Wednesday, January 29, 2014

It All Comes Down To ….

This. This record. This band. This. This means everything.

It All Comes Down To This is quite different from the 7"s before and everything Bane released afterwards. I once read an interview with Bedard in which he said that in hindsight the band is not really happy with this LP and that's why they  rarely play songs from the first LP anymore. I think it was something along the lines that they wanted to experiment a lot and push the songwriting further. Which they definitely did. Actually they managed to do it quite well in my opinion. But I can see the band's perspective here. I imagine some of the songs on It All Comes Down To This to transform not well into live songs. Except for What Makes Us Strong and Can We Start Again for obvious reasons.
On a personal level, I really, really like this LP. We're talking about Bane after all. However, it's not my favourite Bane release. I've never been able to bond with this record as much as with some of their other releases, but I still hold it dear.
On a general level, I think this record is outstanding. It was so much ahead of its time when it was released in 1999. It's been 15 years since this album was first released, but if you were to ask anyone who doesn't know this record or band (WHUT?),  they would have a hard time pinning it down. Could have been released in 2006 or last year. The phrase "modern hardcore" would probably not exist without Bane or this LP.



From the pictures I'd seen before I actually could hold this record in my hands I always thought that this record was solid pink. But actually it has some nice marble effect to it. There are some white and even some very faint yellow streaks visible here. Looks really good. Easily the best looking version of the lot.




So I'm finally done with this one. Minus the test that is. But chances are I'll never get that. Which I'm fine with actually. Any Bane test pressings, or at least the ones of the early releases, are extremely hard to come by. If I ever could get one of those, that would be the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the sundae. Vegan style of course.

Bane - It All Comes Down To This (from left to right)

Bane - It All Comes Down To This - Equal Vision - pink - /100 (record release)
Bane - It All Comes Down To This - Equal Vision - red - /150 (tour)
Bane - It All Comes Down To This - Equal Vision - orange - /300 
          [it really is orange, not almost yellow like in the picture]
Bane - It All Comes Down To This - Equal Vision - black - /???




Sunday, January 26, 2014

This And That

Work sucks. Period. Whoever tells you the opposite is lying. It consumes way too much time. Which we don't have too much of to begin with. Then you're too exhausted to do the things you actually want to do. Ugghh. The only upshot is that it provides you with the means to buy cool stuff. Like records. Speaking of which, I recently went to an actual record store, which is sadly not something I do as often as I'd like to. Most of my records come from the endless depths of the internet. I'd love to go record shopping at a real shop more often, but there aren't that many around where I live. Let alone ones that sell the music I usually listen to.
There's a 2nd hand store close to where my parents live though, so whenever I visit them I hit up the store as well. Sometimes they have some used cool punk rock or even hardcore records, but not this time. However, the shop owner recently decided to sell new vinyl, too. There were some sweet records like the first Quicksand LP or the latest Get Up Kids album. I opted for At The Drive-In's Relationship of Command though. When it came out I didn't really care for it because it wasn't 'hard' enough for me at the time. When I realized that music doesn't have to be hard to be good, the record was long sold out of course. So I'm really glad I was finally able to pick up this LP without having to pay through my nose.
























Having good friends is probably the best thing there is. Even ahead of collecting records. There, I said it. Having good friends who bring over records in exchange for a free meal is even better. Mind you, this was not part of the dinner invitation. It was just a nice gesture.
If you like Reagan era hardcore à la Negative Approach and the like, you should check out Chainbreaker from Berlin. Standard press of the 2005 s.t. EP. Good stuff.

Monday, January 13, 2014

The Youth

Comadre is one of those bands that called it quits way too early. I would have loved to see another tour. I'm still bummed out that they cancelled the already booked tour with Dangers last summer. Anyway, I can comfort myself with their records, I guess. Luckily, there's plenty of them and they're all awesome. Comadre were one of the few current bands in my opinion that actually managed to stand out from the crowd as far as their sound was concerned. Quite experimental and open towards many different influences within that tight frame that is Hardcore. They always put in great effort in the way their records looked, too. Something that I really appreciate. I also loved the 'mix tapes' they used to put out.

This is the first LP that Comadre released on DOOD Records back in 2006. 100 of these came on red and white split vinyl, 400 were pressed on the splatter vinyl you can see here. There's nothing better than a release with matching vinyl and sleeve. This one here is especially beautiful. Nothing but love here for this band.



Friday, January 10, 2014

Catching Up With Today

Richmond's very own Down To Nothing have released a new LP on Revelation. I really liked all the early stuff that DTN released and I still love the Splitting Headache 7". The LPs just never could live up to that in my opinion. Save It For The Birds is still the best of the lot. Not that the LPs are bad records by any means. It's just that they never were as good as the early releases. Life On The James follows that trend. There was also a first press clear green edition, but I believe this is one of the second press copies on clear green vinyl mainly because I bought it kind of late.


























I also grabbed a copy of the The Fact Remains LP by Focused Minds. When I buy current records I mainly follow the descriptions of the distro (which are usually copied and pasted from the labels, I know), but I never listen to records online beforehand. I'm kind of old-fashioned that way. The main reason is that I really like being surprised. Positively that is of course. This is not always the case obviously the case but if it happens, it's such an awesome feeling. Well, this is one of those LPs where this is not the case.
The description said something about 'drawing influences' from the past but 'putting a contemporary spin on the youth crew sound'. I haven't checked out any current youth crew bands lately so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's a good enough record and I might listen to it a couple of more times, but so far it's not that special. Generic youth crew sound, which is always ok in my book, but it doesn't get me overly excited either. 1st press out of 600 on black vinyl.


























Speaking of contemporary youth crew records, I picked up Test of Time's self-released first 7" as well. I had read some good things about this band and seeing that they were recently bumped up by joining the B9 roster I thought I ought to give them a listen. Sadly the record doesn't do anything for me. There's not one song that really got stuck in my head. Maybe I'll give them a second chance and buy the 7" released by B9. This copy could be on grey /70 or cranberry /180. Don't really know. If you do, let me know. Gotta keep things in order here. Record collecting is serious business after all.



I really like split 7"s because they're a sweet way of checking out new bands for cheap. However, there's no wrong in putting two well established bands on one slab of vinyl. Shook Ones and Death Is Not Glamorous hardly need an introduction. Or at least I hope they don't. If you're not familiar with their back catalogue, you should change that quickly. I'm a little prejudiced towards Death Is Not Glamorous as they're easily one of my favourite Euorpean bands in the last couple of years and I still listen to their records on a regular basis. Good to get a couple of new songs by both bands, but the DING side wins in my book. Clear red /750.




























I know, I know, this is not really catching up with new records. Re-presses don't really count. One of too many versions of Have Heart's debut LP that I already own. 8th pressing on white vinyl. And there's already a new one version out there. I wonder when I'll decide to call it quits on this record before it becomes way too ridiculous.











When it comes to represses, there are basically two way of how you can do it in my opinion. One, you
stick to the original as closely as possible when it comes to format, cover, lyric sheet, inlays etc and change as little as you have to. Two, you put in a lot of effort and create something new that is just so over the top it'll make your head spin. Radio Raheem opted for the 2nd way when they decided to re-release The Abused's Loud and Clear 7" and they did a bang-up job. This should be the standard of how reissues of classic records should be done.

Originally released in 1983, this classic NYHC 7" has been made available again for the first time in 30 years. That is if you don't count the 90s Lost and Found release, and who really cares about them. You get the songs from the Loud and Clear 7" plus the 1982 demo and a couple of unreleased live tracks. 21 songs all in all. The sleeve is a pseudo-gatefold of sorts with a flap in which you can put the record and everything that comes with it. You get a really cool booklet with a few texts and loads of pictures and flyers from back in the day. 24 pages all in full colour. Radio Raheem did truly a great job here. You also get a sticker sheet with replicas of OG stickers from the 1980s. Stickers are always cool, so why not throw some in here? I don't know what to say about the music except it's a classic record for good reasons. The music still holds up well today. I don't know if the songs are remixed since I've never heard the original 7", but who really cares.

If you don't want to spend a small fortune on this record, this is the way to go. If you want to spend that much money on the original 7", you should pick up the re-release nonetheless because this is a nice looking record and quite honestly, you probably just spent at least $700 on a 7" so you should be able to splash out $18 more for this LP.



Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Catching Up With The 90s

Happy new year, everybody! Let's see what 2014 has to offer. Still got some catching up to do from 2013, though.

This would have probably been a more apt name for this blog since it seems to be what I mainly do: catch up. So many records by so many bands, and so little money to buy all of them and so little time to listen to all of them. It's hard enough to keep up to date with today's music as there seem to be myriads of (new) bands all around. But since I was a little to late to start buying records - sadly not due to young age, but to stupidity - I have to play catch up with the past decades, at least the 80s and 90s that is, too. Luckily there's this shopping paradise for old vinyl called discogs.com. I picked up all of these nice 7"s from the same seller. Money saved is money earned, right?


First goes Grade's s.t. EP, released in 1996 on Wheatfield Records. Not too interesting from a collector's point of view, but that's not what it is always about. This here 7" comes on plain black vinyl. I'm not even sure if there are any other versions out there.















Next up is the s.t. EP by Mouthpiece. Again, no fancy cover or coloured vinyl, just plain black vinyl.
The internet tells me this is the 1994 repress because of the purple labels. Good one.






I also got this early Youngblood release, Rancor's Never Hold Back (= YBR 003), to be precise. Youngblood had some great releases in the late 90s and early 2000s. Lots of catching up to do though. One down, many to go.







I love compilations because it is a cool way to get to know new bands. Or at least it used to be. I know, the easy way to check out new bands nowadays is to use the internet. I also do that I have to admit. There aren't that many compilations being released anymore to begin with, and using the internet is admittedly easier. Plus it doesn't cost anything. I get that. But there is no better feeling than listening to a new record or a song on a compilation by a band you didn't know before and being floored by it, because it's just that good. You rarely get that feeling of "Fuck, this is just awesome!", but if you do, it beats anything. Sitting there in your room, reading the lyric sheet, looking at the sleeve, checking out every small detail. You don't get that same feeling from listening to music on the internet. At least I don't. Here's to more compilations in the future again.
First press of the Growing Stronger Compilation on Teamwork/In My Blood Records (red lettering on the front cover). 






Speaking of good compilations, the last 7" I picked up is a copy of the Rebuilding Compilation on Temperance Records. There are many different versions known of this 7". 100 respectively 200, depending on the source, were pressed on gold vinyl. This here is on black vinyl with yellow/green labels. There are four more versions on black vinyl, all with different labels. I don't think anyone really knows the precise pressing info for the black editions as far as numbers go. If you do, enlighten me. This compilation is really awesome. On different levels that is. Burn. Gorilla Biscuits. Turning Point. No Escape. Need I say more about the music? Thought so. Rebuilding was released as a benefit compilation back in 1990 to collect money for an animal rights organization and to promote the idea of vegetarianism/veganism. The texts and the info flier are informative and educational without being preachy or condescending. I don't know why, but none of the songs deal with animal rights/eating meat. Seems like they could have picked different bands/songs. Or maybe it was part of the non-preachy aspect? But in the end, it doesn't really matter. Good release for a good cause.