Have you ever taken a moment to reflect on your life; your mistakes, your achievements?  Has it ever crossed your mind that a standard funeral or cremation just wouldn’t be enough for you?  Well And Vinyly provides a brilliantly unique alternative to the ordinary and quite frankly boring process of leaving this planet.  ‘The perfect resting place for vinyl lovers’, this innovative new company offers people the opportunity to have their ashes pressed in a vinyl recording of their favourite tune or their last will and testament, immortalised for their loved ones.

Operating under the playful advertisement ‘live life from beyond the groove’, And Vinyly offers many options to ensure maximum customisation of your vinyl.  And Vinyly also offers personalised RIV (Rest In Vinyl) artwork; the simple version just carries your name and your life span, or you can have your portrait painted by artist James Hague with a mixture of your ash and acrylic paint.  The basic package costs £3,000 and comprises of the standard artwork along with up to 30 ash-flecked discs with whatever sounds you choose, lasting a maximum of 24 minutes.  Extras include ‘Bespook Music’, where artists from The House of Fix or www.daftwerk.com will create a personalised track for you, the option for pets to have the same immortal treatment, or the minimalist option of simply having the vinyl produce crackling sounds when played.  A particular And Vinyly favourite of mine is the option of having your vinyl distributed through reputable record stores worldwide; I can’t think of anything more personal or fascinating that listening to a man’s last words or songs.  Although, one thing I struggle to come to terms with is the price of the elements provided in the ash to vinyl process.  Death is one thing people can take advantage of because everyone will participate in it, therefore I have trouble in taking an optimistic perspective on how a three minute pre-determined template track costs £250, or a portrait costs £3500, or likewise how a specifically created track for the individual should cost north of £500.  For me this detracts from an otherwise fantastic idea.

The company was founded by Jason Leach, who co-founded the techno group and record label Subhead in the 1990s and has since founded a number of other labels, including House of Fix, Daftwerk and Death to Vinyl.  And Vinyly has their finger successfully placed on an issue that many people become obsessed with in their later years; their legacy.  Underneath the exterior of the concept of ashes to vinyl there is an underlying issue that affects us all, how we want to be remembered.  Imagine now attempting to choose the words you will be remembered for, it should be an extremely delicate and thought provoking process. And it’s not just your last words that you have to toil over, for some that would be relatively easy in comparison to choosing your very last songs.  We’ve all at some point attempted to create an all time album, and we find this always changes throughout time; it is indeed a difficult task to pick a collection of songs that spans the duration of your life.  Ultimately I can’t think of a better way to be immortalised than through your favourite songs.  What songs would you choose to be remembered by?  

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