Punch

I managed to acquire two more Punch 7"s for the collection. First up is a 'misprint' sleeve of the fifth pressing for their first 7" Eyeless. Apparently they had some left over vinyl, but no more sleeves, so they simply printed front and back cover on one cardboard. There are only 10 of these as you can see.




From the same seller I also got the tour version of their second 7", Nothing Lasts. This one comes on clear vinyl and is out of 100.

…But Alive

...But Alive are probably the greatest punk band that ever came from Germany. The music is not groundbreaking by any means, although they managed to piss off a lot of punks by dabbling with hip hop, haha. I really like those parts, although they're not that good. The lyrics however are awesome. So much better than what your average punk band will ever deliver. The topics they deal with are highly political, and sadly, most of these songs are still relevant to today's politics. It almost seems that nothing has changed in the last 20 or so years.
This is …But Alive's final LP Hallo Endorphin, which is a lot more popish than their previous ones. The songs are less ska influenced and there no adventures in hip hop territory. While writing this I'm listening to the band that was formed out of the ruins of …But Alive, and listening to Kettcar's first record, you can clearly see that Kettcar basically began long before the band was actually formed. Having said that, I really like the pop music of Kettcar as well. Good indy pop, and the lyrics are still awesome.

Wherebirdsmeettodie / Dearest

I really like collecting records, but I think it's even more important to support young and local bands to keep hardcore alive in the present and for the future, so whenever I get the chance to do that, I'll just do that. Plus, in this case I get to support one of my favourite small labels, which is run by some awesome people, the Koep. Dearest is a local band that play emo-influenced screamo, or the other way around. I had the chance to play a show with them once and they are really great guys. Wherebirdsmeettodie play music in the same vein. This is not really my favourite style of hardcore, but every so often I like to listen to a little screamo.
There are 300 copies of this split 7", all on black vinyl.

Hands Tied

When I did some record shopping last weekend, I kind of broke my own rules. That's what rules are for, but still. Actually I broke them several times. I picked up yet another two song 7", but hey, Hands Tied only have two 7"s, totalling up to the amount of six songs all in all. Seeing that I like the first 7", I kind of had no other choice... There's a version on gold vinyl out of 200, but as far as the red one goes, I have no idea about the pressing info. 

Sinking Ships

At the Mindset / Praise show last weekend someone had a box with used records with him, so I took the opportunity and grabbed a few other things. I had a copy of Sinking Ship's Meridian 7" exactly like this a few years back, but I traded it away. I actually had the intention to pick up another copy right away. But for some reason that never happened, despite the fact that I really like this band and this release. Really glad I had the chance to get this one back finally, and at a bargain price too. 2nd press on sea foam green out of 1000.

Praise

Last weekend I went to one of my favourite venues to attend what turned out to be an awesome show with Statement X, Dogchains, Mindset and Praise. I knew the first three bands, but I only listened to Praise briefly when a buddy of mine played a few of their songs to me a few weeks ago. It was really good on record, but live they just blew me away. One of the best sets I've seen in years, including Dag Nasty and Minor Threat cover songs. Such a fun set and a fun evening.
I said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm not a big fan of 7"s with just two songs on them. However, every once in a while I'm willing to make an exception. Praise's Two Songs is definitely worth making an exception. I picked up this copy on grey vinyl (out of 300) at the show, but unfortunately they had sold out of the tour presses of their LP. Major bummer. Can't wait to get their other releases as soon as possible.

Vancouver Gold

Sometimes it doesn't have to be the most rare record to make a record a cool record. This here is the most common colour of the first pressing of Go It Alone's first 7". However, it comes on gold vinyl, which I think is pretty cool seeing that the release is called Vancouver Gold. That doesn't mean that the other variants aren't cool (or that I don't want those as well), but sometimes it's the little things that make me happy the most. 700 of these exist as far as I know, but there's a whole bunch of colours and sleeves out there for this release.

Charles Bronson / Quill

I don't listen to a whole lot of fastcore, but there are certain bands from that genre that I really enjoy. The one I like best (by far) is Charles Bronson. Somehow they manage to add a certain twist to that kind of music. Plus I really dig the lyrics and the way they use all of these Charles Bronson samples. I used to have their  discography on vinyl, which was a bootleg as I learned later. I'm not a big fan of bootlegs, so I try to avoid buying them in the first place whenever I can or getting rid of them when I have bought one by mistake. A good friend of mine really wanted that LP, so I gladly gave it to him. I'm pretty sure he gets more out of it than I did. However, that meant I had to pick up the original records at some point.
This is the split 7" that Charles Bronson and Quill, from Japan, released on the Japanese label Nat back in 1996. This is the regular version on black vinyl. There's also a sleeve showing Twiggy and there are some copies on clear vinyl. Quill aren't bad, but they're nowhere near as good as Charles Bronson.

Not that I'm pursuing that goal, but I once saw a picture of a complete (I think) Charles Bronson collection, which was a beautiful sight to behold.

A Place In The Sun

Happy (belated) new year, everyone! I got high hopes for 2015 and this blog.

I thought I'd managed to finish all records I got last year, but between the holidays I kind of forgot about one 7". Oh, well. YDI released their debut 7" A Place In The Sun back in 1983 and that's exactly what the nine songs sound like - Reagan era, simplistic, raw, brutal in your face hardcore.
This is not an OG pressing. TKO rereleased this record last year and I was more than happy to get this 7" without paying that much money. It's really good, but not hundreds-of-dollars-worth good.

It Was A Very Good Year

2014 was a really good year as far as records go. There were some really great records released this year and I also managed to pick up a lot of really cool records that had been on my want list for quite some time. I tried to come up with a Top 5 for 2014 releases and 2014 collectibles. It worked fine for the releases, but I couldn't slim down the collectibles to just five. Anyway, here goes.

2014 Releases

Dangers has been a favourite band of mine ever since I heard them for the first time. I haven't been floored by a band both lyrically and musically like that for a long time. They're also a great live band and all of the shows I've been to were great fun. 5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World is not as good as their previous releases imho, which doesn't mean that much cause compared to most other bands it's still very, very good. The song of the same name however is so awesome. My #5.
Our Inner Wastelands is the first full length release by local band Zerre. Their singer is a good friend of mine, plus I know most of the other members as well, and I'm so stoked about what they accomplished with this LP. Plus it looks so good. The red variant is probably the best looking record I got this year. My #4.
I've been a fanboy of Barren ever since I heard their demo. It had been rather quiet around this band for quite some time, but this year they finally managed to release their first full length LP Anachronism. Great politically minded 90s hardcore. Awesome live band, too. Plus we share a craving for the same vegan baked good, which is definitely a big plus. XStreuseltalerYouthX. My #3.
Sweet Jesus are the surprise band of the year for me. I'd never heard of them before, despite the fact that Pat Flynn of Have Heart fame is the singer for this band. When I got their their first 7" Box, I put it on the record player and I was blown away. I had to flip this record over and over and over and over. So, so good. Their upcoming LP just might show up in my Top 5 2015. We'll see. My #2.
It's been a hard debate between me, myself and I, but in the end there could be only one release at the top of this list. Bane is my favourite band ever, just in case somebody wasn't aware of this fact (despite the 15 posts about this band in little more than a year). They decided to call it quits next year, which sucks, but they released a new LP this year, which rules. Don't Wait Up is such a good LP. I was a little afraid they might release a record that could leave a bad aftertaste, urging people to say "They should have quit a few years ago…", but this LP is so much better than I'd ever hoped for. Perfect record to end this amazing journey of this band. My #1 2014.

2014 Collectibles

I managed to pick up a lot of cool records this year, some of which had been on my want list for quite some time. Narrowing it down to just five records was impossible, so I stretched the list just a tad. There are still a few records that could have easily been in this picture, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Some of these records I got for cheap, some I had to pay a pretty penny for, some I got for free or as presents. For various reasons these records are my collectibles of the year. There's no ranking here since all these records give me joy for very different reasons. 

Greatest hardcore record of all time. Prove me otherwise.

Favourite release by my favourite band. Collection complete.

Out of the blue. Rarest release by my favourite band besides test pressings.

Birthday present by the greatest girlfriend on this planet.

There are always more variants out there than you think. Keep looking.

Record I probably listened to the most 2014. One of the wildest and hottest shows this year.

Out of the blue part II. There are still some great people involved in hardcore.

Sometimes you gotta give more. Sometimes you gotta give everything.

Not in this picture but in the one above, you can see a test pressing of Bane's final LP on End Hits Records. This one is definitely one of my pick-ups 2014 as well, but I didn't feel the need to picture it twice.

Thanks everyone for reading my blog and commenting. Keeps record collecting a lot of fun.

XXX

Neighborhood Brats

I've read reviews of Neighborhood Brats that described them as "female-fronted Black Flag". So I kind of became intrigued, despite the fact that I think the term "female-fronted" is just plain stupid. Just to make that clear, I don't dislike bands that are fronted by women, but I don't see the need to put special emphasis on this fact, making this some sort of novelty.
Anyhow, bands that sound like or are compared with Black Flag are definitely worth checking out. This 7" is good punk rock music, no doubt, but I don't see where the Black Flag comparison comes from, except for the fact they were "inspired" by a riff from Rise Above in one of their songs. I'll definitely check out some of their other stuff, but so far I'm not sold. The Youth Of Today cover is pretty cool though.

Step Forward

There are a lot of hardcore bands that are not overly productive. Step Forward clearly fall into that category. Their first 7"was released in 2006, the next one in 2014. As I understand it there had been plans to release this 7" a few years ago, but the band had kind of a Chung King situation going on, so the release never materialized. They re-recorded the song sometime last year and also added some new songs. I really hope they won't take another eight years to release some new material. The songs are just  too good. I really like the foldout poster/lyricsheet here.
This is the less fancy version on black vinyl. There's apparently also one on clear vinyl, but I have no idea about pressing info as far as numbers go.

Give

I usually try to buy records in whatever original format they were released on. However, I have a really strong dislike towards 7"s that come with only two songs. Seems like such a waste of vinyl, plus I'm too lazy to get up from the sofa after just one song to tell you the truth. That's where the Singles Going Confetti compilation comes in really handy, which compiles all the songs that Give have released as 7"s so far. There's also a bonus song on this compilation, which made picking up this one even more attractive.
The singles compilation was released by Deranged Records and Assault Records. This is the black variant on Deranged Records out of 400.

American Hate

In my last post I wrote about the gamble of ordering record without previously listening to them. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This record falls into the latter category. The music is ok, I guess, although it isn't that exciting either. But what's really turning me off here are the vocals. Just horrible in my humble opinion. I rarely think about selling records once I got them, but this one can definitely go.

Sweet Jesus

The Christmas season is upon us, so I thought I'd post a record by an aptly named band. Sweet Jesus released their first 7" on Triple B records a few weeks ago. I'd missed out on the demo completely, which apparently was released something like three years ago. I ordered this 7" because of its description as a Swiz and Dag Nasty influenced band. Can't go wrong with either band. Throw in Pat Flynn on vocals, and picking up this record was a no brainer.
Buying records without listening to them beforehand on the internet is kind of a gamble and chances are high you might get disappointed. Not in this case though. I haven't been floored like that by a record of a current band in a long time. I can't stop listening to this. Seriously. This is without a doubt my favourite 7" of the year. Maybe it's even my favourite release of the year.
There are two colours for this record: 330 on white vinyl and 770 on red vinyl. As you can see I got the red one, which means I need the white vinyl version as soon as possible.

Sweet Jesus have also recorded an LP recently, which is supposed to drop in February 2015. Really looking forward to this one. In the meantime, do yourself a favour and pick up this record.