Catching Up 08/2014

I picked up a couple current records and represses a couple of  weeks back but only get to post about them today.

First off I got a repress of No Warning's 2nd album Suffer Survive. I really liked their first record, which I only picked recently, so I thought I'd give their second LP a shot too. There are some really good songs on it, but overall I prefer the first LP. Six Feet Under repressed this record on four versions. This is the least rare one on black vinyl out of 800. 

I was quite astonished when I found out that Shook Ones had released a new LP since I though they'd broken up some time ago. Turns out I'd been living under a rock and The Unquotable A.M.H. already came out in 2009. Now I'm not sure if this variant was released back then or if this is a repress. The mailorder lists it as a 2014 release, discogs.com tells me that there is a grey version that came out in 2009, the label website tells me this variant doesn't exist. First world record collector's problems... Anyway, good jams by a good band. Now I only need the summer to come back.

UK hardcore seems to be thriving right now, with Violent Reaction and The Flex spearheading this revivial. Like Violent Reaction The Flex play hardcore in the vein of early Boston Hardcore mixing in a little NYHC. Et voilà, you have the formula for good records. Not new, but who needs new when it's just good music? Split release by Milk Run and Video Disease. There's also a variant on red vinyl out there, but personally I think black works better here, because it'd be too much red otherwise.

UK hardcore takeover #2. Violent Reaction released their 2nd EP. Two 7"s, one LP and a US tour within two years is not bad for a newcomer band from Europe. It might just be that they hit the nerve of time or are just that good. You decide. The music is a little more punk than hardcore, but just a tad. Dead End was recorded with Violent Reaction being a full band unlike the two previous releases. This is the Painkiller release on black vinyl out or 800. Quality control released this in the UK.

Another reissue of an early American hardcore classic: Verbal Abuse's debut Just An American Band. Raw, savage, primal hardcore. Nothing else to say here really. You need this. Beer City rereleased this on clear red vinyl. Maybe there are other variants out there, but I haven't found any pressing information on this one. 

The Cobra Bites... Again

Some more pick ups from Cobra Records. Finally, I got the last variants of Pessimistic Line's LP Overcome in. Kind of funny that I had all the rare versions before the more common ones. 

Crew Shot

Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange /100
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - clear/blue splatter /300
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange with pre-order sleeve /50
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange with record release sleeve -/50

I got turned onto Death Is Not Glamorous kind of late. Too late to catch them live, but they're pretty good on vinyl too, so at least I have that. Cobra Records released three versions of Spring Forward. This is the least rare version on black vinyl out of 500. Great music in the vein of Lifetime and the like. Great music for the summer, too. All I need now is for the summer to come back. 

The Cobra Bites

One of my favourite German record labels is Cobra Records. The label has been putting out quality releases for years, mainly focusing on German and European bands. Plus the Cobra tries to keep down the prices for the records, which can't be taken for granted in 2014 anymore.

I've been waiting for new material by Barren ever since I first listened to their demo tape, which came out in 2012. Barren put you in a time machine and bring you back to the depths of 90s hardcore. Vegan Edge Mosh at its fucking best. Seriously, this is plain awesome. As can be expected from a band playing this style of hardcore, the texts are highly political but far from cliché. It's rather they talk about old issues, but give it a new modern spin offering something new. Don't judge this record by its cover. It looks modern, but it'll take you back to your youth (if your old enough). Hopefully you kept some of those baggy pants and XL shirts...
As I understand it, the band asked for a black vinyl only release, which is fine by me, seeing that it works really well with the cover and layout overall. There's supposedly another version of this, put out by a Russian label called Hidden Rainbows, but I have no idea if there are any differences between the two labels' versions. Anyway, this will definitely end up ranking highly on my 2014 list. The only hair in the soup for me is that there are only eight songs on this LP, three of which were already released on the demo, albeit in slightly different versions. Would have liked it if there had been a couple of more songs. Still, this record is really, really good. Can't wait to see them live again, because they're killing it on a stage, too.

Daniel of Cobra Records went through great pains to put out a compilation. Now, I love compilations, because they're a great way of checking out new bands. I only knew like three bands that were advertised once the line-up was finalized, which I like to see as an opportunity rather than thinking I'm out of the loop here. Obviously there are only SXE bands featured on this compilation. Only European ones to be precise. I really dig this idea. I have listened to it a few times by now and there is not a single bad song on it. A lot of different styles, but that's what makes it so interesting. I really like the overall concept of this as well as the artwork. The booklet is done very nicely too.
This comes on white vinyl with black/greyish marble and is out of 100. There are two other versions out there, one on black vinyl with white marble out of 100 and one on white vinyl out of 300. Your chance to check out a lot of (new) bands and support a label definitely worth supporting.

P.S. I didn't take a picture of the back cover on purpose cause I didn't want to spoil the surprise for you if you find out who the sexy legs on the front cover belong to.

Judgement Day

I was finally able to get my hands on one of those dark yellow copies of Burn's Shall Be Judged 7" that came out for RSD 2011. There were 1090 made with mainly two main variants, dark yellow and light yellow, as you can see in the pictures, but who knows how many slightly different shades there really are. I'm definitely satisfied with the two yellow copies I have. No need for transition colours or slightly different shades of yellow for me. I still 'need' a first press and third on black, but I won't loose any sleep over this one. Probably.

Here's what I have so far (starting top left).

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 2nd press on black /????

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 1st press pink /1000

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 4th press on black /300

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 4th press on light yellow /1090 total

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 5th press on blue /487

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 4th press on dark yellow /1090 total

Same old story. I didn't want to pick up just one record from the guy selling the Burn 7", so I also bought the Brotherhood LP Words Run… As Thick As Blood. I wanted to get a copy of this for a long time, so it was just as well. This 2nd press version comes on nice pink vinyl with some black smudges/streaks. There are 375 copies of this particular variant.

Ten Years After

Re-issues have the sad side-effect that you realize how much time has passed since the original release. I can't believe it's been ten years that Have Heart released the What Counts EP, and already five years that they broke up for that matter. Triple B Records honoured the ten year anniversary of this 7" with a rerelease on a one-sided 12". Seems a little bit like a waste of material to put six songs on a 12", but whatever. What I like most about this release is the little text that Pat Flynn wrote about the 'mistakes' they made with the original release and their rather naive outlook back then. I always liked the honesty and integrity aspect about Have Heart a lot. I wouldn't mind a reunion tour in this case though, haha.

There is a total of 4,000 (!) copies of this, which says a lot about the influence Have Heart still have today. There are 500 on yellow-white marble, which you can see here, 1,500 on white and 2,000 on clear orange. Triple B and Have Heart have put in a lot of effort to make this package look awesome and they truly did a great job. I also like what Sam Triple B wrote as a comment on (ebay) flippers on the Triple B webshop. Fuck those people.

Courtesy to Triple B's policy for all foreign orders to order at least two records, I also picked up Barge's No Gain 7". Quite different from what Have Heart do, but good different. If you like Infest and early Boston Hardcore, you should give this 7" a listen or two. 

Don't Wait Up aka The Neverending Story

Just coming back from some travelling/roadtripping to see my favourite band. If you ever have the chance to go to a show in Budapest, do it. I've never seen a crazier audience. That show was wild! Even if there are no shows, you should go there and check out the city. It's beautiful there.

In the meantime I got quite a few records and it will take some time to catch up with the backlog. Hopefully not too long because the second part of travelling this summer is going to come up soon.

A couple of weeks ago I got my pre-order for the final Bane record from Equal Vision/MerchNow, but they'd forgotten to pack the copy on blue vinyl. After writing a few e-mails back and forth I was assured that they were going to send out the record right away. I was a little skeptical because this variant wasn't listed in the webshop any longer aka sold out. In hindsight there was no reason to be worried since this time I got exactly what I'd ordered. Plus the gatefold sleeve wasn't warped either. I also really dig this colour and everything that is going on with it here: different shades of blue and some nice white veins.

In case you were wondering about the title for this post, well, just when you think you're done with all the variants, a new one pops up and you have no clue as how to find it and get it.

Fluff pick ups

I went to Fluff Fest last weekend and picked up a few records, or more precisely variants of records I already have. Bane apparently decided to drive collectors crazy since this is the 9th variant of their final LP, with the 10th variant already out there. I haven't given in yet, but I don't know how long I'll keep buying these things. Probably forever. Can't lie here, haha. I'm really stoked for the band though. Can't wait to see Bane a couple of times on their on-going European tour very soon. From a collector's point of view I'd have loved it if they had done a special cover for this (or any other) tour or maybe a record release show cover. Those are always fun to collect. 

A few months ago I received a wrong record, but I knew right away that I could most likely trade it to a buddy of mine. He went to Fluff Fest, too, so that's where we swapped records. I got the record release edition of Pessimistic Lines' LP Overcome, he got Bane's Holding This Moment on gold. This LP comes on orange vinyl, like the pre-order version, but it has this sweet Sex Pistols rip-off cover that pokes fun at another Stuttgart hardcore band called Empowerment. 50 of these exist. Thanks again, Hagen.

Catching Up with Assault

Keeping up with pressings of Punch records is a rather hard task as I've hinted at before. This time there's been a repress of the 2nd LP Push Pull on Assault Records. It comes on extra heavy 180g vinyl on beautiful white marble. As with the previous pressings on Assault this comes in a gatefold sleeve.

Close-up held up against the light. Looks so awesome. How can people seriously just buy CDs or listen to MP3s?

I also picked up the Demo 7" by Death Injection. If you're into SXE hardcore in the vein of early Boston bands you should definitely pick this up. Fast and angry as hell. This is the version on clear/black splatter vinyl out of 103.

Seeing that the guy running Assault Records also runs XSentientX Distro, I took the opportunity to get my hands on yet another version of Bane's final LP Don't Wait Up. This one comes on white vinyl. Equal Vision pressed 700 of these. The gatefold sleeve comes the way it should, so I guess the one my copy on yellow came in was just a singular fuck-up.

Catching Up with today

Enough with the represses already! Time to check out some current bands. First off we have Everybody Row's first 7" The Sea Inside on Vitriol Records. Everybody Row shares members with the late Comadre and you can hear that very clearly. If Comadre had made another record after their self-titled LP, it would have probably sounded something like that. A lot more pop, but still very powerful. I really dig this release. Hopefully there'll be more material from this band soon.

 

Gas Rag from Chicago play hardcore-punk with the emphasis on punk. Throw in some D-Beat, throw in some rock, throw in some classic mid-western hardcore and you get Gas Rag. This is their first 7" Human Rights released on Way Back When. Definitely the most 'punk' record I've bought in a while. Good one.

I saw SVFFER live last year once or twice if my memory serves correctly and I really liked what I heard. I'd meant to pick up one of their records for quite some time but only got around to do so recently. Sadly this record doesn't do anything for me. I'll probably have to listen to it a few more times but so far I'm a little disappointed. Will try to catch them live again though to see if I was completely off somehow.

A couple of months back I got the Violent Reaction LP, which was really really good. The band also put out a 7" last year and I finally got around to picking one up. Just as good as the LP. Looking forward to hearing more from the band and hopefully seeing the band at some point.

Catching Up with Bridge 9

 Another label. Another reissue. Bridge 9 first released No Warning's Ill Blood back in 2002. More than a decade later the reissued this record, that many hail as a modern classic. I wouldn't go that far, but it is definitely a very good record. This reissue also includes the demo and the first 7" on a separate LP. Beautiful packaging all in all. This is the "blood and shit" edition on red and brown vinyl out of 700.

Catching Up with Revelation

I had the first CIV LP as MP3s for a few years, but I hadn't really listened to it in a long time. I'd almost forgotten how many good songs there are on this record. It is definitely a lot more pop than Gorilla Biscuits but you can still hear the roots. Perfect summer record. Now that Rev rereleased the LP (I missed out on the repress last year), I thought it'd be a good opportunity to finally pick this up. Nice pink vinyl out of 550.

I also got me a repress of Farside's first LP Rochambeau. Been hearing a lot of - for me surprisingly good things in hindsight - about this record. Not my cup of tea. Far too poppish, which isn't something bad per se, but it doesn't work for me on this record. Bummer. 2012 repress on clear green vinyl out of 558.

Catching Up with Dischord

My Dischord collection boarders on embarrassing. Maybe it is even beyond the border of embarrassing, but I caught up with Dischord's catalogue at least a little bit.

Artifical Peace were around for only a short time in 1981/82 and apart from the three songs on the Flex Your Head sampler and one split 7", they had never really officially released anything as far as I know. It was definitely a good thing that Dischord finally decided a few years back to release the material recorded in November 1981. I got a copy on black. don't know if there's any colour vinyl available. Don't really care either. Very good early 80s hardcore. If you liked the songs on  Flex Your Head, you should definitely pick this up. If you don't know the band, pick it up anyway.

The second record I picked up from the Dischord catalogue is Red Hare's debut Nites Of Midnite. The sticker on the shrinkwrap advertised this as a band featuring members of Swiz and Dag Nasty among others and you can definitely hear the influences. This is really, really good. I've been hearing many people say a lot of good things about this record but unfortunately I managed to get this one only a few days ago. This is the second pressing on blue vinyl with matching blue cover art. Sounds good, looks good. I hope there's going to be more material by this band in the nearby future.

Don't Wait Up... Any Longer?

'Don't Wait Up' is an aptly chosen name for the final Bane record and even more so for the pre-order for this record on Equal Vision. Due to the fuck up at the pressing plant this took forever to come out, like two months late, then after finally getting the confirmation the record was actually in the mail, the parcel got held up at the customs office, which also meant paying more money. And to top all of that whoever packed that parcel at MerchNow forgot to put in the copy on blue vinyl that I had ordered. At least the yellow, which is slightly marbled, looks really awesome. So that kind of makes up for the rest I guess. Need to find me a blue copy soon somehow since blue vinyl is officially sold out on the MerchNow website and I haven't heard back from them about their mistake either. Oh well, where'd be the fun in collecting if everything was easy, right?

Could there have gone wrong any more with this pressing? Not likely, you might say. Wrong. Just look at the gatefold sleeve and you know what I'm talking about. Whoever folded that sleeve or operated the machine doing the folding did one hell of a poor job. This is what the sleeve looks like when being put flat on a table. I feel really sorry for the band because their final release got so messed up.

Out On A Ghostlimb

I first heard Ghostlimb on one of those (digital) mix tapes that Comadre used to put out when they were still around. I really liked the song, but I only managed to pick a couple of their records now. These won't be the last ones though. I like Bearing And Distance a little better than the s.t. LP, mainly because it's a little more melodic. Doesn't mean that the s.t. LP is bad, not by any means.

This is the second press of the s.t. Ghostlimb LP. You can tell by the cover, the nicely etched B-Side and the red ink on the cover. There are 300 copies on black vinyl. You can win me over easily with these kinds of covers, too.

I like the cover and overall packaging of this LP even better than the other one. I should probably get some historical maps to put on the walls here at some point. First press of Bearing & Distance, Ghostlimb's 4th LP, on red vinyl out of 800 copies.

Punch

Ever since I've heard Punch for the first time a few years back I've been hooked on the band. Great on vinyl, even greater live. As far as collecting goes, it's pretty hard to keep up with all the represses. I think this may be the 6th (?) press on Discos Huelga, but I'm not altogether sure. There are also pressings on Assault Records based in Germany, so it's all a little confusing. Anyway, I know that this is the latest repress on Discos Huelga on clear vinyl. Still need to fill some gaps here.

I already mentioned before that I don't like ordering only one record from a seller, so I also picked up this 2nd press of Ruined Families' s.t. 7". Comes in a beautifully designed fold out cover. I believe there are 300 copies of this pressing. I really love the fact that Adagio830 alway put in so much effort to create a nice package for their releases.