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.

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.

For The Sake Of Dedication

This is a rad compilation from the late 90s. Pretty much all of the bands contributed good songs here and the youth crew revival that was going on at that time is documented pretty well I guess. I can't stand Floorpunch though, and them having a song on this compilation is kind of the fly in the ointment. Musically I quite understand why Floorpunch was and is appealing to many hardcore kids. Their lyrics, however, suck for the most part. I've never been able to get behind overly zealous edge bands, so reading lines like "I pray to God you OD on that shit" makes me really cringe. The only thing you're doing by writing lyrics like this is demonstrate that a clear mind is not necessarily the better state of mind.

EDIT: I just remembered that the seller tossed in this 7" for free. Building were a straight edge band from Belgium from the late 90s and they sound exactly like what you would expect from an edge band from that time.