During 60s and 70s communism in Poland, at a time when vinyl records hard to get, sounds postcards became extremely popular. They looked like standard postcards on the back, but on the front an analogue recording was engraved in a thin layer of laminate.

Sound postcards were usually made by tiny firms, and the recording quality was low, but very often they represented the only available possibility of having access to hit songs from The West. In the late 70s, the cards were replaced by cassette technology. The designs on the front of Sound Postcards ranged from the primitive and weird, to the very beautiful.

Designer Rui Silva and Unsound director Mat Schulz have collected hundreds of cards, to curate an exhibition, which has previously appeared in Krakow and London. This exhibtion not only reveals the forgotten artistic merit of thes cards, but allows the public to listen to songs on the cards transferred into mp3 format, drawing attention to the way that sound recording technology changes across time.

The exhibition at Devotion Gallery in New York opened on February 7 and is on view until February 12. More info here

Cat Stevens – Morning Has Broken (Sound Postcard)

Found via Adam Varga/fascinated/yvynyl

Something that always turns us on here at Nylvi is people with dedication and passion. People like the great guys at Secret Stash Records who have just released the first volume of Soviet Funk, a compilation of funky rarities recorded in Soviet between 1971 and 1976! Here they have, together with Pavel Sysoyev, dug up some really fascinating stuff.

Check it out for yourself below:

This collection of SOVIET FUNK was all recorded by Pavel Sysoyev in Abakan, the capital city of Khakassia between 1971 and 1976. Sysoyev was an employee of the USSR State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcast (state controlled media). He ran a recording studio intended to create content solely for the government media entity. However, Sysoyev frequently brought in his friends and run late night recording sessions when no one else was around.

In spite of the loosened restrictions on art and music during the 70s, most Soviet citizens had very limited access to essential American funk records. Sysoyev acquired a small collection of U.S. R&B and Jazz albums in ‘68 from a friend, but that was about it for him and his friends. Yet somehow, this small group of classically trained musicians was able to forge a funky sound of their own. Rooted much deeper in the jazz quartet tradition than the R&B styling of James Brown and The Meters, they tapped into a way of playing jazz with a relentless groove that we endearingly refer to as funk.

Secret Stash Records was contacted by Sysoyev himself in mid 2009. In a matter of weeks a deal was reached granting the label rights to release these funky rarities. Hundreds of hours have been spent digging through stacks of dusty old master tapes to find the best of the best. Soviet Funk Vol I is just a small sampling of the vast catalog of recordings produced by Pavel Sysoyev and his friends, and is just a little glimpse of things to come (more volumes). Listen closely and from time to time you will find elements of Russian classical music in the precision execution of oddly metered unison parts, complex poly-rhythms, and the use of time signatures other than 4/4 (so commonly found in most American funk).

TRACK LIST
SIDE A
01. pavel sysoyev: gostiny dvor
02. pavel sysoyev: zapovednik
03. pomogite: avantyurist
04. pomogite: snokhachestvo
05. pomogite: izvinite

SIDE B
01. victor chizhova & boris baykov: agentura
02. victor chizhova & boris baykov: chernosotenec
03. da/n’et: vyrodok
04. da/n’et: demagogiya
05. pavel sysoyev & victor chizhova: kak vas zovut

You can order the record directly from Secret Stash Records here

Graphic designer Michael Deal has a great project going visualizing and exploring The Beatles music through infographics. Through his amazing visualizations (see below) you can track things like The Beatles’ work schedule between 1963-66, song keys, authorship and collaboration and The Beatles’ use of self referential lyrics.

This is just some examples of a larger open collaborative project currently in the works for chartingthebeatles.com. Also check out the Charting The Beatles flickr group for more information.

The top ten best selling artists on vinyl in 2009:

1. Radiohead – 45.700
2. The Beatles – 38.800
3. Michael Jackson – 30.400
4. Metallica – 30.200
5. Wilco – 29.600
6. Bob Dylan – 24.500
7. Animal Collective – 20.600
8. Pearl Jam – 19.900
9. Bon Iver – 17.100
10. Iron & Wine – 16.600

We have already covered some great album cover recreations with Lego and perlplättor, now we turn to the magic of MS Paint. Since 2007 members of the foreverdoomed.com forum and stonerrock.com forum have showed of their MS Paint skills with some great results. Here are some of our favorites:

See the complete set over at publiccollectors.org

In November Art Vinyl with the help from Creative Review’s Mark Sinclair, Rough Trade’s Spencer Hicks and John Doran from The Quietus shortlisted 50 record sleeves and invited everyone to cast their vote. The results are in and the winner of the best vinyl album cover of 2009 is:

1 Muse – The Resistance || Design – La Boca

2 Manic Street Preachers – Journal For Plague Lovers || Original Painting By Jenny Saville

3 Fever Ray – Fever Ray || Design And Illustration: Martin Ander

4 Massive Attack – Splitting The Atom || Design Tom Hingston, Artwork Robert Del Naja, Aka 3D
5 Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown || Design & Photography Chris Bilheimer
6 Pet Shop Boys – Yes || Design Farrow Design
7 White Lies – To Lose My Life || Art Direction And Design: Mat Maitland And Gerard Saint AT Big Active, Photography: Simon Mills
8 Editors – In This Light And On This Evening || Cover Art Liliane Lijn. Design & Art Direction Tom Hingston Studio
9 La Roux – La Roux || Design Alexander Brown & Traffic
10 Depeche Mode – Sounds Of The Universe || Art Direction & Design Anton Corbijn
11 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion || Design Rob Carmichael At Seen, Image Courtesy Of Akiyoshi Kitaoka
12 Bat For Lashes – Two Suns || Art Direction, Concept: Natasha Khan. Design: Andrew Murabito. Cover Photography: David Benjamin Sherry. Set Design: Tony Hornecker.
13 The xx – xx || Design Phil Lee / The Xx
14 Weezer – Raditude || Photography Jason Neely
15 Thee Vicars – Back On The Streets || Art & Design Niels Ejnar Rust
16 Florence & The Machine – Lungs || Art Direction Tabitha Denholm, Layout Design Hugh Frost, Photography Tom Beard, Illustrations Orlando Weeks”
17 Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs || Not Known
18 Kelpe – Microscope Contents || Design – La Boca
19 Jarvis Cocker – Further Complications || Photography Rankin, Design Ian Anderson At Designers Republic And Jarvis
20 The Hours – See The Light || Artwork Damien Hirst
21 Jaime T – Chaka Demus 12 || Design & Art Direction, Andrew Murabito @ We Art You.
22 F**K Buttons – Tarot Sport || Design Benjamin John Power
23 Wallpaper – Doodoo Face || Photography Sterling Andrews, Art & Design Eric Frederic
24 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz || Art Direction Seb Marling. Photography David Belisle
25 Flaming Lips – Embryonic || Designer – George Salisbury
26 Mastodon – Crack The Sky || Artwork By Paul Romano
27 Loko – In Love || Designer John Gilsenan Iwant
28 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest || Design Ben Wilkerson Tousley, Drawings William J O’brien, Text Amelia Bauer
29 Mars Volta – Octahedron || Design Sonny Kay
30 Wild Beasts – Two Dancers || Design Matthew Cooper, Artwork Fiona Morley
31 Horrors – Primary Colours || Artwork Ciarán O’shea
32 Skunk Anansie – Smashes Trashes || Design & Illustration: Shotopop, Photography: Derrick Santini
33 Jay Z – The Blueprint 3
34 Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca || Design Rob Carmichael At Seen, Photography Jason Frank
35 Art Brut – Art Brut Vs Satan
36 Volcano Choir – Unmap || Design And Layout Thomas Wincek, Photography Adrienne Deboer, Nonmap Illustration Dave Godowsky
37 Headless Heroes – Headless Heroes Ep
38 Duke Garwood – The Sand That Falls
39 Prodigy – Invaders Must Die || Sleeve Art Luke Insect
40 Rakes – Klang || Design Rob Crane
41 Atlas Sound – Logos || Art Direction/Design Brian Cox, Photography Edith Cox
42 Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle || Photo Chris Taylor, Lettering And Drawings B.C
43 Nextmen – Join The Dots || Design Joe Pilbeam For Filthy Media
44 Clark – Growl’s Garden || Design And Illustration Matt Burden
45 Basement Jaxx – Scars
46 Maccabees – Wall Of Arms
47 Peter Doherty – Grace Wastelands
48 U2 – No Line On The Horizon
49 Sonic Youth – The Eternal
50 Piano Magic – Ovations

Limited Edition, Special Edition, Anniversary Edition, Collectors Edition, Deluxe Edition…,  all much used words when talking about music releases in 2009. As both new releases and old classics were often released in various edition and levels of bonus material and deluxe packaging. Some were obvious cash-ins for the industry, others were prepared with much more love and care.

Below, we have collected some of the best and most beautiful Special Editions and almost-over-the-top box sets of 2009. Enjoy the list and feel free to tell us who we forgot in the comments!

The Beatles – Stereo Box / In Mono

Stone Roses – Stone Roses [Collectors Editon]

Throbbing Gristle – Gristleism

Creedence Clearwater Revival – The Singles Collection

Air – Love 2

AC/DC – Backtracks

Tom Petty – Live Anthology Collectors Edition

Robert Wyatt – Box Set

Figuring out the exact number is tough since quite a bit of vinyl is sold through independent stores and directly from artists/labels, but judging from recent numbers from Nielsen SoundScan, which is measuring sales from the major retailers, vinyl is doing even better than last year with an increase from 1.9 million to 2.8 million records sold this year. That should be very close to a sweet 50% increase.

pic via nightmaresanddaydreams

2009 might not have been the greatest year in music, however it was a pretty good year for turntables. Especially, when it seems that the much talked about rumor of Technics shutting down has been quashed.

Here’s a recap of some of the most exciting turntable news in a year where turntables outsold CD players 5 to 1 (at least in Norway, they did..)

Back in January, Angelis Labor released the Gabriel turntable, with a nifty price range between $27.000 to $64.000 depending on customization. More details here.

That price tag makes it worthy of place on our list of the world’s most expensive and amazing turntables, where it joins the likes of Continuum Caliburn ($90.000 – $120.000) and Basic Work Art ($150.000) among others.

See the full list here.

Then, again you could make a remote control for your old turntable yourself. The DIY-recipe is here

And here’s something most DJ’s should put on their Christmas wish list: ATTIGO TT, the touch screen turntable.

Final Product // ATTIGO TT from Scott Hobbs on Vimeo.

However, there are lots of other great portable turntables out there. We picked some of our favorites earlier this year:

See the full list here

However, the AAS Gabriel/DaVinciAudio turntable, Ferrari red with 24 carat gold plated platter and knobs also looks pretty hot:

Maybe the next big thing is Styrofoam turntables. The guys at Teenage Engineering designed a low-cost do-it-yourself Turntable kit made out of it. It looks good:

We have saved the best for last. The korean designer Rhea Jeong created the Void LP Player, which elevates the LP into thin air as it is playing!