Hey First Pressing friends,
It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?
2025 was a game-changing year - my daughter was born in late January, and every day has been a new adventure.
I’m not saying anything new, but parenting is a full-time job. Factor in your day job, running a side business, maintaining friendships, coordinating with grandparents, planning holidays and upcoming birthdays, nurturing your relationship with your spouse ,and generally evolving your sense of identity and self - well, some things are naturally going to be deprioritized.
Like this newsletter.
Now don’t get me wrong, I regret nothing. Seeing my kid light up her baby-toothed smile makes everything worth it. The type of love you can feel for your child is beyond words.
I say this all to say really that, as my life has evolved, so have my priorities. It is with bittersweetness that, as of today, I am officially retiring First Pressing.
What started out as a space where I could explore life through records and share my passion for connecting vinyl to storytelling grew to something I didn’t expect - a wonderful community of writers, collectors, historians, essayists, and new friends.
I personally won’t be going anywhere, I still plan on reading your great writing and supporting the writers whose work I value you so much. I’m incredibly grateful and thankful to those who have written to me in the comments, collaborated on newsletters, or shared my writing with friends and followers. Substack provides a beautiful outlet for people to share themselves with others around the world.
But just because I’m retiring First Pressing doesn’t mean that you’ve heard the last of me.
Latin Gold Records, my record-selling business, is going to the next phase, the next level.
Starting now, I’m soft launching the new Latin Gold Records website with 14 curated holiday vinyl records. This is a test run - working out the kinks, seeing how the new shop flows, building toward a full launch in 2026.
And I’m not totally done with newsletters, either.
Latin Gold Records will also have a newsletter that share new arrivals, sales, pop-up events, playlists and even a story or too about the records I’m digging. If you happen to like my writing or are interested in buying curated vinyl records, please do consider subscribing.
As a thank you for sticking around, when you sign up, you’ll receive a 10% discount on your first purchase and the official Latin Gold Vinyl 101 Guide, a PDF document full of recommendations for your record collecting journey.
I’ve curated some incredible records for this holiday drop:
🔥 Willie Colón & Hector Lavoe - Asalto Navideño
🎅 NSYNC - Home for Christmas
👑 Elvis Presley - Elvis’ Christmas Album
🎸 John Denver - Rocky Mountain Christmas
🎤 Lou Rawls - Merry Christmas Ho! Ho! Ho!
...and 9 more!
I’m also putting together a holiday gift guide for record collectors and a playlist featuring songs from these records, but in the spirit of Christmas, I want to share the playlist with you now. These will also be shared on the Latin Gold Records newsletter in Mid-December and on my Instagram and TikTok.
Thank you so much for following and subscribing to First Pressing, I know I’m a random person who you decided to welcome into your inbox. I do hope that you’ll do the same for Latin Gold Records, too.
LGR is about more than selling vinyl - it’s about the stories we share, the memories we create, and the connections we build through music. That mission hasn’t changed.
Hope to see you in the next chapter. Happy holidays, and happy spinning.
Kadrian
Author of First Pressing, Founder of Latin Gold Records, Husband and Father
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