Collector's Choice 2017

So many good records made it into my collection this year again. I'm more than happy with what I managed to pick up in 2017. I didn't make a whole lot of progress with my want list, but I was able to cross off some items at least. Plus I picked up a few records that weren't on that list and some that I didn't even know of one year ago. That's what makes collecting fun though. The other element that makes collecting really fun is the people you get in touch with. Quite a few people have helped me in my efforts by pointing me to records, selling, trading or straight up giving me records for free. All of which I'm very grateful for. My favorite pick up is the test press for Bane's It All Comes Down To This LP, because it embodies everything I like about collecting: great music, incredibly rare, release by one of my favorite bands, and I was tipped of by fellow collector.

Here's to 2018, which will hopefully add more new good music and some old records to my collection and get me in touch with more people. Let's keep collecting fun.

XXX

Ralf

Top Of The Pops 2017

My blog hasn't seen much action the last few weeks. The reason behind that is that I recently joined the club of hardcore dads and the little man has taken up most of the time, as any first-time parents will probably testify to. Anyway, we have found sort of a rhythm and the days leave some more free time again. I still have some records lying around that I picked up in the last few weeks and I'll make sure to catch up with the backlog in the nearby future.

But for now, it's that time of the year again. I can't believe another has gone by already. It feels like I just typed the year's end post for 2016. Crazy. 2017 has been a year with more ups and downs than the years before. I've seen close friends and family experience serious illnesses, death has been around my circle of friends way too much, and there have been some personal issues that close friends and also I had to deal with. Then again, 2017 saw many new friends, some friends and I started a band project, my wife and I went to a bunch of awesome shows, we got to hang out with friends from all over Germany and the world, and a very important friendship was rekindled. Plus, my wife gave birth to our first kid, so all in all 2017 has been a good year I'd say. Let's see what 2018 has to offer.

As I said before, I still have some records lying around that I haven't posted about, so the post count should be a little higher than it is, but it still would have been lower than in the years before. I took it slow in late spring/summer, kind of like last year, but I didn't finish as strongly as in past years. Oh, well.
One projection I can make for 2018 is that the first half of the year is going to see few pick ups and posts on here because I'm going to be a stay-at-home dad for half a year, which means I get to spend some real quality time with my son, but it also means that money will be tighter and buying records on a regular basis won't be in the cards.

2017 has seen some great releases in my opinion. I have noticed a tendency to buy more releases by old bands I already know and like. However, staying up-to-date with newer bands feels more and more like work. That's probably the old man in m talking. I often tell him to shut up, but it's getting harder. Luckily, I have friends who are a fair bit younger than myself and they keep me somewhat in the loop. Still, looking back on the records I bought this year and seeing which bands made my Top 10 this year, there is definitely an imbalance. Anyway, here are my Top 10 for 2017. No particular order.


Record Of The Year

Spirits - Unrest


7" Of The Year

Abuse Of Power - When Then Becomes Now


Demo Of The Year

Split between Open Your Eyes and Stand Point. They're also the only two demo tapes I picked up this year if I remember correctly. Maybe I should include tapes into my blog activities to keep track of that... Both tapes are okay, but there have definitely been years that were way better as far as demo tapes go. I know that you can listen to demos online, but that's not really caught on with me.


Honorable Mention

Free - Ex Tenebris

I still haven't picked up a copy because I missed out on the pre-order and the 7" sells for like 8+€ in  regular distros, so I couldn't bring myself to order a copy yet. 

Bridge 9 - The First 10 Years Box

Beautifully done with lots of details from what I have seen at first glance. I got my copy only this week and haven't really had any chance to sit down and spend some time with it. 

It All Comes Down To This

This is one of those 'Wow, I can't believe that record is mine now.' posts. And it's all thanks to Marcus over at Endless Quest. A few weeks ago he wrote me a message asking me if I'd seen the It All Comes Down To This test on eBay. I told him I hadn't, but that changed within seconds. The next six days were excruciating and I checked the eBay listing at least once an hour to see if it's still there and how high the price was already. Now I definitely know what people mean when they talk about the thrill of the hunt, haha.

For once I even told my wife that I was going after a real heavy hitter, because I knew that the price was going to be rather high. After all, test pressings of early Bane records almost never pop up and are thus almost impossible to find. So having a shot at this one was really exciting. Luckily, my wife is very understanding about my record collecting and even more so when it's about Bane records.

The final minutes of the auction were really gut wrenching and I was still hoping for a steal, because the price was still pretty moderate shortly before the end of the auction. It rose quite drastically in the last seconds, but the final price was still below my personal limit. And anyway, sometimes you just have to pull the trigger. It's only money after all. After I won the auction I contacted a few friends who also happen to collect Bane to see if I'd effectively ruined any friendships. Luckily, a bunch of them weren't even aware that this test had been up on eBay. Less competition and no friendships ruined, I'll take that.

Nobody really knows how many copies there are. However, I recall Marcus telling me once that Equal Vision Records used to make 8 test for the early releases and given the fact that there are also 8 tests for Bane's Give Blood LP, which was also released on Equal Vision, it's probably a good guess to say that there are 8 copies of this test as well.

I've only ever seen one copy up for sale and that went from Kyle Whitlow to Marcus. Comparing the picture of that copy with my copy, I noticed that the labels on my copy are still blank as in not filled out. Check out Marcus' copy to compare. I guess it's enough to fill out just one set of labels and then just go by the label's name and the catalogue number. Does that mean Marcus has #1/8? Knowing his luck with (Bane) records, probably yes. I also asked the seller where he had the test from in the first place. All he told me was that he'd bought a collection from someone and that test was part of the collection. Makes you wonder whose collection that was, but the seller wouldn't tell me more.

This is really one of the absolute gems of my collection and I can't thank Marcus enough for tipping me off.

EURO 53. 'Blank' A side label.

For an occasion like this I had to pull out the other copies as well and go for the group shot.

Ich vs. Wir

After missing out initially on the last release by my favourite indie band from Germany, I made sure I got in the game with this one right away. I ordered the deluxe pre-order edition months ago and was anxiously waiting for it to arrive. And the LP doesn't disappoint. The last LP had to grow on me a little bit, but this one hit home right away. With every record Kettcar has become more pop and less indie, but the lyrics are as good and politically minded as back when some of the members still were in one of German's finest punk bands ever ...But Alive. Great record that has already received a lot of play these last few days.

Pink G.I.

The last pick up from the Battery show in Leipzig is this pink copy of Government Issue's G.I.'s First Demo. A buddy of my mine is in the process of weeding out his collection and he told me (and a few other friends) that he was bringing one or two boxes of LPs and 7"s with him to the show. So a bunch of my friends and myself were huddling around the trunk of a car flipping through records, in the middle of the night and in 5° Celsius weather. Hardcore kids / record nerds are truly a special kind of people... He had a bunch of records and some rare items I was interested in, but I was watching a very special record on eBay at the time and had to hold my funds together. Anyway, I did pick up one record because it's by a great band, it's on my favourite vinyl colour and it came at a very reasonable price. G.I.'s first demo was pressed way after the fact, namely in 2004, and there have been a few pressings since then. This pink copy out of 100 is part of the 2nd press.

Stabbed

Nowadays you're kind of forced to order at least two records when ordering from the States to get your money's worth. So when my buddy asked me if I wanted to order the new Cutting Through LP with him, I said sure, but I also made him order the latest Drug Control 7". I liked the first one and I also like this one. I went for the purple one, because next to pink I think purple is one of the nicest colours for vinyl. Especially when it's marbled like this one. 600 copies.

A Will To Change

Another pick up from the Battery show in Leipzig. A buddy had ordered a copy for me and he brought it along to the show. The Cutting Through debut on New Age Records was a release I'd been really looking forward, because I was really into the demo. But for some reason, this record hasn't clicked with me yet. I can't even put my finger on why that is, it just hasn't hit me. I hope that'll change. 77 copies on this clear vinyl with the green labels.

There's Always Room For One More...

When I went to see Battery, there was yet another reason why I was looking forward to the evening. A few weeks prior to the show I'd received a message by a fellow collector on Instagram. He contacted me because he has a strong Spirits collection and knew that I also collect Spirits. While exchanging messages, we found out that we had traded before back in the days of messageboards. Funny, how things go sometimes. Back to the trade. The other party had posted a picture of this version of the Spirits/Die Faster split 7" I'd never seen before. I commented on the picture and it paid off some time later, because he had picked up a another copy for a buddy of his, who didn't need it, so it was made available to me. There are only 17 copies as you can see in the second picture. Technically, this is not really a Spirits variant, because as far as I know they never played at United Blood festival. But whatever. Really glad I managed to pick up this one and to meet my trading partner in person after so many years of knowing him.

Close up of the backcover.

Battery

Battery played a bunch of shows in Europe recently and for the last of theses shows at Conne Island in Leipzig there was a special press. A buddy had told me a few weeks before the show that something was in the works, so I was even more looking forward to the show. The whole show had everything a great show needs: fun road trip, great food, meeting old and new friends, record trading, record buying and of course a band that played an awesome set and had a message. Man, that was a great evening. To top everything off, there was the aforementioned limited version of Battery's debut 7". The label putting out this repress has done a really good job with these. You also get a flyer explaining the relationship between band and venue. Looks like this might be a new collecting thing: venue/Conne Island presses... 200 copies on white vinyl, 100 copies on gold vinyl for friends and crew.

You Can Stay Here

Iron Chic have done it again: They delivered an awesome record. It must be really tough for bands to keep going after one of the members has died, but I guess it can also be therapeutic. You Can't Stay Here is a little darker, understandably, but still catchy in its own way. I don't like it as much as their previous records, but this one could very well be a grower. The artwork is really cool and the gold foil on the cover is a very nice (and expensive) touch. 2000 copies on gold vinyl.

For The Rejected By The Rejected

Picking up a copy of this LP was long overdue. With the Battery shows in Europe coming closer, I finally picked up a copy, and what can I say, the band and Rev have done a great job. Even if you already have everything by this band on vinyl or CD, this releases is worth picking up alone for the booklet. Incredibly well done.

One Two One Two This Is Just A Test

A few weeks back I posted about the new Spirits LP and how I struck out at getting a test. Thanks to Instagram and its group of record collectors I was able to acquire one much sooner than I'd hoped for. I'd commented on one of my pictures and another person's that I was still looking for a test press and out of nowhere I got a message from a fellow (Spirits) collector who told me that one of the labels doing the tape release for the new LP still had one or two tests and were willing to sell. Less than two hours later I'd completed the transaction and a few days later the test press was already on my doorstep, again much sooner than I'd expected. Thanks, dude. I'm very grateful you helped me out. #16 out of 20.

If you follow my blog regularly, you have probably noticed that Spirits always go all out for the packaging for their releases. Of course they did that for the tests as well, which means these come with a special spray-painted cover and inner jacket.

Funny sidenote, I've never seen the use of test pressings explained on the back of a sleeve.

Unrest On The East Coast

To keep things interesting for us collectors, Spirits came up with a little something for a short tour on the east coast a few weeks ago. Special inlay for the picture frame cover, plus the inner sleeve comes with spray-painted art work. If you look closely, you can make out the number on the label underneath the right leg of the X. My copy is #23 out of 50 copies total. Love it.

Acme

Another long time want: Acme's demo 7". Little is known about the band and about the releases. A clear variant is listed as 5th pressing on Discogs, but apart from that there's only mention of this black variant. Weird, but then again, I understand it was kind of the band's policy to remain mysterious. Anyway, good 7". Need the compilation LP at some point.

Time In Malta

This one is the last one I took home from Marcus. While talking about the trade, he showed me this record and played it for me. I'd only been familiar with the band by name but never listened to it as far as I could recall. Well, I liked what I heard and I knew that my wife would like it as well, so I gladly took this copy of Marcus' hands. Thanks again for everything, mate. See you next year hopefully.

One Up

Another record I got from Marcus. Not the most prestigious one maybe, by collectors' standards anyway, but that's not always important. One good song by One Up plus a pretty sweet Texas Is The Reason cover.

Circle Storm

Another record I got from Marcus. And another record I'd had my eye for quite some time. The thing with those records you can get for fairly cheap is that you always push back getting a copy because another record pops up and your brain goes 'Oh, well. I can get a copy of this anytime.' And then anytime never comes. At least that's what happens to me quite often. Anyway, I finally have a copy and I quite enjoy it.

Patience Is A Virute

Marcus and I have probably earned a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records because we just completed the slowest trade in history. About one and a half years ago I decided to get rid of some records. Marcus wanted one of them and to save on shipping (which is in a record collector's mind another 7"), we agreed that I should bring it with me when I was going to London in September last year. Marcus was kind enough to invite me to his home and I brought the record with me. However, we hadn't really come to an agreement as to what my end of the trade would be. No problem, I'd traded with Marcus before and we'd also met in person before. Plus, now I also knew where his home was... We got to talking about records, of course, and other things, and before we knew it, I had to head to the train station to catch my train. And we still hadn't really come close to talking about the trade. Fast forward a year, and my next trip to London was due. Marcus was  kind enough to invite me to his home again and since we'd learned from past mistakes, we'd talked about a few possible items before my visit and we did the trade part at the beginning of my stay at his house. Since he's one of the few people who reads my blog regularly, he noticed that I'd picked up a few Bad Trip 7"s and had my eye on their LPs, so he was nice enough to pick up a copy for me. Thanks for that, mate. I'll post the other records in the next few days.

What's Left Of Me

2nd LP by More Than Life. Again, my wife's into the band so I was glad to be able to pick this up for her. Found both LPs in a regular record store at regular prices, which made it even better. Standard (re)press on black vinyl.

Love Let Me Go

More Than Life seem to be a pretty big deal right now. Band is hyped and so are their records. I've never listened to the band, but my wife recently said that she likes the band and would like to have their records. It's really nice to be able to bring records home with you from a trip as souvenirs instead of some tacky crap nobody really needs. Now that More Than Life records are in the household, I finally listened to them. But I have to say I'm not impressed. It's very melodic hardcore alright, but to me it's too melodic and too repetitive. I see how this might accumulate to a hype, but it's really not for me. Repress on gold/mustard vinyl out of 400 copies. At least that's my best guess.

Wig Out At Denkos

2nd LP by Dag Nasty. Incidentally this is a 2nd press, which I also picked up in London. Some good songs on this LP as well but it's nowhere near as good as Can I Say.

The Score

There was a time when I was a teenager when pretty much all I was listening to was hip hop. However, I only have about two dozen actual records from that genre in my collection and I recently decided that needs to change. So be prepared to see some more hip hop vinyl on this blog in the future. This is another record I picked up in London. Classic record by The Fugees. Lauryn Hill has such an incredible voice. So many good songs on this LP. I also really like the cover and its nod to The Godfather. This is a recent repress on Music On Vinyl. I only learned afterwards that there's a gold vinyl variant out there, so maybe I'll have to upgrade at one point.

Insomniac

Another year. Another trip to London. Another record haul. Insomniac was definitely. on heavy rotation on my stereo in the mid 90s along with Dookie. I'd wanted to pick up a copy for a long time, so while digging my way through record stores in London I came across this copy and finally bought this LP on vinyl. I'm guessing this is the most current repress, and I don't really care. I'm just happy I can finally spin this on my record player.

Posi Tour 2002

Count Me Out is such a good, yet somehow underrated band. I don't see that many people talk about this band or post pictures of their records, if you want to count that as an indicator. Then again, not many records, especially the rarer ones, show up for sale, so maybe it's a sort of quiet appreciation.  This record had been sitting in my Discogs cart forever, but I could never force myself to hit the "buy" button because the price was pretty high. I thought about contacting the seller, but for whatever reason I never did. Then one day the price was reduced by two-thirds, resulting in a very reasonable price, and I couldn't resist any longer. This particular variant was made for Posi Numbers and the ensuing tour in 2002. Cool Marilyn stamp and numbering. Of course there are 110 copies.

Unrest

Those who follow my blog will know by know that Spirits is by far my favourite current band. Great music, great lyrics, all around great people. As a collector I hate and love them. I hate (well, not really of course) them because they've put out so much music in such a short time and there are always a million variants. But of course I'm the only one to blame because no one forces me to buy all of those variants. However, it's always easier to project your shortcomings onto others, right?
Love prevails though. I love them because they put so much effort into their releases. Layered covers, origami style covers, hand stamped covers, you name it, they do it. This is another prime example of them going all out with the packaging. The sleeve is basically a picture frame and get four different options as to what the frame shows, depending on how you fold the lyric sheet.

This is by far my favourite hardcore release this year, which probably isn't that much of a surprise, but I just wanted to state it for the record. Osu is such an incredible song. I especially love what Charles did on guitars here. The lyrics are spot on, too, and are much needed - at least for me - in these dark political times.

I have a tour press coming my way, but I still need a test press. I'd contacted the label but I didn't manage to score one. Which is all the more sad (for me) because two friends I had told about the label being open to taking offers on tests got one while I struck out. As glad as I am for them, I'm still bummed. I even had one at my house and then had to mail it to a buddy who I'd teamed up with for the order. Oh well. The hunt is the fun part anyway.


Pre-order edition, which not only looks like a picture frame, but you can actually stand it up like a real picture frame. Check out the close up below. The dust sleeve is stamped, but not numbered.

Close up. #47/65. Additional stamp, too.

Clear and gold splatter out of 100 copies via State Of Mind. Love the look of this record.

200 copies come on silver vinyl. It's not just gray vinyl, it has an actual silver sparkle to it. Also on State Of Mind Records.

The European release of this LP was handled by Useless Pride. 200 copies on purple vinyl.

Last but not least, the standard press on black vinyl out of 400 copies. Also released by Useless Pride.

 

Le Grand Tour de Passe-Passe

One of my favourite German hardcore/punk bands ever is Amen 81. Now, musically the band doesn't do anything new, but what they do, they do pretty well. However, lyrically the songs are so incredibly good. They take jabs at society in general and at the hardcore/punk scene in particular. Always in a humorous way, that is until the deadly punch comes. So good. This is their latest LP, which already came out some time ago, but I only managed to pick up a copy at one of their (rare) shows. Standard press on black vinyl.

Fun anecdote: When I saw them play the first time, they played for about 45 minutes pretty much full stop, then announced to take a break because (quote) "we're old men and could we please get some fresh air in here?". Then they played for another 45 minutes, again pretty much full stop. One of the best sets I've ever seen.

Safe And Sound II

I also picked up Safe And Sound's 2nd 7", Embers Still Remain. Equally as good as the first one. Really good Turning Point cover as well. 150 copies on green/black swirl.

Safe And Sound

One of the few bands I actually wanted to see at Fluff Fest was Safe And Sound, but what do you know, of course I missed them. And I didn't manage to see them on their tour before or after Fluff either. Bummer. However, I finally managed to snag some of their releases on vinyl. Good hardcore in the vein of early 2000's hardcore bands. Right up my alley. Here you can see their debut 7", The Tides. 200 copies on blue vinyl.

Time Is now

Ecostrike bring back that typical 90's metallic vegan straight edge sound. Quite good, but I'm not sold 100% on it yet. 500 copies on red vinyl.

When Then Becomes Now

Along with the demo I also picked up the first proper 7" by Abuse Of Power. Equally as good as the demo. I really hope there'll be a full LP at some point. Standard press on pink vinyl out of 600 copies.

Abuse Of Power

Great new band from the US. Abuse Of Power has this cool 90s vibe to me. I missed out on the demo tape, so I was happy when New Age Records stepped up to the plate and pressed it on vinyl. 300 copies on clear orange.

Cutting Through

One of the better demos that came out these last few years was the Cutting Through one. It was released as a cassette demo, which should be the way to go for demos (Sorry, Marcus.), but received the vinyl treatment. 110 copies on red vinyl. Can't wait for their debut LP to drop.

Sect

One of the better shows I went to recently was Chokehold / Sect / Racetraitor / Through Devastation. I didn't see the last one, which was the opening band, and Racetraitor ("got stuck" in a chat with friends), but Sect and especially Chokehold were awesome. I saw Sect again at Fluff Fest and again they put on a really good show. Sadly, the vinyl had already gone by the time I went to the merch tent, so I had to order the record. This is a beast of a record. I really like the colour scheme and the band gets 10/10 DIY points for releasing the record themselves. Everything about this release is really, really good.

How Much Is Enough

When the Miracle Drug demo came out two years ago, I was really into it. Since then I'd been looking forward to new material of the band. However, the mini LP is a little disappointing. 6 songs on a one-sided LP? Come on. But I can live with that if the songs are really good. The songs on this record are good, but I'm not as hooked as with the songs on the demo. Let's see if this one will grow on me. On the plus side, the black smoke vinyl looks pretty awesome. 250 copies.

Give Blood (again) & A Pan

Record collectors are especially fond of rip-off covers, so today I'm doing a rip-off post... Maybe you can figure out who I ripped off. Shouldn't be too hard.

Collecting records, or for that matter anything, is a weird hobby, because as soon as you have a (near) complete collection, the fun part is kind of over. Luckily, that doesn't happen too often, because there are usually records that are hard to come by. It will always bug you that the collection is not complete, but you also know you don't want the collection to be complete because looking for records and finding stuff is so much fun. I have a pretty solid Bane collection I'd say. Right now it's basically only tests that I'm missing. And I know that most of them I'll never obtain because there are so few around for the older releases and the ones that are out there are locked in serious collections. But as I said before, the search is the fun part anyway.
Sometimes you get lucky even when you're not actively searching. A few days ago I saw a copy of Give Blood up for sale in Facebook group. I was intrigued by the part of the record that you could see in the picture, because it looked unusually dark. I asked for a picture of the whole record and to my surprise it was a variant I hadn't seen before. The LP comes on brown marble, which I call molten kinder chocolate, that must have been created when the brown and clear for the brown/clear swirl hadn't mixed properly yet or it was towards the end of the pressing. I'm not an expert on record pressing, but that's my best guess. I'm really stoked on finding this variant. I wonder what other unique records are out there.

Here's a picture to compare the brown marble one and the regular brown/clear swirl one.

One more picture showing the brown marble, clear and brown/clear records.

If you've made it this far, you may wonder where the rip-off part comes in. Well, the same day I received the Bane LP in the mail, I also received a new pan (forget the greenish tint, that's just from lighting/the contrast paper I use). I remembered a post on another blog from years ago combining a Bane record with cookware, so I decided to take a rip-off photo.

Blue Witness

One more part of the steadily growing Modern Life Is War collection. This is a first press on clear blue vinyl, which was used as tour press. 100 copies were made. I still need the friends press on gold, the record release edition and a test press. But I'm quite happy so far as it is.

Close up against the light. Some nice black and purpleish veins running through the vinyl.