For The Sake Of Dedication

This is a rad compilation from the late 90s. Pretty much all of the bands contributed good songs here and the youth crew revival that was going on at that time is documented pretty well I guess. I can't stand Floorpunch though, and them having a song on this compilation is kind of the fly in the ointment. Musically I quite understand why Floorpunch was and is appealing to many hardcore kids. Their lyrics, however, suck for the most part. I've never been able to get behind overly zealous edge bands, so reading lines like "I pray to God you OD on that shit" makes me really cringe. The only thing you're doing by writing lyrics like this is demonstrate that a clear mind is not necessarily the better state of mind.

EDIT: I just remembered that the seller tossed in this 7" for free. Building were a straight edge band from Belgium from the late 90s and they sound exactly like what you would expect from an edge band from that time.

Shopping For A Record

I like to think that I have a pretty good Good Clean Fun collection and I always thought I was well informed about the pressing info of each release. As it turns out there's one variant that I'd never seen or even heard of. Shopping For A Crew was originally released on 7" format by Underestimated Records. Then it was rereleased by Dutch label Reflections Records, also as a 7". A few years later Dead Serious from Germany released a compilation of the Shopping For A Crew and Who Shares Wins 7"s, which was also called Shopping For A Crew. The compilation comes on black, black-brown splatter and purple vinyl. And I thought that was it. I once mailed the label about detailed pressing info and the possibility of acquiring a test press, which surely must exist, but I never heard back from them. A few years back I stumbled across another variant of this compilation, which I'd never seen or heard of either. It comes with a special Crucial Youth rip-off sleeve and was pressed on red vinyl. Since there are only ten copies of that variant, I somehow thought it was a test press pressed on coloured vinyl for some reason. It never entered my mind that this could be part of a whole different colour pressing and just comes with a limited sleeve. A few weeks back I saw a picture of a red vinyl copy on Instagram, so I went over to Discogs and checked the Good Clean Fun releases, which is something I never do as I happen to have most of them. As it happened to be there was a copy readily available.

Modern Life Is Pink

Since I decided to rebuild my Modern Life Is War collection, I've been checking the Lifeline Record's website more regularly than I used to. The obvious reason is that I want to know when Joe Lifeline puts out new variants for any Modern Life Is War records, the other reason is that he also opens the Lifeline vault from time to time and sells some goodies.

The first record I picked up is a repress of Modern Life Is War's debut LP on red vinyl. There are 650 copies on red. Officially. Actually I think that this is a repress of the repress. I'm just guessing here, but I could imagine this record is not part of the original repress on red vinyl since that came out a few years ago. He did the same with the Witness LP, which as been repressed on purple vinyl, and then on purple vinyl again.

Here's another reason why I think this might be a repress. This pink variant you can see here was also offered a few weeks ago at the Lifeline store. It was labelled 'mispress', so either it was a mispress when the original red ones were pressed and Joe has been sitting on them for five years, or it was a mispress when he repressed the red vinyl more recently. But since I haven't seen any pink copies like this one these last few years, I'm leaning towards it being a recent mispress.
I love the little details that have been added, like the lyric sheet that is printed on pink paper and the pink hand coloured 'My Love My Way' writing on the front cover. Nice, subtle little touches that make this record look really awesome.
The fact that there are only 65 copies on pink vinyl makes this the third rarest variant of all Modern Life Is War LPs after the mispress of Witness on clear red (/12-15) and the record release edition for Witness (/62) and ties it with the final show box set, which is also out of 65 copies. Great job Lifeline Records.

Fall From Grace

Second 7" by Ensign. 4339 copies on black vinyl, as can be seen here. There are a whole bunch of colour pressings as well. 100 copies come with a cool Side By Side rip-off sleeve. I like the first 7", I also like the second one.

Reinforce

The cover art of this 7" is really an eye sore. I mean, really, how many ugly stars can you fit on a front cover? What made me buy this 7" was the Crucial Youth and Good Clean Fun vibe I felt going on here. And also 7 Seconds vibe - check the classic Kevin Seconds eye black the singer's sporting here. I really like these two (three) mentioned bands, so judging by the song titles and the lyrics I sort of felt compelled to check out this band. Having checked out the band now I have to say I'm not overwhelmed. I don't know, somehow these songs don't really work for me. I still sort of want to check out their first 7".

Full Speed Ahead

Another record from the batch I picked up in Boston. Another record I merely picked up simply because of the cover art. Plus, I think I dug all the releases I already have from Teamwork. No disappointment on my end. There's also a variant on white vinyl, but I don't feel the need to get that as well.

Urban Waste

Nope, not the real deal. Just a repress. This one is a split release between Even Worse Records and Way Back When Records from 2012. I already have this as a 12" reissue, but if I buy represses, I prefer having represses on the same format as the original.

Downcast

I had this record on my imaginary want list for quite some time, but since it is pretty easy to obtain I always went for other records that are rarer and harder to come by. When I came across a copy at this record store in Boston though I thought it was finally time to buy a copy. This is part of a later pressing since the zine the record originally came with comes only as insert and not in the original zine format. This is a pretty good example of how times have changed. Each of the 3,000 copies of the zine came with a copy of this record. I can't think of any records let alone zines that come in quantities like this nowadays.

Decoy

Prior to this record, I didn't have any 7"s by Good Riddance. They're just one of those bands I have filed under LP band for some weird reason. But since I have them also files under few bands with a flawless discographies (so far), I really wanted to check out their 7"s too. Pretty damn good, just like the rest of their releases. Nothing fancy here, just plain black vinyl. I don't even know if Fat Wreck did a colour release for this 7".

Soul Control

I have a bunch of Soul Control 7"s, all of which I like a good deal. But for some reason the s.t. 7" hasn't really grabbed me yet. Standard first press on clear green out 720.

A.N.S.' Revenge

I rarely get to enjoy the pleasures of going record shopping at an actual record store, so whenever I do have the chance, I do exactly that. While in Boston my wife and I went to Armageddon, which is a record store close to Harvard University. They had a lot of records that interested me but I couldn't buy all of them. Nothing that rare or expensive, just a bunch of records I thought I'd enjoy.
From time to time I really enjoy listening to thrashy skate core (Is that a genre?). My favourite band playing that style is probably Bones Brigade. I'd wanted to check out more bands like this anyway, so when I saw the cover of the A.N.S. / My Revenge split I was more than intrigued. Usually I'm not a big fan of artwork that features skulls or skeletons, but when it comes to this kind of music I somehow expect that kind of aesthetic. Actually they had two different covers for this split in the store.  Of course I took the more limited one. This is a special sleeve and the records are numbered /100 on the back cover. The percentage of songs about skateboarding is somewhat disappointing though. A.N.S. have two out of four songs on this topic, My Revenge's quota is only 1/5. I must say though My Revenge have pretty good lyrics on this split. I like both sides all in all, even the songs not about skateboarding.

The Hope Conspiracy

One more souvenir from Boston. Aaron Dalbec of Bane used to run a record label from the mid 90s to early 00s called Life Records. The first two Bane 7"s were released on his label, for example. Prior to the shows we got to talking on the Internet and he mentioned he still had some Life releases around his house from way back when. I asked what he still had and in particular about Hope Conspiracy stuff. He still had a copy of the s.t. 7" on grey vinyl and he was kind enough to hook me up with a copy. Thanks again.

The Wait

Last of the records my buddy hooked me up with. I'd never really heard of The Wait before, but I really like what I've been listening to these last couple of days. A little post punk, a little emo, a little indie rock. Good stuff for home office time.

More Presents

Another record I got as a present in Boston. This is a split between No Harm Done and Offsides, two now defunct bands who shared quite a lot of their members. The name No Harm Done made me think this was a modern hardcore band when in reality the band played a style that would have fit in perfectly with the Epitaph or Fat Wreck roster from the late 90s. Melodic punk rock that reminds me a lot of the bands I listened to in my youth. The name Offsides sort of sounds like a ska band name to me. However, it was a female fronted band that actually played modern / youth crewish hardcore. I like both sides and I can't really say I like one side better than the other. They're really different from each other and both are pretty good for what they are.

Another Posting, Another Variant

#11. This time I I found a copy on dark grey, or rather it found me. Dark grey is a colour I'd never seen for this record before. I put the copy on light grey I already had in the picture to show the contrast. My buddy from Boston gave me this as a present. He had a spare copy of the zine and since he didn't know I already have, erm, a few copies of this, he gave it to me. When I checked the colour, I found out that I didn't have this colourway yet. It almost seems that variants of this record are seeking out me and not the other way around.

Can't Get Enough

Seriously, I can't get enough of this record. So when I had the chance to pick up two more variants without having to pay for shipping I went for it. This is the 2nd pressing of Spirits' debut LP. The red one is out of 150, the orange one out of 250. The orange one is actually a bit marbled, which sadly doesn't really show in the picture.

Off To A Good Start

My wife and I were in Boston over New Year's to visit a city neither of us had been to before, to meet up with a friend and to see our favourite band celebrate their 20 year anniversary. A buddy of mine had asked me to take some records he had talked about with our common friend with me back to Germany. Said friend is a member of Spirits and he had the records sitting in the rehearsal room. So during one of our sightseeing tours we went there in order to pick them up when my wife kind of jokingly said "Hey, there's a test press on that shelf over there." To which our friend replied "You want it?"I figured it would have been rude to say no, so here we are. Thanks, man. I really appreciate the generosity you showed us on so many different levels. Can't wait to hang out with you again soon. 2016 is definitely off to a good start.

It Was A Very Good Year. Again.

I know I'm pretty late with my 2015 wrap up post, but I was travelling over New Year's and haven't had time to work on a year's end post.


My Top 5 New Releases In 2015

5. True Love - New Young Gods - React!

Great, and at least for me, new band that reminds me of early 00's hardcore bands I love.

4. Pure - XXX - Real

This is what you get when some dudes, who have been in quite an array of bands, decide to re-discover their hardcore/straight edge roots. Ceremony's guitarist, who does vocals for Pure, totally makes up with this release for the latest, unbelievably crappy, Ceremony LP.

3. Marrón - s.t. - Take It Back

I loved the demo tape and was really looking forward to listening to more/new material by Marrón. And I didn't get disappointed by their latest release.

2. Sweet Jesus - You Destroy Yourself - Atomic Action

I had high hopes for this LP after the debut 7" that came out last year. I was a little disappointed after listening to the record for the first few times, but it constantly grew on me.

1. Spirits - Discontent - State Of Mind

The record that blew me away the most and that I listened to most often last year. Came totally out of the blue for me too. Fun live band, plus the people in this band are the nicest people out there. Of all their releases in 2015, which were quite a lot, I like their LP the best. I'm really excited about their upcoming releases.


Honorable Mention

Moose Blood - I'll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time - No Sleep

Technically this record is not a 2015 release, but I only got it in early 2015 and it was one of the records I listened to the most in 2015. Plus, it looks just so pretty.

There were also a lot of great demos that came out in 2015. None of these have seen a vinyl treatment so far. Well, except the True Identity one, but I don't have a copy of that yet. Here's to hearing more from these bands in 2016.

Union Of Faith - Demo Tape                            Spirit Crusher - Demo Tape
True Vision - Demo Tape                                 True Identity - Demo Tape
Clear - Promo Tape                                         Ex-Youth - Demo Tape
Free - Online Demo                                        Thousand Yard Stare - Online Demo



My Top 10 Collectible In 2015

1. Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today - Revelation - first press on purple

This is one of THE records I always wanted to have. I'm so glad I finally got one.

2. Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra - test press

Gift by a dear friend. One of those people who make record collecting so much fun.

3. Sweet Jesus - Box - Triple B - test press

It's always a good feeling to be able to complete a set of a record you really, really like.

4. Boy Sets Fire - After The Eulogy-  Equal Vision - red

The rewarding feeling of getting back a record that means a lot to you but that you foolishly let go off when you were younger (and dumber).

5. Bane - Don't Wait Up - Equal Vision - white/blue swirl aka tour press

This one was so much harder to come by that it should have been. On the upside, I met someone really cool by hunting down that record.

6. Count Me Out - Few And Far Between - Malfunction - pink with Sid & Nancy cover

I picked up quite a few Count Me Out record this year and I could have probably picked any one of these. I decided on this one though because it features great artwork and I'm a sucker for pink vinyl.

7. Burn - ...Shall Be Judged - Revelation - purple / exclusive to the London show

One of the bands I always wanted to see. Special record pressed for the occasion. Met a bunch of nice people. Good times.

8. Have Heart - The Things We Carry - Bridge 9 - black 

Third rarest variant of one of my all-time favorite albums. One down, many to go.

9. Champion - Promises Kept - Bridge 9 - blood red

Kind of the same story as with Count Me Out. I managed to pick up quite a few Champion records last year. I could have gone with one of the rip-off sleeves as well, but look at how awesome the colour of this record is.

10. Punch - Eyeless - Discos Huelga - army green with misprint sleeve

Only 10 copies of a record by a band I really like? Gimme.



Thanks to everyone following and reading this blog. Happy record hunting 2016.

XXX