Jack White‘s Third Man Records – one of the most innovative and forward thinking labels around – are at it again, and have announced the release of the first ever 3rpm record.
The label is moving a long way from the traditional 78rpm to celebrate its third birthday, which will be a 12″ vinyl featuring Third Man’s entire Blue Series.
“The world’s first 3 RPM record is a study in contradictions – it’s cut at the slowest speed yet it plays faster than anything you’ve ever heard,” a post on Third Man’s official website attempts to explain.
“It’s a compilation of 7 inch records but it’s packaged like a 12 inch. But the 12 inch sleeve is made like our 7 inch sleeve (as it is one continues piece of paper folded in half and put into an acetate sleeve). It’s easy to play but impossible to hear. You put your finger on it to slow it down and we estimate it would take 333 days of 33 hours training per day for your finger, hand, and arm muscles to spin at a continuous speed of 3 rpm for X hours and X minutes.”