Record Grooves

Prologue


I am a huge record fan. I don't buy CD's, I rarely download music digitally, most of the time I just go to the record shop and buy used records. I am also a huge fan of electronic music, ask me to name twenty Kraftwerk songs and I would be able to! So I was surprised when I came across a tiny independent band, called Elektrostal. From what I have heard, the name is based on some Russian town or City, and they have only released one single, back in 1974. There was also only one member, Karl Junior.

The album was entitled, 'Record Grooves'.

I looked at the record online, on some crappy independent record company website. It was a 7-Inch single, and for all you younger people out there, a 7-Inch single has only 1 song on each side of the album. After looking at t

he information, I saw that the record was just 1 song, but split into two parts. The title of the song was 'Electric Chair'. I did a bit more research, and I was shocked to find that this is actually an incredibly rare single! Only 25 copies were made, but because of financial problems, which happened back in the 70s, they could only produce a few, at least that's what I was told on the website.

This was one of those records that I just had to get!

Purchasing the Record
I went to the record shop, which I mentioned earlier. It was a tiny corner shop, with a red door and sign, but inside, it was every record collector's dream. There were records everywhere, some in fantastic condition. If there was one place that record would be, it would be in this shop I thought to myself. I went and talked to the record shop owner, Mark. He's a real record boffin, he most likely would now about the record too.

I was wrong.

He looked kind of puzzled when I asked him about it. He said he had never heard of it. I was kind of disappointed, but I looked around anyways. After looking around for a while, I found it! I couldn't believe it. Unsurprisingly, the sleeve was not in great condition. It had a thick layer of dust over it, and part of the card which the artwork was printed on was exposed.

That's when I noticed something a little bit odd. The artwork was different, the online artwork was a black cover, with lips in the middle But, instead of lips, it was an eye which was wide open, and a what appeared to be a te

ar dropping out of it. Though, it didn't bother me too much, many artists have different artwork for their albums. But, weren't only 25 made? Another thing, which was odd, was that the record itself was in perfect condition, not a single speck of dust or scratch on it. I placed the record back in the sleeve and rushed back to the counter. I placed it on the desk and Mark looked at me strangely.

'Strange' he said, 'I don't remember getting this record in here'.

'How much?' I asked politely but with anticipation.

'Tell you what, have it for free. I don't see any price tag, and I don't remember getting it, so it's yours' He replied, still keeping the puzzled look on his face.

I was surprised, but kind of happy at the same time, I didn't have much money on me and I didn't want anyone else getting this record. I thanked Mark and made my way back home quickly.

What I heard on the Record
I made it home. I ran up to my bedroom and pulled the record out of it's sleeve. I placed it carefully onto the turntable, switched on the record player, placed the needle on the first groove, and the record began to play.

The intro was great, it sounded a lot like a Kraftwerk album, but with a slightly deeper synths. It was also very catchy, and Karl Junior's vocals were incredible!

That's when things got strange.

He asked some girl in the same room with him to sing. You could hear the microphone move, and then you could hear her crying and sniffling, screaming 'NO! STOP PLEASE!' The music kept playing in the background as Karl Junior chuckled to himself. I was starting to get worried, it didn't sound like she was acting, she was genuinely screaming for help.

My hands started to sweat, as I continued to listen nervously. As Junior chuckled to himself, you could hear him pressing what at first I thought were keys and buttons on the synthesizer. But with one large click, there was suddenly a loud crackling noise, and the girl began to scream louder and louder.

Then I realised.

I grabbed the sleeve from the table, and flipped it over and looked at the back. The title of the song was Electric Chair! I dropped the sleeve in panic. The sleeve landing, the front of the cover facing upwards, now the black and white eye, was in full colour, and I saw that those were not tears, but blood dripping from the eyes.

I grabbed the record from the turntable, placed it back in the sleeve, and put the sleeve in a locked safe.

I did not sleep well that night, what I heard on the record was too much. The brutal cries of the girl, and the subtle laughter of Junior was haunting.

At about 4:30 in the morning, I was suddenly awoken by a loud and terrifying electronic sound. I jumped, and looked directly towards where the source of the sound was coming from. It was coming from the record player.

It was playing the B-Side to the record.

Once again I could hear the electric chair buzzing, and the laughter of Karl Junior, as hypnotic electronic music played loudly in the background.

I jumped out of bed, ran towards the record, grabbed it and switched on the light. I was shocked to see markings on the record, which spelled out the words 'Look, Smell', and in smaller writing on the A-side of the record, the word 'Electrifying' was carved on the front, as if it were scratched in with a nail.

I couldn't take it any longer, I threw the record and the sleeve out the window, and the next day I went out into my backyard, and destroyed it.

The old man living next door to our house came over that day, asking what all the noise was last night. I told him that I didn't know, I couldn't possibly explain what happened. I was extremely quiet that day. Whilst listening to some Jazz to try and calm me down, I would look out the window, and see the bits of broken vinyl scattered across the yard. I would try to ignore it, but I couldn't. I then ran downstairs, grabbed a shovel and went out back. I tried to grab the record but it was incredibly hot! I had to get a towl to pick up all the pieces. I dug a small hole, threw the bits of vinyl in the pit as well as the sleeve. I poured some old vodka over the album, took one last look and lit the bastard on fire.

Once the flames were gone later that evening, I filled in the hole, all that was left was ash and melted plastic.

I was glad to get that piece of shit out of my life.

Seven Year Later
Seven years later, I could still remember the horrors of that record, but I was not so bothered because nothing happened after I destroyed it.

But, then I noticed something strange.

A smell, and a thick strong one, almost like the smell of burnt dust and meat. That's when I remembered, and that's when I worried. The record had 'Look' and 'Smell' written on it. But I had my doubts whether this had anything to do with the smell I then began to follow the smell, it was coming from my basement. I then tracked the small to a large crack in the wall. I nervously approached it.

Whatever I could smell, it came from behind the wall.

I reached out my hand cautiously, and touched the wall. It was incredibly warm, where as the rest of the wall was freezing, seeing how it was the middle of winter.

Suddenly, part of the wall collapsed, and dirt rushed in. I ran back so that I didn't get crushde by the debris of the wall and the dirt. I was shocked, but also infuriated that my wall just collapsed. I grabbed the shovel and start shoveling dirt into a large bucket.

My heart stopped.

I saw a burnt body of a girl, her face was black from burn marks, with smoke coming off of her hair, and her teeth were cracked and a dark brown colour. Her skin was a crispy texture, and bits of her dead and burnt skin were layered across the floor of my basement and in the dirt. I saw that blood was dripping from her eyes, just like on the album cover. I collapsed onto the floor and crawled away in panic, silent, but terrified.

I sat for almost thirty minutes, in silence. I was breathing heavily, I wasn't blinking, and I was shaking. I was turned away from the body for the majority of the time, but I finally built up the courage to look at the corpse.

I turned,

and in her hand, she held a copy of 'Record Grooves'