As the proprietor of Third Man Records, former White Stripes man Jack White has strived for headline-grabbing novelty ideas - including getting artists like Brendan Benson and First Aid Kit to record songs straight to vinyl in a booth in his Nashville store.
Now, the rock musician, who has long been a proponent of vinyl records and physical music, wants a TMR vinyl to be the first vinyl record played in outer space - and he has had a 'space-proof' record player designed in order to do so.
The player, dubbed 'The Icarus Craft', will be launched on July 30th to celebrate the label's 7th birthday, and will be attached to a high-altitude baloon that will send it stratospheric, with the needle (hopefully) somehow withstanding the turbulent atmosphere to drop smoothly on the groove. The whole shebang will be streamed online so you'll have a chance to see whether or not it succeeds.
As for what record that White might play? It's a "gold-plated 12” master of Carl Sagan’s “A Glorious Dawn”, which Third Man Records had previously issued on 7".
See pics of the turntable, via Third Man Records' site, below:
