VNYL is a monthly subscription for discovery and curation of your vinyl record collection. When you sign up for this service, you'll fill out a lengthy profile that includes your likes and dislikes. From there, you can also link your profiles on digital audio services like Spotify and Sound Cloud - this will help with curating your record selection each month.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: VNYL
The Cost: $39 a month
The Products: Three BRAND NEW records chosen by a curator specifically for you, based on your profile, other digital audio service profiles, and selected vibe for that month
Ships to: U.S. (free), and UK, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Australia, France, Canada at an additional cost
Check out all our VNYL reviews and the Subscription Box Directory!
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Each month, you'll have to select a vibe. There are two types of vibes, curated vibes and non-curated vibes. With a non-curated vibe, you'll see the 3 records you'll receive in your shipment, with the curated vibe, it's a total mystery - the VNYL crew will choose the 3 records based on the vibe in conjunction with your musical taste.
There are Spotify playlists attached to each vibe - so you can get a good idea of what bands a specific hashtag might correlate to - I love this aspect of it!
The other thing to mention about vinyl albums these days - you typically get a digital download card with each album - so you're getting the best of both worlds, and I love that about modern vinyl.
This month, I've gone with the curated vibe - #summerdaze!
It comes with a few little ads, essentially, before getting into your records.
You'll always get a handwritten note from your VNYL curator for the month! It's a nice touch.
The Antlers - Hospice - Value $14 on Amazon
My first album was one that I was familiar with, but didn't yet own the vinyl - so I was very happy to find it!
I've always thought of this album as "haunting" - both with the music, but also with the atmosphere it creates. No song encapsulates that feeling better than Kettering for me - it's really a fantastic intro into the album. I can't recommend this album enough - give it a shot!
The Joy Formidable - A Balloon called moaning - Value $13 on Amazon
The next album is an 8 song EP from the Wales trio, The Joy Formidable.
This one is new for me, but I like it! For me, it's got a lot of the same pop and feeling of Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene - maybe a little poppier, but still with the catchy hooks and anthemic feelings, while still busting out with a little bit of edge and distortion on tracks like Austere, giving it a Death From Above 1979 feeling from the driving bass line. So, it's a bit of a chameleon - in a good way!
The Dodos - Time To Die - Value $15 on Amazon
The final album this month comes from the San Francisco outfit, The Dodos.
This is another new album and band for me - and another that I'm enjoying. This album feels so driven by the percussion and awesome finger-picking guitar riffs - check out Longform for some finger pickin' action. The vocal melodies remind me of Local Natives, while the overall tone and feeling show hints of a folksier Grizzly Bear and The Shins.
Verdict: This delivery brought 3 very different albums, but each one touched on albums and bands that I really enjoy - so, again, VNYL finds the right spot in my musical taste and delivers. My values add up to around $42 for the three vinyl records, which is just over the $39 price tag - if you're looking to this subscription to get a big dollar value you might be disappointed, instead, this is one to check out to help discover new music - that's where I see the majority of the value.
What did you think of the #summerdaze VNYL delivery? What vibes have you selected?
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