Growing Bluer

For the last few months this feels like a joint blog operation. A buddy of mine is thinning out his collection, I get dibs on the records because he sends me the pictures as one of the first people and as a result a large percentage of the records you can see here used to be his. I call it the 'circle of record collecting'. So, among other things, I decided to upgrade my black copy of the Growing Stronger compilation. Hold on, you may say, is a coloured 2nd press copy really an upgrade of a black 1st press copy? I say, yes. Why? Because the blue vinyl looks just so pretty cool with the white and blue sleeve. Besides the coolness factor, there are also fewer of them. Others may disagree. I welcome your input.

Full Speed Ahead

Another record from the batch I picked up in Boston. Another record I merely picked up simply because of the cover art. Plus, I think I dug all the releases I already have from Teamwork. No disappointment on my end. There's also a variant on white vinyl, but I don't feel the need to get that as well.

Roll With The Punches

After passing up on this record for many, many times I pulled the trigger and was finally able to cross this off of my want list. Fun fact, my want list somehow never seems to get shorter, no matter how many records I buy. I wonder why that is... Anyway, Carry On's Roll With The Punches is a great 7". A couple of songs ended up on the LP they released a year later, which is even better than this 7", so you definitely need both of these records. One of my favourite bands from that time. 200 copies on stunningly looking baby blue marbled vinyl.

In addition to the Carry On 7" I bought, the seller threw in this Times Together 7" that came out on Just Another Day records a few years ago. If you read this, thanks again, man. I had never heard of the band, but I really like it. Sounds like a mix between Uniform Choice and H20. Since you can't go with neither of these two bands, you know you're getting something good here.

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.