Ep519: Inside Levitation, Greenway & Reverb Records w/ Harry Portnof

The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds

Nate Goyer

Music, Music History, Music Interviews

4.7 • 579 Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Record nerd Harry Portnof started Greenway Records, revived Reverb Appreciation Society, and now leads Levitation's label operations - today we discuss the elaborate vinyl variants and the clear passion for music the Levitation festival inspires.

Topics Include:

Harry Portnof runs Greenway Records, Levitation, and Reverberation Appreciation Society labels.
Dad blasted southern rock and Allman Brothers at excessive volumes throughout childhood.
Discovered dad's CD collection, dove deep into classic rock discographies.
Taught himself guitar in high school after getting kicked off tennis team.
Found grandmother's records in attic with broken turntable playing in mono.
Mesmerized by grooves holding information, felt more futuristic than digital files.
Got Project turntable in college, started seriously collecting vinyl records.
College dorm had file sharing programs to download everyone's music collections.
Became obsessed with seven-inch singles and exclusive B-side hunting on Discogs.
Studied accounting, got CPA, worked Manhattan while spending money on records.
Brooklyn DIY scene 2010-12: Death by Audio, Glasslands, 285 Kent venues thriving.
Third Man Records inspired with collectible releases, impossible to get from New York.
Playing in surf rock cover band The Midnight Snacks around Long Island.
Started Greenway with friend Joey's pop punk band, 300 hand-screened seven-inches sold.
Online forum of ten new labels supporting each other, Greenway only one remaining.
Artist Dan Curran created lino cut covers for first thirty Greenway releases.
Met LA Witch outside Music Hall, promised European tour records in two months.
LA Witch success led to more touring bands wanting Greenway releases.
Met Levitation founder Rob Fitzpatrick backstage at Desert Daze festival in California.
Pandemic hit, launched Levitation Sessions producing concert films with thirty bands.
Suddenly working with dream artists like Ty Segall and The Oh Sees.
Levitation started as Austin Psych Fest in 2008, became major three-day festival.
Flash flood disaster canceled festival one year despite bands and fans arriving.
Austin's psych legacy rooted in 13th Floor Elevators and Rocky Erickson era.
Levitation Sessions are filmed concerts; Live at Levitation are actual festival recordings.
King Gizzard bootleg program allows labels to press their live shows freely.
Learned vinyl manufacturing hands-on at New Jersey plant, experimenting with color pours.
Most proud of Frankie and the Witch Fingers KEXP recording for Record Store Day.
Market tightened post-pandemic, had to adjust pressing quantities and strategy accordingly.
Creates regional variants for Australia, UK, EU retailers using Precision Record Pressing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds.
0:10.0	Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer.
0:13.0	Well, hey, everyone, it's Nate.
0:15.0	Welcome to episode 519 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds.
0:22.5	And those of you who may be following me on social media know that I was away on a big trip to the U.S.
0:30.3	I went to recently California, Las Vegas, Austin.
0:36.1	Oh, it's a big trip.
0:37.0	I'm back home now.
0:38.7	And still unpacking, still getting the records out of the bag, and figuring out how I'm going to lose the additional pounds that I gained from all the tacos and barbecue that I enjoyed, as well as the beer.
0:54.5	But while I was away, I took in a few music festivals, including Levitation, which is a music
1:01.9	festival in Austin every year.
1:04.4	It's based on psych and heavy music.
1:06.4	It's across three days.
1:08.1	This year it was September 25th through 28th.
1:13.7	Now, this time I was only able to be there one day. I would have loved to have been there for three days, but I did get to see some great
1:19.7	bands on day one, including blood incantation, acid bath, secret chiefs 3, The Sword.
1:28.5	Oh man, you got to check out this band called The Armed.
1:31.4	Holy molly.
1:32.0	It was like a war zone.
1:33.1	It was intense.
1:33.8	It was very wild.
1:35.1	Wow.
	...

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