Boxed In

It’s still a big deal when Rev signs a current band. I feel like in the last couple of years Rev has done a much better job signing current bands. Speedway, Spaced and now Planet On A Chain are all bands that I thoroughly enjoy. Before those bands it was slim pickings for me for quite a while. 

Anyway, Planet On A Chain play 80s style hardcore the way I love it. It's fast, it's ferocious, it's fucking great! I mean, just look at the cover. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the music you can expect. I definitely need to get their other releases. 

I'm only two years behind on this band / record, which is not too bad. That's also the reason why I only managed to get a second press, but I actually like the updated cover, especially in combination with the red vinyl. Well done, Rev!

2nd Press on Opaque Red On Revelation Records /???

Dear Diary

As mentioned in previous posts I was on a 90s emo trip some time ago and listened to a bunch of bands or records I’d never listened to before or rediscovered bands I hadn’t listened to in a long time. One of those records was Diary, the first LP by Sunny Day Real Estate. For some reason I gravitated to bands like The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World or The Promise Ring much more than to SDRE. It’d been a long minute since I had last listened to Diary, but when I did, I couldn’t come up with a good reason why I hadn’t listened to that record in so long. Stupidity is the only answer I can muster. 

This is an absolute masterpiece, plus it looks so dope. The artwork on the front and back cover are awesome and I can’t imagine having to look at this only on CD format. The vinyl color is chosen well too.  The picture doesn’t really do it justice and I might have to take another one to show off the cool shade of green, which comes with some black streaks or a hint of marble if you will. 

1998 Repress on Green Vinyl on Sub Pop /???

Edit: Close up of the record to show the color properly. 

Deep Sage

I was really into the first two Gouge Away LPs, so when I recently saw that they had a new record out, I didn't hesitate to add it to an order I was going to put in anyway. There's nothing groundbreaking on Deep Sage, but I'm not disappointed either, because more of the same in this case is nothing bad. I really like the OBI strip they added to the cover. 

First Press on Clear on Deathwish /???

Australian Hardcore II

My man in Australia, Dan, also included some 7"s in his last shipment. I once mentioned that I really liked the first The Saints LP (I'm Stranded is an all-time great 77 punk song in my book), so he was nice enough to pick up a 7" for me. Unfortunately this is a later era 7", released in 1988, and somewhere between their first LP and this record the band took several wrong turns. 

1st Press on Black on Mushroom Records (1988)

 

The other 7" included in the parcel is much better. I'd never heard of Hacker before, but I like surprises. From a 2024 perspective Psy-Wi-Fi is more punk than hardcore, from an old person perspective it is vey good 80s style hardcore. I imagine seeing them live would be a lot of fun. 

1st Press on Black on Beach Impediment /???

Australian Hardcore Part I

 

Received another parcel, curtesy of my good friend and fellow Bane collector Dan. If you want some comprehensive info on Bane records, check out his blog. A shoutout that is long overdue. 

A few weeks ago I posted about the last batch of records I got from him and how much liked the Division 12”. Well, the band released another 12”, which is equally as good as the first one. Good looking out as always, Dan!

1st Press on Black on Clarity Records /150

The other LP I received is by a band called Vices. I’d never heard of the band before but Dan had told me that I’d like it. And he was right on. Even though We’ll Make It Through This was release in 2015, this could have been released on Rivarly anywhere between 2005 and 2007. Verse is the first reference that came to my mind. I love getting to know bands I’d have probably never heard of if it wasn’t for good friends. 

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

Un/Solved

If you read my blog on a regular basis, you might have noticed that I really fell in love with the band Karate. And I mean really fell in love. Well, here’s another piece of their catalogue. This is so not what I usually listen to, but somehow it clicked. I sort of dig the black vinyl, but I wouldn’t have minded getting the clear/blue halo version. 

2023 Repress on Black on Numero Group /???

Guilt Show

Something To Write Home About is one of my all-time favorite records. It‘s perfect in every which way. That record and Red Letter Day are peak 90s emo for me. Maybe this is the reason why I have always been hesitant when it came to later Get Up Kids records. 

As mentioned recently, I listened to a lot of 90s emo a couple of months ago and I decided to give some of the later era material from some of my favorite bands a try anyway. After listening to Guilt Show a bunch of times, I can assuredly say that his is a good record. It‘s definitely not Something To Write Home About, but I really enjoy the songs on this LP. Even the splatter vinyl doesn‘t look horrible. 

Edit: Forgot to mention the record is number on the back. My copy is #288/500. Nice touch for a band of that size. 

5th Press on Clear w/ Grey Splatter on Vagrant #288/500

Rationale

I remember not liking Glitterer when I heard the band the first time. It must have been around the time when Looking Through The Shades came out. For whatever reason I decided to give the 2nd album, Life Is Not A Lesson, a chance anyway. Maybe it was a right time, right place kind of thing, maybe my taste had evolved, but that record clicked right away. So I was very excited when I saw that the band had a new record out. Rationale I enjoyed from the first moment I put it on my record player. It's not an album of the year kind of record to me, but it's really good. 

1st Press on White on Anti- Records

Undun

I don’t listen to a ton of hip hop and I have no idea about what’s going on currently in the hip hop scene. I stick mostly to what are considered the classics. And The Roots is a modern classic I guess. Undun is an enjoyable record, but it’s not my favourite material of theirs. 

Hammered Hulls

When Marcus posted about an LP by Hammered Hulls, I made a mental note to check out the band. It took me only about a year to actually listen to the band and order a record, which by my standards when it comes to checking out stuff I made a mental note for translates to ‘got it done right away’. 

Marcus was right, this album is excellent. The blue copy he got looks really good, but white is an equally good choice I feel. I’m guessing this is the third press. 

3rd Press (?) on White on Dischord Records. 

The Bed Is In The Ocean

One of my favorite discoveries of an old band in 2023 was the band Karate. The first record I got to know was their self titled debut, which I fell in love with head over heels. Luckily, all of their records have been repressed somewhat recently, although I had to wait what felt like forever until one of the distros I order from frequently had them back in stock. I’m usually not a big fan of striped vinyl, but it somehow works with this sleeve. The Bed Is In The Ocean is a Karate’s third LP and it’s also really good. It’s a little more jazz-influenced I guess, but that also makes it very interesting. 

2022 Repress on Lego Tri-Colour on Numero Group /???

As most records, this record also came in shrink-wrap. Personally. I hate shrink wrap. I get why labels do it, but I could do without it. It’s a waste of plastic and sometimes it deforms the records. In this case, the printed shrink-wrap this record came in left a permanent ink mark on the back of the sleeve. At least I’ll never forget this sleeve was printed in Canada. 

Spaced Jams

A few weeks ago I saw that Spaced had a new record up for pre-order. This reminded me of how much I liked their first LP. So I went to my record shelf to grab the record and listen to it, but I searched in vain. I checked my spreadsheet and lo and behold, I'd never bought the record. I could have sworn I got it shortly after it was released, but apparently my memory had played a trick on me. 

Luckily, Genet Records, the label that put out Spaced Jams in Europe, still had copies in their webstore, so I quickly added a copy to my shopping basket and bought it right away. As I said before, I really like this album. Gives me strong Turnstile vibes. The vinyl color looks great and this variant is even numbered on the A-side label, so what else could a collector ask for? 

1st Press on Turquoise on Genet Records #73/110

I Against II

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a gold vinyl copy of I Against I that I’d picked up recently and now I managed to find a copy on blue vinyl from a seller in Germany for a fair price. 

The record is not in mint condition because one owner, I’m guessing the original owner, put his address on the A-side label and also wrote his name on the dust sleeve. What’s more interesting though is that he also wrote down a date: February 19, 1991. I’m guessing again that this is the date he got the record. I checked on Discogs and the colored versions are listed as represses. However, there’s no release date listed on Discogs for any of the represses on colored vinyl. The sleeve of the records says 1986, but I’m not sure if the colored records were pressed back then as well. If the original owner actually got this record early in 1991, the coloured represses, or at least the blue one, was probably released sometime in 1990. Obviously this is just guess work. The Flex Discography doesn’t provide any information on this either unfortunately. Does anyone have more info on this? 

13 Chambers

I don't remember exactly who I saw posting about this record on Instagram, but when I saw a picture of this, I knew I needed to get a copy. And yes, I know (now) that this has been around for 10+ years, but apparently I do live under a rock so this was news to me. I've never really listened to mash ups and I'm sure it's pretty easy that those can turn horrible, but in this case, I just love the result. This is by far my most listened to record in 2024 so far and I don't see that changing any time soon. 

 The "worst" part about this record is the vinyl color and even that isn't that bad if you take a look at the whole package. The music on 13 Chambers is awesome. The tracks are put together so well. But it's not just that. The names of both "band" and album are perfect, as is the cover art, right down to the "promotional copy" fake stamp and the labels, which are are fake stamped as well I guess, but it looks dope. 

2024 Repress on Black and Gold Swirl /1000

Somewhere, Sometime

Meant To Let You Down by Kill Holiday is one of my all-time favorite songs. However, the first time I listened to their sole LP Somewhere Between The Wrong Is Right, I did not like it. I guess, I wasn’t ready for it. Plus, the sound is so different from Meant To Let It Down. Over the last few years I though, I listend to more of the music that inspired this record, and when I decided to check it out again, it clicked. Now, none of the songs on this record comes close to Meant To Let You Down, but I can totally appreciate this record for what it is on its own. 

RSD 2016 Press on Purple Vinyl /717