Some More Exclusivity for you!
Oct 28, 2025
Hey,
I hope you’re doing well. It’s already Sunday and Halloween is knocking at our doors already, Alex’s favorite day of the year! I could share so many great souvenirs about how much Halloween has been a huge part of our lives, we even did loads of Christmas, New Year’s Eve, birthdays, Easter, Thanksgiving, and random parties under a costumed theme as if it was Halloween! This should be an everyday thing!
Following Alex’s Substack entry titled I Destroyed My Studio and the announcement of the coming back of our incredible self-made culture around lathe-cut vinyls and their vault, I decided to celebrate our culture, what we’ve been building, how we’ve been building it and why this matters so much to us all!
Alex and I have always been thriving by creating a culture of our own with you all, but since 2023, two things happened, which explained why we sadly had to stop a few of those: Alex’s heart surgery and the fact we had to clean up our surroundings a little, as Alex has been sharing with you on Substack since last May.
If you joined The Club from 2023 onward, this is for you...!
VINYL VAULT
“Winter Is Coming In”
8 copies left out of a 175 limited collector edition.
As shared on Alex’s Social Media: Released in November of 2022, in a limited number of 175 copies, “Winter Is Coming In” is a very rare lathe-cut edition that has been enthusiastically sought after by everyone who’s missed the occasion to add it to their collection from the minute it became sold out… which occurred almost immediately after I made it accessible.
About the Vault:
I’m very excited to bring the “Vault” back for you to get the chance or another chance to put your hands on a copy of the now highly limited and collector lathe-cut edition I shared with you over the last few years, which have been sold out for a long time already. The Vault's LPs are NOT additional reprints, as every lathe-cut collector edition is numbered, handcrafted, and has been initially offered in a very limited number of copies, between 100 to 200 copies.
I never did any reprints and do not intend to do any in the future. I started the Vault in order to make available the few copies I kept as “safeties” in case of anything bad happening during shipment. Trust me, I have horror stories to deal with all the time, and with limited editions, I didn’t want anyone who had managed to get one of those very rare copies to have their heart broken due to mailing "tragedies”. That’s why I usually retained 5% to 10%.
Therefore, if you are into limited and collector editions, you’ll be joyful to know that I’m planning for the Vault to have several other pop-up opening moments in the year… And if you’re joining The Club for that very specific reason, you’ll be up for quite an exciting year, my friends!!!!
So, if you weren't able to get a copy upon its release or have recently joined my community, I’m happy you now have a last chance to get one of the 8 copies left.
🎧 What I’m listening to
I See A Darkness - Anna Calvi / Perfume Genius
Last Friday morning as I was screening the new releases, a habit I’ve had for as long as I can remember, something caught my attention, which is not always that easy since there’s so much new music being thrown at us on a daily basis, but to me this is an almost sacred moment, a thing to do, since music truly is the most beautiful thing in the world!
I See A Darkness is not only such a great song but ended up having such a meaningful place in my heart and it’s one of those songs that always makes me very emotional every time I hear it. It’s been written by such an incredible artist called Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy) and covered by legends such as Johnny Cash! What makes this song special for me was back in the summer of 2012, as we were recording a very special and personal project for Alex and he came up with this idea about us covering this beautiful piece.
When I first listened to this song, I have to admit it wasn’t love at first spin…! Until… I heard this part of the song, then I literally cracked and became really emotional.
Well I hope that someday, buddy
We have peace in our lives
Together or apart
Alone or with our wives
That we can stop our whoring
And pull the smiles inside
And light it up forever
And never go to sleep
My best unbeaten brother
This isn't all I see
These words resonated so deep into my soul my entire perspective of the song radically changed right away as it still resonates to this day and it’s a hard song for me to listen to still, since 13 years later, this is something I’m still working hard on, praying for, and seeking to embody completely!
This song has been immortalized on Your Favorite Enemies’ album Vague Souvenir!
📖 Reading highlight I’m pondering
Winter Is Coming In - One Sheet by Alex, 2020
I don’t have much of a writing method when it comes to lyrics, for the fact that I usually have to complete enough of a song’s body in the same draft to actually consider adding it to my writing book. I always find it difficult to trust an emotion that requires sessions and sessions of writing and rewriting. I’m not talking about looking for the right word or defining a more honest way of expressing myself - this comes in the “live” writing sessions. But I never really insist if I’m unable to find what I call the source. But sometimes, not finding this source haunts me. And “Winter Is Coming In” is one of those songs…
I was obsessed with “authenticity”, the measure of consciousness it requires to be honest, the nature of redemption, the meaning of being free, contrition, confession, the difference between hope and truth… Hearing the calls to prayer 5 times a day, I could see my father smiling on his deathbed, believing in an upcoming Godly ordained healing miracle as I was wondering what was left of my own faith. So I wrote and kept on writing. Start, rip it off, start again… The only thing that recurrently stayed was “I have lost my senses” - probably because I most definitely had. Until I didn’t write any more, out of energy and unable to find the source. Therefore, I observed and listened.
A very good friend wrote to me during that period, reminding me that it’s been a while since she had any news from me, that she was there to listen if I needed to talk, mentioning that it must be difficult for me to face that everlasting storm I seem to have lived in most of my life, concluding with: “I would like to say winter is coming to an end for you, but it almost seems as if it’s the only thing that makes sense to you now.” And it really caught me off guard, as I’m a private person and very rarely let anyone come close enough to be able to “touch” me. I didn’t know what to think of her message… Was I supposed to feel violated? Supported? Loved? Pitied? Wasn’t I avoiding all those personal questions and reflections the reason for my exile in Tangier, after all?
It’s only a few days after that what would become “Winter Is Coming In” started to resonate with me once more. I wrote without thinking too much about what I thought would be an answer to that friend of mine.
The rest of the lyrics came as easily as I was willingly being honest. I wanted to be “touched”, as it was ok to be confused, angry, lost, and miserable. I must have written all day and most of the night, again being honest about my broken childhood, the repeating abuses I’ve been a victim of, my inability to establish an intimate relationship, the sufferings, the functional depressions, the profound sadness I’ve learned to live with, how I entertained the idea of taking my own life… It wasn’t about understanding the concept of confession and faith any more, it was allowing those words to loudly carry a burden I was usually holding in the loneliest of all silences…
I realize that it never was about finding the truth but about making sense of what felt missing, as if spending so much time in the darkness of my own excuses and reasons, even melancholia became an admission of self-preservation and control over my own denial of any possible light coming my way.
📸 My Picture Of The Week
As proud owners of La Maison de Tanger, a beautiful boutique hotel and home for countless people since Alex and I bought this back in 2021, culture, soul, vibe and humanity are at its core, Halloween included!
See?! I told you how this day is much more than a happening but clearly a lifestyle for some! If you’re looking for an exotic place to celebrate it next year, you’re always more than welcome!
Let’s be great to one another!
Your friend and Chief Operator,
Jeff
PS: I’ll be finalizing the celebration of this culture of ours in next week's missive and sharing with you my podcast of the week & what was said in The Long Shadows’ chat!
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