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I meant to post this record earlier, in order to keep the chronological order, but somehow it slipped my mind. I remember reading about this new band from the Bay Area with members from Ceremony and Punch. Apparently they were rediscovering their Youth Crew roots, at least that's what the description said. I also remember that I wanted to order a copy right away but didn't follow through because I couldn't justify the shipping cost for just one 7" across the pond. So I was really happy that Val, who also plays in Lome Prieta, had some copies with him when Loma Prieta played Fluff Fest this summer. For once the rational decision paid off in the end. I like the overall concept of the layout and 'artwork'. Everything about this release is pure. This is the variant on white vinyl out of 400. There's also a variant on clear vinyl out 85.

My Love My Witness

Right around the time I saw Modern Life Is War earlier this year I decided to rebuild my collection, which I had foolishly sold off/traded away a few years ago. Why, I don't know. Joe Lifeline put up some rarities from the Lifeline vault for sale a few weeks back. I would have loved to get a test pressing for witness, but since I just had bought Start Today on purple, a test pressing of that calibre was beyond my budget. I picked a few other goodies instead. This clear variant of My Love My Way was released in 2011. This was the last variant I picked up before selling/trading most of my collection. This is the 2nd press on Lifeline Records, but technically it's the 3rd pressing overall. Only 150 exist and they're not that easy to come by. I'm pretty happy I was able to score this one for a more than fair price.

I also picked up this 2nd press copy of Witness on green splatter vinyl. I always really liked that colourway.

Now, if you ask me which LP I like better, there's no way I could give you a straight answer. It's My Love My Way today and Witness tomorrow.

Sweet Jesus

 Sweet Jesus totally came out of the blue (for me at least) and surprised me with one of the best 7"s I've heard in years. It almost became my release of the year 2014. So when I read that they were going to release a full length LP I was more than stoked. As soon as the pre-orders went online, I put in my order and then the most dreadful period of time for any record nerd began: the waiting. I'm not 100% sure on the timeline anymore, but I think the band wasn't happy with the first recording/mastering, so they recorded/mastered everything again. Fine by me, I'd rather have a good sounding copy the band is happy with than a crappy record that has just been put out for the sake of having a release. Drawback: wait longer. Then the pressing plant fucked up and/or Record Store Day prolonged everything. Long story short: it took what felt like forever until the records were finally shipped in late August. Funny side note: the first version actually out there was the tour version for the European tour Sweet Jesus did in early August. Anyway, I finally have the album in my hands. Actually, I have three copies in my hands. You'll see. I really like the LP. It doesn't have as much of a 'wow factor' as the 7", but it is still a really good LP. I'm pretty sure it will rank highly on my 2015 list.

First up is the pre-order variant on white vinyl. This was the rarer of the two pre-order colours. 100 copies exist.

Next is the variant on purple vinyl out of 300.


    For people who pre-ordered the record, the label threw in a flexi. Sweet Jesus show their excellent
    taste in music and cover one Faith and one Void song. Can't go wrong with the classics. You also
    get a note/flyer explaining a little bit about the delay.

    As I said, Sweet Jesus toured the UK/Belgium briefly earlier this summer. I think it was their first
    real tour, too. For this tour they put out a tour variant. Black vinyl with blank labels. You get a tour
    stamp on the DJ sleeve, but no real cover. Bummer. I always fell that this is a lazy way of making a
    tour variant. Stamps are cool, but they should be a bonus, not the main feature. The lyric sheet is also
    different from the one that comes with the regular LP. Different layout and different paper colour. I
    ordered this after seeing a post on Facebook, saying that the band still had some tour pressings left
    over. So I grabbed one. Funnily enough this was the first variant I received in the mail.

    In the meantime I learned that there is also a Revelation Records exclusive pressing on yellow vinyl.
    Or to be precise, there was a Rev exclusive pressing, because it has already sold out. And of course I    
    missed out. Atomic Action also (re)pressed the LP on orange and black vinyl. Need to pick up these
    soon.

Champion Goes To Posi Fest

The seller I bought Start Today on purple from had some other goodies up for sale, so I treated myself to another sweet record from my want list. I really like Champion's Come Out Swinging 7"and I always thought the Posi Numbers sleeve looked so rad. I love the whole old school tattoo vibe with the eagle and the fonts used on this cover. The vinyl used for this variant is the same green vinyl used for the 1st press, but the labels are different. They got stamped with the band's name and 'Posi Fest 2003', that is, most of them were stamped. Some didn't get the stamp apparently, leaving the labels completely blank. My copy is #29/116.

Start Today

Alright, no need to talk about the greatness and importance of this record. If you didn't know about Gorilla Biscuits and Start Today, you would have never stumbled across my shitty little blog. But just in case you have no idea who Gorilla Biscuits are, stop doing whatever it is you're doing and listen to everything they ever recorded right now. Gorilla Biscuits have been one of my favourite bands since the first time I heard that fanfare at the beginning of New Direction. As far as my collection goes, it's embarrassing how weak the GB section is. Prior to this I didn't have a single record on colour vinyl, except for the glow in the dark variant released recently. I probably have 10% of all variants, if that. Gorilla Biscuits may be the band with the worst I-really-love-this-band/number-of-records-I-own-ratios in my collection. Mainly because their records go for quite some money these days. But sometimes you have to pull the trigger and spend a little more. I got a nice little unexpected backpay from my health insurance carrier last month, and the timing couldn't have been better, because I came across a purple copy of Start Today for sale literally the next day. This is a major want crossed off the list for me. It looks even better in reality than on all the pictures I droolingly admired over the years. I never knew it wasn't actually solid purple with white streaks. Couldn't be happier.

Local Heroes

I'm pretty sure everybody has this local hero band that they have fond memories of. Even Worse (not the 80's band from New York) were that for me. One of the best shows I ever went to was the record release show for their first split LP. Tiny venue in their hometown, a killer line up and a ton of confetti. Stage dives and high fives. Good times. I still play their early records on a regular basis. They changed their style over the years, which is kind of natural I guess. I totally get it, from a band's perspective, but from a listener's perspective, I was not a big fan of that change. The same goes for Goldust, another really good band from that period. The two bands bonded very closely from what I remember, so a split release was just sort of a given, despite them being quite different in their styles/progression. I didn't pick up this particular release back then, because, as I said, I didn't like the way both bands progressed at the time. On the other hand, it always felt like there was something missing because I didn't have all of Even Worse's release. So I finally decided to rectify that. I'm still not a big fan of both band's later output, but that isn't that important in this case.

Pessimistic Lines

There are certain records in every collector's collection that they would never ever let go off. Not even if their kids needed extremely expensive heart surgery and selling the beloved collection would be the only way to come up with the money. From the perspective of the outside observer, this behaviour may be perceived as irrational or more plain: stupid. But any collector will come up with a myriad of stories so they won't have to let go off a certain record.
Okay, this scenario is probably a load of horseshit, but there's some truth to it. There are some records that any collector would have a really hard time parting with. This one is a very good example for that. Ever since I first heard Pessimistic Lines, I really liked the band. What's more, their singer Hagen is a great collector buddy of mine and one of the nicest people out there in general. We don't see each other that often, but when we see each other, it's always a lot of fun aka nerd talk, haha. We last saw each other at Fluff Fest past July. He'd written me before that he would have a little surprise for me. I had the vague thought it might have something to do with records, but I had no idea it would be an actual record. This is a test pressing for Pessimistic Line's LP Overcome. Only 12 copies exist. I am now the proud owner of #12. Sure, there are more prolific bands out there. Probably better bands, too. But this is one record that I'll cherish until I'm too senile to remember why I have so many frisbee discs in my living room.

Empty Days, Sleepless Nights

Defeater were always one of those bands I had on my radar, but I never really listened to them. I finally gave in and ordered a copy of their 2nd album Empty Days, Sleepless Nights. They're not going to become my new favourite band, but I can thoroughly appreciate their take on the very broad term of modern hardcore. I also like the the singer songwriter material on Side C. I ordered this one at one of my regular mailorders and was surprised that I received a 3rd press copy. The count on the B9 discography is up to 9 pressing (with a 1000 copies each) so far, so still finding a 3rd press copy is probably not the norm. 3rd press 2xLP on grey 140g vinyl, including the 64 pages booklet.

Break Away

College font, college jacket with a huge varsity X, X'd up hardcore kids on the label, a 7" called 'The Few That Remain' - Break Away are clearly heavy into post-hardcore with slight emo influences. This is the regular version of their 2nd 7", which came out back in 2012. I saw their LP pop up in my Instagram feed quite often lately, so I thought I'd check them out. I don't know about the LP, but this 7" doesn't do a whole lot for me. Musically it's ok, but I can't get into the singer's voice.