Vinyl lovers are also storytellers, chronicling their experiences while crate digging. Vinyl enthusiast Ruban Jacob, who started collecting in 2016-17, made a documentary Back to the GroovesThe documentary features 17 vinyl collectors from across India and one from South Africa, who will document the story of this revival. The 45-minute documentary, which won an honourable jury mention at the 11th Delhi Short International Film Festival, 2022, will be released on YouTube soon. Reuben, a Kerala government employee in Thiruvananthapuram, swears he is not a filmmaker. “It was a labour of love. I just wanted to document the journey of the keepers of analogue music,” he says. A Beatles fan, his collection has over 500 records across genres.
Rajdeep Mukherjee with his collection | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
For a serious audiophile like Rajdeep Mukherjee, technique is as important as nostalgia. A Kolkata-based copy-writer, he believes one needs to understand how records are pressed to appreciate them more. “The record groove has a left and right channel and both your ears pick up the sound. That is how the human body is made to hear,” says Rajdeep. “Of course, you have to have a good player, cartridge, amplifier that will decide the quality of the sound,” he adds. Hailing from Asansol in West Bengal, Rajdeep, a fan of psychedelic and progressive rock, has acquired most of his collection (over 300) from shops in Kolkata’s Lenin Sarani, Wellington Square and Free School Street. “It is a hobby that modifies itself as you go along,” says Rajdeep.
Turntables featured at the Turntable Festival and Record Store Day 2024 in Khar. | Photo credit: Emmanuel Yogini
Vinylheads are unanimous in the opinion that it is an expensive hobby. Depending on the artist, vintage and label, records are available for over ₹1,000 even on e-retail platforms like Amazon. A basic turntable model costs over ₹5,000.
Revolver Club (TRC), a Mumbai-based store specialising in vinyl and music equipment, has been at the forefront of the revival in India. Officially launched in 2018, TRC grew organically, selling records across genres, then players, stereo systems and home theatres. “We started slowly but steadily,” says Jude de Souza, CEO of TRC. Today, it has branches in Kolkata, Indore, Goa and Hyderabad, and plans to expand to other cities. It’s not just for niche enthusiasts, says Jude. “We want everyone to know about vinyl and dispel apprehensions. We want to let people who love vinyl know that we understand them,” says Jude.
Trinayan Barua’s vinyl collection | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Ultimately, it is like going back in time, says Trinayan Barua, for whom the ritual of listening to an entire album is important. “We have lost the connection of listening to an entire album. The order of the songs is laid out on a vinyl record for the listeners; and that is how it was intended to be heard,” says the Guwahati-based musician and advertising professional, who now lives in Bengaluru. He inherited most of his collection (over 600) from his father Hemendra Kumar Barua. Trinayan’s Instagram feed is a poetic expression of his love for vinyl, with videos of various records. “Playing records is therapeutic for me,” he says.
For those who want to listen to music at a slower pace, follow the vinylheads’ advice – just play the record and enjoy the music.
