The Trade That Keeps on Giving

One of the highlights of our trip to Australia was the opportunity to catch up with old friends, which was true especially for my wife because she live in Australia for more than a year. It was really cool to meet some of her old friends and see some other people we both know again. Two of our friends even invited us into their homes and we could stay with them for a week each. An incredible generous gesture and I will be forever thankful to them. Can‘t wait to see you guys again!

One of our friends, and fellow record / Bane collector, Daniel Hoskin of Bane Records Blog, and I have had an ongoing open trade for years now. Basically he gets me releases from Australia and I get releases from Europe for him, which otherwise we probably would never get or hear of in the first place. We also throw in some other stuff we know the other person likes. I‘m always excited when I get a parcel from Australia because it means I get to discover new music. 

When we arrived at this house, he had some records waiting for me and, of course, I had a bunch of records for him with me. Another reason why I didn‘t buy too many records during our trip prior to arriving at our final destination.

I don‘t think I ever listened to Blindside before, but the name rang a bell when I read it. Hard to believe this band was around about 10 years ago already. Some of the songs on Wave of Regrets sound like Wild Side to me, which is a good thing in my book. 

Pre-Order on Pink Vinyl on Straight and Alert /164

This is a weird one. When I put on Burn All White Flags by Found My Direction, the record player in my office skipped all the songs on the A-side. Same on the B-Side. Then I tried playing the record in the living room, but again to no avail. I headed to Discogs and the entry for this record says that all records, both on black and clear, are mis-presses and you can‘t really listen to them. So this is more of a collectible. I went and looked for the record on Spotify and it is actually on there. Not quite what I expected. Just judging by the cover I thought this my be some hardcore PUNK or even crusty record, but it reminds me of Floorpunch, especially the singer. Maybe a little bit less youth crew and bit more punk. I‘m still glad I got this record, because otherwise I would have never listened to this. And in defence of my friend, I‘m pretty sure he told me about this record and I just forgot. 

1st Press on Black on Resist Records

The Uglies are a punk band from Australia and Planet Uglies is their latest album, which was released in 2022. This is the kind of music I really enjoy in a live environment, but wouldn‘t necessarily buy on record. But it‘s cool to have this record for the moments when I feel the itch to listen to something punkier at home. 

1st Press on Black on UGL Records

My favorite of this batch is the s.t. LP by Colourblind. This came out right when we were in Australia, actually Dan picked it up at Clarity when went there together. And to actually go full circle, this record was also released by Clarity Records. Colourblind play hardcore adjacent music I‘d say, or maybe a modern version of 90s emo. This would totally make sense on Run For Cover Records. I dig the artwork, the splatter vinyl is actually done tastefully and works with the artwork really well. One of my favourites in 2024. 

1st Press on Clear with Blue Splatter on Clarity /50

Killin‘ It

After The Searchers, I went to Strangeworld Records. The owner was a nice guy and of all the record stores I went to, Strangeworld had the best prices for new records but unfortunately nothing really tickled my fancy. The last store I had time for was Heartland. I really wanted to go to Poison City, because a store selling records and skateboards is hard to beat, but it was too far away and I simply couldn‘t manage to get there time-wise. Maybe on the next trip… 

Heartland was a cool store and I‘ve never seen so many multi record box sets. That was a sight to behold. I made a mental note of some of them, because I definitely wasn‘t going to buy one of these and lug it around for the rest of the trip. The selection at Heartland was really good, but I knew I could get most of the newer records back home for a much better price. But since I didn‘t want to leave without another record, I browsed the small, but decent second hand section. And lo and behold, I spotted this cool rerelease of the first Bikini Kill EP. I already had a copy, but this 2022 version comes with a gigantic fold out poster with a bunch of interviews and pictures. So this is a clear upgrade for me. 

2022 Repress on Black on Bikini Kill Records

Some Old Bullshit

So, the reason why this blog was rather quiet over the summer was that my family and I took a rather long trip to Australia. It was sort of a once in a lifetime holiday, but I definitely want to get back at one point. Since this isn‘t a travel blog, I don‘t want to talk too much about my vacation. Let‘s just say I loved every second of it and there‘s a reason, well actually many reasons, why I want to go back. 

I was told by a good friend from Australia that record prices down under are pretty steep, even when taking into account the Euro - Australian Dollar exchange rate. Plus, I didn’t want to spend that much time away from my wife and son. Besides, dragging around records while travelling is kind of burden, especially if you don’t stay in just one place. So I didn‘t hit up that many record stores during the trip. I had one afternoon in Melbourne to check out some stores and I knew I was going to go to a great record store in Adelaide, which I‘ll talk about in a different post. 

The first store I went to in Melbourne was The Searchers. Apt name for a record store. Digging around in a record store is always such a joy to me. Even if I don‘t find anything, I still enjoy just the haptic aspect of flipping through records. Of course, finding at least one record you want in an actual store is always a good feeling. This Beastie Boys record had been on my want list for quite a while, so finding a 1st press in the wild was great. Some Old Bullshit is a compilation of well, older punk/hardcore songs by the Beastie Boys. Two songs are taken from an old WNYU radio show that played hardcore songs, the rest are the songs released on the Polly Wog Stew and Cooky Puss EPs. You probably don‘t need this compilation if you already have the EPs, but listening to the songs on this format is much more convenient. 

1st Press on Black on Grand Royal

Don't Look a Gift Record in the Mouth

A few months yet another birthday came around and a very good friend of mine was kind enough to gift me two records when we saw each other a couple of weeks after the actual occasion.

The first one is by a band from France called Placid. The band released a demo two years ago and follows this up with this 7" called Aller James Retour, released earlier this year.  I learned French at school, but that was a long time ago, so I'm not always sure what they sing about. As far as the music is concerned, it took me a while to get used to it. Or maybe I just have to be in the right mood for this kind of music. It's very punky, which I usually like, but there's this effect on the vocals that doesn't always grab me. At least on record. I imagine this to be very fun to see live. I have the vague memory that I might have seen them live before or that I was at a show where Placid played as well and maybe didn't actually go in to see them. Be that as it may, today I'm in the mood for this sort of music, so it gets a thumbs up from me. 

1st Press on black on STTW Records /250

The second record is the vinyl debut by a band called Pluto the Racer. I've seen them a bunch of times live and was lucky enough to share the stage with them as well. Always a good time. The music is at the pop  end of the punk spectrum, but it's done really well. I'm always amazed by drummers who not only play the drums but also sing - and the singer in Pluto the Racer does both things so well. Maybe jealous is also an appropriate word, haha. They're a pretty young band too, so I'm very curious about their future. 

1st Press on Burgundy on KROD Records /500

Wait

Back in 2014, my favorite band released another album, which sadly was also supposed to be their last one. After having released Don’t Wait Up, the band embarked on a lengthy tour, which was supposed to be their goodbye tour before calling it quits. That was a very happy time for me because I got to travel with my wife, hang out with a ton of friends and see Bane plenty of times. At the same time it was a sad time because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that in the future and how much I was going to miss screaming along to those songs. 

Fast forward to 2023: Bane announced they were fully back as a band. They’d played one or two shows as a benefit/tribute for their friend and former band member Stu, who sadly passed away a few years ago. I was always doubtful about the band’s breakup being permanent, because the members loved the band and everything that came with it so much, but at the time the decision seemed to be pretty final. Sometime last year the band posted on Instagram that they were going to play a few shows in the US and one festival in the UK. To be honest, I was fairly indifferent to the news because I knew I wasn’t going to see Bane, so I felt no real connection to them being back on stage. Then, sometime earlier this year shows in mainland Europe were announced, three of which were within a 2.5 hour radius of where we live. The possibility of seeing Bane again and plenty of friends checking in to see who was going to which show got me more and more excited. When the tickets went on sale, all of the initial shows sold out in seconds and my wife and I luckily managed to secure tickets for one of the shows. Great. Then more shows were announced, one only 30 minutes from the town we live. Perfect. 

In the end, we managed to see Bane four times on that tour, two shows being back to back nights. Having a job, a kid, and being of a certain age, this bordered on a miracle. Travelling to shows, hanging out with friends you don’t see all that often, and seeing your favorite hardcore band (and going into work with very little sleep) was such a great throwback to a very different life. Maybe it was also the onset of my midlife crisis. Who knows. The first show we got to see Bane was the first real hardcore show (Bane had only played a festival somewhere in Eastern Germany the day prior) and what a show it was. When that first note hit, the whole room erupted. Granted, maybe a little slower than 10 or 15 years ago because the age average was definitely 35+, but still. Singalong, stagedives, moshing without any bullshit - just like a hardcore show should be imho. The setlist was pretty close to prefect, too. The other three times we saw them were fun as well, but that first show was by far my favorite.

Prior to the tour, I’d heard rumours that Don’t Wait Up, the final Bane LP before their break up, was about to be re-released because this year marks the 10 year anniversary of that album, which is crazy to think about in itself. A friend close with the band told me that there was going to be a tour press, too, which made me even more stoked about the shows we were about to attend. The tour press doesn’t have different artwork, which is kind of a bummer, but at least the color scheme works really well with the sleeve. The shows made me realize how much I love this band and to embrace all of the represses. You’ll probably see  more Bane records here eventually.     

2024 Tour Press on Yellow and Purple Halves on End Hits /150

Time Capsules

When Change released Closer Still, the world was still very different. As you can see Change went on tour in Europe in February 2020. They were a brand new band and were just about to release their first LP. I’m a little hazy on the exact release date because the LP was released on two different labels on two continents and two different points of time. Plus, the world shut down soon afterward because of the Covid pandemic, an event which has blurred my already blurry sense of time. If I remember correctly, the tour press was the first variant available and remained so for a couple of months and then the album was properly released by React! and Refuse Records. But feel free to correct me. 

I remember that I really wanted to go to one of the shows, probably the one in Leipzig, but for some reason I couldn’t make it. I didn’t think much of it because it wasn’t the first time I missed out on a show. Little did I know what would happen a few weeks later and how long it would be until I’d go see a band play live. 

Closer Still was exactly what I needed at the time. Melodic hardcore with a modern twist. I really liked the reggae influence too. The lyrics were great too and on top of that, the nod to Wishingwell Records and Uniform Choice was the cherry on top. This album is also the last current record that I actively collect because collecting records has changed so much these last few years. As much as I wanted to have every copy of let’s say the Anxious LP, the first Magnitude LP or any of the Fiddlehead albums, I just couldn’t justify the expense with the myriad of variants from an ever growing number of outlets. So, Closer Still is a marker of many changes for me. I managed to collect most of the variants quite quickly. I think I only miss the second press copies and I’m not sure I want to get those to be honest. The only variant that kept eluding me was the tour press from 2020 until a few weeks ago a copy popped up for sale on Discogs for a fair price.

I didn’t have time to pull out all variants and take a group picture, but I might edit this post at one point.

Tour Press on Green Vinyl on Refuse Records /113

Tour Poster + Back Cover of the LP

The seller also graciously sent me another record with the Change LP, a split 7” by two bands I’d never listened to before. Mine, which I knew only by name, were a hardcore band from Switzerland, while Dawnbreed hailed from the south of Germany. Both bands played sort of screamo hardcore typical for the mid- to late-90s. I like both sides of the split, but I’m not sure how often I will reach to this 7”. I also dig the dystopian artwork and how the cover is part of a big fold-out poster. Also, DIY style patches that come with records need to make a comeback!

A Strong Desire

Desire Line are a relatively new band from the Cologne/Munster in the northwest of Germany. Two of the people in the band played in Tides Denied, an awesome, but now defunct youth crew band, although they switched instruments for this new project. Actually, the record was released on another band mate’s label, too. However, Desire Line sound nothing like youth crew. 

I really liked the demo they released in 2022, you might call it a single because the quality is so good. But to me, the first release of a band with only a few songs is a demo, especially if it is released on cassette. Like I said, I really liked the demo, so when I heard that they were going to release a proper record, I was really looking forward to it and they didn’t disappoint. The music is this awesome mix of indie, shoe gaze and dream pop. 

I only received Life’s Between Us on vinyl maybe three weeks ago, no thanks to the pressing plant, and this record has already spent a lot of time on my records player and I guess this will be the case for the foreseeable future too. Originally it was supposed to come out in March and technically I could have listened to the songs online since then, but waiting for the proper release on vinyl was well worth it. I really like the artwork as well (“Collective Memory” is a sticker, not part of the cover!) and of course they did a great job by picking out pink/magenta as vinyl color, although purple would have matched the artwork even better. But it still looks great together. For me this is a strong contender for record of the year. 

Pre-Order on Pink on Collective Memory /50

The Low End?

Lately, I’ve been listening to the A Tribe Called Quest records I already own, Midnight Merauders and People’s Instinctive Travels a lot. So much that I figured I finally need to pick up their other LPs. I don’t remember exactly why I picked up their first and third LP, but I think I already knew at least one song on each record and that was the criterion for buying. Anyway, I decided to fill that ugly gap between first and third album by buying The Low End Theory. I’ve often read that this record is considered the band’s masterpiece. I probably haven’t listened to this LP enough, especially compared to the other two I own, but right now I wouldn’t pick this above either one of the other two. Having said that, this is still an incredible record. I’m looking forward to diving into the rest of their catalogue. 

Latest Repress (?) on Black on Jive Records

Jazz Ist Anders

If you’re into hardcore and / or punk and you’re of a certain age, there’s almost a 100% guarantee that Die Ärzte (aus Berlin) were a gateway band for you. They’ve been around for more than 40 years by now, which in itself is incredible. Usually people drop off at some point during their catalogue, but I’m still on board. Every album, including the newer ones, has a couple of songs I really like. I’m also a big fan on them re-releasing all of their post-reunion records, which were usually one-time pressings on vinyl and since have become extremely pricey. 

Jazz Ist Anders was originally released in 2007 and I managed to get a copy. Actually, there were two versions: a regular version and an economy version. The economy version, the one I had back then, was (and is) a stripped down version, so the artwork looks cheaper, the cover itself is flimsier and even the lyric sheet doesn’t provide the real lyrics. If you zoom in on the picture, you can see that the lyrics are pure gibberish. You have to be a fan of that kind of humour, which obliviously I am. 

Anyway, like I said, I managed to get a copy of the economy version back then, but a few years later I decided to give this record to the younger brother of my then girlfriend. He’d shown interest in punk in general and in this band in particular, so I gave him the records as a gift. As you might have guessed, my then girlfriend became my ex-girlfriend eventually and I never saw her, her brother or the record again. Oh, well. As the saying goes “time heals all wounds”, or in this case “time fixes every hole in your record collection”. 

Bargains Are A Collector‘s Best Friend

A few weeks ago I went to see Be Well at one of my favorite venues. Truth be told, I‘m not a big fan of Be Well. I tried to get into them a bunch of times, because with the personnel behind the band I feel like I should like the band, but nothing‘s clicked with me yet. I decided to go anyway because my wife is really into them and I also knew that a bunch of friends would be there. So basically I went to the show to be able to go on a roadtrip with my wife to see friends. There are definitely worse premises to attend a show. I didn‘t have a lot of expectations for the show itself, but I must say that Be Well were absolutely fantastic live and I‘m glad I did go to see them play. 

While we were driving to the venue a friend sent me pictures of records a friend was selling at the show. Actually he was selling the records for a friend who didn‘t want to bother with local listings or Discogs. I browsed through the records and found a few things that I liked.

A few days ago I posted about the Underdog Demos LP I‘d gotten not too long before I went to the show mentioned above and how much I liked the songs. As chance would have it, I saw the band‘s first and only LP The Vanishing Point in one of the bins and I didn‘t hesitate to grab it. I like this LP a lot as well and I regret even more having slept on the band for so long. 

1st Press on Black on Caroline

I‘ve been collecting Sick Of It All records for many years, but one record that has always eluded me so far was their first live LP Live In A World Full Of Hate. Maybe ‘eluded‘ isn‘t the correct word because the record is not that hard to get. But a) pictures discs sit pretty low on my want list in general and b) paying shipping for a ugly records doesn‘t make getting them more attractive. But when I saw it just sitting right in front of me and hearing the price, I just had to get it. It‘s not as good as Live In A Dive, but it‘s still a good live record. 

1st / Only Press as a Picture Disc on Lost And Found

My friend had sent me only pictures of the records his friends was selling, so seeing a bunch of demo tapes sitting in a separate box was a pleasant surprise. I‘m not a tape nerd per se, but some demo tapes I definitely want to own (I can hear Marcus sigh in disgust at this statement, haha). The Stop And Think Demo had been on my want list for years and finally I had the opportunity to grab one for a very, very decent price. This is the European version which was released on Bloody Sunday Records

European Version w/ Light Blue Cover on Bloody Sunday 

All in all it was a great evening. Friends, great live band and a few items crossed of my want list at bargain prices. Not much more you can ask for in one night. 

I Against III

The other record I‘d mentioned in my previous post was another colored version of Bad Brains‘ I Against I. It‘s been a lot of fun collecting different colors of this repress from the early 90s. I‘m missing only the clear one I think. This might be hardest one because no copy has shown up on Discogs in a couple of years. If you have one or know someone who has one, let me know.  

Repress on Clear Green on SST

Underdog

I don‘t know why, but Underdog always flew a little bit under my radar. But when I bought a record on Discogs recently, I checked the rest of the seller‘s inventory and saw that he had an Underdog Demos LP for sale for a really good price, I knew the time was right.

And what can I say, I was hooked from the first time I listened to the record and this record has been on heavy rotation since I got it. I like the artwork of the original pressing better, but hey, this was (re-)released on Rev, so I‘m fine with getting this version.

Repress on Black on Revelation 

First Ten Of Taang!

Taang! Records was a pivotal record label in the early days of hardcore in general and for the Boston scene in particular. The singles the label released in the early 80s are highly sought after and many of them are rather pricey theses days. In 2014 Taang! Re-released the first 10 7“s in a neat box. Back then that box flew under my radar and I didn‘t get one. In 2021, the label released those 7“s on a 12“, which 2024 me really appreciated. Listening to 7“s has sort of become a drag for me to be completely honest. I‘ll still listen to them, but most of the time I listen to LPs/12“s nowadays. I‘m very happy to have picked up this record because it‘s such a nice time capsule of days gone by. 

12“ 2021 Repress on Black on Taang 

Lots Of Noise And Even More Disturbances

We played a weekender a few weeks ago and to make time on the road pass by a little easier, my bandmates and I made a playlist every one could contribute to. Now, we do have a lot of bands in common that we all love or at least like, but there‘s also some huge differences. Gaps you might actually say. Abysses might be another word that comes to mind. I had to endure more metal than I usually listen to in ten years probably. However, I was pleasantly surprised when a song by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones came on. When I was back home, I decided to revisit their catalogue and after doing that, I decided that I wanted to finally own their first few records. Originals are hard to come by, so I was more than happy to just grab s repress. Especially because it comes on this nice green color. 

2021 Repress on Clear Green on Taang

Wrong Men

I don‘t like to listen to Spotify radio or to playlists I didn‘t create myself, but every once in a while the algorithm actually points me towards a band I didn‘t know before and actually end up liking. I don‘t remember what I was listening to, but at one point I noticed this wasn‘t the record I‘d put on. I did like what I heard, so I checked out the band. Enter Wrong Man from Belgium. The people behind this band have all played in various bands, some more well known than the others. With Wrong Man, they decided to stray from the more heavy paths of guitar music and enter more of post-hardcore and indie influenced world. There‘s also some classic rock in there I‘d say. And they‘re doing an excellent job. 

After listening to the bands material for a while, I decided to see what records were still available. Luckily both 12“s were still for sale on various distros‘ websites and it was a very welcome surprise to see that both of the 12“s cost less than 20€. Granted, there are only four songs on each 12“, but still. 

1st Press on Black on Atomic Action! /300

1st Press on Clear w/ Blue and Black Marble on Thirty Something /100 

Close up of the color because it was hard to take a decent photo with the record lying on the floor.