It All Comes Down To Represses

After not jumping on the repress wagon right away with the Give Blood represses, I decided not to repeat the same mistake when I saw that It All Comes Down To This was about to repressed. I‘ve known for a long time that the band was really unhappy with the way their debut album sounded. I never got that because I don‘t have an ear for that to be honest (ask any of my bandmates) and I don’t care if songs were recorded on a second-hand four-track in a basement in an abandoned building in New York in 1983 as long as they‘re good songs. As a matter of fact, if a record doesn‘t sound all that great that can actually add to the charm of a record for me. 

Anyway, I listened to an episode of Where It Went podcast with Aaron Dalbec of Bane and Brian McTernan of Battery/Be Well/Salad Day Studios, who did all the recordings for Bane except for It All Comes Down To This. However, he was in charge of remixing and remastering this LP and both of them were really excited when talking about the finished product, which in turn made me really excited.

Like I said before, I really don‘t have an ear for what‘s a good or bad production, but goddamn, Brian McTernan did an excellent job with this remix. It‘s like a completely different record! This version does sound so much better compared to the original, it‘s hard to fathom. If you want to get all the details about the process of remixing the record, you should really listen to the Where It Went episode, it‘s a really interesting listen. 

I picked up this version first because it‘s the best looking one by a mile. Can‘t go wrong with (clear) pink vinyl. The cover was also tweaked a little bit and it looks as fantastic as the record sounds. The gold and red foil or whatever that is in combination with the metallic colors used for the sleeve are great details. The only thing I‘m not a fan of is that the labels were redone as well. I actually like ones on the OG pressing better. Still, I‘m really, really stoked on this repress. 

2024 Repress on Clear Pink on Equal Vision (Newbury Exclusive /300)

I have a framed promo poster for the original release of It All Comes Down To This hanging in my office, so this felt like a good time to take it off the wall for a picture. As you can see the picture in the promo poster is the same as the one used on the inner sleeve of the record. 

Guided

The new High Vis album was high on my list of records I wanted to check out. Sadly, this has been kind of a let down. It‘s not a bad album at all, but I haven‘t found any hits yet. On their previous records there were also a bunch of songs that stuck out, but Guided Tour just sort of trods along. 

1st Press on Oriole (?) on Dais /2000

Deprogramming

Earlier this year I picked up the first Planet On A Chain LP and I really, really liked it. So getting their  second LP, Deprogram, was high on my list of rather current releases. And again, the band does not disappoint at all. The cover looks sick as well and you get exactly the kind of music you might expect from looking at the picture. The green vinyl looks awesome as well and who doesn‘t like a nice OBI strip?

1st Press on Clear Green on Revelation /600

One Step Closer

When I picked up the last One Step Closer record last year I wrote that I was afraid of the their musical progression on their next output, meaning going even more pop. Yet they did just that and somehow I like All You Embrace more than Songs For The Willow. I'm not sure if my taste in music has changed or they are just really good at what they're doing, but it's funny how that goes sometimes. Be that as it may, I really enjoy the songs on this record. 

The artwork is kinda meh, but the packaging is excellent. Run For Cover always goes the extra mile. Big poster and a giant booklet, all printed I color. This kind of packaging actually justifies a slightly higher price. Good job by both label and band. 

1st Press on White on Run For Cover /1200

Another Fucked Up Record

Last year, Fucked Up released a record called One Day, which I liked very much. When I saw that the band had released another record this year called Another Day, I couldn‘t think of any good reason not to pick it up. Fucked Up has become one of those bands I‘ll always check out, no matter what. Their latest LP is a good listen, but it‘s not quite as good as the previous one. Maybe I just have to sit with it a little bit longer.  

1st Press on Milky Clear on Fucked Up Records /1520 (Indie Store Pressing)

Prude

Looking back over my last few posts, people reading this blog might get the impression that I only buy old records or records by older, more established bands. Well, there‘s some truth to that, but I always try to keep up with newer bands. I really enjoyed all of the Drug Church output of the last few years, so when their latest LP dropped I knew I wanted to have a copy. Prude is a good record, but I haven‘t found the track yet. On their previous records there was always one hit that stuck with me immediately. Not on this one, at least not yet. 

I like the artwork and vinyl color works really well with the sleeve. I don‘t really care that it‘s the most common variant, but can labels / bands please stop coming up with these ‘fun‘ names for colorways?

First Press on Fun Dip Purple Marble on Pure Noise /3400

Seasonal

Kill Holiday wrote one of my all-time favorite songs. Not just hardcore or punk songs, but songs in general. Period. I even got into their one and only LP in recent years. So when I saw that there was another record coming out, I knew I had to have it. Seasonal is a collection of material from the early days of the band and it doesn‘t disappoint. All in all it‘s a fun listen. Because I absolutely wanted to have this record, I even ordered directly from the label in the US, which is something I very rarely do these days. The label had posted this was going to be one-time only press out of 250 copies, so I figured I‘d better order pretty quickly. However, the record didn’t sell out immediately. Apparently fewer people are into Kill Holiday than I had thought. Then, Seasonal became available through distros in Europe (and still is). And on top of that Indecision announced a second pressing. So, my stupid FOMO made me spend a whole lot of money for nothing. I mean, not for nothing, but I could have saved a pretty penny by just being more patient. However, I‘m still glad about the actual record I got.

1st Press on Burgundy on Indecision /250

Once In A While

Every once in a while I will hit up the local record store. Their focus is definitely not on what I usually listen to, but they do have a second hand punk/hardcore section that consists mainly of rather obscure stuff. But sometimes there‘s a record in there that tickles my interest. When I saw this Downcast LP I was very intrigued and since it was priced at 10€, there was really no good reason to not buy the record. Leaving behind an LP at this price in 2024 would be a crime, punishable under rule 23B of the Hardcore and Punk Collectors’ Code. 

Not only is the music really good, the cover and the booklet are so well done too. I wish more bands/labels would put that much effort into those things. 

In Place Of Real Insight

There seems to be kind of a Karate resurgence be going on, at least in this little record blogger bubble. In his blog entry about the latest LP by Karate which was just released a couple of weeks ago, Marcus’ was kind enough to mention my posts about all the band’s records I picked up this year. Reading the entry, I noticed that one record I knew I already had was missing. Marcus hadn’t made a mistake, I simply hadn’t posted about the record yet for whatever reason. In Place of Real Insight is the band’s second LP, released back in 1997. I really enjoy this record. For me, it’s the whole package: Music’s cool, the minimalist artwork in combination with the haptic aspect aspect of the sleeve is awesome and the blue chosen for this repress works really well for me. This feels like a group effort to finally get me posting about this record. 

Also, this serves as a reminder that I need to pick up a copy of the new Karate LP after Marcus’ very positive review. 

Bad Greens

Not only was I Against I rereleased with those awesome Punk Note covers, the band also pressed the record on a ton of different colors. I wanted a colored copy to keep the collection of colored versions going, but I also wanted to stay clear of those awful splatter versions. Green marble sounded like a solid choice by comparison. This is not the 'plutonium' color, which I've seen advertised everywhere, but the Newbury exclusive on 'Green Bay'. I have no idea if that is an actual name for a color or just something someone came up with.  After ordering this record, I found out that there’s also an orange marble version and a solid red version, which in hindsight would have maybe been the better choices. Then again, what’s one or two more records in the collection, right?

2024 Repress on 'Green Bay' on Bad Brains Records (Newbury Comes Exclusive /300)

Jets To Australia

Among the other bands I put on my holiday playlist to finally check them out was Jets To Brazil. I was well aware of the Jawbreaker connection, but for some reason I just always put on Jawbreaker and never listened to Jets To Brazil. Well, flying to the other end of the world and having plenty of time on the plane, I really had no excuse to put off listening to new bands any more. As you can see, I really liked what I heard and eventually ordered a copy of Orange Rhyming Dictionary. Since original pressings sell for quite a bit of money these days, I decided to go with a good looking repress. 

2023 Repress on Tangerine Dream on Jade Tree /500

Spiritual Cramp

Before I went on holiday I decided to make a playlist on Spotify with some all-time classics and with songs by bands I meant to check out for a while but never got around to do so. One of those bands was Spiritual Cramp, which I got tipped off to after Mike posted about their LP from last year. Seeing that Marcus co-signed on the record, this band seemed worth checking out. Mike mentioned the song ‘Talking on the Internet’, so that was the song I picked. And what can I say, I was hooked from the first listen. After listening to the playlist a few times, I ordered a copy of the band’s s.t. debut LP right away. 

‘Talking on the Internet’ is a such goddamn hit. So catchy. It even made the very elusive list of songs I could see myself using if I ever was going to film a skateboard part. Don't get your hopes up though, I haven't really skated in 15+ years and even at the best of times I was extremely bad and in now way, shape or form could I have filmed a 3 minute or so part that other people would have liked to watch too. BUT if I were good enough to do that, that song would make such a great choice. In my head I already know how I'd edit that part, as in where would the single tricks go, where would be a good place for a line and which effects could be used. Not that I could do that either from a technical stand point, but it's nice to have dreams, isn't it? 

It’s not just the one song though, the whole album is incredible from start to finish. So much fun to listen to. 

2nd Press on Milky Clear on Blue Grape /

I Against I Against I

If you’ve been following this blog for the past months, you probably noticed that I’m really into Bad Brains’ I Against I LP. As with their other full lengths releases, the band re-released special versions that have been a nod to legendary label Blue Note. Those previously released Punk Note versions all came out so great, it took me about two seconds to decide to get a copy when it was announced I Against I was going to receive the same treatment. 

Since I started collecting colored versions of I Against I, getting the colored version of this repress was kind of a given. Plus, the color chose for this repress looks so damn cool, especially in combination with this artwork. 

2024 Repress ‘Punk Note’ Edition Coke Bottle Clear on Bad Brains Records /1000

It’s funny how record collectors come up with a thousand different reasons why they need to pick up a certain record or version of a record or why they need to pick up more than one copy of a record. With all the other Punk Note versions I only managed to get black copies, because the colored versions had already sold out. So to keep the collection of black Punk Note editions complete, obviously I need to buy a second copy. Makes total sense. 

I also got a copy of the Bad Brains fanzine and put it in the picture just for fun. 

2024 Repress ‘Punk Note’ Edition on Black on Bad Brains Records /1000

Give More

So after caving on the Don’t Wait Up represses, I decided to go full in and started looking for copies of the Give Blood represses Equal Vision did last year. Now I’ll be slowly chipping away at those missing copies, probably just in time for the newly announced repress of It All Comes Down To This. I think Poison Idea got it wrong. Record collectors aren’t pretentious assholes, they are gigantic idiots. 

2023 Repress on Opaque Cream (“Newbury Exclusive”) on Equal Vision /300

Just Don’t

The post with the three more copies of Bane’s Don’t Wait Up the other day were just the tip of the iceberg that is the madness of collecting. 

While on holiday, End Hits Records and Bane announced that there would be a 10-year anniversary reissue of Don’t Wait Up. Of course that meant a bunch of different versions. Initially I only bought the last two records shown in this post because they were the most limited ones. But after suffering from not-buyer’s remorse the day after, I bought the remaining versions too. Well, technically this isn’t 100% true because by that time the version only available in the UK was already sold out. Since I didn’t want to give my money to flippers on Discogs, I still don’t have a copy. But luckily prices have come down already a little bit. Hopefully this trend continues and I can cross of that version soon as well. 

I really, really hope that this trend of splatter in all variations will end soon and we will be able to look back on this era of vinyl and say ‘Phew, what were we thinking? Let’s not do that again.’ But for now I’m stuck in splatter hell. Obviously no one forced me to buy these records, so I'm can't really complain too much. 

2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on Clear w/ Blue Blob and Yellow Splatter on End Hits Records /125

This version actually looks pretty cool. Love me a nice pinwheel record, especially with a nice color scheme. 

2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on Dewdrop / Midnight Blue Pinwheel on End Hits Records /200

 

The record itself is not that nice to look at, but the silk-screen cover is really sick. 

2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on Midnight blue w/ White/Yellow Splatter on End Hits Records /111

On the back of the cover, the record is numbered out of 111 copies. Nice touch. More bands / labels need to do this kind of thing again. 

Last, but not least, I also managed to pick up a test press for this repress. End Hits tends to do a lot of test presses, which some people frown upon. I don’t really care. If selling test presses helps to keep a label afloat, I’m all for it. 

Test Press for the 2024 Repress (= 6th Press) on End Hits Records /43