If you walk down Villard Street on a sunny day, you might notice a house with album-art tapestries in the windows, blasting music out of its front room. The five roommates who share the space all share an abiding love for music, which is immediately evident upon walking in and seeing the impressive, bookshelf-spanning array of vinyl shared among them.

All but one of the house’s five residents owns some vinyl. Will Peterson only has three — Tycho’s Awake, Moondog’s II and a Creedence Clearwater Revival live album — but the experience of owning physical music is enough to make this more than sufficient.

“It’s a pretty small collection but I’m proud of it,” Peterson said.

The rest belongs chiefly to two roommates: Ian McDougall and AJ Nichols, both University of Oregon sophomores. Though their tastes are distinct, their albums blend together well enough that it’s hard to tell where one’s collection ends and the other’s begins.

Aside from the number of classics, the most immediately obvious thing about McDougall’s collection is the amount of Elton John records present.

“My dad really likes Elton John,” McDougall said. “I always ask him which editions of the albums I should get. I’ve got everything from Empty Sky to Rock Of The Westies, except for Madman Across The Water and that bullshit soundtrack he did (Friends).”

Almost all of McDougall’s music was passed down from his dad, but recently he has been getting into hip-hop of his own accord. He hasn’t quite adapted this love to the vinyl medium yet.

“I only have a few hip-hop records because when I look up hip-hop vinyl online it’s really expensive,” McDougall said. “I looked up 2001 (Dr. Dre) online and it was going for $150.”

McDougall gets much of his vinyl at the Goodwill in Springfield.

“You can get twelve records for a dollar there,” he said. “I got a lot of Kingston Trio, Burl Ives, Nat King Cole. And that one.” He gestures to a formidable-looking box set called The Basic Library Of The World’s Greatest Music, Album No. 1, which boasts “recordings of symphonic classics by the world’s greatest orchestras and composers.”

“I should collect them all,” McDougall said.

A.J. Nichols’ tastes lean more recent and much more psychedelic. His personal favorite albums in his collection are The Grateful Dead’s 1971 self-titled live album, often referred to as Skull And Roses, and the self-titled debut from French band Melody’s Echo Chamber. As we spoke, he had just received Tame Impala’s new live album Live Versions in the mail.

Live Versions was one of the many albums released on record store day, a “holiday” observed on the third Saturday of April every year designed to promote record stores and the buying of physical music. Though Nichols is excited about Live Versions, he’s been eagerly anticipating this year’s record store day for one reason above all others — the reissue of MGMT’s Congratulations. 

The follow-up to the mega-selling Oracular Spectacular, Congratulations failed to produce a hit and has not been reissued on vinyl since its release. But it has accrued a huge cult following in the ensuing years, and it’s one of Nichols’ favorites.

“The ones that I found online were running in the range of $200 to $600,” Nichols said. “I’m not trying trying to drop hundreds of dollars on vinyl, but they released it again for Record Store Day. I couldn’t believe they were doing it, I was so pumped. I went to Skip’s before they opened and waited for it.”

To non-record geeks, such obsession over an alternative medium of listening to something easily available online might seem strange. But for vinyl fans like Nichols, there really is no comparison.

“Everyone says vinyl is the purest sound quality, which is pretty true,” Nichols said. “It’s also a more tactile experience, just holding the vinyl and putting it on. It really is the best way to listen to music.”

Notable records:

Billy Joel – Piano Man (among many others)
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (among many others)
The Grateful Dead – S/T (a.k.a. Skull And Roses)
Melody’s Echo Chamber – S/T
MGMT – Congratulations
MGMT – “Siberian Breaks” (single)
Moondog – Moondog II (first pressing)
Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle
Tame Impala – Live Versions
Various Artists – The Basic Library Of The World’s Greatest Music, Album No. 1