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.