Some people still believe a record deserves to be heard from the first groove to the last, on equipment made to endure, in a room full of people who came to listen. They go by the name In Sheep's Clothing Hi-Fi.
ISC started as a listening bar in the Arts District of Los Angeles, where whole album sides played through vintage turntables and horn speakers. Today it is a roving music collective between Los Angeles and New York: listening sessions, writing on music, and records released on its own label.
We recognize the impulse. In an age of infinite scroll, they ask you to put the phone down and let the needle do the talking. We do the same with paper. Our books and Metal Hurlant are made to be held: objects you read page after page, the way a record plays side after side. Not out of nostalgia. Some experiences simply need a physical medium, and your full attention, to hit at full volume.
So we are crossing paths, and together we will explore the places where illustration, comics, and music collide, digging into the archives and into what comes next.
First transmission: ISC has unearthed "Techno France," a piece from Metal Hurlant's 1979 rock special in which French rockers opened their doors, and their hi-fi setups, to our reporter. Read it here.
Our favorite line, from Little Buddy: "Instead of buying equipment, I buy records. Because having a great system and no records is completely outdated!"
Some things never go out of style.
Wurlitzer Model 1800