Disengage

Disengage play fast straight edge hardcore. Who would have guessed when a band is named after a YOT song/records, right? The longest song is 1:20, the shortest one is 0:06. Get the picture? Not bad all in all, but nothing that makes we want to stage dive off my couch. Could be fun live though. This is the less fancy version on black vinyl out of 300. There's also a blue marbled variant out of 200.

The Flex Don't Bother With The Outside World

There's no end to the latest British Invasion as The Flex are keeping themselves pretty busy. One LP and two handful of tapes and 7"s in three years. Pretty busy indeed. Don't Bother With The Outside World is the latest part of their ever growing discography. I really like that they have used the same colour pattern for all their releases so far.

Wild Stabs In The Dark

I think I ordered this LP something like 3 or 4 times before I finally got a copy, but it was always sold out. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure this pink wax is already a repress. Most likely it is, considering that I fairly often got the the reply 'sold out' to orders I put in. Wild Stabs In The Dark is just as good as previous releases by The Flex.

Marching On

Music for the not so quiet moments in life. Violent Reaction have been keeping busy and released their 2nd LP earlier this year. This copy on clear green vinyl is part of the 2nd pressing. Not bad, considering this was released not too long ago. Nothing's changed on this release as far as the music is concerned, which is definitely a good thing. The folks at Rev seem to like the music as well, so they decided to release Marching On on their label. Honest question, is this the first release on Rev by a European / non-American band?

Happiness Is

Latest LP by Taking Back Sunday. This is the first record I post about I haven't really listened to before blogging about it, I have to admit, but I want to work through all the records that have arrived lately before I go on holiday.

Where You Want To Be

More music for the quiet moments in life: Taking Back Sunday's second LP. Not quite as good as their debut, but still a good record all in all. 2013 repress on black vinyl.

Straight And Loud

As I wrote yesterday, Crucial Youth did a great job poking fun at straight edge when they were around. This is their debut on vinyl. There's also a variant on blue vinyl, though I have no idea which one's more limited. Originally this 7" also came with a sticker, which sadly this copy came without. Then again, it'd have been a long shot since this record was released in 1987.

Grudge

Some people take straight edge way too seriously, so a reality check is in order from time to time. Enter bands with some tongue-in-cheek-humour. Crucial Youth and Good Clean Fun did a great job in that respect. Grudge tried, but somewhat failed. The lyrics are just not that humorous. Also, why is the artwork of this record not a rip-off of the New York Crew or Project X 7"s? Grudge / Project-Ex on Jism Records? Come on, there was way more potential here.

The Hotelier

I hadn't known the hotelier at all prior to reading the description of their latest LP Home, Like Noplace Is There on the website of a distro. The description read like this would be something I might like, so I ordered it and I definitely hit a home run. Great emo-core / indy record. This is the fourth pressing out of 2000 copies on white vinyl.

Sid & Nancy

From the same seller I bought The Godfathers sleeve from, I also got the Sid & Nancy sleeve. Someone has truly done a beautiful  job with this hand drawn and screen printed cover. I especially like the roses. As you can see, the sleeve is numbered in the bottom right hand corner. Mine is #58, but I have no idea out of how many. With Count Me Out the number 110 has always played an important role, thought I'm not sure this also applies for this variant.

The Godfathers

I love Count Me Out and I love mafia movies, so me picking up a copy of What We Build with "The Godfathers" had to happen sooner or later. Sadly, the sleeve was not done as it should have been. The paper is of very flimsy quality. Bummer.

Thanks to my good collecting buddy Tom, who gave me the heads up on Count Me Out records on ebay/UK.

Freedom

Refused is one of my favourite bands ever. A lot of this has to do with nostalgia. They were one of the first bands I to know when I first go into hardcore. This was some time after The Shape Of Punk To Come had come out and New Noise was one of the songs regularly played in this indie club I used to go to. I loved that song and the whole LP. Then I discovered their earlier records, which blew me equally away. 15 years later I still enjoy these records on a regular basis. Back then I would have given an arm and a leg to travel back in time to see them live or to hear new material. A few years ago Refused announced they weren't dead anymore, which should have been all the reason in the world for me to get excited, but seeing which kind of shows they were going to play, my enthusiasm went away rather quickly. I guess 'rather be forgotten than giving in' was just an empty slogan after all. I never went to see any of their shows but continued to listen to their records and watch old video footage so I could keep the image I had in my head.
A few weeks ago someone posted on Instagram that the pre-orders for a new Refused LP had just gone up. I didn't have the faintest idea that hey had been working on a new record and I wasn't overly excited I have to admit, but I quickly succumbed to my curiosity what the new songs might sound like. A decision I quickly became to rue. I'm still not sure which record is the bigger disappointment, the latest Ceremony LP or this one. I hadn't really expected a record in the vein of Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent and I was pretty sure that they weren't going to replicate their seminal album TSOPTC, but Freedom is just plain bad. I don't even know where to start, but I guess what's bugging me the most is that I don't hear the same anger and urgency I loved on their releases from the 90's. Huge, huge bummer.

Running Out Of Headlines

Literally. I don't know what to write anymore when I post about new copies of this LP. But I'll just keep buying 'em. Latest repress on End Hits Records on solid green vinyl.

Witness

Wow, 10 years have gone by since Witness came out. 10 years, blink of an eye, same difference apparently. Deathwish have treated this LP to a deluxe reissue and they have done a great job. I only ordered the rarest colour, limited to 300, since shipping to Europe has become ridiculously expensive. I'm pretty sure I'll manage to pick up the other variants from distros over here at some point. I love the whole package, although I wish they had added more liner notes. I love liner notes, and anniversary reissues often offer the opportunity to shed some light on lyrics and provide background information in general.