Live Through This

Almost exactly a year ago I posted about a Hole 7" that I picked up. This was the beginnings of my Sub Pop obsession which has dominated my record buying this year. I really enjoyed the two songs on that 7", and kinda figured that I'd end up buiyng at least one more copy, as there are about ten colours to collect. So here we are and here is another one.

And after liking these songs, I downloaded a couple of their albums, which I have also really enjoyed this year. But I was surprised at how much the albums cost these days. I had always considered that Hole were a second rate band, only really popular because of the obvious link to Nirvana. But I think that these days, in a world where any form of nostalgia is bought and sold at a premium, it seems that Hole records cost quite a lot of money. Well, the colour vinyl copies do. But then I noticed there is a recent repress of the second LP on a nice looking colour vinyl that is for sale at new release price, so I figured that would do. For now at least.

'Live Through This' came out in 1994 and is probably the band's most well known record. Back then I was getting stoked on Chain Of Strength, Outspoken and Judge and feeling that everything else I had previously been into was weak and mainstream. So I would not have cared one bit for this record back then. So it's kinda crazy to think I am listening to this for the first time thirty years after it came out and that I now seem to be into Hole. But there's no denying that this is a really good record. It's definitely a little less aggro than the first album, and has a bit more melody. I'd say this is an 'alternative rock' record, whereas the earlier material is angrier and more 'punk'. But this one is without doubt a more mature and variend record, and one that is far easier to sing along to.

Take Back The Night

I've been grabbing a few bargains recently on eBay. Well, maybe not 'bargains' exactly, but I've managed to buy things cheaper than they would usually sell for on discogs. This is a great example. 'Take Back The Night' is one of the later Dwarves albums, released in 2018. By my count, this is their 11th studio LP. I actually gave up on this band years ago, after the release of their 6th LP, 'Come Clean', in the year 2000. At that point I realised that they weren't quite the same band I fell in love with back in 1992 and decided to ignore them. But somehow they have carried on going and continued to churn out records, and even though I thought I wasn't overly interested, I saw this on eBay for relatively cheap and decided to buy it.

I have no idea on the pressing info for this record, but it doesn't feel that red vinyl is particularly rare. But I am pretty sure that this is a first press copy.

The biggest surprise about this record is that it's really, really good. I mean, obviously it's not on a par with 'Blood, Guts & Pussy' or 'Thank Heaven For Little Girls', but it is really good. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the guitars sound really strong on this, and some songs sound kinda hard. This has been a getting a lot of play the past week or two and now I'm more interested then ever in trying to track down more of the later Dwarves albums that I have ignored over the years.

Misshapen World

A couple of years ago I bought a record by a band called Sinking, which I found out about from a promotional postcard that I received inside a parcel of records. At the end of that post I wrote this:

It also now turns out that they have just released another 12" EP for which there are less than 200 copies total, with 25 copies coming in a nice Rival Schools rip off cover that are long gone. Damnit. I get a record I am stoked on and then it leads to getting bummed out that I missed another.

Well, two years later and I got lucky, and got a copy of the second record with the limited cover. The record is called 'Misshapen World' and came out in 2022 on Patient Zero Records. It's a 5 song 12" EP (with three live songs on the flipside) that clocks in at around 16 minutes, and continues in the same vein as their first record with a hint of Mineral & Sunny Day Real Estate style mid 90s emo.

As is often the case, the limited cover is a folded sheet stuck over the top of the regular sleeve.

It's kinda cool to see a Rival Schools rip off sleeve, rather than some older 'classic' record... although that said, 'Unified By Fate' is now itself 23 years old, so I guess by definition it probably is fair to consider it a classic by now.

I don't listen to too much stuff that sounds like this these days, but this is really good. After a quick look it seems that both records are still available from the band's bandcamp page, which I am surprised about. But could be good for you if this sounds like your cup of tea.

Anthropocosmic Nest

A few months ago Nico told me that he had just ordered a new record by The Messthetics. He seemed quite excited about it. I only had one question - who the hell are The Messthetics?

Somewhere I missed the memo, but it turns out that The Messthetics is a band that features two members of Fugazi (Brendan Canty & Joe Lally) plus some other dude. That information was enough for me to check them out, and within about 5 seconds I was super into it. I made a mental note to pick up a record at some point.

Anthropocosmic Nest is the band's second album, from 2019. Clear vinyl is a second pressing, which I am ok with as the first press was black vinyl only.

So without wanting to ruin the surprise if you have never heard this band, there are no vocals. This is kind of like a funky Iceburn update. The record starts out so strong and fast, but then slows as it goes on. The second half is definitely very chilled and quite heavily jazz influenced. Once you get the first couple of high energy songs out of the way, it's perfect background music for when you need to concentrate on something. I see that the first album has also been repressed on clear vinyl so I hope to pick that one up too at some point.

Start At The Top

This year has been all about old Sub Pop records for me, with me finally getting around to listening to a lot of their releases for the first time, over 30 years since they came out. And damn, I have found some great bands and records as a result. Here's another great example... the 21st 7" release by Sub Pop, which came out in October 1989, which is now 35 years ago. Wow.

The band is called Skin Yard and the record is a two song 7", 'Start At The Top' b/w 'Watch' has the catalogue number SP47. Apparently there were 500 copies on white and 3,000 copies on black.

Skin Yard were one of the forerunners of what would later become known as 'grunge'. Probably their most famous claim to fame is that they feature Jack Endino on guitar, who went on to become a pretty big deal after recording an album called 'Bleach' by a band called Nirvana. You may have heard of them. Skin Yard I had never heard before, but this is absolutely top notch late 80s Seattle grunge. I'd definitely be interested in checking out more of their stuff, and no doubt will at some point get around to buying something else.

Major Pain

A couple of years I went to California for a couple of weeks and knocked about at RevHQ and stayed with Dave Mandel. I'm sure I've probably mentioned it a few times. One of the people I met on that trip was a young kid called Cole, who had started working at RevHQ a couple of months prior. I chatted to him a few times and I really enjoyed his company. At the time he was 19 and really into old school straight edge hardcore. I thought it seemed pretty rare for a younger kid to be more interested in Youth Of Today, SSD and Insted than whatever bands other 19 year olds would be into. One day he mentioned he had a band called Major Pain, and then over the last couple of years I have followed the band's progress. They've played a lot in their native California, and earlier this year released their debut LP, 'Intent', on Indecision Records. I really wanted to support them, so picked up a copy of the record.

This clear with orange splatter version is the more limited colour, out of 150 copies. It's orange for Orange County. I love details like that.

There are 8 songs on here, which come in at 16 minutes total. Like a lot of records these days, I'm slightly unsure as to whether this is a full album or just a 12" EP. I guess the lines are blurring these days given that 7"s are less common and the 12" is the format of choice. Anyway, like a lot of southern Californian bands, Major Pain plays some pretty heavy hardcore. Someone said that they sound just like Bitter End, and I think that's pronbably a very fair comparison. They've also been compared to Killing Time and Outburst, and I can see that too.

I also got sucked into buying a test press for this record. I saw a pic of one posted on instagram and loved the simplicity of the front cover, with just the logo in the middle of a plain white sleeve. This is a great way to package a test press.

This record has been up there with my favourite hardcore records of the year. The funny thing is that the first time I listened to it was in the gym in a hotel in Baltimore. It was one of the eeriest places I have ever been. This gy was completely empty and totally silent, and full of equipment that looked like it had been there since the 70s. I was half expecting Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers to walk in at any moment and hack me to pieces. But this record playing in me ears had me pumped up and ready to fight. Not that I would have lasted two seconds against either of those two.

So in the last couple of years before the album came out, Indecision had released two Major Pain 7"s, both of which I also picked up.

On the left is the 'Demo 22' 7", which is (unsurprisingly) the band's demo put to vinyl. And on the right the 'Promo 2023' lathe cut 7", which contains two songs frmo the LP. Both of these came out well in advance of the LP, but obviously the promo 7" is kind of surplus to requirements now.

Indecision has a bundle offer up in their store for the LP and demo 7" which seems pretty good but probably won't last too long. You could do a lot worse.

Sirens

Back in 2020 or so I spent some time trying to seek out all the Revelation releases that never came out on vinyl. Most of these were released in the 2005-06 era, and until I started checking them out, I had never heard any of them. I have always operated in the same way, in that I just never really bought CDs. There were always lots of records to buy, and I always prioritised records over CDs. Someone once told me many years ago that hardcore was all about buying the rarest record rather than the one you wanted most. I always thought this was common sense. I mean, if you think something will sell out within a couple of days, then don't wait until next month to buy it. So by reverse logic, CDs were never a priority for me as they were always pressed in large quantities, and even those released by Rev were totally ignored. Oh, and I suppose it didn't really help that most of the bands that Rev were putting out back in 2005-06 were largely garbage. With hidsight, I'm not sure what was going on back then, but I think it was the label's lowest point, where they seemed pretty much completely out of touch with their audience.

Well anyway, when I started listening to the CD only releases, and I found a few of them that are really good. And one of them got actually got pressed up on vinyl last year. SO I decided to pick up a copy.

The record is titled 'Sirens' by a band called On The Might Of Princes. The band were from Long Island, NY and were active around the end of the 90s and the start of the 00s. This record, their third full length, was released by Revelation back in 2003, and the vinyl pressing is marks the record's 20th anniversary. The blue vinyl is part of the first pressing and was limited to 109 copies, sold exclusively by Rev.

This reminds me of a bunch of bands that I used to listen to a lot back around the turn of the century, such as old Piebald and even Bob Tilton. Emo with screamy parts at times. And here in 2024 this sounds great. So glad I have finally found this, and that they finally put it onto a decent format.

I've Had It

I've said it before, but I really do think that the early 00s was a great era for hardcore. Loads of great bands sprung up, especially in and around Boston, and there were also loads of collectible records, a lot of which are pretty cheap these days. And as we didn't already know this, here are a couple of copies of a long forgotten record that I picked up earlier this year for super cheap. This is a 7" by the Boston band R'N'R containing only two songs ('Ive Had It' and 'Your Rules').

The 7" was originally issued in 2002 as a split release between Cadmium Sick and Collapse Records. It came without a picture sleeve, and was packaged simply in yellow paper dust sleeve. I picked up this test press for pretty damn cheap and it comes in more of a sleeve than the regular version.

I also picked up this clear vinyl reissue copy. This one was put out by Dead Alive Records a year or so after the first press came out. No idea why a different label put this out, but second time around it came with a proper cover, which makes it aesthitically more interesting than the first press.

There were also copies of the reissue on black vinyl, and I am assuming that clear was the rarer version, but I don't actually know.

I added this to my collection and was reminded how many split 7"s this band did in their short career. Splits with The Suicide File, A-Team, Fir For Abuse and Drug Test. Probably an average of 6 copies of each too I would imagine. You could probably try to collect this band's records for the rest of your life if you were so inclined.

Grey Skies

Another new release from 2024 that I have been enjoying recently is the 'Grey Skies' LP by Jade Dust. I discovered the band last year and picked up two 12" EPs which I have played a lot. The band hails from Portland, Oregon but sound a lot like a Revolution Summer style DC band. There probably aren't too many bands doing this sound in the modern era, so they really stand out to me, and when I saw that they had a new record out earlier this year I was quick to order a copy.

There were two different colours of vinyl to choose from with this one - teal or clear orange. After some deliberation I went with the clear orange, but it wasn't an easy decision. Quite why they didn't press it on grey vinyl I do not know. It would have been the natural and obvious choice to me.

There are 8 songs on here of which two are covers ('Anger Means' by Ignition and 'What We Want Is Free' by Articles Of Faith). My only complaint is that 8 songs whizz by quite quickly. It's 18 minutes long, but every time I put it on it feels like it finishes before I'm ready. This band really can do no wrong it seems other than not write enough songs.

Finally, an observation and question - if this band is American, why are they spelling 'grey' with an 'e' rather than 'gray' with an 'a'? I'm always fascinated by the differences in language and spelling, and often I can make sense of things. But this one has me slightly stumped. If anyone can explain I'd be grateful as I've probably thought about this for way too long already.

Integrity Trade

It's been a while since I added any Integiry records to my collection. Truth be told I kinda lost interest a bit as I just couldn't keep up, and the price of the test pressings got too high. So I made a decision to slow down.

Slightly before I made this decision, however, I had arranged a trade with Clint from Organized Crime Records for a few items that I had missed. I think there's a slight irony in the way that I had traded to fill holes in my collection, and then before I received these had decided that I was going to give up on trying to have a 'complete' collection. But such is life.

The first item is a second press reissue of the 'For Those Who Fear Tomorrow' LP. Discogs tells me that thi one came out in 2010 and is the most common colour of the second press, being out of 400 copies. At the time I didn't buy one as I thought that a second press of a reissue was unnecessary.

Next up are two copies of the 'Humanity Is The Devil' remastered version, both on clear vinyl. There were only 107 copies of this on clear vinyl, with 46 copies in a black cover, and 61 copies in a red cover. I did actually plan to buy these when they went up for sale, but they sold out before I managed to grab them, so it's kinda cool to get them eventually.

I also picked up another test press which I had unknowingly missed out on years before. This is a clear vinyl flexi disc test press, numbered out of 17 copies. Back when this record came out, in 2011, I managed to acquire a blue vinyl test press which is numbered out of 7 copies, and I had no idea that there was this other test press until about ten years later. I feel priveleged to be one of only 7 people in the world who can possibly own both of these.

And finally, I got another flexi disc. This one was sold as the 2022 surprise Halloween package. The record contains one song, whch is a cover 'Skulls' by The Misfits.

This is hand numbered out of 265 copies by Dwid. The record comes in a printed black envelope that also contains eight 7" prints showing different artists' interpretations of the Integrity skull logo.

There's also a handy guide showing which print was designed by which artists, which is a nice touch.

If you like the look of this flexi but missed out when they went up for sale a couple of years ago, then you are in luck as there are still a few copies left over which are being sold by Organized Crime Records, HERE. It isn't cheap for a one song 7", but as you can see here, it's a nice gift of art.

Roses For You

Earlier this year It's Alive Records repressed the Unity 'Blood Days' 7"... again. This was always a slightly straneg release in my nind. The band was around in the mid to late 80s, and released a 7" and an LP. And then this 7" came out in 2012. It contains the extra songs from the 'Blood Days' LP that were not on the original 7", which allows you to own all the Unity songs on 7" format. This was last repressed in 2019 or so on white vinyl, and this year it was pressed again, this time on purple vinyl.

This pressing is numbered inside the sleeve out of 300 copies.

When this went up for sale, the label advertised that there were going to be some test pressings for sale too. I checked, and they were going on sale at 1am my time. I made the decision to stay up past my bedtime to try to get one. It turned out to be a successful mission as I managed to secure a copy.

This test is particularly nice as it is pressed on blue vinyl. Gotta love a colour vinyl test press, especially one that comes in a sleeve.

I also decided to grab a white vinyl repress copy of the 'You Are One' 7". I figured I would try to collect all the colours of this one. There seem to have been a few repress colours in the last few years, so I figured I would grab them if I see them.

Martin & An Elastic Star

I posted recently about this year's new LP from J Mascis, 'What Do We Do Now?'. And, as is often the case, buying that record then started a chain of buying more records.

The first thing I realised was that I had completely missed the last J Mascis LP, 'Elastic Days'. I vaguely remember that this came out just before I went on my first trip to the States, and I was holding a copy in Rough Trade in Brooklyn trying to decide whether to buy it or not. Something put me off at the time. It may have been the price or it may have been that I wasn't sure it was a colour vinyl copy. Whatever the reason, I didn't buy it, and then after that I never actually got around to buying it or listening to it at all.

This is the US pressing on clear with purple swirl vinyl. I think it looks great.

Next I went back to the 'Tied To A Star' LP from 2014. I bought one of these when it came out, but the copy I bought was the UK pressing. For the past few years, Sub Pop press records in the US and also at a separate plant in Europe. So I decided to pick up a copy of the US pressing. I figure I'll sell my Euro pressing at some point.

I then also picked up a copy of the 'Martin + Me' LP from 1996. This was J's first solo record, and contains mainly acouctic versions of Dinosaur Jr songs, as well as a few cover songs (Carly Simon, Greg Sage, Lynyrd Skynyrd). I was curious as to who Martin is/was, but apparently that was a refernce to the guitar he was using at the time. Apparently this album wasn't particularly well received when it came out, but I really like it, as it contains a bunch of Dinosaur Jr songs from various records and they are all great songs.

This is an original pressing from 1996 on Reprise Records, which is a subsidiary of a major label.

As much as I love Dinosaur Jr, I don't feel the need to own more than one copy of each J Mascis LP. So now I've nearly got to where I want to be, with a US pressing of each LP. I say 'nearly' as there is one more record I need to complete this objective. Hopefully I'll get there soon...

The Basilisk Gaze Of A Tyrant State

Back in May last year a new Rot In Hell record was announced. The band has a long tradition of split releases with other bands, and this followed suit, being a split with a UK band called Cruelty, who I had never heard of before.

Having been a longtime fan of Rot In Hell (since their first release back in 2007!), I was keen to check out this new record, especially since they have been pretty quiet for a few years. I've lost track a little in recent times, but I think I am right in saying that they have not released any new music since 'Oblivian Songs' which came out in 2018.

I got a bit carried away when this went up for order. There were 6 options to choose from, and I found it impossible to say no to any of them. So I came away having ordered six copies, which I probably wouldn't have wanted to do if you had asked me in advance. Oh well. This is how things go sometimes. The nicest looking copy, I think, is the pink vinyl which is limited to only 20 copies.

I was also able to buy a test press, which comes in a different cover and is hand numbered out of 26 copies.

The other colours are all quite dark, but this also makes them difficult to take photos of, but I did my best.

Shown in the pic are the following:

Top row: Test Press (26), Teal (18), Blue (8)
Bottom row: Maroon Marble (45), Pink (20), Swamp Green (9)

Annoyingly, after I laid these out to take this photo and write this post, it came ot my attention that there is also a black vinyl copy which was/is only available to buy from the bands. This gives me a slight dilemma, as I don't feel that I need another copy, but without it this collection is not 'complete'. Hmmmmm. What to do?

The only slight disappointment is only one Rot In Hell song on here ('The Basilisk Gaze Of A Tyrant State'), although in terms of 'value for money' it is over 6 minutes long. It's also worth mentioning that this recording is the band playing 'hardcore' as opposed to 'neo folk' (or whatever you may want to call these two styles), and this may potentially be the best song the band has ever recorded, in my opinion. The hardcore songs are usually played at 100mph and go at it right out of the gate, but this song here takes time to build, and then fades out for a while at the end. This is a useless description, I appreciate, but what excites me here is that this shows that there's plenty of potential still left in this band, if they have time to explore it. I hope so.