vinyl

MP3s have even less soul. In fact MP3s soul has been cast into hell. They take away physical media all together. Now you don't even have your plastic disc with 1s and 0s. You don't have something you can touch or see. With MP3s all you have a is magnetic plate inside a big metal box, or a little peice of circut board encased in plastic. That's even more impersonal than a CD. MP3s remove so many elements from the song, degrading the 1s and 0s of the CD even further for its cute little compression scheme. The sound is sharper than a knife. It's music with square edges. It's so bitter, so heartless, even moreso than CDs. Is it worth trading the lifeblood of your music so that you can store 1000 soulless, recordings on your magnetic plate?

Don't get me wrong. I still buy CDs now and then and do download MP3s. But if I could I would abandon them. Unfortunatly you can't play vinyls in the car, nor can you take them on a walk. And sadly many artists don't publish their music on vinyls anymore. Also many older albums are out of print on vinyl making them difficult to find. CDs and MP3s are a necessary evil these days.

Also short for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a polymer (plastic) made from the toxic vinyl chloride monomer. Cult plastic of the 60's and 70's, but used not only for the storage of music and fancy air-cushions, but also for window frames, pipes and floors. In the 80's the usage was vastly reduced because of nasty health and environment problems with PVC and it's monomer. (If you really want to know it: the monomer vinyl chloride can be found sometimes in PVC products and is thought of to generate cancer. Some of the agents mixed in PVC are pretty toxic. And if you burn PVC, you create something pretty acidic. PVC is also thought of as starting point for dioxins.)

No, I don't know if vinyls are still made from PVC today. But I won't burn them.

I have to admit I have not been to Vinyl for a while, so my description may be off. The club is sparse, but don't let that get you down. The dancefloor is large enough to create a crowd, and the DJ booth is in the center. Some speakers are situated near the entrance and you can sit on the subwoofers if you're into that sort of thing. The usual lights and smoke machines are attached to the ceiling. A nice chillout room is very lightly furnished and most people are smoking various substances in there. There is a small bar but I don't think anyone really buys anything from there except water.

The club is very raver-friendly and dress is geared towards that, unlike the "dress to impress" policy of the megaclubs. Door policy is pretty open, but bring an ID and expect to get frisked. All events are 18 and over, last time I checked. The line reaches lengths of 200 people along the street, and the wait can reach upwards of a half hour to get in. Not fun when it's the middle of winter in the City.

The real appeal of the club is the music. Exepect Tenaglia's mix of progressive and deep house on Fridays. Saturday's Shelter has been replaced with a rotation of superstar DJ's as well as local talent, usually under the label of MADE Events and features mostly house and trance. On Sundays, New York's most famous (only?) diurnal party starts at 4:00 PM and has shifted to a mainstream focus as of late. Expect disco and house in the mix during Body & Soul, but don't always expect it to live up to its name in that respect, although it is always fun. Vinyl's focus is purely the music and the vibe, and if that's what you're looking for you will adore this club.

Update: Vinyl is now Arc, and has been redesigned. Body & Soul has moved out (currently discontinued as they look for a home).

Vi"nyl (?), n. [L. vinum wine + -yl.] Chem.

The hypothetical radical C2H3, regarded as the characteristic residue of ethylene and that related series of unsaturated hydrocarbons with which the allyl compounds are homologous.

© Webster 1913.