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COURTNEE, HEATHER & AZOLA
@happinessinheadphones
Talking with both Courtnee and Heather was a really fun experience and they both spoke to passionately about music and records. Even when we were on the video call chatting, the postman came and delivered a new record for their collection. Talk about great timing! I even got to say hello to Azola also.
Their Instagram page is a brilliant one to follow and the variety of different records they post is really inspiring for my collection. I have a good chunk of Funk & Soul in my collection but discovering new records from other collectors is what it’s all about for most collectors that engage on a daily basis in the Vinyl Community. Thanks for sharing your collection with me and taking the time to tell me about your record collecting obsession!
How long have you collected records for?
Courtnee: I’ve roughly collected records for around ten years now.
Heather: It’s been around five years since I started collecting vinyl records.
Why vinyl then? How did you get into collecting this format?
Courtnee: I enjoy the full experience of the vinyl format, the spatial sound quality, hearing the crackle in older albums as well as hearing the pristine quality from new or clean pressings. I love having the tangible, permanent version of an album, and I enjoy the care and patience that goes into putting on a record, and it never gets old watching it spin. I started with a small collection for sampling and getting into production, and searching through obscure, random albums I’d find at thrift stores. Then when we had our son, Azola, we started to listen to records throughout the day instead of having the TV on, so we started to add in some more Classic Soul and Jazz albums that we loved. For a while I stayed away from trying to get new records, until I got a copy of Keifer’s “Happysad” album at a concert and discovered it was clear and that opened us up to the world of coloured vinyl! After that, we started collecting more current albums, getting into pre-orders while also doing a lot of crate digging for underrated artists and cool covers. One of my favourite things about collecting is coming across sleeve notes to learn more about the music that you wouldn’t have come across elsewhere, and reading the artists writers and producers involved.
Heather: Vinyl really transports you to a different time. When you put on a record, it’s a whole moment you’re creating, & especially when I listen to older records, I feel transported back to that time. I enjoy it more than other formats because of that. I got started collecting with Courtnee; just listening to records or grabbing records based on cool covers. Slowly our world expanded to the vast collection we have now.
Do you have a favourite genre of music you both enjoy listening to?
Courtnee: I like having a nice range of genres around from Soul to Rock to Jazz, but I love finding a great Soul/Funk, Jazz Funk, or Proggressive Rock album from the ‘70s or ‘80s. Growing up I listened to a lot of Motown from my grandparents, and then some classic Hip Hop and R’n’B like Eric B and Rakim and SWV from my mother. As I got older, I got into the Emo/Screamo scenes and was always on Purevolume and Fueled By Ramen labels looking for new artists. In college I got into more underground Hip Hop, Electronic, ‘bedroom’ production, Math Rock and Jazz. Recently I’ve been diving into the Retro-Psychedelic Soul labels, and contemporary Jazz and UK Jazz scenes.
Heather: My happy place is definitely Soul & Funk music. I also really enjoy lyrical content so I get into a lot of classic Hip Hop & Emo Rock music from the early ‘00s.
Were there records in your families growing up at all?
Courtnee: I didn’t really have records growing up, but cassettes and binders full of CD’s were always around the house.
Heather: My mother had a large vinyl collection when I was a girl but most of it was sold in a fateful yard sale one day, and she’s honestly never recovered I don’t think.
Do you have a certain space where you listen to your collection?
Courtnee: We mostly listen to records in our living room but I also have a turntable in my office and one in our bedroom that get played every now and then.
How do you organise your collection? Do you use Discogs at all?
Courtnee: I really lean on Discogs to help keep me organised and I know what I have and what its ‘worth’. We store our vinyl in the Ikea Kallax cube shelves like more collectors do, but we also have a couple of crates here and there.
Where do you shop for records usually?
Courtnee: Anywhere I can find them haha, I love to go to local record shops, thrift stores, and flea markets, but we do a little bit of travelling and we will just search for shops in the area. If I’m looking for something specific I go to Discogs or eBay, for older stuff and Bandcamp, and online stores like Rough Trade (@roughtrade), or fatbeats (@fatbeats) for newer records.
Do you participate in Record Store Day?
Courtnee: Yes, we try to if we can. Recently the Record Store Day’s have been getting split up which has been great, I hope they keep that going.
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