The Bend In The Collection

The main reason why I hit up Marcus in the first place was that I‘d found a copy of a Dangers LP I didn‘t have yet. There was a seller in the UK that sold the clear/purple version of Danger‘s The Bend In The Break for a reasonable price. What‘s more important, there was a copy for sale to begin with because for some reason that particular variant doesn‘t pop up very often. I bought the black and green copies when the record was released back in 2016 and a couple of years ago I also managed to acquire a test press, but for some reason that clear-purple split eluded me for the longest time. Anyway, I finally got one and for a brief moment I thought that this collection was complete, but then I learned that there is a record release variant out of 30. It never ends. 

Family picture time. 

Test Press #6/20
Clear/Purple Halves /101
Green /415
Black /1518

Top Of The Pick Ups 2016

2016 has been another good year as far as record collecting goes. And even though I cut down massively on buying records for a good three months, I managed to buy a decent amount of records and pick up some really cool collectibles throughout 2016. These records comprise the Top 10 Pick Ups 2016. They're pretty much only records by my all-time favorite band and range from "Whoa, this is an incredible record. I didn't think I'd ever own over a copy of this." over "Huh, I didn't even know this variant existed, but I'm sure glad I stumbled upon it." and "I really like that cover." to "This record means a lot to me because it was a gift by a very generous person.". Especially the last category still makes hardcore and record collecting so much fun.

Thanks to everyone who pointed me towards a record, sold records to and  traded records with me, or even gave me a record as a present. Thanks to everyone who has been following my blog this year and has engaged me in conversation of some sort. It's been a lot of fun.

XXX

Ralf

Top Of The Pops 2016

2016 has been another really good year for new music. People always tell me that there are fewer and fewer new bands and records that get them excited, but in my opinion that's just a lame excuse for being lazy and just another way of saying "everything was better way back when". I get the sentiment of having the feeling one has heard that breakdown or that riff before, but maybe those aren't exactly the same and people simply have to keep an open mind. There are some old bands that had great releases in 2016 and there are some new bands that got me really excited with their records or demos. I can't wait for 2017 to come and bring me more good new music.

Record Of The Year 2016

Dangers - The Bend In The Break

7" Of The Year

Spirit Crusher - The Absolute

Demo Of The Year

Tie between Free and Lowest Priority

Discovery Of The Year

Rvivr and Erica Freas

Best Split 7"(s), Band With The Most Output and Most Loveable Band

Spirits

Honorable Mention (because it was played to me only once and I don't own the record)

Fury - Paramount

The Bend In The Break

I saved the best for last. I was waiting for this record to happen for a really long time and as with every Dangers release, this LP had to grow on me. There were always songs on every record that immediately got me me, but the LPs as a whole always took a while to fully convince me. Great songs and the overall packaging is done really well. Thick booklet with the lyrics and some great pics by Al, the singer. Love the artwork, too. This is my pick for Record of the Year. Best for last. It proves right again.

Kiss With Spit

It's been a long time since Dangers released an LP. So when I heard that 2016 was the year the new full length was going to drop I was more than stoked. The band also released a new 7", supposedly as some kind of teaser. Well, it wasn't much of a teaser since the order for the 7" went up together with the one for the LP. Maybe something had gone wrong at the pressing plant, as is the case so often. I don't really care since I'm just happy to have new songs by one of my favourite bands. Kiss With Spit is also on the new LP, the other two songs are exclusive to this 7". Love the artwork, too.

Dangers

One of the joys of collecting hardcore records is that you get to know some really great people. I always try to keep an eye out for records people I know want or might want. And some people look out for my record collecting needs. A few weeks ago Marcus of The Endless Quest blog hit me up on Facebook and asked if I'd seen this test press for a Dangers record on eBay. I hadn't, so when I checked the listing I was more than surprised to find out that this was sitting at a lowly $30 Buy It Now.  I would have paid a whole lot more, but finding this at that price was a nice surprise indeed. Thanks, Marcus. Good looking out.

Sink With Dangers

I always thought I had a pretty good knowledge of what variants of Dangers records are out there, but I had no idea that there was a special cover made for Sink With Cali festival. The price was okay, so I didn't hesitate when I saw this one on Discogs. It's not a real sleeve, but I like the overall artwork a lot.

Back cover.

The Records, The People

Once a year I get to take a trip to London thanks to my job. I love this city and that trip is something I always look forward to. Last year the trip was even better than the years before because it coincided with the first ever European Burn show. Not only did I get to see an awesome band, I also got to meet some fellow collectors I'd only known from the Internet before. One of them was Marcus, which you probably know from his blog The Endless Quest. My wife and I got to meet him in person again a few weeks later when we travelled to London for a Bane show. We stayed in touch afterwards and when we got to talking about my next trip to London, he invited me to his home. An invitation I gladly said yes to. I was treated to a nice dinner, we talked about records, and I got to dig through his collection. If you think it's impressive based on his blog and his list on howsyouredge?, I can assure you it's way more impressive in real life. I got to see and hold some real gems. The highlight for me of course was his incredible Bane collection, but there were lots of other awesome records I'll never see again in person. I'm not even thinking about possibly owning some of them.

Prior to the trip we'd worked out a small trade and I got some nice extra goodies from him as well. I have a pretty good Dangers collection if I dare say so myself, and I always thought I was pretty knowledgeable on their discography, but when I was going through Marcus' records, sure enough I found a variant I didn't know existed. Dangers - s.t. on Old Guard - black vinyl with regular sleeve. Always cool to find variants you didn't know existed. Keeps collecting fun.

Thanks again to you and your girlfriend for having me, Marcus. Those were some fun few hours that went by much too quickly.

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

5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World

If there was one release in the last couple of months I was really looking forward to, up to the point of sheer excitement, it was the new Dangers 7". The drawback of high expectations is that you imagine the new songs to be so awesome that it's almost impossible for the record to meet said expectations. This is especially true for new material by your favourite bands. As it happens Dangers is one of my personal favourites. Music, lyrics, attitude and live performance, I could go on raving about all of that for hours. I won't though. Let's just say that Dangers - to me - is what a hardcore band should be like. To say I love the band would still be an understatement and the day they're gonna call it quits will be a really sad one for me.
But let's focus on the present. As I already hinted at, I had really high expectations for this 7". It took me some time to get into the record, but after listening to it constantly for the last few weeks it finally made click. The A-Side still sounds a little off to me, mainly because the vocals sound so differently from the earlier releases, but the B-Side is where it's really at. The last song is just so unbelievably good. One of my favourite (Dangers) songs ever.
On a different note, Vitriol Records is one of those labels that always puts great effort into all their releases. I'm really digging the whole package here. Cover, the printed inner jacket, lyric sheet and the colours chosen for the records all work together really well. Great release of a great band by a great label.

I can't really say anything about the individual numbers here, but there are three different colours for this release, which account to a grand total of 2,000. I like the brownish colour the best by a mile. It looks really sick.

It gets better though. If you hold it against the light, the record turns golden with black swirls, which makes it look even better. Try doing that with your CDs or MP3s, ha! One of the best looking records I own.