All On Black

After crossing off a couple of old records on my want list, it was time to focus on the current hardcore scene again and so I ordered a couple of records that either sounded interesting or I had heard people I know talk about. By some weird coincidence I managed to pick up only records on black vinyl, which in this day and age is somewhat of a marvel. I don't really care about that, but it's kind of astonishing nonetheless.

Let's start with Caught In A Crowd's second 7" 'The Fight', released by React! Records. Caught In A Crowd play youth crew SXE hardcore, as you have probably already figured out from the band's name and the label. It's good music for what it is, but from the couple of times I listened to the songs, this 7" is nothing that got me overly excited. They're often compared to the likes of Carry On and Count Me Out, which is why I bought the record in the first place, but 'like' does unfortunately not mean 'as good as' in this case. Maybe it'll grow on me though. First press out of 400.

I got to know Kids Insane via a message board I frequently use when someone posted a link to their bandcamp page. The songs got me hooked immediately and I bought their LP soon afterwards. I really liked said first LP and listened to it on a regular basis for a couple of weeks. So when I heard that they were going to put out a new 7", I had to get it. And what can I say, I wasn't disappointed when I listened to it the first time and the many times after that. I'm pretty sure this 7" will rank highly on my 2014 list. I really like the cover, too.
Most common version comes on black vinyl again. There are 317 other 7"s on black, but if you're looking to add some colour to your life, 'Frustrated' also comes on silver and blue vinyl. You can even pick up a test press for cheap as far as I know.

Next up is Sea Of Shit's s.t. 7". Decent power violence, but nothing that really got stuck in my head. Might have to give it a couple more spins, but for now it's 'just OK'.

Many people seem to be fed up with the seemingly endless flow of reissued records, but I'm rather stoked about most of them. I can see the perspective of collector's here, but for me, and many others I guess, it's a good and cheap way to pick up records that wouldn't be affordable otherwise. A good example is this Deep Wound 7", which usually goes for $400+ on eBay. Now I really wanted to have that record - and and still want many other classics as a matter of fact -, but not at that price. Since bootlegs are out of the question, I always have to hope for a reissue of a classic record. Armageddon Records seem to have heard my prayers and even more importantly answered them. The first legitimate reissue of this classic 80's record, at least as far as I know. And again, this is a classic for good reasons. Great guitar, awesome drumming and the pissed off voice of the singer make this 7" really stand out. If you're into early 80's hardcore at all, you need this. On a sidenote, the drummer and the guitarist went on to form this band you might have heard of called Dinosaur Jr. Must have.

Head Over Heels

So, a good friend of mine and I were djing together a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I actually play the records I buy, sometimes even for other people. Now I'm not saying I'm any good at it, but getting to listen to exactly the music you want to listen to for a whole evening and getting free food and drinks on top of that sounds like a good deal to me. Anyway, said buddy put on this one song that immediately got me hooked, so I had to ask him what band this song was by and that's how I fell in love with Iron Chic.
Not only did I fall in love with this band though, but my girlfriend did, too. Now the good thing about having a girlfriend who is into the same music as oneself and thinks about music the same way you do is that you don't have to explain about buying and spending way too much money (only in the eyes of others of course) on records. On the contrary, me and the missus teamed up and got as many Iron Chic releases as possible for now. Sounds like an awesome girlfriend? You're right about that. Since I apparently live under an enormous rock, not all releases were still available, so it looks like I'll have to hit up ebay or discogs at some point in the nearby future. Expect to see more Iron Chic posts soon.
For once I seem to be extremely lucky since the band is going on tour in Europe in a couple of weeks, which I'm really stoked about. Enough time to learn the lyrics to sing along. Shouldn't be too hard considering that Iron Chic is being played 95% of the time in the apartment these days.


Going clockwise:

Spooky Action tape on Bridge 9 records - white - /250
Not Like This LP - European press on YoYo Records - black (180g vinyl) - 3rd press out of ???
(Cosmic) Future 7" on YoYo Records - clear vinyl - 3rd press out of ???
The Constant One LP on Bridge 9 - baby blue vinyl - 2nd press out of 1000
Spooky Action 7" on YoYo Records - clear vinyl - 1st press out of 400

Not too interesting from a collector's point of view. But as I said I had lived under a rock for too long, which means that all the releases have gone through multiple pressings by now, so I'm not even thinking about trying to go down that road...

5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World

If there was one release in the last couple of months I was really looking forward to, up to the point of sheer excitement, it was the new Dangers 7". The drawback of high expectations is that you imagine the new songs to be so awesome that it's almost impossible for the record to meet said expectations. This is especially true for new material by your favourite bands. As it happens Dangers is one of my personal favourites. Music, lyrics, attitude and live performance, I could go on raving about all of that for hours. I won't though. Let's just say that Dangers - to me - is what a hardcore band should be like. To say I love the band would still be an understatement and the day they're gonna call it quits will be a really sad one for me.
But let's focus on the present. As I already hinted at, I had really high expectations for this 7". It took me some time to get into the record, but after listening to it constantly for the last few weeks it finally made click. The A-Side still sounds a little off to me, mainly because the vocals sound so differently from the earlier releases, but the B-Side is where it's really at. The last song is just so unbelievably good. One of my favourite (Dangers) songs ever.
On a different note, Vitriol Records is one of those labels that always puts great effort into all their releases. I'm really digging the whole package here. Cover, the printed inner jacket, lyric sheet and the colours chosen for the records all work together really well. Great release of a great band by a great label.

I can't really say anything about the individual numbers here, but there are three different colours for this release, which account to a grand total of 2,000. I like the brownish colour the best by a mile. It looks really sick.

It gets better though. If you hold it against the light, the record turns golden with black swirls, which makes it look even better. Try doing that with your CDs or MP3s, ha! One of the best looking records I own.

True Till Death

Hands down, it probably doesn't get any more classic than a Chain Of Strength - True Till Death 7" on green vinyl. Pretty much everything about this record screams classic: the artwork, the music, the lyrics, the colour of the vinyl and last but not least the name itself, which has become the namesake for one of the most prominent SXE catch phrases there is. Now I'm not the biggest Chain Of Strength fan out there, let alone a collector, but this 7" is really great. Simple and plain. Sometimes it doesn't need a lot of words to sing the praises of something. What I love most about this record is the intro to True Till Death. It creates this intense atmosphere that persists throughout the whole song. Great stuff.
Anybody should own one of these in my opinion. Unfortunately there are only 2000 copies on green vinyl. I say 'only', because 2000 copies sounds like a lot, but since this is as classic as classic a record can be they are highly sought after. Really glad I was able to pick up this near mint copy and add it to my collection. Good times.