Some vinyl records automatically qualify as collector's items because of their rarity, attention to detail, and cost. Stories of enthusiasts visiting dark stores and rummaging through dusty boxes filled with forgotten records are almost endless, but beyond what they might find in those places, there are records that, in addition to defying logic, also give us goosebumps—and not necessarily because of the music they contain. After all, it takes a very special state of mind to listen to a record with the ashes of a dead person, blood, urine, or hair...

We all agree that vinyl has made a comeback, even though its fans will simply respond that it never actually left, and that its current surge in popularity stems from a deep dissatisfaction with the coldness of digital media. However, there are other aspects to consider, and one of them is the vinyl record as an artistic expression.

Thanks to various techniques, vinyl records no longer need to stick to the classic black color; they can adopt bright hues, unusual patterns, and in the most extreme cases, substances completely foreign to the playback process. Would you like to see a few?

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Blood

Vinyl with Blood

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
The Flaming Lips released ten copies of their album Heady Fwends with blood injected into transparent vinyl. The record for the Friday the 13th soundtrack followed a similar path, limited to one hundred copies.

Phenakistiscope

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
The oldest designs used a mirror as a secondary piece to deepen the illusion, but today we can find soft patterns directly on its surface.

Chocolate Records

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
That's the spirit! From the single By Your Side by DJ Breakbot to 20th Century Man by Gibonni, the idea behind these records is to listen to them once, and then eat them. I like that.

Burned Bible

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
The album Gravestone Skylines by the band Hellmouth was released in November 2010, and was accompanied by an exclusive edition of 33 copies containing ashes of a burned Bible.

Records That Glow in the Dark

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Another quite popular effect is making the vinyl glow in the dark. One of the most sought-after copies is the Ghostbusters soundtrack in its 30th Anniversary edition (5,000 copies).

Records with Multiple Holes

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Each hole represents a 'side', and the turntable has no problem playing them, even when the overall design of the record is not symmetrical. Only 89 copies of the record we see in the image were made.

Sounds of Earth

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Also known as the Golden Record, which has two copies currently traveling on the Voyager 1 and 2 probes. Both records are made of copper, gold, aluminum, and a little uranium-238. According to NASA, eight records were made.

Gold and Platinum

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Did you see the new version of Gatsby? Almost as extravagant as the movie was the special edition of its soundtrack, with a gold record, a platinum one, and a wooden sleeve.

Records with Liquid

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Of course, if there's no problem filling a vinyl with blood, there won't be any when using other liquids. Some combinations are very pleasing to the eye.

Ashes of the Dead

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Preserve the memory of a loved one by hiring the services of the company Andvinyly, which will shape 30 copies of personalized music in transparent vinyl... and the ashes of the deceased. This costs £3,000.

Ice Record Project

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
As we can see, the band Shout Out Louds distributed ten special kits so that each owner can make the single Blue Ice with ice. The whole process takes about six hours.

Glitter

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Glitter can be a nightmare once it sticks everywhere, but I admit it doesn't look too bad encapsulated in transparent vinyl. Pretty Good by Dads and After the Earthquake by The Jazz June are some examples.

Wood Record

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Long story short, Amanda Ghassaei from MIT published on Instructables in early May 2013 a tutorial to make records out of wood. They don't sound good, but they look great.

Autumn Leaves

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Following the line of mixing vinyl with other solids, here is Subtle Cruelties by Barren Harvest, based on transparent vinyl and trapped autumn leaves. The leaves cause irregularities, and none of the 100 copies sounds the same.

Vinyl with Meteorite Dust

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
The album An Island Called Earth by Emperor Yes received a super special edition of 100 units, combining vinyl with meteorite dust.

X-Rays

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
On the other side of the Iron Curtain, residents evaded censorship by creating illegal copies with their own home record cutters, using discarded hospital X-rays as a replacement for vinyl.

Augmented Reality

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
The album Someday World by Eno / Hyde includes an iOS-compatible mobile app that lets you see a mini city in augmented reality on the record.

Three Revolutions per Minute

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Third Man Records, Jack White's label, celebrated its first three years in a very strange way: creating a record that must be played at three revolutions per minute.

Urine and Human Hair

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Well, this is getting more and more difficult. The band Eohippus released a limited edition of 100 copies called Getting Your Hair Wet With Pee… which lives up to its name, and they are full of urine and hair.

Glass Records

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
Glass recording is old… very old. This specimen was produced at Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Lab in March.

Transparent Vinyl with String

Rare Vinyl Records: Blood, Wood, Meteorite Dust, and Ashes of the Dead (Gallery)
The band Liars released the single Mess On A Mission in 2014. The record uses transparent vinyl with pieces of string trapped inside.