For The Snake Of Dedication

Late 2000s 7" hardcore compilation featuring only German bands. You could say the title and the layout were slightly influenced by another compilation from the late 90s. It's hard to make out, but there are one or two small similarities here. Empty Vision were so good, as were Sirens and Red Tape Parade.

Pessimistic Lines ...Are Fucking Dead

Two weeks ago one of my favourite bands from Germany played their farewell weekender. For this occasion they decided to make a special variant, which was only available at those final three shows. I got #3/25. Good, but also very sad times.

R.I.P.

Pessimistic Lines

There are certain records in every collector's collection that they would never ever let go off. Not even if their kids needed extremely expensive heart surgery and selling the beloved collection would be the only way to come up with the money. From the perspective of the outside observer, this behaviour may be perceived as irrational or more plain: stupid. But any collector will come up with a myriad of stories so they won't have to let go off a certain record.
Okay, this scenario is probably a load of horseshit, but there's some truth to it. There are some records that any collector would have a really hard time parting with. This one is a very good example for that. Ever since I first heard Pessimistic Lines, I really liked the band. What's more, their singer Hagen is a great collector buddy of mine and one of the nicest people out there in general. We don't see each other that often, but when we see each other, it's always a lot of fun aka nerd talk, haha. We last saw each other at Fluff Fest past July. He'd written me before that he would have a little surprise for me. I had the vague thought it might have something to do with records, but I had no idea it would be an actual record. This is a test pressing for Pessimistic Line's LP Overcome. Only 12 copies exist. I am now the proud owner of #12. Sure, there are more prolific bands out there. Probably better bands, too. But this is one record that I'll cherish until I'm too senile to remember why I have so many frisbee discs in my living room.

It Was A Very Good Year

2014 was a really good year as far as records go. There were some really great records released this year and I also managed to pick up a lot of really cool records that had been on my want list for quite some time. I tried to come up with a Top 5 for 2014 releases and 2014 collectibles. It worked fine for the releases, but I couldn't slim down the collectibles to just five. Anyway, here goes.

2014 Releases

Dangers has been a favourite band of mine ever since I heard them for the first time. I haven't been floored by a band both lyrically and musically like that for a long time. They're also a great live band and all of the shows I've been to were great fun. 5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World is not as good as their previous releases imho, which doesn't mean that much cause compared to most other bands it's still very, very good. The song of the same name however is so awesome. My #5.
Our Inner Wastelands is the first full length release by local band Zerre. Their singer is a good friend of mine, plus I know most of the other members as well, and I'm so stoked about what they accomplished with this LP. Plus it looks so good. The red variant is probably the best looking record I got this year. My #4.
I've been a fanboy of Barren ever since I heard their demo. It had been rather quiet around this band for quite some time, but this year they finally managed to release their first full length LP Anachronism. Great politically minded 90s hardcore. Awesome live band, too. Plus we share a craving for the same vegan baked good, which is definitely a big plus. XStreuseltalerYouthX. My #3.
Sweet Jesus are the surprise band of the year for me. I'd never heard of them before, despite the fact that Pat Flynn of Have Heart fame is the singer for this band. When I got their their first 7" Box, I put it on the record player and I was blown away. I had to flip this record over and over and over and over. So, so good. Their upcoming LP just might show up in my Top 5 2015. We'll see. My #2.
It's been a hard debate between me, myself and I, but in the end there could be only one release at the top of this list. Bane is my favourite band ever, just in case somebody wasn't aware of this fact (despite the 15 posts about this band in little more than a year). They decided to call it quits next year, which sucks, but they released a new LP this year, which rules. Don't Wait Up is such a good LP. I was a little afraid they might release a record that could leave a bad aftertaste, urging people to say "They should have quit a few years ago…", but this LP is so much better than I'd ever hoped for. Perfect record to end this amazing journey of this band. My #1 2014.

2014 Collectibles

I managed to pick up a lot of cool records this year, some of which had been on my want list for quite some time. Narrowing it down to just five records was impossible, so I stretched the list just a tad. There are still a few records that could have easily been in this picture, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Some of these records I got for cheap, some I had to pay a pretty penny for, some I got for free or as presents. For various reasons these records are my collectibles of the year. There's no ranking here since all these records give me joy for very different reasons. 

Greatest hardcore record of all time. Prove me otherwise.

Favourite release by my favourite band. Collection complete.

Out of the blue. Rarest release by my favourite band besides test pressings.

Birthday present by the greatest girlfriend on this planet.

There are always more variants out there than you think. Keep looking.

Record I probably listened to the most 2014. One of the wildest and hottest shows this year.

Out of the blue part II. There are still some great people involved in hardcore.

Sometimes you gotta give more. Sometimes you gotta give everything.

Not in this picture but in the one above, you can see a test pressing of Bane's final LP on End Hits Records. This one is definitely one of my pick-ups 2014 as well, but I didn't feel the need to picture it twice.

Thanks everyone for reading my blog and commenting. Keeps record collecting a lot of fun.

XXX

Empowerment

Sometimes I buy records simply to support bands that I think are worthy of support without being 100% convinced of the music. Empowerment from Stuttgart falls under this category. I've seen them live a couple of times and all of the shows were a lot of fun. Great live band. Plus, this is a band that has something to say and actually mean it, which sadly is not a given anymore in the hardcore scene. Empowerment play NYHC (and nothing else!) better than most of the OG NYHC bands I know. Their attitude on the other hand is rather punk, especially compared with classic NYHC, which has a tendency towards conservatism, patriotism and a lot of other '-isms' I think have no place in hardcore/punk. I rarely hear of bands from that niche of hardcore or hardcore in general that outspoken against patriotism, anti-immigration initiatives, homophobia or the use of the word "retarded/behindert". I don't like their overly stated localism, which is also true for most hardcore bands, but there are still a lot of good reasons to support this band in my book. Now, as far as the music is concerned, there are some really good songs on this LP, but it isn't that great a LP. I know that a lot of people will probably disagree with this statement, since Empowerment are huge in Germany right now.

The artwork is pretty unique, since it features a wheel system which allows you to change the cover, right where the woman stands in the open door. There are four different pictures and four different text messages. Nice gimmick. Cobra Records didn't skimp on the cover.

In the next few weeks, Empowerment is going to do a split series with four other German bands. The first split 7" has already been released, and besides Empowerment it features Hamburg based band Krank. Musically speaking, these bands are on the opposite ends of the hardcore/punk spectrum. NYHC vs. classic punk sound. Good songs by both bands, although I favor Empowerment a little bit. Then again it's really hard to compare these bands since they play such different styles.

The Cobra Bites... Again

Some more pick ups from Cobra Records. Finally, I got the last variants of Pessimistic Line's LP Overcome in. Kind of funny that I had all the rare versions before the more common ones. 

Crew Shot

Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange /100
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - clear/blue splatter /300
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange with pre-order sleeve /50
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange with record release sleeve -/50

I got turned onto Death Is Not Glamorous kind of late. Too late to catch them live, but they're pretty good on vinyl too, so at least I have that. Cobra Records released three versions of Spring Forward. This is the least rare version on black vinyl out of 500. Great music in the vein of Lifetime and the like. Great music for the summer, too. All I need now is for the summer to come back. 

The Cobra Bites

One of my favourite German record labels is Cobra Records. The label has been putting out quality releases for years, mainly focusing on German and European bands. Plus the Cobra tries to keep down the prices for the records, which can't be taken for granted in 2014 anymore.

I've been waiting for new material by Barren ever since I first listened to their demo tape, which came out in 2012. Barren put you in a time machine and bring you back to the depths of 90s hardcore. Vegan Edge Mosh at its fucking best. Seriously, this is plain awesome. As can be expected from a band playing this style of hardcore, the texts are highly political but far from cliché. It's rather they talk about old issues, but give it a new modern spin offering something new. Don't judge this record by its cover. It looks modern, but it'll take you back to your youth (if your old enough). Hopefully you kept some of those baggy pants and XL shirts...
As I understand it, the band asked for a black vinyl only release, which is fine by me, seeing that it works really well with the cover and layout overall. There's supposedly another version of this, put out by a Russian label called Hidden Rainbows, but I have no idea if there are any differences between the two labels' versions. Anyway, this will definitely end up ranking highly on my 2014 list. The only hair in the soup for me is that there are only eight songs on this LP, three of which were already released on the demo, albeit in slightly different versions. Would have liked it if there had been a couple of more songs. Still, this record is really, really good. Can't wait to see them live again, because they're killing it on a stage, too.

Daniel of Cobra Records went through great pains to put out a compilation. Now, I love compilations, because they're a great way of checking out new bands. I only knew like three bands that were advertised once the line-up was finalized, which I like to see as an opportunity rather than thinking I'm out of the loop here. Obviously there are only SXE bands featured on this compilation. Only European ones to be precise. I really dig this idea. I have listened to it a few times by now and there is not a single bad song on it. A lot of different styles, but that's what makes it so interesting. I really like the overall concept of this as well as the artwork. The booklet is done very nicely too.
This comes on white vinyl with black/greyish marble and is out of 100. There are two other versions out there, one on black vinyl with white marble out of 100 and one on white vinyl out of 300. Your chance to check out a lot of (new) bands and support a label definitely worth supporting.

P.S. I didn't take a picture of the back cover on purpose cause I didn't want to spoil the surprise for you if you find out who the sexy legs on the front cover belong to.

Fluff pick ups

I went to Fluff Fest last weekend and picked up a few records, or more precisely variants of records I already have. Bane apparently decided to drive collectors crazy since this is the 9th variant of their final LP, with the 10th variant already out there. I haven't given in yet, but I don't know how long I'll keep buying these things. Probably forever. Can't lie here, haha. I'm really stoked for the band though. Can't wait to see Bane a couple of times on their on-going European tour very soon. From a collector's point of view I'd have loved it if they had done a special cover for this (or any other) tour or maybe a record release show cover. Those are always fun to collect. 

A few months ago I received a wrong record, but I knew right away that I could most likely trade it to a buddy of mine. He went to Fluff Fest, too, so that's where we swapped records. I got the record release edition of Pessimistic Lines' LP Overcome, he got Bane's Holding This Moment on gold. This LP comes on orange vinyl, like the pre-order version, but it has this sweet Sex Pistols rip-off cover that pokes fun at another Stuttgart hardcore band called Empowerment. 50 of these exist. Thanks again, Hagen.

We Shall... Overcome

No, I haven't gone Christian hardcore lately. Far from it actually, if you know the people behind this record, haha. I've had the new Pessimistic Lines record for some time now and the plan was to write about it as soon as I had the other versions, but since that won't be the case for a few more weeks, I thought I might do it now just as well. Pessimistic Lines are a band from Stuttgart, Germany, for those who don't know the band. Check them out if you're into modern hardcore with an old school twist. I really liked their demo and their first 7", so of course I was looking forward to their latest release. And I didn't get disappointed, although I would have preferred if the production had been a little rawer. It sounds too clean for my taste. But that's just me. Good record by good people. Pre-order sleeve with orange vinyl out of 50.

I also picked up a black copy of their first 7" No Future to complete the set. 

Pessimistic Lines - No Future - Cobra / Drastic Actions - record release edition on yellow /33

Pessimistic Lines - No Future - Cobra / Drastic Actions - pre-order on yellow

Pessimistic Lines - No Future - Cobra / Drastic Actions - first press on black 

Catching Up 05/2014

Got a couple of current records and another repress. This Routine Is Hell already released their Howl LP last year, but I only got around to picking up the album recently. This is a 2nd press copy on blue vinyl out of 100.  I saw This Routine Is Hell when they opened for Bane in March. Didn't hear the complete set since I was chatting with a couple of people I hadn't seen in a long time, but what I heard with half an ear didn't sound bad at all, so I thought I'd check them out. And I didn't get disappointed. Howl is a really good album. Sounds very ceremony-esque, which is something good in my book. 

As mentioned before I don't like ordering only one record when I order records, so I picked up another record from the same label I ordered the This Routines Is Hell LP from. I chose A Journey In 11 Dives by Storm And Stress. Why, I couldn't tell you. I guess I liked the packaging from what I could see in the web shop. Sadly, the packaging is the best part about this record. The booklet that comes with it is awesome. 24 pages filled with the lyrics and accompanying pictures, which reflect the lyrics. I'm really digging the pictures. The music can be best described as modern hardcore and is good enough, but the singer's voice ruins this for me. Bummer.

Lastly I picked up a golden oldie. Well, at least a repress of it. Cause For Alarm were a band in the early 1980s from NYC and that's just the way they sound. Can't go wrong with that. I have no idea about the pressing info for this one. Recent repress on Victory is the best I can manage. I vaguely recall reading about or seeing a picture of another version on blue vinyl for RSD 2014.