Top Of The Pick Ups 2016

2016 has been another good year as far as record collecting goes. And even though I cut down massively on buying records for a good three months, I managed to buy a decent amount of records and pick up some really cool collectibles throughout 2016. These records comprise the Top 10 Pick Ups 2016. They're pretty much only records by my all-time favorite band and range from "Whoa, this is an incredible record. I didn't think I'd ever own over a copy of this." over "Huh, I didn't even know this variant existed, but I'm sure glad I stumbled upon it." and "I really like that cover." to "This record means a lot to me because it was a gift by a very generous person.". Especially the last category still makes hardcore and record collecting so much fun.

Thanks to everyone who pointed me towards a record, sold records to and  traded records with me, or even gave me a record as a present. Thanks to everyone who has been following my blog this year and has engaged me in conversation of some sort. It's been a lot of fun.

XXX

Ralf

Top Of The Pops 2016

2016 has been another really good year for new music. People always tell me that there are fewer and fewer new bands and records that get them excited, but in my opinion that's just a lame excuse for being lazy and just another way of saying "everything was better way back when". I get the sentiment of having the feeling one has heard that breakdown or that riff before, but maybe those aren't exactly the same and people simply have to keep an open mind. There are some old bands that had great releases in 2016 and there are some new bands that got me really excited with their records or demos. I can't wait for 2017 to come and bring me more good new music.

Record Of The Year 2016

Dangers - The Bend In The Break

7" Of The Year

Spirit Crusher - The Absolute

Demo Of The Year

Tie between Free and Lowest Priority

Discovery Of The Year

Rvivr and Erica Freas

Best Split 7"(s), Band With The Most Output and Most Loveable Band

Spirits

Honorable Mention (because it was played to me only once and I don't own the record)

Fury - Paramount

The Bend In The Break

I saved the best for last. I was waiting for this record to happen for a really long time and as with every Dangers release, this LP had to grow on me. There were always songs on every record that immediately got me me, but the LPs as a whole always took a while to fully convince me. Great songs and the overall packaging is done really well. Thick booklet with the lyrics and some great pics by Al, the singer. Love the artwork, too. This is my pick for Record of the Year. Best for last. It proves right again.

Kiss With Spit

It's been a long time since Dangers released an LP. So when I heard that 2016 was the year the new full length was going to drop I was more than stoked. The band also released a new 7", supposedly as some kind of teaser. Well, it wasn't much of a teaser since the order for the 7" went up together with the one for the LP. Maybe something had gone wrong at the pressing plant, as is the case so often. I don't really care since I'm just happy to have new songs by one of my favourite bands. Kiss With Spit is also on the new LP, the other two songs are exclusive to this 7". Love the artwork, too.

Lexicon Mist

One of the releases I was really looking forward to this year was the new Red Hare 7". I really enjoyed the 12" they released in 2013. The songs are good, but there are only two new ones on this 7", plus a Lungfish cover. Bit of a bummer.

Turn It Around

I haven't followed Comeback Kid much after their first two LPs, but those two have stood the test of time for me. I always wanted to pick up a copy of them, but I'd filed them in the "Oh, well, there are so many pressings, you can pick up a copy whenever you want."-category. Which of course I never did. When my then girlfriend and now wife and I moved in together, she brought her records with her and she had a copy of Turn It Around. I finally had a copy to listen to, but it was only a picture disc. And picture discs don't really count. So I still wanted to pick up another copy. The best looking copy by far is the blood splatter version you can see here. There's a variant with and without labels. I didn't really care about which one I'd get, so when I saw this copy sitting on Discogs for a very reasonable price, I finally bought a copy. I love it when the vinyl colour matches the artwork, and this record is a prime example for why. It looks even better in person.

Marrón

I love the LP Marrón put out last year. When I saw that Take It Back Records had a sale going on I just wanted to check out what they had up in their store. Among other things they had a test press up for sale. 10€ can be considered a steal, right? Nice rip-off cover, too. I love it when labels or bands put in some extra effort to make tests more special.

My Love My Test

When I started rebuilding my Modern Life Is War collecting last year, I had certain records in mind that I definitely wanted to have (again). There were other records where I thought, well it'd be awesome to have them, but we'll see. Tests definitely fell into the latter category. When I scored the test for the 7" earlier this year, I was more than happy. Picking up another test was not on my agenda, but when an opportunity presents itself, sometimes you have to go for it. I found it for a really good price as well. Happy Festivus to me.

Dangers

One of the joys of collecting hardcore records is that you get to know some really great people. I always try to keep an eye out for records people I know want or might want. And some people look out for my record collecting needs. A few weeks ago Marcus of The Endless Quest blog hit me up on Facebook and asked if I'd seen this test press for a Dangers record on eBay. I hadn't, so when I checked the listing I was more than surprised to find out that this was sitting at a lowly $30 But It Now.  I would have paid a whole lot more, but finding this at that price was a nice surprise indeed. Thanks, Marcus. Good looking out.

The Sicknes Of Eden

I'd meant to pick up this LP for a long time, but the time I wanted to order it finally, it was sold out at all of the mailorders I usually order from. Getting a copy from Discogs was not an option for me, because the going price for a copy right now is a little too high for my taste. So I was more than happy when a buddy of mine was selling a few records at very fair prices and The Sickness Of Eden was among them. No fancy coloured version, but at least this is a copy of the Australian pressing. 120 copies on black vinyl which come with a different sleeve than the European pressing.

City Keys

City Keys is a new band from Sweden and features current and ex members of bands such as Iron and Anchor. Sounds a little bit like Anchor as well in my opinion. I'd wanted to pre-order the 7" but since shipping was unreasonably high coming from a label from Germany, I asked a buddy of mine to pick up a copy for me at one of their shows, which sadly were all too far away from me. He did, well actually he got me two copies. Good to have good friends. 100 Copies on white. 100 copies on black.

Spirit X Crusher

Spirit Crusher dropped a really good 7" a few weeks ago. To celebrate the 7" there was a release show at one of my favourite venues in Germany. The line up was stacked with 7 bands total, six from Germany plus Frame Of Mind from the UK. It turned out to be a really cool show. My buddies and I were there a little early, so we decided to go out and grab some food. Dominik, singer for Spirit Crusher, was still folding and hand-numbering the extra gimmicks for the release show edition when we left. He told me not to worry, because it'd still take some time until he was done. When came back there was one copy left. Lucky me. And him, for that matter. Great 7", great packaging and a great band.

Calvin X Hobbes

This is one of my favourite rip off covers out there, because, well, it's a Calvin & Hobbes rip off. Love all the little details going on here as well. The quality of the print is a little disappointing though. You only notice it when you actually hold the cover in your hands. Other than that, it's pretty cool. It's also my favourite sleeve for any Have Heart 7". 40 copies were made for Have Heart's winter tour back in 2004/05.

Oh Well

A few weeks ago I announced that I had a heart flush, which I though was very clever word play because I'd just score five special sleeves for Have Heart 7"s. I posted about the first three and then forgot to post the remaining two. When Have Heart played Posi Numbers 2005, they made 200 copies (!) with a special cover of their demo 7". Have Heart were huge, and so was Posi Numbers apparently. I can't imagine a band doing 200 7"s for just one festival nowadays.

Shelter

Last pick up from the 2nd hand shop in Stuttgart. I've had two later shelter records in my collection for a very long time. I bought them when I just bought records according to descriptions and statements like "member X used to be in band Y" and so on, but I didn't really know anything about the band. Had I known that Shelter was a Krishna band, I probably wouldn't have bought them. Religion and hardcore just don't go together for me. I know that other people see that differently, and I can respect that. I also know that people always look for the greater meaning of everything in life. It's part of human nature, it's why religion and philosophy were created by mankind. If people can get something positive out of religion for their personal lives, more power to them. But to me all religions are nonsense - even if I agree with some of the tenets of the major religions that I'm familiar with - and the negative aspects of organized religion outweigh the positive aspects by far. Krishna is no exception for me. How Krishna became so huge within the hardcore scene still boggles my mind.
When I went through my records a few months ago to thin out the collection a little bit, I decided to give the Shelter records a spin. Turns out, apart from the religious aspect, When 20 Summer Pass and The Purpose, The Passion aren't really good records musically either, so I decided to get rid off them. I got to talking to a few friends about the topic and they told me I should try to keep an open mind and give the early records a chance. My buddies aren't devotees or anything like that, but they told me that they still can enjoy the music. Fair enough. Although I think it's very difficult to separate music and message of a song, especially in a genre like hardcore. I saw this first press of Shelter's first LP sitting in a bin in the 2nd hand record store for only 12€, so I decided to go for it and check it out. Some songs are pretty good as far as the music is concerned, and I think that some things he sings about certainly make sense, but the religious background, the preachy aspect in the lyric sheet, and Cappo's vocals (as usually) are hard to stomach for me.

90s' Throwback

Pretty cool find for cheap money. Left For Dead / Chokehold live split.

Lights Out

After hitting the local punk/hardcore record store, my buddy and I headed up to a 2nd hand record store, which had a really good used hardcore and punk corner. I'd meant to pick up this LP for quite some time, so finding a coloured version for a good price was a nice surprise. First press on blue marble out of 300 copies.

30 Years

Sick Of It All is one of my earliest and still biggest loves in hardcore. They've been going strong for an incredible 30 years as of this year and it doesn't look like they're going to stop anytime soon. To celebrate that anniversary, they released a cool photo book which includes a 10". The rarest variant on clear vinyl was limited to only 100 copies and sold out faster than you can say Alleyway Crew. There's also a version on red, but I learned about that only after I picked up this copy on black at one of the record stores my buddy and I hit in Stuttgart. The book is done really well with cool pictures, which cover the entire band history, and stories about the people in the band and the band by other musicians from the hardcore scene. I wish there were more stories and also a little bit of a band history or stories by the members themselves, because it would have been a pretty interesting read to be sure. Maybe they're saving that for the 40 year book. Who knows? The 10" is pretty good as well, although I think their latest material is not as good as their first 7" or the first few LPs. Be that as it may, I'm still glad I picked this up. 

New York Thrash

A few weeks ago I went to visit a friend and fellow record collector in Stuttgart. What happens when two record nerds hang out together? Well, of course they talk about records and the decide to go record shopping. There are still actual brick and mortar record stores in Stuttgart, so this quite promised to be an enjoyable afternoon. There's nothing like flipping through crates of records and actually finding something you were (or weren't) looking for. I'd just finished re-reading Tony Rettman's NYHC book a few days prior to the trip, so when I came across this repress of the New York Thrash compilation, I had to grab it.

Heaven's Too Good For Us

First proper LP by True Love. My expectations were quite high because their New Young Gods 12" was great. I didn't get disappointed, it's a good record for sure, but it's not as good as I had hoped for either. First press on black vinyl out of 1000 copies. 

Freewill

About 16 years ago I started going to an alternative disco on a regular basis and the staff always held a raffle at thirty minutes past midnight. You could win vouchers for the bar, cash, or old punk/hardcore crap from the guys djing there. I once won a bunch of old fanzines, and on another occasion a CD with a butt ugly cover. There's the Minor Threat reference, of course, but otherwise this is a horrible cover. I listened to the CD maybe once or twice and remember not being very impressed, mainly because my motivation to listen to this CD always started to dwindle whenever I looked at the cover. Thanks Lost & Found. Fast forward a few years, I came across Freewill in a different context, gave them a listen and really liked the songs. Then I remembered having this CD for more than a decade. Oh well.

Mankind Records released Freewill's demo songs on a 7" this year. There are copies on red and blue available. 200 copies on red, 300 copies on blue.

Miracle Drug

About a year ago I posted a picture of my favourite demos in 2015 and asked for demos that I didn't know about. One demo that was recommended to me was the Miracle Drug demo, and as you can see it only took me about a year to pick up a copy. Way to go. It's a really good demo and I hope there will me new material soon. 252 copies on this weird clay colour.

Ys

Latest release by Iron Chic. Two new songs and a Dead Kennedys cover. Not my favourite Iron Chic material, but still really good.

Mere Mortals

The first Great Reversals LP was a release I'd really been looking forward to and I didn't get disappointed. I'd debated for some time if I should order directly from the label and get a nice coloured copy, but since the label is based in the States I decided against it because shipping costs are just too high and I rarely buy new releases directly from US based labels these days. Bummer, but it is what it is. Black vinyl out of 150 copies.

Integrity Blues

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to see Jimmy Eat World. I'd never seen them live before and it was one of the best shows I've seen in years. The band played all the hits from the early albums plus a bunch of new songs. Great set. A few weeks prior to the show I'd ordered Jimmy Eat World's latest LP Integrity Blues. It's the first Jimmy Eat World LP I seeked out since Futures. I'd been out of step with Jimmy Eat World for quite some time. I still listened to the songs I liked from way back when on a semi-regular basis, but somehow I never felt the urge to check out their new material. With the show coming closer and closer this changed, however. Integrity Blues is a little quieter than the early albums, but the songs on this record are really good. I've been spinning the LP quite a lot lately and it might end up quite highly on my 2016 list.

4th Press Is A Charm

The 4th press of the SOIA's 7" on Revelation comes with two different sleeves. One is blank on the inside, the other one has a Rev catalogue and a trade list printed on the inside. Apparently the printed one is the rarer one, so I'm quite I happy I got the chance to pick this up at a reasonable price.

Close up of the sleeve / printed catalogue. A bit on the wrinkly side, but considering the age of the record and the quality of the paper, I'm okay with it.

Too Tired

I bought the Atari discography a few years back, but I always wanted to get the originals too. I just checked when the discography was released, and it only took me six years to get actually started. Oh well.

Years Of Defiance. Years Of Disgust.

Starting to discover a new old band by listening to their catalogue back to front. Why not?

Out Crowd

I'd never heard of this band before, but based on the description and the cover I sort of felt intrigued. After listening to this 7" for a few times, I must say that I didn't get disappointed. Good interpretation of youth crew hardcore.

Great Reversals Come In Waves

Another case of "Well, as long as I'm buying one record from this label, I might as well make it worth the shipping cost". Great Reversals is a band I've been into for some time now and while these are not their best songs, their still good. Can't wait for the new LP. I'd never heard of They Come In Waves, and although it is kind of stupid, just based on the band name I would have never bought any of their releases. The song is okay, but sometimes it's apparently okay to judge a band by its name.

Loosing It

I think I'm loosing it here. This is a limited cover for a promo (!) flexi (!). Not even a proper record, but a flexi. However, since it's by my new favourite band, I caved in quicker than you could say "That's stupid." Apparently the label ran out of covers, so they came up with a new one for the remaining 28 copies. This is #14.

Spirit Crusher

What happens when a bunch of people in their 30s, who also happen to have been in various other bands or have been involved in hardcore in some way or the other, decide to make music? Exactly, you get a great demo tape and an even better first 7". The artwork of this 7" is amazing as well. Band and label have gone all out for this release. I've known their frontman Dominik for a long time now and he's an all around great guy. He used to do shows around my area, he's helped to release a bunch of demo tapes, and he's put out a myriad of different zines. You can tell he has a way with words, not only because of the lyrics, but mainly because of the things he has to say in between songs. If you have the chance to see them live, make sure you go. Otherwise you'll miss out on a great new band, because as much as I like the recordings, Spirit Crusher's really quality lies in playing live.

This is the pre-order edition on black vinyl. #16/80.

Waste

Demo 7" from this new straight edge band from Göteborg, Sweden. Good one. Got the pre-order version on purple vinyl. I think there was a tape version of this one as well, but I'm not 100% sure.

Meant To Let You Down

While doing work stuff I sometimes listen to music on YouTube. Kill Holiday randomly came on as 'video playing next' and I thought, 'Well, I've never really listened to that band. Let's give them a chance.' And goddamn, Meant To Let You Down is an incredible song. I was listening to this song on repeat for two days straight and then headed over to Discogs and bought a copy for next to nothing. Luckily these don't go for a lot. The b-side is good as well, but the a-side is where it's at. I still haven't checked out their other releases, but I'll change that soon.

Left With Something

The seller of the three records I posted recently about was kind enough to throw in a little something extra. I hadn't heard of Left With Nothing before and I'm not overwhelmed by this 7", but it's okay. The songs don't really move me, but they aren't unlistenable either. I greatly appreciate the seller's gesture though. I even got a limited version. Blue vinyl out of 100 copies.

Reserve 34

The last record I picked up from this seller was a copy of Reserve 34's s.t. 7". Now, the band itself is only little known, but the members moved on to form Go It Alone and Blue Monday, two bands I really love. And this 7" didn't disappoint. On the contrary, it's a really good record that I've enjoyed greatly so far. Standard press on black vinyl out of 400 copies.

Making History

Of course I couldn't resist going through the other records the seller of the Danger's LP had up for sale on Discogs. And sure enough I found a record I'd had my eye on for a long time. The record release edition of Go It Alone's Histories LP. No special cover, no special vinyl colour. All you get is a stamp on the label. This is #67/70.

Sink With Dangers

I always thought I had a pretty good knowledge of what variants of Dangers records are out there, but I had no idea that there was a special cover made for Sink With Cali festival. The price was okay, so I didn't hesitate when I saw this one on Discogs. It's not a real sleeve, but I like the overall artwork a lot.

Back cover.

Record Collectors Unite

When I was visiting Marcus, he treated me to some records he'd released on his own label The Endless Quest. Hope Defeated are/were (I'm not 100% sure if they're still active) a band from Canada. Now, you might ask yourself, why does some dude from the UK release a rather - at least to my knowledge - unknown band from Canada? The answer is quite simple really: because the singer and the guy running the label knew each other through collecting records and blogging about it. Doug  hasn't been active for some time, but his blog We Will Bury You is still worth checking out. If you want to know more about the story, you should pick up a copy of this 7" and read all about it.
I really like the story behind this release. It's always cool to see how shared interests can bring people together no matter where they're from. The story isn't the only thing I thoroughly enjoyed here. The record itself is pretty good as well. Thanks again for hooking me up with an instant collection, Marucs.

Black vinyl out of 150.

White vinyl out of 100.

And finally, a very cool Chain Of Strength rip-off sleeve out of 60 aka the Blog Nerds Pressing. You can also see a flyer that tells the story of Marcus' label and how this 7" came about.

Printed To The X

Violent Reaction's s.t. 7" is such a ripper. I already had a regular copy, but I always wanted one of those fancy covers that fold out to this gigantic X. Looks so cool. 150 copies on red vinyl with the red X sleeve.

The Records, The People

Once a year I get to take a trip to London thanks to my job. I love this city and that trip is something I always look forward to. Last year the trip was even better than the years before because it coincided with the first ever European Burn show. Not only did I get to see an awesome band, I also got to meet some fellow collectors I'd only known from the Internet before. One of them was Marcus, which you probably know from his blog The Endless Quest. My wife and I got to meet him in person again a few weeks later when we travelled to London for a Bane show. We stayed in touch afterwards and when we got to talking about my next trip to London, he invited me to his home. An invitation I gladly said yes to. I was treated to a nice dinner, we talked about records, and I got to dig through his collection. If you think it's impressive based on his blog and his list on howsyouredge?, I can assure you it's way more impressive in real life. I got to see and hold some real gems. The highlight for me of course was his incredible Bane collection, but there were lots of other awesome records I'll never see again in person. I'm not even thinking about possibly owning some of them.

Prior to the trip we'd worked out a small trade and I got some nice extra goodies from him as well. I have a pretty good Dangers collection if I dare say so myself, and I always thought I was pretty knowledgeable on their discography, but when I was going through Marcus' records, sure enough I found a variant I didn't know existed. Dangers - s.t. on Old Guard - black vinyl with regular sleeve. Always cool to find variants you didn't know existed. Keeps collecting fun.

Thanks again to you and your girlfriend for having me, Marcus. Those were some fun few hours that went by much too quickly.

Cough/Uncool

The second record I bought in London that was supposedly a heavy hitter scored for cheap. Oh well. It would have been cool, but just having this bootleg is okay for me. Obviously I don't have an original to compare this with, so I don't know if this is a good copy or not, but I like the "the Unfits" pun on the label.

The Kids Will Have Their Say

On my most recent trip to London I hit up a few record stores there. I always find them a little disappointing, but I can't resist going to an actual store and flip through the bins. And there's always that tiny speck of hope that I might find something really good. I found two records that triggered my interest, but of course both of them turned out to be bootlegs, but since I'm not sure I want to shell out the big bucks for these records, these boots will have to do for now. SSD's debut LP is such an iconic record. The cover, the album name and so many of the song titles have been recycled again and again for 30+ years. The boot itself is done pretty well. The cover is of good quality and the songs sound pretty good to me. Granted, I don't have a frame of reference, but for me it does the trick.