6ft 12“

Hard to believe that the Mil-Spec demo came out 10 years ago. They still feel like a new band to me, even though they have a lot of releases under their belt - and I like all of them. So when I saw that they had a new record out, I wanted a copy right away. I didn’t want to order in the US directly, so I had to be satisfied with whatever version showed up in Europe, so black it was. And it works pretty well with the cover, which itself is not that great, but also strangely fascinating. 

The new record has four new songs that make me very happy. I wish there were more songs, then again, those four songs leave me wanting for more, so marketing-wise, the band did a great job.

1st Press on Black on Young Blood /???

More Clarity

What makes a very good record store an outstanding record store? A great second hand section, and that’s exactly what Clarity has! Experienced crate diggers will tell you that heading straight is the only right move when going to a record store with a used punk / hardcore record section. 

First up is Delinquent Songs by local Adelaide band The Personalities. Music = ? Footy, the owner of Clarity Records, also happened to sing for this band. The music is very much punk. Going by the name of the band, the release, and the song titles, you might have already guesses that. It's not my go to kind of music these days, but I really enjoy this record. As an avid record collector himself, he put in extra effort to make the record unique. As you can see there’s a flap on the right hand side / at the bottom of the sleeve if you open it. This makes it slightly inconvenient to store, because the flap makes the sleeve a tad bigger than regular sleeves. But it is a cool feature and I appreciate the creativity. Marcus will frown at the next statement, but black vinyl is really the best choice of color for this release. It looks so classy with the artwork. 

1st Press (?) on Black (self-released)

In the 2000s, Youngblood Records was a safe bet for releases I liked. The Lights Out LP has always been a record that I really enjoyed, but their only 7” Get Out had always eluded me. Listening to this record, not picking up a copy sooner was clearly a poor decision on my part. Especially considering that his record is easy to find and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. This kind of music will always grab me. 

1st Press on Black on Youngblood Records /???

Latest God is an Australian band, made up of scene veterans I’ve been told. I’m getting very strong Dag Nasty vibes on their s.t. debut on vinyl. Cool record. 

1st Press on Maroon on Life.Lair.Regret /???

Shook Ones is one of those bands I rarely listen to, but whenever I do, I tell myself that I need to listen to them more often. Too much music, too little time. Anyway, I didn’t have a copy of Merriweather Post Pavillion yet, so buying a copy sitting right in front of me wasn’t a particularly hard decision. 

This last record, a split between Adventures and Pity Sex, I picked up for two reasons: 1) the Adventures LP is awesome and I listen to this a lot when working at home and 2) they cover Behind This Wall by Turning Point. Which, as it turns out, is a phenomenal cover in my opinion. The other song by Adventures is also really good and I also enjoy the Pity Sex side a lot. Very poppy, but the good kind of poppy. This split may be my favorite of the whole lot. 

2nd Press on White and Orange on Run For Cover /1000

The B-Side looks pretty cool as well. Also, imagine doing a second press of 2000 copies in total for any record nowadays, let alone a split 7”! Crazy how the vinyl landscape has changed in the last 10 years.  

All in all, the trip to Clarity Records was as good as it could be. Makes me wish for a cool record store in my area too, though. 

D.C. Disorder

New band on Youngblood Records, I guess from Washington, D.C. Didn't find out a whole lot about the band, but I like what they're doing on this 7".

Discrepancy

A really good demo that I recently picked up. I might be late to the party because this demo was released back in 2014 and the band hasn't released anything since, but I'd really like to hear more. I really dig the Crucial Youth / Good Clean Fun vibe of the cover too. Discogs says there are only 45 copies of this on black vinyl, which I somehow find hard to believe seeing that this demo has been out for two years and I just picked it up from a distro.

Lights Out

After hitting the local punk/hardcore record store, my buddy and I headed up to a 2nd hand record store, which had a really good used hardcore and punk corner. I'd meant to pick up this LP for quite some time, so finding a coloured version for a good price was a nice surprise. First press on blue marble out of 300 copies.

Disengage

Disengage play fast straight edge hardcore. Who would have guessed when a band is named after a YOT song/records, right? The longest song is 1:20, the shortest one is 0:06. Get the picture? Not bad all in all, but nothing that makes we want to stage dive off my couch. Could be fun live though. This is the less fancy version on black vinyl out of 300. There's also a blue marbled variant out of 200.

Lion Of Judah

Another follow-up pick up. Two months ago I got Lion Of Judah's Soul Power Plus 4 and I really liked that release, so obviously I wanted to get some more of their material. Universal Peace is the band's one and only LP. It originally came out on Youngblood Records in the US. Powered Records released a European press. This is the Youngblood pressing, but I don't know if it's a first or second press. The Youngblood website states that both presses are identical anyway. Quite an unusual sound for the mid-2000s, but a pretty strong release if you ask me.

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.