Champion Goes To Posi Fest

The seller I bought Start Today on purple from had some other goodies up for sale, so I treated myself to another sweet record from my want list. I really like Champion's Come Out Swinging 7"and I always thought the Posi Numbers sleeve looked so rad. I love the whole old school tattoo vibe with the eagle and the fonts used on this cover. The vinyl used for this variant is the same green vinyl used for the 1st press, but the labels are different. They got stamped with the band's name and 'Posi Fest 2003', that is, most of them were stamped. Some didn't get the stamp apparently, leaving the labels completely blank. My copy is #29/116.

Start Today

Alright, no need to talk about the greatness and importance of this record. If you didn't know about Gorilla Biscuits and Start Today, you would have never stumbled across my shitty little blog. But just in case you have no idea who Gorilla Biscuits are, stop doing whatever it is you're doing and listen to everything they ever recorded right now. Gorilla Biscuits have been one of my favourite bands since the first time I heard that fanfare at the beginning of New Direction. As far as my collection goes, it's embarrassing how weak the GB section is. Prior to this I didn't have a single record on colour vinyl, except for the glow in the dark variant released recently. I probably have 10% of all variants, if that. Gorilla Biscuits may be the band with the worst I-really-love-this-band/number-of-records-I-own-ratios in my collection. Mainly because their records go for quite some money these days. But sometimes you have to pull the trigger and spend a little more. I got a nice little unexpected backpay from my health insurance carrier last month, and the timing couldn't have been better, because I came across a purple copy of Start Today for sale literally the next day. This is a major want crossed off the list for me. It looks even better in reality than on all the pictures I droolingly admired over the years. I never knew it wasn't actually solid purple with white streaks. Couldn't be happier.

Local Heroes

I'm pretty sure everybody has this local hero band that they have fond memories of. Even Worse (not the 80's band from New York) were that for me. One of the best shows I ever went to was the record release show for their first split LP. Tiny venue in their hometown, a killer line up and a ton of confetti. Stage dives and high fives. Good times. I still play their early records on a regular basis. They changed their style over the years, which is kind of natural I guess. I totally get it, from a band's perspective, but from a listener's perspective, I was not a big fan of that change. The same goes for Goldust, another really good band from that period. The two bands bonded very closely from what I remember, so a split release was just sort of a given, despite them being quite different in their styles/progression. I didn't pick up this particular release back then, because, as I said, I didn't like the way both bands progressed at the time. On the other hand, it always felt like there was something missing because I didn't have all of Even Worse's release. So I finally decided to rectify that. I'm still not a big fan of both band's later output, but that isn't that important in this case.

Pessimistic Lines

There are certain records in every collector's collection that they would never ever let go off. Not even if their kids needed extremely expensive heart surgery and selling the beloved collection would be the only way to come up with the money. From the perspective of the outside observer, this behaviour may be perceived as irrational or more plain: stupid. But any collector will come up with a myriad of stories so they won't have to let go off a certain record.
Okay, this scenario is probably a load of horseshit, but there's some truth to it. There are some records that any collector would have a really hard time parting with. This one is a very good example for that. Ever since I first heard Pessimistic Lines, I really liked the band. What's more, their singer Hagen is a great collector buddy of mine and one of the nicest people out there in general. We don't see each other that often, but when we see each other, it's always a lot of fun aka nerd talk, haha. We last saw each other at Fluff Fest past July. He'd written me before that he would have a little surprise for me. I had the vague thought it might have something to do with records, but I had no idea it would be an actual record. This is a test pressing for Pessimistic Line's LP Overcome. Only 12 copies exist. I am now the proud owner of #12. Sure, there are more prolific bands out there. Probably better bands, too. But this is one record that I'll cherish until I'm too senile to remember why I have so many frisbee discs in my living room.

Empty Days, Sleepless Nights

Defeater were always one of those bands I had on my radar, but I never really listened to them. I finally gave in and ordered a copy of their 2nd album Empty Days, Sleepless Nights. They're not going to become my new favourite band, but I can thoroughly appreciate their take on the very broad term of modern hardcore. I also like the the singer songwriter material on Side C. I ordered this one at one of my regular mailorders and was surprised that I received a 3rd press copy. The count on the B9 discography is up to 9 pressing (with a 1000 copies each) so far, so still finding a 3rd press copy is probably not the norm. 3rd press 2xLP on grey 140g vinyl, including the 64 pages booklet.

Break Away

College font, college jacket with a huge varsity X, X'd up hardcore kids on the label, a 7" called 'The Few That Remain' - Break Away are clearly heavy into post-hardcore with slight emo influences. This is the regular version of their 2nd 7", which came out back in 2012. I saw their LP pop up in my Instagram feed quite often lately, so I thought I'd check them out. I don't know about the LP, but this 7" doesn't do a whole lot for me. Musically it's ok, but I can't get into the singer's voice.

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.

The Flex Don't Bother With The Outside World

There's no end to the latest British Invasion as The Flex are keeping themselves pretty busy. One LP and two handful of tapes and 7"s in three years. Pretty busy indeed. Don't Bother With The Outside World is the latest part of their ever growing discography. I really like that they have used the same colour pattern for all their releases so far.

Wild Stabs In The Dark

I think I ordered this LP something like 3 or 4 times before I finally got a copy, but it was always sold out. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure this pink wax is already a repress. Most likely it is, considering that I fairly often got the the reply 'sold out' to orders I put in. Wild Stabs In The Dark is just as good as previous releases by The Flex.

Marching On

Music for the not so quiet moments in life. Violent Reaction have been keeping busy and released their 2nd LP earlier this year. This copy on clear green vinyl is part of the 2nd pressing. Not bad, considering this was released not too long ago. Nothing's changed on this release as far as the music is concerned, which is definitely a good thing. The folks at Rev seem to like the music as well, so they decided to release Marching On on their label. Honest question, is this the first release on Rev by a European / non-American band?

Happiness Is

Latest LP by Taking Back Sunday. This is the first record I post about I haven't really listened to before blogging about it, I have to admit, but I want to work through all the records that have arrived lately before I go on holiday.

Where You Want To Be

More music for the quiet moments in life: Taking Back Sunday's second LP. Not quite as good as their debut, but still a good record all in all. 2013 repress on black vinyl.

Straight And Loud

As I wrote yesterday, Crucial Youth did a great job poking fun at straight edge when they were around. This is their debut on vinyl. There's also a variant on blue vinyl, though I have no idea which one's more limited. Originally this 7" also came with a sticker, which sadly this copy came without. Then again, it'd have been a long shot since this record was released in 1987.

Grudge

Some people take straight edge way too seriously, so a reality check is in order from time to time. Enter bands with some tongue-in-cheek-humour. Crucial Youth and Good Clean Fun did a great job in that respect. Grudge tried, but somewhat failed. The lyrics are just not that humorous. Also, why is the artwork of this record not a rip-off of the New York Crew or Project X 7"s? Grudge / Project-Ex on Jism Records? Come on, there was way more potential here.

The Hotelier

I hadn't known the hotelier at all prior to reading the description of their latest LP Home, Like Noplace Is There on the website of a distro. The description read like this would be something I might like, so I ordered it and I definitely hit a home run. Great emo-core / indy record. This is the fourth pressing out of 2000 copies on white vinyl.