It Was A Very Good Year

2014 was a really good year as far as records go. There were some really great records released this year and I also managed to pick up a lot of really cool records that had been on my want list for quite some time. I tried to come up with a Top 5 for 2014 releases and 2014 collectibles. It worked fine for the releases, but I couldn't slim down the collectibles to just five. Anyway, here goes.

2014 Releases

Dangers has been a favourite band of mine ever since I heard them for the first time. I haven't been floored by a band both lyrically and musically like that for a long time. They're also a great live band and all of the shows I've been to were great fun. 5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World is not as good as their previous releases imho, which doesn't mean that much cause compared to most other bands it's still very, very good. The song of the same name however is so awesome. My #5.
Our Inner Wastelands is the first full length release by local band Zerre. Their singer is a good friend of mine, plus I know most of the other members as well, and I'm so stoked about what they accomplished with this LP. Plus it looks so good. The red variant is probably the best looking record I got this year. My #4.
I've been a fanboy of Barren ever since I heard their demo. It had been rather quiet around this band for quite some time, but this year they finally managed to release their first full length LP Anachronism. Great politically minded 90s hardcore. Awesome live band, too. Plus we share a craving for the same vegan baked good, which is definitely a big plus. XStreuseltalerYouthX. My #3.
Sweet Jesus are the surprise band of the year for me. I'd never heard of them before, despite the fact that Pat Flynn of Have Heart fame is the singer for this band. When I got their their first 7" Box, I put it on the record player and I was blown away. I had to flip this record over and over and over and over. So, so good. Their upcoming LP just might show up in my Top 5 2015. We'll see. My #2.
It's been a hard debate between me, myself and I, but in the end there could be only one release at the top of this list. Bane is my favourite band ever, just in case somebody wasn't aware of this fact (despite the 15 posts about this band in little more than a year). They decided to call it quits next year, which sucks, but they released a new LP this year, which rules. Don't Wait Up is such a good LP. I was a little afraid they might release a record that could leave a bad aftertaste, urging people to say "They should have quit a few years ago…", but this LP is so much better than I'd ever hoped for. Perfect record to end this amazing journey of this band. My #1 2014.

2014 Collectibles

I managed to pick up a lot of cool records this year, some of which had been on my want list for quite some time. Narrowing it down to just five records was impossible, so I stretched the list just a tad. There are still a few records that could have easily been in this picture, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Some of these records I got for cheap, some I had to pay a pretty penny for, some I got for free or as presents. For various reasons these records are my collectibles of the year. There's no ranking here since all these records give me joy for very different reasons. 

Greatest hardcore record of all time. Prove me otherwise.

Favourite release by my favourite band. Collection complete.

Out of the blue. Rarest release by my favourite band besides test pressings.

Birthday present by the greatest girlfriend on this planet.

There are always more variants out there than you think. Keep looking.

Record I probably listened to the most 2014. One of the wildest and hottest shows this year.

Out of the blue part II. There are still some great people involved in hardcore.

Sometimes you gotta give more. Sometimes you gotta give everything.




Not in this picture but in the one above, you can see a test pressing of Bane's final LP on End Hits Records. This one is definitely one of my pick-ups 2014 as well, but I didn't feel the need to picture it twice.

Thanks everyone for reading my blog and commenting. Keeps record collecting a lot of fun.

XXX

Neighborhood Brats

I've read reviews of Neighborhood Brats that described them as "female-fronted Black Flag". So I kind of became intrigued, despite the fact that I think the term "female-fronted" is just plain stupid. Just to make that clear, I don't dislike bands that are fronted by women, but I don't see the need to put special emphasis on this fact, making this some sort of novelty.
Anyhow, bands that sound like or are compared with Black Flag are definitely worth checking out. This 7" is good punk rock music, no doubt, but I don't see where the Black Flag comparison comes from, except for the fact they were "inspired" by a riff from Rise Above in one of their songs. I'll definitely check out some of their other stuff, but so far I'm not sold. The Youth Of Today cover is pretty cool though.

Step Forward

There are a lot of hardcore bands that are not overly productive. Step Forward clearly fall into that category. Their first 7"was released in 2006, the next one in 2014. As I understand it there had been plans to release this 7" a few years ago, but the band had kind of a Chung King situation going on, so the release never materialized. They re-recorded the song sometime last year and also added some new songs. I really hope they won't take another eight years to release some new material. The songs are just  too good. I really like the foldout poster/lyricsheet here.
This is the less fancy version on black vinyl. There's apparently also one on clear vinyl, but I have no idea about pressing info as far as numbers go.

Give

I usually try to buy records in whatever original format they were released on. However, I have a really strong dislike towards 7"s that come with only two songs. Seems like such a waste of vinyl, plus I'm too lazy to get up from the sofa after just one song to tell you the truth. That's where the Singles Going Confetti compilation comes in really handy, which compiles all the songs that Give have released as 7"s so far. There's also a bonus song on this compilation, which made picking up this one even more attractive.
The singles compilation was released by Deranged Records and Assault Records. This is the black variant on Deranged Records out of 400.

American Hate

In my last post I wrote about the gamble of ordering record without previously listening to them. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This record falls into the latter category. The music is ok, I guess, although it isn't that exciting either. But what's really turning me off here are the vocals. Just horrible in my humble opinion. I rarely think about selling records once I got them, but this one can definitely go.

Sweet Jesus

The Christmas season is upon us, so I thought I'd post a record by an aptly named band. Sweet Jesus released their first 7" on Triple B records a few weeks ago. I'd missed out on the demo completely, which apparently was released something like three years ago. I ordered this 7" because of its description as a Swiz and Dag Nasty influenced band. Can't go wrong with either band. Throw in Pat Flynn on vocals, and picking up this record was a no brainer.
Buying records without listening to them beforehand on the internet is kind of a gamble and chances are high you might get disappointed. Not in this case though. I haven't been floored like that by a record of a current band in a long time. I can't stop listening to this. Seriously. This is without a doubt my favourite 7" of the year. Maybe it's even my favourite release of the year.
There are two colours for this record: 330 on white vinyl and 770 on red vinyl. As you can see I got the red one, which means I need the white vinyl version as soon as possible.

Sweet Jesus have also recorded an LP recently, which is supposed to drop in February 2015. Really looking forward to this one. In the meantime, do yourself a favour and pick up this record.

What Fire Does

I'm kind of ambivalent towards Record Store Day. There are so many releases for that day that are just so overpriced, plus there are all those people who come crawling out of the woodwork and buy records just to flip them. And to put it simple: fuck those people. On the other hand it's a great opportunity to get some releases that have been out of print for a long time. I also read an interview with a record store owner once that RSD basically ensures his shop to stay afloat for a couple of months. The interview really somehow changed my outlook on this day because I used to be absolutely against this day. Goes to show you never should form a one-sided opinion. So if what this day accomplishes is keeping record stores alive, I guess then it's a good thing all in all.

I stumbled across this Up Front 7" during my recent trip to Bis Aufs Messer. This version on grey marble was released for RSD 2014, so I guess this record has been sitting there for a few months and no one bothered to pick it up. Kind of sad, since it's a really good record, but I'm not really complaining here. There are 300 of these and all of them are numbered.

Have Heart?

I love Have Heart. They're one of the bands from the first decade of the 21st century that will go down as a classic hardcore band. Not only are the music and the lyrics awesome, but they're also a fun band to collect. That means if your borderline OCD and/or have loads of money. There are like 50 versions of the demo alone. For detailed info check this awesome homepage. Done with true passion.
Now, I really like record collecting and I really like Have Heart, but there's no way I'd ever think of aiming for a complete collection. That's why I decided to just collect the different covers for the 7"s. Having said that, we're still talking about a shitload of records.
Recently I had the chance to buy a few special covers for the demo 7". The first one is the cover the band did for their summer tour 2005. There are 150 of these on black vinyl. The second one was done for Posi Numbers Fest the same year. There are 200 of these on coke bottle clear vinyl.































In case you're wondering about the missing pictures, the scumbag I bought the two records from ripped me off badly. I'm a very patient guy, but after three and a half months of waiting and no contact for three months I'm pretty sure I'll never get those records from the seller. It really bums me out that people who are apparently into hardcore would do this to fellow hardcore kids. It's not so much about the records really, but more about the whole behaviour. I've been lucky so far and haven't been ripped off that often, but whenever it happens, it really bums me out. So, if you happen to read this, Maxym Koval from Ukraine (aka onethruth on Deadformat), fuck yourself you piece of shit.

Catholic Guilt

I seem to have picked up a lot of records that were inspired by early 80s hardcore and I don't really know why. It's not my favourite style of hardcore, but a lot of current bands seem to play that style (again). Here's one more. Catholic Guilt are from Austria and play a more punkish version of early 80s hardcore. Nothing groundbreaking, but not bad either. No info on the pressing info.

Sex Drive

Holy crap, where do all these good records at the end of the year come from all of a sudden? If a band names itself after a Necros song, there's probably a good reason for them to do so. No frills, all thrills hardcore that could have easily been recorded in the early 80s. There are 98 copies on green vinyl, 110 were pressed on white vinyl and another 330 copies come on black vinyl. 

Protester

The scene in Washington, D.C., seems to be flourishing right now. A lot of really good bands from there have been delivering pretty good records as of late. Protester is definitely one of these bands. Don't expect any typical D.C. sound though. This is raw, brutal hardcore in the vein of early Boston bands. As you might have guessed from the cover, Protester is a straight edge band. I like the adaption of the classic D.C. cross logo here. This is the less fancy version on black vinyl. I'm sweating over that Best Of 2014 list at the moment and I just might have yet another contender for that list.

Unrestrained

You learn something new everyday, as the saying goes. I recently learned that there are two bands called Unrestrained, who both play the same style of hardcore. Who would have guessed? Well, not me, apparently. I saw Unrestrained from Vermont a few years ago live and I really liked them. I have a soft spot for this kind of 90's hardcore. That's why I was really happy to learn that Unrestrained recently, and by that I mean 2013, released a new LP. Turns out it was Unrestrained from Portland, who incidentally also play 90's style hardcore. What are the odds, right? I have to admit I had to get over the disappointment a little bit, but once I put that behind me, I started to dig this record. Having said that, I still like Unrestrained from Vermont a little better… There are 525 copies of this record on vinyl, of which 399 come on this purple/gray trash colour.

Hounds Of Hate

While at Bis Aufs Messer record store, I also bought a copy of the Hounds Of Hate's No Redemption 7". I don't know if this is a first press or second press copy since both pressings are on black. I really liked their first LP, but this 7", which had come out before the LP doesn't do a whole lot for me, and I don't really know why. Maybe it'll have to grow on me. 

I also picked up Hounds Of Hate's 2nd LP Hate Springs Eternal. Not at Bis Aufs Messer, but I ordered from XSentientX around the same time, so I thought I'd put the two records together. For such a short lived band, they sure have a lot of (full length) releases under their belt. I was kind of disappointed by the 7", but this LP definitely makes up for it. 

XSentientX is run by the same guy who also runs Assault Records, which is the label that released the European version of this LP. This is the more limited variant. 120 of these were pressed on clear vinyl. . 

Great Reversals

Great Reversals from Detroit play great modern hardcore. A little bit on the slow, more moshy (is that a word?) side of modern hardcore, but still with enough melody for me. The voice reminds of Count me Out, which is never a bad thing. To The End Of The Earth was released in 2012 and features four songs. A bit of a waste of vinyl if you ask me seeing that it was released as a 10". Be that as it may, this is really good music. I've been listening to this a lot these last few days. I'm definitely going to pick up their other releases at some point.

More Dischord

I made a weekend trip to Berlin last weekend to visit one of my best friends. Whenever I do this, a short stop over at premium record store Bis Aufs Messer is a must. Picked up some nice records that I'll post over the next few days.

I love Dischord for many different reasons. That's why it's all the more sad I have so few of their records. I guess my excuse for this is my reasoning that Dischord always keep their releases in print, so I could pick up Dischord records practically at any time, and for a fair price, too. That's why I probably kept focusing on other records all the time since a lot of records by other labels are 'sold out' at one point sooner or later. So speed is the key if you want to have them. However, if I'd stuck with this reasoning, I'd have never bought any Dischord records at all. I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions, because if you really want to change something you can always start today, but I'm planning on buying a lot more Dischord stuff in the next twelve months and beyond.

Dischord recently released the first demo recordings by Fugazi on vinyl. Seeing that I don't own any Fugazi records (see above), I thought that their demo recordings would make for a good start. It's not like I've never listened to them, I just didn't own physical copies of their releases. No need to talk about the importance or awesomeness of this band.

The second Dischord release I got is Gray Matter's mini LP Take It Back. This repress also features the four songs that were originally released on their s.t. 7". Whenever I think of Gray Matter I see Ali Boulala skate to Burn No Bridges in the original Flip skateboard video. Perfect fit. Maybe it's because this was the way I was introduced to this band, but I like this song the best. The record came out in 1986, when the whole DC summer thing was about to happen. That probably explains this seemingly strange mix of traditional hardcore-punk songs and more calm, emo-core songs. Although I have to agree with Guy Picciotto, singer for Rites Of Spring, that 'emo-core' is a pretty stupid genre name, seeing that hardcore itself is already pure emotion.

We're Just A Minor Threat

A few weeks ago I posted that I needed to step up my Minor Threat game. So that's what I did. I had the chance to pick up this beautiful 4th press copy of Minor Threat's first 7" for a fair price via eBay. The seller was from France, so I didn't have to worry about long shipping or the customs office. I guess X-mas came a little early this year.

The record looks almost mint to me and the insert is in great condition, too. The only 'flaw' is that the glue of the cover has dried out and the cover is now kind of a fold out (again). It isn't really a flaw though since this is pretty common with these records. On the upside, you get to read the 'Flex Your Head' slogan on one of the flaps, which I think is pretty awesome. Just imagine writing that slogan on all of these covers before glueing them together yourself. Pure dedication. I love it.