Collector Talks with Lodewijk

Collector Talks

In Collector Talks we ask collectors how they collect vinyl and how they categorize their vinyl collection. We start off with Lodewijk Bleijerveld (37 years old) living in Amsterdam. Size of his collection: around 300 records. 

What was the first record you ever bought?

I started buying vinyl when I was a student. Not to play, but to use it as a piece of art for my empty student walls. The first record I ever bought was Peel Slowly and See from the Velvet Underground & Nico because of the iconic artwork of Andy Warhol's banana. I didn’t even own a record player back then! It was the cheapest way to put a cool piece of art in my student room. The second album I bought was Exile on Mainstreet from the Stones, for the same reason; to brighten up my walls. During my studies I helped a friend out by doing some voluntary work for her not-for-profit organization. As a thank you gift she gave me a record player, so that’s when I really started to build a record collection.

How and where do you buy vinyl?

Gigs
I bought (and still buy) most of my records at the merch stand during a gig. The lesser-known the artist, the better. I like it a lot when the artist is selling his or her own records and signs it.  I bought signed records from Alamo Race Track, Local Natives, Cloud Nothing and even Charles Bradley! 

Second hand Markets
I’m very much into live music, so there was a time whereI also bought a lot of live albums on vinyl at second hand markets. My favorite live album is Supertramp, live from Paris. My son Nout (2 years old) loves this album. He always chooses this album when we are playing records and starts dancing to it together with his mom. He loves to play around with the RPM button and hear all the different tempos. I bought some other great live albums like Ray Lamontagne and My Morning Jacket, but most live albums I bought are actually not so great and I never listen to them, like a live Tame Impala record or a Live U2 record. I don’t buy live records anymore, I would rather see the artist live and buy a studio album on vinyl. 

Record Stores
When I want to buy records in a particular genre (Electronics or African Records) I would normally go to my local record store, Velvet Amsterdam. I bought beautiful African Records like Francis Bebey, William Onyeabor and also enjoy various African Psychedelic albums. When I’m in another country I always look for a record store in the neighbourhood. Once I was working on the Hilary Clinton campaign in Los Angeles and had 1 day off so I went straight to Amoeba. I bought a lot of African records there. It’s a shame they had to move their iconic shop at Sunset Blvrd last month. 

What’s your top 3 records all time?

1. Alamo Race Track - Unicorn Loves Dear is my all time favorite album ever. 
2. Thomas Azier - Rouge. The song winners is my anthem. His record was released in 2016, which was a very difficult year for me. My father passed away while I expected my first son and I was working very hard for a political campaign in the Netherlands. This song helped me to keep going while everything around me was really difficult.
3. The songs of William Onyeabor make me and everybody in my family very happy, it’s always a delight to put this record on. 

We have some brain-teasing questions about categorizing. 

• Alphabetical, Chronological or by Genre? 
  Alphabetical

• Bands which start with a number?
  Before the A
  
  
• Solo album or somebody from a well-known band. Do you categorize this alphabetical or at the same place as the band?
  Alphabetical
  
  
• 7” and 10”? 
  All together at the end of my collection
  
  
• White Label 12"?
  Also Alphabetical but it's really hard to find them again :)

Do you have everything well organized or some favorite albums aside?

I have only 1 album which is not in place: LCD soundsystem. I keep this album at the beginning of my collection because I always play this album when I have some friends over. It’s the most brilliant album ever made. Wait, why isn’t this album in my top 3?