Vinyl Culture | Shannah and her brother's record collection
Vinyl Culture
Shannah Vreeburg, founder of lifestyle blog 'The Home Rebel' has inherited a nice collection of house records from her brother. She never got the change to listen to them, until now. Read more about her musical discovery.
The Home Rebel
When I started with The Home Rebel account I only shared interior inspiration. Now I also share stories about my life, like my kids and now and then a picture of myself. When I am styling my home I always look for products that have a story, a raw edge and give me inner calm. That is why I instantly fell for this record player, I can finally listen to my brother's records and the design fits perfect in my living room. If you look at my interior, you will find a lot of black & white photography and illustrations. A record cover is also a piece of art and I would love to show them on my wall. For example, Madonna and the cover of 'Like a Virgin' is a beautiful picture that tells me a story and has that raw edge I am looking for.
"I like to create corners in my home and move furniture around. With that in mind I upcycled this table, painted it white and played with the marble print. All in black and white of course."
Record collection
My brother was 14 years older than me and when he still lived at home, in his room that was above mine, he already listened to Doe Maar and De Dijk (two famous Dutch bands in the 80's. He decided to move to Amsterdam, discovered the House scene and knew everyone at Club It (well known gay club in the nineties). In that time my mother would take me to visit him and he always played his house records on a little record player. He passed away at an early age and I inherited his vinyl collection. I liked the albums he played back then and I still listen to house and electronic music to this day. So when I got my hands on his collection I knew I would love them. The moment the needle touched the groove of the record was the moment that took me back to the apartment of my brother.
When I was going through his records I didn't know where to start, so I looked at all the covers and started with the album who (I thought) had the best cover. The funny thing was, the covers did not tell me anything about the music, so when I thought this looks like a calm record it was totally the opposite. The record I loved the most does not even have a cover! It is 'West 1 – Fantasies of love', a real nineties old-school Euro house record. My brother must have liked this record as well, because he wrote 'superplaat' (great record) on the label. Because of that I know now exactly which records he frequently listened to and liked.
All ears
Music equals emotions, I adapt my tunes to what I am doing. Most of the time there is a Spotify list playing when I am at home. It is time for the radio when I drive back home from work. I noticed, listening to my brother's records, how unaware and superficial I listened to music. When I put the record on, waiting for the next song to play and flip the record, I was really focussed on the music and nothing else. All though my Spotify play lists will never disappear, playing a record is almost a mindfulness practice to me. I enjoy listening to the record in that moment. That is something I want to experience more.