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]