2025

It’s the end of the year as we know it and I feel fine. Personally it’s been a pretty good year, musically it was an alright year I guess. I just listened to the year’s end episode of Axe To Grind and their top picks of the year, but I had a really hard time coming up with an actual top 10. The records (and demos) shown in the picture below pretty represent all the 2025 releases I picked up this year, minus a handful. A lot of releases discussed on A2G didn’t really click with me or I didn’t bother to check out because I wasn’t really into the previous releases by the bands mentioned, so overall 2025 has been a real down year for me as far as new hardcore music is concerned. 

There are some more releases from this year that I’m really interested in, but buying current records has become a real hassle. Many mailorders have switched to pre-orders for current releases and those are often ‘sold out’ super fast and if you’re lucky to get a copy, a lot of time passes before you actually get them. So there’s a bunch of 2025 releases I haven’t listened to and don’t own a copy of, so they don’t count for this list. 

I realise this sounds pretty negative, but a) not every year can be a great year, and b) the releases from this year I did buy I really enjoyed, and c) it gave me the chance to dig into some old bands. So, I’ll just chalk this up as ‘quality over quantity’. My favorite album this year is Never Enough by Turnstile. I listened to this record a ton in my office and my Spotify 2025 Wrapped List also tells me that I listened to this album a lot while not at home. 

Prison Of Hope - Question Your Privileges
Spiritual Cramp - Rude
Meantime - Living In The Meantime
Speedway - A Life’s Refrain
Turnstile - Never Enough
Between Owls - Vacation
Lead Spirit - s.t.
Drink Deep - Burning House
Start Today - s.t. 
Glow - Demo
True Fraud - Demo
Combat X Rock - Demo

I didn’t pick up any real heavy hitters this year, but I’m really happy with the collectibles I got. The reasons why I picked those records range from finishing collections to starting new ones, from rather cheap records to rather expensive ones, from buys to trades and even gifts. Sometimes it’s not about the record itself, but what it represents. That’s the fun of buying and collecting records. It’s very personal and a great haptic chronicle of your life. Special thanks to Marcus for hooking me up with an insert for the YOT 7”. 

Bad Brains - I Against I on Clear
Bad Brains - Rock For Light on Clear Gold
Bane - Boston, 6.58pm - Tour Press
Big Kids - Hoop Dreams on Pink and Red Marble
Bane - Don’t Wait Up - Purple Confetti w/ Lights
The Beatles - Blue Album on Clear Blue 
The Beatles - Beatles For Sale on Red - Japanese Pressing
Have Heart - What Counts - Bonds of Bro-Ship Sleeve
Youth Of Today - Can’t Close My Eyes - 4th Pressing on Positive Force
Bane - Dublin, 11.58pm - Test Press
FC Five - Memories (CD)

The records shown below are the records I played the most in 2025, besides the ones shown in the two previous pictures. There are some records I missed in 2024 for the reasons mentioned above, there are some records I did discover in 2024 and I just continued listening to them this year because they rule. There are some older bands in the mix I just discovered for myself, there are some old bands I already enjoyed in the past and simply got more of their records, and there are bands I used to listen to a lot, yet somehow they’d fallen out of the rotation, but in 2025 I suddenly couldn’t get enough of them again. 

Chopping Block - Seattle’s Hardcore
Broken Head - The Morning Ends
Prim - Move Too Slow
Reach The Sky - So Far From Home
Fugazi - Repeater
Less Than Jake - Borders and Boundaries
Diana Ross & The Supremes - Best of
Iron Chic - Not Like This
Walter Schreifels - An Open Letter To The Scene
Wugazi - 13 Chambers

To end this post, here are some fun facts from my Spotify Wrapped. Taylor Swift made two lists of mine: most listened to artists and top 5 songs. Kids by MGMT is number 5 on my top 5 songs. Who The Hell Is Wild Side? by Wild Side is number 2 on my list of most listened to albums, and I completely forgot how much I enjoyed this album at one point this year. And last but not least, my musical age, according to Spotify, is 76. 

Thanks everyone for checking out my blog. 2025 is done, here’s to 2026.

XXX

Ralf

Limitierte Sonderauflage

When I was about to pay for the records I wrote about in my two previous posts, I caught a glimpse of a Beatles record I still have on my want list behind the guy at the check out counter. It was the Beatles’ Blue Album, which is their greatest hits from 1967-1970. That compilation, together with the red one, which sums up their early years, was my introduction to the Beatles when I was a kid. My parents only had the 2xCD, but once I listened to them, they more or less moved to my room. I was really happy when I picked up the Red Album earlier this year, so getting the blue one in the same record store was pretty cool. 

What I hadn’t seen was the sticker on the cover which says “NEU - Limitierte Sonderauflage: blaue LP’s [sic]”, which translates to “NEW - Limited Edition Blue LPs”. I would have been perfectly happy with regular black copies, matching the Red Album I picked up earlier this year. But I’m definitely not saying no to colored vinyl perfectly matching the artwork. The only issue that needs solving now is that the Red Album I own is not on colored vinyl, which means I really want to pick up a red vinyl copy as soon as possible to have the two albums match. 

1978 Pressing on Blue on Apple /???

Armagideon Times

The Clash might be the purest punk band there ever was, just because they did whatever they wanted to musically and didn’t really care about sticking to a certain template. So if you subscribe to the idea that punk means absolute freedom, then The Clash might be the ultimate punk band. If you associate a certain sound with punk, then The Clash might not be for you. In my book London Calling is easily one of the greatest punk records of all time. 

The follow up LP, Sandinista, released in 1980, is a really hard listen though. Not that the songs aren’t good (ok, some of them really aren’t), there’s just too much music here. Dear bands, if you think about releasing a double LP, you might want to keep thinking. If you consider releasing a triple LP, please don’t. Just don’t. I’m sure there are people who appreciate so much material for one release, but others, like myself, are just overwhelmed. It doesn’t really flow as a release and at one point sooner than later, I just lose interest. The Armagideon Times No. 3 is not an actual zine, the first two ‘issues’ of which were published by a friend of the band and features contributions by band members, but it’s a pretty cool lyric sheet. 

De La Soul… Is Dead

For years I went to the local record store on a semi-regular basis and whenever I went there, I never really expected to find anything. I don’t know what happened, but for the last two years I pretty much always picked up some record or two and nowadays I always wonder what record I might find when I go there. It’s been a fun time. 

De La Soul put out a stone cold classic with 3 Feet High And Rising. They followed it up with De La Soul…Is Dead, which is also a good record but doesn’t reach the musical heights of their debut LP. Not to mention the cover art, which is just plain awful. 

Question Your Privileges

Prison Of Hope follow up their excellent 7” from last year with an equally good 12”. The band really itches my 90s hardcore itch without getting too hard and crossing over into tough guy territory. The six songs on Question Your Privileges are perfect for that. The Chokehold rip-off cover is a nice touch for the collectors and of course self-referential, seeing that the band took its name from a Chokehold album. I really hope they stick to their rhythm and release something new in 2026 again. 

1st Press on Orange/White Swirl on Drastic Actions /100 (Label Info) or /95 (Discogs)
1st Press on Blue w/ Chokehold Rip-Off Sleeve on Drastic Actions /45

Drink Deep

Drink Deep from Berlin are back with a new 7” after a demo and a 7” on Refuse Records, released in 2022 and 2023 respectively. I’ve been a big fan of their DC influenced sound since I first heard them and the don’t disappoint on this release either. The only disappointment is that there aren’t more songs on Burning House, but the four songs are so good.

1st Press on Black on Control /170

Rock For Gold

After completing the I Against I challenge I’d set for myself sometime earlier this year, I was looking for a new fun Bad Brains related collection. Rock For Light is the classic first full length by Bad Brains. Compared to I Against I, it probably has the better individual songs, but viewed as an album, it doesn’t flow as well in my opinion. Gun to my head, I’d pick I Against I 9/10 as the record I want to listen to. That’s not a knock at all to Rock For Light, it just speaks to the incredible level the Bad Brains reached as a hardcore band. 

This album was rereleased by Caroline Records in the early 90s. The color they chose was sort of obvious, but sometimes the easy solution is the best one. The thing that annoys me about the copy I picked up is that it doesn’t have neither of the stickers shown in the pictures of this variant on Discogs because it came without the shrink wrap and the stickers weren’t cut out and kept with the record. One is in Rastafari colors and says this record was remixed and remastered by Rick Ocasek and comes with three bonus songs compared to the original one. The other one is a hype sticker saying ‘Limited Edition Colored Vinyl’. I might need to upgrade this version at one point if I ever find a copy with one or even both stickers. 

1991 Repress on Caroline on Gold / Clear Yellow /???

CBGB Circa ‘77

Most hardcore kids I know dream of travelling back in time to attend of the famed Sunday matinees at CBGBs. And I am one of them. However, it would be equally as cool to travel back even further in time to see bands like Blondie or the Ramones play there in the mid to late 70s. Since neither scenario is going to happen, live recordings from those shows will have to do. Seeing The Ramones live at CBGBs in 1977 sure would have been cool, right?

I don’t really pay attention to Record Store Day anymore, just like Marcus, but when I see a record I like after the event, I’ll gladly pick it up. Is this a vital addition to the collection? Probably not. Is it a fun addition that makes you wonder what it would have been like to be at that particular show? Absolutely. 

RSD 2025 Press on Clear Red on Sire /???

Seattle‘s Hardcore

Another new band I’d been oblivious to but that itches my youth crew with a modern twist itch really well is Chopping Block from, well, Seattle. The songs on Seattle’s Hardcore, which was released in 2024, are a nice reminder of the music from 20 years ago. The promo text on the Rev website compares Chopping Block to Desperate Measures, Lights Out and The First Step. Not bad references at all in my book. I would definitely be onboard with a 2000s revival, even though it feels to talk about a revival of a time you lived through. Good thing for me, Chopping Block are about to release a new record in 2026. 

1st Press on Black on Brain Floss /250

Start Today

I’m sticking with the theme of classic hardcore that would be a ton of fun to see live. I mean, come on, the name of the band, the cover photo? You know what to expect and Start Today absolutely deliver. Four songs that are over in less than 6 minutes and leave you wanting more. The year is ending strong. 

1st Press on Red on Rebirth /400

Meantime

Just based on the number of posts this record was featured in recently, this might be a contender for Record Of The Year. Both Marcus and Mike posted about Living In The Meantime by Meantime and talked about it positively. References to Have Heart? Go It Alone? Champion? The mid 2000s? Count me in! I really like the vinyl color in combination with the cover as well. 

1st Press on Baby Blue on Indecision /350

Rude

The new Spiritual Cramp record was on my list of highly anticipated records for 2025. It took me a while, but now I’m fully onboard with Rude. The s.t. LP has more hits, but Rude is also an excellent record and flows really well as a whole. Listing all the different musical influences would take way too long, but the mix is really refreshing and works for me. Extra bonus special points for the Madness-esque intro to …Go Back Home. Very cool touch. Definitely one of my favorites this year. 

1st Press on Blue Marble on Blue Grape /???

Broken Head?

Brokenhead is one of my favorite new(er) bands I discovered this year and Sunday Drive Records keep putting out records I really, really enjoy. A Wishful Thing was originally released in 2022 (digitally) and vinyl came out the next year, so in my book it‘s a 2023 release. The songs are a very cool mix of shoegaze and 90s alternative music. Perfect for quiet evenings in the fall and winter. Sadly, there are only four songs on the 12“, which always seems like such a waste. You can‘t really go wrong with coke bottle clear records either. 

1st Press on Glacier Blue on Sunday Drive /200

 

Like I said, A Wishful Thing left me wanting more songs by Broken Head, so the strategy of only putting four songs on a 12“ worked. As much as I like the 12“ above, The Morning Ends, a proper full length, is a a step above. More songs, and better songs too in my opinion. I also really like the artwork and the vinyl color. 

1st Press on Blue/Black Galaxy on Sunday Drive /200

The one thing that irks me a little is the fact that the band name is spelled differently on the records and the label’s bandcamp/homepage. So much effort is put into the music, artwork, vinyl etc. but you can’t decide on whether the band name is one word or two? 

State Of The Union

All the way back in 2016, I posted about 3's Dark Days Coming LP and how much I loved the song Swann Street. Fellow collector massivewaste was kind enough to point out that an alternate version exists, which was released on the State Of The Union compilation. Well, I managed to finally pick up a copy of said comp before a full decade past, if only barely. I really like this comp because you can't go wrong with Dischord in the 80s. The other version of Swann Street is awesome as well, but I prefer the album version. 

Fugazi, Once, Fugazi, Twice

Why order only one record, well technically a box set, when you can order more? Two more records to cross off my want list. Who says you can’t buy happiness?

2023 Repress on Crystal Vellum on Dischord /???

2024 Repress on Blue Marble (‘Thor’) on Dischord /???

Swiz

I got to know about Swiz by proxy when I discovered Sweet Jesus, one of the myriad of bands featuring Pat Flynn on vocals. I remember reading reviews citing Swiz as a big influence. I’d only heard the name of the band but never listened to them until then. Since I really loved Sweet Jesus, it was kind of a given that I like Swiz as well. However, their full length records are a little hard to come by and as much as I like the band, shelling out 100 bucks for Hell Yes I Cheated was out of question for me. 

When one of my favorite record stores / mailorders in Germany announced they might get a Swiz box set, done by Dischord no less, I was all over this. I wrote one of the guys running Bis Aufs Messer and he said he couldn’t make any promises but he’d put me on the waiting list. Great guy that Robert is, he contacted me a couple of months later out of the blue and said the box sets would ship soon and asked if I was still interested. Hell, yes, I was still interested! As everything Dischord does, this is a high quality product. The box is well done, the records look and sound great and the booklet is incredible. The box set wasn’t cheap, but it cost still less on what I’d have paid on just the first Swiz LP, so it was money well spent. 

Box Set (All Records on Black Vinyl) on Dischord /???

Lost

The last record I picked up at the local store was Open Up and Bleed, an aptly titled record for an album by Iggy and the Stooges, given Mr Pop's usual stage antics. The sub heading is The Great Lost Stooges Album? The record itself, which was released in 1996 way after the disbandment of the band, is a collection of live recordings of songs performed by the Stooges regularly. The songs might have appeared on the fourth full-length, but the band split up before they were ever recorded properly. There are some good songs on here, but no actual tracks to my ear. Still, it's a fun listen. 

1st Press on Black on Bomp

X-Post

As much as I love early US hardcore, I’m not that well-versed in German hardcore from the 80s. I know a lot of bands by name, but I’ve only listened to a handful of them and to be honest, most of them were rather underwhelming. I took a gamble on this compilation because it was sitting there for less than 10€. The record was released in 1990, but all of those bands had been active throughout the 80s. I listened to the comp a few times but nothing really stuck out and grabbed my attention. It’s not like the songs on the compilation are bad, but they’re not outstanding either to me. If nothing else, it is a cool document of the time. 

X-Mist was an important label, and later on distribution, for hardcore in Germany and many German hardcore bands that are considered classics nowadays had releases on that label. It’s fair to say that without X-Mist hardcore in Germany wouldn’t be same, whether you like the bands on the label or not. The founder, Armin Hofmann, passed away a couple of years way before his time, and since the record store owner knew him personally, he had a bunch of memorial cards behind the counter and gave me one. The drawing was done by Tim Kerr of The Big Boys and other bands. RIP. 

So Far From Home

It’s funny how your perception of a band can change. I remember someone playing Reach The Sky to me a long, long time ago and me not liking the songs at all. I don’t know what it was, but the songs didn’t click with me at all. So I never really bothered to check them out again. 

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I last went to the local record store. I’d seen the record sitting in one of the bins during my previous visits and I’d pondered getting the record to give the band another shot, but the other records I’d put on my pile always seemed more desireable. So I put off buying it, until my last visit. I wanted to buy something at the store and after flipping through the usual bins, I still didn’t have that many records, so I decided that day was the day. It definitely helped that the record was priced very reasonably. 

When I got home, I still had some work to do at my desk, so I put on the new records one after another. When So Far From Home was over, I just flipped the record and listened to it again. And again. And again. I couldn’t believe that was the same band I’d always considered lame. The album has been on constant rotation since then and I just listened to it again today. Might be my favorite discovery of an old band in 2025!

1st Press on Black on Victory

This Is Heaven

The local record store has been a steady supply of new records this year, which has been the biggest surprise to me all year when it comes to buying records. Couple of weeks ago I went in there and picked up a couple of records I‘d been dancing around at previous trips. On my way to the check out counter I happened to look at one of the 7” display things the store has on the wall and saw an interesting looking 7”. Turns out, it was the 7” with one of my all-time favorite songs, Just Like Heaven by The Cure. I haven’t figured out the remix part yet to be honest, but any which way, this is just about one of the greatest songs ever. I don’t like everything by The Cure, but this song I love. 

Oh yeah, since I started that conversation earlier this year, this would be the #1 choice for the song I’d use for a skateboard part if I’d ever be able to pull that off. 

Big Dreams

Finding a variant of a a record you love and still need is great. Finding a variant of a record you love and still need at a reasonable price (single digit price tag in this case!) is awesome. Finding a variant of a record you love and still need at a reasonable price in combination with domestic shipping and no customs fees attacheis the best. 

 

Big Kids rule, listen to Hoop Dreams.  

2nd Press on Clear Red w/ Black Streaks on Topshelf /300

The Love Movement

Ever since I started listening to A Tribe Called Quest seriously, they’ve been one of my all-time favorite hip hop bands. Their first three records are pure gold and I wouldn’t skip any song. The Love Movement is their fifth LP, originally released in 1998, and while it is still a really good record, for me it’s a rung below the first three records. There are also too many songs for one album, so it’s a hard listen to begin with. Still, there are some great tracks on The Love Movement.

Latest Repress on Black on Jive /???

Random At Best

I love finding records of random bands I’ve heard of before and just falling in love with. If you’d asked me a band called Between Owls couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t have told you anything about them. As of today, their second album Vacation is one of my most listened to records in 2025. Somehow I ended up browsing the KROD Records webstore and the cover of the LP spoke to me. “A bunch of flamingos standing in a park, really?” I hear you say and I don’t really have an answer. But something made me check out the music behind the band/album and I just happened to really like what I heard. It’s not a style of music I usually listen, so if you’d just described the music, which is somewhere between indie, low-fi and dream pop, I probably would have been dismissive about it. But again, the music triggered something in me and the singer has a really beautiful voice. Sometimes it’s just like that. My favorite song by far is Go For A Ride, a cool 60s inspired indie song. And you can call me crazy, but I could see some of the songs featured in a Quentin Tarantino movie.

The record was pressed on a bunch of different marble colors, all of which looked cool to me. You couldn’t order a specific colour though, whichever record you got was chosen randomly. While I understand that that might trigger or even anger some people, I was fine with taking  gamble and I got lucky, because the red looks great and works well with the cover.

1st Press on Red Marble on KROD /??? [Random Colors Only]

Who Am I Kidding…

Who ever commented on my last Fugazi post that I definitely need three copies of each Fugazi release, you were absolutely right. Well, at least two-thirds right, because the colored represses and first presses make for a pretty cool collection, but I don’t necessarily need the black represses I bought over the last few years. I feel like whenever I write “Oh, well, I don‘t know if I should buy this record or start that micro collection“, or something along these lines, I pretty much just want someone to confirm the decision I’ve already made subconsciously. It took me about two or three days to give in to my idea of starting to buy the colored represses of Fugazi records and so far, there are no regrets on my part because Dischord knocked it out of the park with the colors they chose. Simple, but very beautiful. 

Most Recent Repress on Solid Red on Dischord

Most Recent Repress on Clear Blue on Dischord

Life On The Moon

Modern Life Is War is one of my all-time favorite bands, as you may or may not know from reading this blog. However, this is mainly based on the first 7” and the first two LPs to be honest. Nothing can ever touch those records. With each release afterwards, the band lost me a little more. Still, I always checked out whatever the band did. Life On The Moon is the latest release and I was very weary of listening to it, even though I didn’t think twice about ordering a copy when I read that the band was about to release a new LP. I even ordered a copy directly from Lifeline Records because I think it’s incredibly awesome that band and label have kept that bond for more than two decades by now. So, in my mind the only sensible thing to do was to order a copy directly from Lifeline instead of another version. After getting the record though, it was sitting in my “new records to listen to pile” for a good month or so. 

I did finally listen to the album and to me this has only little to do with the band I originally fell in love with. There’s a wide range of musical influences to be found on here, more so than on any other of their previous releases, but I’m not sure if the mix works for me. There’s some dub, but you’ll also find post-hardcore on here. I do believe it’s any artists prerogative to grow and do other things than what’s expected of them, but I also believe not everyone has to be on board with said growth. There are some ok songs on the record, but as a whole the record hasn’t clicked with me. The artwork is pretty cool though, although I don’t get the connection between title and art. The 12” booklet with the lyrics and a ton of pictures, all in full colour, is done exceptionally well, too. Great job by band and label. 

This is one of those records I really want to like, but I’m not sure if I will. 

1st Press on Glitter Orange on Lifeline Records /100

Triplets

Dan was also kind enough to hook me up with some demo tapes by Australian bands, something I always look forward to. 

Peace Ritual play a little emo, a little indie, a little shoe gaze, and add a lot of dreamy sounds. There are also plenty of melodies and great hooks. Music for the quieter moments. The band has released a bunch of things since that first release, so I've got plenty of music to listen to while working at my desk at home. 

Flowermouth play what nowadays is called hardcore adjacent music, I'd say. If you like that kind of music and / or 90s music bands like Farside, you should maybe check out their music. Sadly, there's only one original song of theirs. But since this tape came out in 2017, there's luckily other released to listen to as well. The other song on the tape is a cover of The Cure's Just Like Heaven, which is a big challenge. The cover is done well enough, but the audio is not as good as on the original song for some reason. Maybe it was done during a different recording session?

Last, but not least, there's the demo tape by Combat Rock. No Clash inspired songs as one might have guessed by the title, but the cover speaks for itself. Combat Rock play no frills hardcore in the vein of early 80s Boston straight edge hardcore. The rough production makes it sound very authentic. I definitely want to listen to the follow-up release. 

Resist Records

My man Down Under, Dan, is keeping busy hooking me up with music from Australia, mostly bands I probably wouldn’t have discovered on my own. This is a bunch of throwback records all the way to the mid 2000s. 

The first record is the debut LP by Blkout, Total Depravity, originally released in 2009. If I’d seen the cover somewhere in a store or online, I’d have never checked out the band to honest. I know, I know, don’t judge a record by its cover, but I’m just being honest. The music is actually pretty good though. Good, stompy hardcore that would have been fun to watch live I guess. 

1st Press on Black on Resist 

Next up is the s.t. 10” by God So Loved The World, apparently a Christian hardcore band from Adelaide. I dig the music, hardcore with some slower rock elements here and there, but I don’t really need to hear about people being born again.

In the 90s and early 2000s Christian hardcore was an actual thing, but I’m wondering if there are any bands that openly identify that way out there nowadays. I’m pretty sure there must be some, because hardcore is more diverse and open-minded than ever, but I can‘t think of any. 

1st Press on Black on Resist 

When I opened the parcel from Dan and saw this record, I thought for sure that he’d sent me a record - unbeknownst of course - that I already had in my collection. I definitely knew the cover and the name and it just looks like a record I would have picked up in 2007 when it was released. After checking my list and double checking my 7”s, I had to face the fact that my memory had simply played a trick on me. It must have been one of those records I always meant to pick up, but never did. Well, thanks to Dan I finally own a copy. The music is exactly what I want from hardcore from the mid 2000s and even though the vocals are very much of the time as well, the high pitch is a little too much for me these days. 

1st Press on Black on Resist 

Paid In Full

Another classic from the golden age of hip-hop crossed off my want list. I can't stress enough how much my taste in music has been influenced by skateboarding. Videos used to be a great source to find new music, at least as long the music was shown in the credits. In the early 2000s, another skateboard related source entered my world: video games. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was the shiny, cool game and it was admittedly a ton of fun and the soundtrack of each game was great. Thrasher's Skate and Destroy video game was always in the shadow of the THPS franchise, but I enjoyed it a lot as well and it had a fantastic soundtrack. 

Traditionally, Thrasher Magazine has been more associated with a no-frills, grimy approach to skateboarding and was closely aligned with punk rock, so when I got the video game and saw that it had an all hip-hop soundtrack and the booklet even gave a short history of hip-hop and the acts on the soundtrack, I was very surprised. Playing that game was when I first heard Eric B & Rakim and their song, I Know You Got Soul, was a favorite of mine. It only took me some 20 odd years to finally get a vinyl copy of their debut LP Paid in Full. 

Italian Press on Black on Island /???

There's a weird stamp on the A-side label. I can't really make out what it says, except for the word 'Italian'. I doubt it was done by the label, but I have absolutely no idea what it could be. 

Long Way From Lawrence

The Get Up Kids is one of my favorite 90s emo bands and Something To Write Home About is one of my all-time favorite records. I know I often post how I don’t really order directly in the US anymore because of shipping and customs, but every once in a while, there’s just no way around it. When Nico posted about a live record of Something To Write Home About, I knew I needed a copy. Originally, the record was only available at shows, but the band made the leftovers available on their website. It took me a minute to pull the trigger because I’d hoped a copy from a seller in Europe might pop up on Discogs, but when that didn’t happen, my fear of the record selling out kicked in and I ordered a copy straight from the band. It helped that they had some cool merch available as well. 

This record is so good. I love the adaptation of the original artwork and it’s cool to hear the songs of Something To Write Home About played live in the order of the album. The only thing I can criticise is the fact that there are no liner notes or a special booklet. I feel like this could have elevated the record a lot and not going the extra mile feels like a wasted opportunity. 

1st Press on Black on Quality Hill

True Fraud

A couple of weeks ago, my band got to play a cool show with a bunch of awesome German hardcore bands. One of them was True Fraud, one of the myriad of bands coming out of the Cologne/Munster connection. It’s basically one of my favorite German bands of the last 10 years, Tides Denied, only with a different bass player. True Fraud is rougher around the edges though. Good, fast hardcore that’s a lot of fun live. I’m looking forward to a 7” or an LP. 

1st Run on Clear w/ Orange Cover on Collective Memroy

Magical

The last record I picked up at the local store was Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles. I’d been eyeing this record sitting in the store for some time, because it was priced a littler higher than on Discogs, but in the end I decided that a couple of bucks aren’t as important as helping to keep the store afloat. Magical Mystery Tour is actually not a proper album, as I thought for a very long time, it was an EP released originally as a double 7”. This version contains said EP on the A-side and a couple of songs originally released as singles only on the B-side. It’s quite astonishing that it took me so long to buy a copy because four of my top 10 Beatles songs are on this record and since I don’t own any Beatles singles , this is the first time that I own most of these songs on vinyl. Needless to say I’ve been playing this record A LOT since I got it. The cover is so bizarre and so much of the time, but I actually like it. 

Collector’s Conundrum

A little more than 10 years ago, I started buying Fugazi records. My original resolution to buy one Fugazi record a month didn’t really work out at the time, but I did manage to buy all of their releases. I bought the current represses back then, because I wanted to support a label that truly holds a special place in my heart, not to mention the band itself of course. I bought the now classic s.t. Record round about 10 years ago and I bought all of the Fugazi records more or less in chronological order. I messed up my system though, when I bought a first press of In On The Killtaker, but there’s just something about first presses and I usually can’t help myself but to get them. Which brings me to today’s post. While flipping through the bins at my local record store, I found a first press copy of Fugazi’s s.t. debut. It showed the $5 price on the back cover and after checking the matrix, I knew this was an actual first press.  I tried to talk myself out of buying the record, but after about 10 seconds I stopped fooling myself and put it on my pile. 

Buying this record puts me in a conundrum. I now have two first presses of Fugazi records and the collector in me screams that this doesn’t feel right and I now need first press copies of all of the Fugazi records, which is something that hadn’t really been on my mind at all until I got this record. I’ve been thinking about replacing my current copies with those really nice looking colored represses Dischord has done these last few years - and I still want to do that, sort of, because Dischord has been doing such a great job with the colors. But do I really need three copies of Fugazi records? Probably not. So buying this record has possibly kicked of a chain of events in the foreseeable future. Luckily this might end up being one of the cheaper micro collections because Dischord is still selling records at Dischord prices (by 2025 standards). 

1st Press (According to the Matrix) on Black on Dischord

Real Life Record Shopping

Whenever I get the chance to hit up the local record store, I go in there with a feeling of excitement and hopefulness. I always enjoy just flipping through the records, but more often than not I leave empty handed and disappointed. When I last went there a couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in the new arrivals section there were a bunch of very interesting records: Strife first and second LP, Texas Is The Reason, Farside and a bunch of others from that time - all original presses. The one that caught my eye was Reality Filter by Eleven Thirty-Four because that artwork always looked cool to me, albeit very of the time, and you can’t really go wrong with records on New Age released in the early to mid 90s. Reality Filter is a really good record and I’ve really enjoyed listening to it over the last few weeks. I also wish that bands did more cool poster inserts again. There was never a pressing on color for this release, so I’m just fine with black vinyl. 

Now I’m just left wondering who in the area I live in might have sold their collection, or a least part of it, because there scene is rather small here and even fewer people from that scene listen to that kind of hardcore. 

1st Press on Black on New Age /???

Bonds Of Trade-Ship

Trading seems to be a lost art these days. I was never that big of a trader because I rarely had money to buy spare records just to trade and I often had a hard time letting go of  the ones I’d bought for myself. Still, I managed to make a couple of cool trades over the years and got to meet, virtually and in real life, some great people. 

When I ordered the represses of Bane’s Boston, 6.58pm, I asked a couple of friends if they wanted copies too, so we could order together and save on shipping. One of them who was onboard happened to be selling a bunch of records right around the time when the records arrived and instead of him sending me the money, we managed to work out a record for record deal. I’ve long given up on collecting every variant of Have Heart 7”s, but whenever I can get my hands on a special version, e.g. some different cover art, I’ll gladly jump at the opportunity. 

This Insted rip-off sleeve of the What Counts 7” had been on my want list for 10+ years but somehow it always slipped through my fingers whenever one popped up. But finally I managed to close that gap in my collection. I never knew that this variant comes with a regular cover and the rip-off is just an additional sleeve. I really like the rip-off itself, but “bro-ship” is pretty cringe, if it’s not some sort of irony. I mean they once had a shirt that said “Have Heart masturbates after the first date”, so they’re not beneath making fun of themselves. 

3rd Press on Black w/ Bonds of Bro-Ship Cover on Think Fast /150

Turning Point II

The last record I received from Marcus is the repress of the Turning Point 7” on green. Alright, there was also as Taylor Swift record in there, which had sold out too quickly on mainland Europe so I ordered a copy in the UK, but that was for my wife, so it doesn’t really count in regards to my blog. I was actually very surprised when I opened the parcel and saw this record. Marcus and I had talked about this record at one point, but I’d all forgotten about it, so this was a very nice surprise for me. When I picked up a copy of this repress originally, I said that I’d much rather have a copy on green than on orange, so this gives me some closure. I still prefer this color over orange as it has a more classic 80s record look in my opinion.

Thanks again, Marcus, for letting me ship those records to your place and you dragging them to that show so my friend could pick them up. 

Repress on Clear Green on Revelation /517

DIY Spirits Or Die Faster

There was a time about 10 years ago when Spirits was a very important band to me. They played a style of hardcore that I love but which wasn't all that popular in the after 2010 or so. So hearing them was a breath of fresh air for me. Collecting them turned out to be a collector's dream/nightmare, because the band put out a ton of releases in a very short period of time and all of them came out on what felt like a million versions. I managed to build a solid collection, but there are still certain records that I missed out on and haven't been able to track down so far. One of them is the record release version of the Spirit/Die Faster split, to be precise the Die Faster version of the record release, because each band had a different one of course. This was actually the record that kicked off me ordering a bunch of records in the UK and having them shippped to Marcus. 

After getting the record, I was disappointed though because the seller had listed the record incorrectly and this one turned out to be the regular version on red vinyl with the red cover. The record was not that expensive, so I’m not too mad, but it’s still annoying that people list records incorrectly. I’m even more annoyed with myself though for not asking the seller for more info or a picture of the numbering beforehand to make sure. 

1st Press on Red w/ Red Cover on Coin Toss /300

There are four versions of the stamped cover: purple, dark blue, orange and red. Each cover was stamped by hand with a wooden stamp on 7” format. I’m not 100% sure if the stamp was actually carved by hand, but knowing the band member, I’m pretty sure it was. I was lucky enough to be given one of the stamps by the band member who’d made them. Come to think of it, maybe it is the only stamp and this one was used for all of the colors, because there is also some dark color on the edges. Be that as it may, it’s a pretty cool artefact of the band to have and I felt like sharing this along with the record. 

Secret World

The last record I got from the UK distro I purchased the previous three records from is Guilt Is Good by Secret World, a band from Sydney, Australia. I’d never heard of them before but when I was browsing the distro’s webstore, the cover somehow caught my attention. I can’t say why, but it did for some reason. And I didn’t get disappointed. The songs on this 7” are really catchy and I’ve been listening to the record over and over. I’d say, if you like Militarie Gun or Fiddlehead or even Title Fight, this might be for you. As it happens the band just released a full length yesterday, lucky me. 

1st Press on Clear on Sunday Drive / Last Ride /150

Splitting Vinyl

7” records are a dying breed in 2025 and split 7”s are a marginalised group within 7”s. So when a band I like decides to put out a split 7” this day and age, I’m in. I played the Anklebiter demo a lot when it came out. I missed out on the LP they released in 2023 and by the time I learned about it, it had been sold out everywhere. When I was browsing the inventory of the UK distro I’d found the records I wrote about in the two previous post, I came across a split between Anklebiter and Prevention. As mentioned before, I was really into the band’s demo, so ordering the split was a no brainer. I’d never heard of Prevention before, but the fact that there were new Anklebiter songs was enough for me to add a copy to the shopping basket. The Anklebiter side is very good and it left me wanting for more (so I will have to pick up a copy of the LP soon I guess). The Prevention side is fine, but doesn’t grab me the way the Anklebiter side does. All in all, a fun listen 

1st Press on Clear Blue on Sunday Drive /150

Ascending

Another record I’d been really looking forward to was the latest Stand Still release, Steps Ascending. Actually, this came out already in 2024 but I didn’t get around to ordering a copy until I ordered the Anxious LP from a mailorder in the UK and as I detailed in the last post, it took a while until I got those records. 

Stand Still managed to write a really good and diverse record. It’s melodic, it’s heavy, it’s very entertaining. I also like the vinyl color in itself, even though a different color scheme would have made more sense with the cover. But I’m not mad at this combination. 

1st Press on Pink w/ White Splatter on Daze /150

Anxious

2025 seems to be a slow year as far as new releases are concerned, or a least new releases by bands I like. One of the few records I was actually looking forward to was the new Anxious LP. The previous one, Little Green House, was so good. Definitely one of my favorite records of the 2020s. So when I read that Anxious was going to release a new LP, I was very happy. Ordering a copy from the US was a no-go thought and the versions available through the European store weren’t that nice to look at. However, the version exclusively available through Devil Dog mailorder out of the UK looked very good. I shot a message to Marcus to ask him if I could have delivered this record (and a couple of others) to his place and then have one big parcel sent to me eventually. Gentleman that he is, he’d offered that service before, but I just wanted to make sure. Once that was sorted out, I could go on and order the record(s). 

I was in no hurry to get the record(s), even though it meant I wouldn’t be able to listen to the record for a while because certain records I want to listen to on vinyl for the first time. I’m old-fashioned that way. Anyway, an opportunity of saving on shipping arose when a very good friend of mine told me he was going to do merch for Bane again and one of the shows was going to be close to where Marcus lives. I checked with Marcus to see if he was going to be at that show and sure enough he was planning on going. So my friend took some records I had for Marcus and Marcus gave him the records he had for me, which my friend in turn gave me a couple of days later when I caught Bane on the same tour. Good old punk mail still works in 2025. 

So about three weeks ago I could finally listen to Bambi. As much as I liked the predecessor, this album hasn’t grabbed me at all as of now. It sounds too polished. Maybe it’ll grow on me, who knows. I actually hope it’ll grow on me because I really liked all the Anxious material so far. But for now this is a let down for me. I don’t know what to make of the art work either to be honest. The best thing about the record is the vinyl color. That looks amazing. 

1st Press on Clear w/ Glitter on Run For Cover /300 (Devil Dog Exclusive)

Close up of the record. Just beautiful.