Shelter

Last pick up from the 2nd hand shop in Stuttgart. I've had two later shelter records in my collection for a very long time. I bought them when I just bought records according to descriptions and statements like "member X used to be in band Y" and so on, but I didn't really know anything about the band. Had I known that Shelter was a Krishna band, I probably wouldn't have bought them. Religion and hardcore just don't go together for me. I know that other people see that differently, and I can respect that. I also know that people always look for the greater meaning of everything in life. It's part of human nature, it's why religion and philosophy were created by mankind. If people can get something positive out of religion for their personal lives, more power to them. But to me all religions are nonsense - even if I agree with some of the tenets of the major religions that I'm familiar with - and the negative aspects of organized religion outweigh the positive aspects by far. Krishna is no exception for me. How Krishna became so huge within the hardcore scene still boggles my mind.
When I went through my records a few months ago to thin out the collection a little bit, I decided to give the Shelter records a spin. Turns out, apart from the religious aspect, When 20 Summer Pass and The Purpose, The Passion aren't really good records musically either, so I decided to get rid off them. I got to talking to a few friends about the topic and they told me I should try to keep an open mind and give the early records a chance. My buddies aren't devotees or anything like that, but they told me that they still can enjoy the music. Fair enough. Although I think it's very difficult to separate music and message of a song, especially in a genre like hardcore. I saw this first press of Shelter's first LP sitting in a bin in the 2nd hand record store for only 12€, so I decided to go for it and check it out. Some songs are pretty good as far as the music is concerned, and I think that some things he sings about certainly make sense, but the religious background, the preachy aspect in the lyric sheet, and Cappo's vocals (as usually) are hard to stomach for me.

90s' Throwback

Pretty cool find for cheap money. Left For Dead / Chokehold live split.

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.

30 Years

Sick Of It All is one of my earliest and still biggest loves in hardcore. They've been going strong for an incredible 30 years as of this year and it doesn't look like they're going to stop anytime soon. To celebrate that anniversary, they released a cool photo book which includes a 10". The rarest variant on clear vinyl was limited to only 100 copies and sold out faster than you can say Alleyway Crew. There's also a version on red, but I learned about that only after I picked up this copy on black at one of the record stores my buddy and I hit in Stuttgart. The book is done really well with cool pictures, which cover the entire band history, and stories about the people in the band and the band by other musicians from the hardcore scene. I wish there were more stories and also a little bit of a band history or stories by the members themselves, because it would have been a pretty interesting read to be sure. Maybe they're saving that for the 40 year book. Who knows? The 10" is pretty good as well, although I think their latest material is not as good as their first 7" or the first few LPs. Be that as it may, I'm still glad I picked this up. 

New York Thrash

A few weeks ago I went to visit a friend and fellow record collector in Stuttgart. What happens when two record nerds hang out together? Well, of course they talk about records and the decide to go record shopping. There are still actual brick and mortar record stores in Stuttgart, so this quite promised to be an enjoyable afternoon. There's nothing like flipping through crates of records and actually finding something you were (or weren't) looking for. I'd just finished re-reading Tony Rettman's NYHC book a few days prior to the trip, so when I came across this repress of the New York Thrash compilation, I had to grab it.

Heaven's Too Good For Us

First proper LP by True Love. My expectations were quite high because their New Young Gods 12" was great. I didn't get disappointed, it's a good record for sure, but it's not as good as I had hoped for either. First press on black vinyl out of 1000 copies. 

Freewill

About 16 years ago I started going to an alternative disco on a regular basis and the staff always held a raffle at thirty minutes past midnight. You could win vouchers for the bar, cash, or old punk/hardcore crap from the guys djing there. I once won a bunch of old fanzines, and on another occasion a CD with a butt ugly cover. There's the Minor Threat reference, of course, but otherwise this is a horrible cover. I listened to the CD maybe once or twice and remember not being very impressed, mainly because my motivation to listen to this CD always started to dwindle whenever I looked at the cover. Thanks Lost & Found. Fast forward a few years, I came across Freewill in a different context, gave them a listen and really liked the songs. Then I remembered having this CD for more than a decade. Oh well.

Mankind Records released Freewill's demo songs on a 7" this year. There are copies on red and blue available. 200 copies on red, 300 copies on blue.

Miracle Drug

About a year ago I posted a picture of my favourite demos in 2015 and asked for demos that I didn't know about. One demo that was recommended to me was the Miracle Drug demo, and as you can see it only took me about a year to pick up a copy. Way to go. It's a really good demo and I hope there will me new material soon. 252 copies on this weird clay colour.

Ys

Latest release by Iron Chic. Two new songs and a Dead Kennedys cover. Not my favourite Iron Chic material, but still really good.

Mere Mortals

The first Great Reversals LP was a release I'd really been looking forward to and I didn't get disappointed. I'd debated for some time if I should order directly from the label and get a nice coloured copy, but since the label is based in the States I decided against it because shipping costs are just too high and I rarely buy new releases directly from US based labels these days. Bummer, but it is what it is. Black vinyl out of 150 copies.

Integrity Blues

A few weeks ago my wife and I went to see Jimmy Eat World. I'd never seen them live before and it was one of the best shows I've seen in years. The band played all the hits from the early albums plus a bunch of new songs. Great set. A few weeks prior to the show I'd ordered Jimmy Eat World's latest LP Integrity Blues. It's the first Jimmy Eat World LP I seeked out since Futures. I'd been out of step with Jimmy Eat World for quite some time. I still listened to the songs I liked from way back when on a semi-regular basis, but somehow I never felt the urge to check out their new material. With the show coming closer and closer this changed, however. Integrity Blues is a little quieter than the early albums, but the songs on this record are really good. I've been spinning the LP quite a lot lately and it might end up quite highly on my 2016 list.

4th Press Is A Charm

The 4th press of the SOIA's 7" on Revelation comes with two different sleeves. One is blank on the inside, the other one has a Rev catalogue and a trade list printed on the inside. Apparently the printed one is the rarer one, so I'm quite I happy I got the chance to pick this up at a reasonable price.

Close up of the sleeve / printed catalogue. A bit on the wrinkly side, but considering the age of the record and the quality of the paper, I'm okay with it.

Too Tired

I bought the Atari discography a few years back, but I always wanted to get the originals too. I just checked when the discography was released, and it only took me six years to get actually started. Oh well.

Years Of Defiance. Years Of Disgust.

Starting to discover a new old band by listening to their catalogue back to front. Why not?

Out Crowd

I'd never heard of this band before, but based on the description and the cover I sort of felt intrigued. After listening to this 7" for a few times, I must say that I didn't get disappointed. Good interpretation of youth crew hardcore.