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 /???

Score - The Sequel

So, a few months ago I made a rather big record score. There were a bunch of records I had to leave behind at the time, because, well, you know, money and so on, so I was more than happy that some of the records I didn’t buy initially were still available a couple of weeks later. Not all of the, but I’m still very happy with the second haul as well. 

I managed to pick up the record release edition of Go It Alone’s Histories LP and I’m equally as happy that I managed to pick up a copy that was made for Sound And Fury Fest. Hard to fathom nowadays that a band, even a well established one, would make 100+ copies of a record just for one festival. 

Sound And Fury Edition #18/110

I picked up this 7” because it was a gap in my New Age collection, but it is anything but a gap filler. Good 90s hardcore that ended up on New Age for a reason. 

1st Press on Opaque Green w/ Blue Labels on New Age Records /150

I also picked up this limited variant of the s.t. Reserve 34 7”. When I first heard this record eight years ago, I immediately fell in love and all those years later, it still holds up. If anything, I like this 7” even more these days. 

Red Vinyl w/ Limited Sleeve on Moo Cow Records #25/101 

Ashes Lie And Wait

Two more songs of 90's hardcore worship by Safe and Sound. Pretty good if you ask me. New Age Records is a pretty good match for this band/release. 200 copies on baby blue marble.

Stabbed

Nowadays you're kind of forced to order at least two records when ordering from the States to get your money's worth. So when my buddy asked me if I wanted to order the new Cutting Through LP with him, I said sure, but I also made him order the latest Drug Control 7". I liked the first one and I also like this one. I went for the purple one, because next to pink I think purple is one of the nicest colours for vinyl. Especially when it's marbled like this one. 600 copies.

A Will To Change

Another pick up from the Battery show in Leipzig. A buddy had ordered a copy for me and he brought it along to the show. The Cutting Through debut on New Age Records was a release I'd been really looking forward, because I was really into the demo. But for some reason, this record hasn't clicked with me yet. I can't even put my finger on why that is, it just hasn't hit me. I hope that'll change. 77 copies on this clear vinyl with the green labels.

Abuse Of Power

Great new band from the US. Abuse Of Power has this cool 90s vibe to me. I missed out on the demo tape, so I was happy when New Age Records stepped up to the plate and pressed it on vinyl. 300 copies on clear orange.

A Light In The Dark

Another long overdue pickup. Outspoken's one and only LP, and what a great one it is. This is 2nd press copy on orange vinyl out of 275 copies. I really like the "We must continue..." stamp, which sadly doesn't show all that well in the picture.

Trial

I've never really been into Trial. I knew they existed and were sort of influential in the 90s, but I never really checked them out. I remember reading the bit on Trial in the Burning Fight book last year, which sort of intrigued me to finally give them a listen, but it wasn't until I caught them live at a Festival last year that I actually listened to them. I liked their live show so I decided to pick up a few of their records when possible. Some time after that a buddy of mine decided to get rid of some of his records, a chance I gladly jumped at. I must say though that I don't like Trial on this record as much as I liked them live. Then again, maybe this is not their strongest output, so I'll probably grab some of their other releases at some point. This 7" on brown marble is from the repress run New Age did in 2011. 500 copies exist.

Up Front

I really liked the two Up Front records I bought in the last couple of months, so I decided to get the rest of Up Front's discography. If I decide to get all the records by a band, I like to do it in chronological order. That way I can see how a band progresses (or not). It doesn't always work out like that, e.g. if I come across a really nice bargain, but I try to stick to that ideal. So I decided the next Up Front record I ought to get should be the 1st 7", which was released in 1990. This is actually the 2nd press, which can be recognized by the grey and white cover. I really like the A-side, but the songs on the B-Side are rather on the weak side, so to speak.

Outspoken

Final release by this vegan straight edge band from California. This is what the (early) '90s will always sound like to me. I really love that style. Pretty good lyrics too. I wasn't around that time, but I guess not too many bands were that outspoken (get it?) about homophobia back then, just to name one example. Has there been any sort of early '90s revival lately? Would love for one to happen. I think I even still have some baggy pants some where in the closet...

Turning Point

Another embarrassing gap in my collection has been closed. Not only did I have no copy of Turning Point's LP Before The Dawn, I didn't have any Turning Point record at all prior to this one. It made me really happy that I managed to get this 2nd press copy (white labels / red hand print) for a very reasonable price. I love the cover art and the lyric sheet. Not quite as good as the 7" cover, but very close. The sleeve and the record are in awesome shape, considering this LP is 25 years old. It even came still in the original shrink wrap. Great copy all in all. Now all I need is a copy of the 7", the split and the discography...

Unbroken - Ritual

It's always kind of sad when people you know through record collecting sell off (parts of) their collection or break up certain collections. On the other hand, it's always a good opportunity to pick up some goodies, especially when you get dibs on looking at the records for sale. That's how I recently got my hands on a copy of Unbroken's first LP, Unbroken, among others. Not quite as good as Life.Love.Regret, but still an awesome album. Unknown quantity was pressed on black vinyl by New Age Records.

Catching Up With The 90s

Happy new year, everybody! Let's see what 2014 has to offer. Still got some catching up to do from 2013, though.

This would have probably been a more apt name for this blog since it seems to be what I mainly do: catch up. So many records by so many bands, and so little money to buy all of them and so little time to listen to all of them. It's hard enough to keep up to date with today's music as there seem to be myriads of (new) bands all around. But since I was a little to late to start buying records - sadly not due to young age, but to stupidity - I have to play catch up with the past decades, at least the 80s and 90s that is, too. Luckily there's this shopping paradise for old vinyl called discogs.com. I picked up all of these nice 7"s from the same seller. Money saved is money earned, right?


First goes Grade's s.t. EP, released in 1996 on Wheatfield Records. Not too interesting from a collector's point of view, but that's not what it is always about. This here 7" comes on plain black vinyl. I'm not even sure if there are any other versions out there.

Next up is the s.t. EP by Mouthpiece. Again, no fancy cover or coloured vinyl, just plain black vinyl.
The internet tells me this is the 1994 repress because of the purple labels. Good one.

I also got this early Youngblood release, Rancor's Never Hold Back (= YBR 003), to be precise. Youngblood had some great releases in the late 90s and early 2000s. Lots of catching up to do though. One down, many to go.

I love compilations because it is a cool way to get to know new bands. Or at least it used to be. I know, the easy way to check out new bands nowadays is to use the internet. I also do that I have to admit. There aren't that many compilations being released anymore to begin with, and using the internet is admittedly easier. Plus it doesn't cost anything. I get that. But there is no better feeling than listening to a new record or a song on a compilation by a band you didn't know before and being floored by it, because it's just that good. You rarely get that feeling of "Fuck, this is just awesome!", but if you do, it beats anything. Sitting there in your room, reading the lyric sheet, looking at the sleeve, checking out every small detail. You don't get that same feeling from listening to music on the internet. At least I don't. Here's to more compilations in the future again.

First press of the Growing Stronger Compilation on Teamwork/In My Blood Records (red lettering on the front cover). 

Speaking of good compilations, the last 7" I picked up is a copy of the Rebuilding Compilation on Temperance Records. There are many different versions known of this 7". 100 respectively 200, depending on the source, were pressed on gold vinyl. This here is on black vinyl with yellow/green labels. There are four more versions on black vinyl, all with different labels. I don't think anyone really knows the precise pressing info for the black editions as far as numbers go. If you do, enlighten me. This compilation is really awesome. On different levels that is. Burn. Gorilla Biscuits. Turning Point. No Escape. Need I say more about the music? Thought so. Rebuilding was released as a benefit compilation back in 1990 to collect money for an animal rights organization and to promote the idea of vegetarianism/veganism. The texts and the info flier are informative and educational without being preachy or condescending. I don't know why, but none of the songs deal with animal rights/eating meat. Seems like they could have picked different bands/songs. Or maybe it was part of the non-preachy aspect? But in the end, it doesn't really matter. Good release for a good cause.