Shmap'n Shmazz

Even though I feel like I bought pretty much every single record that came out in the 90s, I never bothered with Cap'N Jazz until recently. I think it was partly the name. I thought that the name was an abbreviation for 'Cap and Jazz', so I thought it would be some weird artsy nonsense. I was just never interested enough to check them out. But last year they reissued the band's only full length and I was in a record shop in San Diego, and the cover caught my eye and I contemplated buying it, mainly just because I liked the cover. But seven months later I picked up a copy here in the UK.

The original pressing of this record from 1995 came on black vinyl only, but the reissue comes on a few different colours. As fas as I can tell, this red vinyl version (exclusive to Smartpunk) is the rarest, being numbered out of 200 copies on a sticker on the poly sleeve.

The inside of the sleeve is printed. I'm not sure, but it might be lyrics. Whatever it is, it looks kinda cool.

I knew that one of the guys from The Promise Ring was in this band, but it turns out that it was a different dude than I thought. But this definitely sounds like early Promise Ring to me, specifically the first 7" and a bit of the first LP. The early Promise Ring records really feel like Summer records, and this also has that same feel, so hopefully the weather will start to get better soon so I can play this whilst sitting in the sun on the new patio.

Land Of No Toilets

My love of 'Nardcore and It's Alive Records continues with this latest pickup, a repress of the debut release by Ill Repute 7". The 'Oxnard - Land Of No Toilets' 7" was originally released in 1984 by Mystic Records in 1983. There have been a few pressings over the years, but I grabbed the cheapest and easiest to acquire, being this clear vinyl repress from last year.

There were 500 copies on clear vinyl, which are hand numbered. The cover also folds out into a poster type thing:

This is a great example or early, raw US hardcore. There are 8 songs that are done in 8 minutes, and features the 'classic' opener 'Fuck With My Head'.

So I was digging the 7" and, as often happens, it inspired me to go shopping for other Ill Repute records. I already own a couple of LPs, but was stoked to also get a red vinyl copy of 'The 1982 Demos' LP that Mankind Records put out about ten years ago. I got this from the dude who runs the label, so it's a new, unplayed copy which is nice.

There are also copies on blue vinyl, but the red is the more limited colour.

There are 35 songs on here, which seems insane for a single LP. It sounds very similar to the 7", which is no surprise. It also contains the original recording of what is now probably considered their most well known song, 'Clean Cut American Kid', which I just found out features in an episode of 'Stranger Things', which seems kinda crazy.

Nascent

I never really bought CDs because somehow I always knew that they were garbage, but now and again I stooped to having to buy one because I loved the band and there was no vinyl pressed. Over the last few years, I have managed to add some records to the collection that used to be on CD only as the popularity of records these last few years has led to lots of old releases being dug up and pressing them on vinyl for the first time. An example that I picked up recently is the debut release by Joshua. This originally came out as a self-titled CD in 1996, put out by Immigrant Sun Records, and a couple of years ago the label started back up, and in 2024 it pressed the Joshua EP to vinyl for the first time.

As much as I generally dislike swirly vinyl colours, for some reason I think this one looks ok. It might be something to do with the colours being reasonable choices, as they go ok with the artwork.

The original CD (which I could not be bothered to go upstairs and fish out for a picture) came in a brown cardstock wallet, so the LP sleeve is a pretty good homage to that, which I like. It definitely shows that someone tried hard to recreate the original, in a larger size.

I really love the original release. This band put out this CD and then got snapped up by Doghouse Records, where they put out a 7" and an LP. This was back in the era when Doghouse had started putting out records by The Get Up Kids. I can sing the songs from this record word for word. That said, this vinyl version is a bit of a Frankensteain release. Rather than just being released it as was, the vinyl version has been retitled 'Nascent', and some extra songs have been added. There are two songs that were originally on their demo (which absolutely rock - they remind me of Shift or early Quicksand), and then there are two more songs that were originally on a later release. Now, it would make sense if the original 6 songs were on one side and the extra songs on the other side. But instead we get 5 of the original songs on one side, and then the other song from the original release is pushed onto Side B along with the 4 additional songs. So not quite as clean as I would like. But maybe that's just me.

There were only 221 copies pressed, with 100 copies of this colour and then 100 of another colour, and then an additional 21 copies on a different colour which were exclusive to Limited To One Records in NYC. Well worth checking out if you like 90s post hardcore / emo and songs you can sing along to.

Fast Food For Thought

A long time ago I was into The Rollins Band (well, technically I still am), and someone told me about the Wartime 'Fast Food For Thought' EP. I can't remember who it was. But whoever it was told me that it was garbage, and I took their word for it. I had noticed over the years how it always sold for really cheap, and assumed it was because it was shite. But a couple of weeks ago I was buying something from someone, looked to see what else they had for sale, and saw that they had a cheap promo copy of the Wartime EP with press kit. Attracted by the fact that I could buy a record in 2026 for £8, I checked out one song on youtube, and then bought it.

There's a small sticker on the front cover that reads 'Released 22 Oct 1990'. Other than that, however, the record and sleeve are regular versions.

This copy comes with a handwritten (although photocopied) letter from someone at the label, Chrysalis Records) as well as a few bits of paper that tell you who the band are, and some photocopied press cutttings. Stuff like this really dates the record, but in a cool way.

So the funny thing is that whoever told me that this was shite all those years ago was wrong. This absolutely rules. The band is made up of Rollins and Andrew Weiss (who played bass in the Rollins Band), and the bass sounds absolutely huge. There are only five songs on here, although one of them is just introductory noise so doesn't count, and another is a cover (The Grateful Dead). So really there are only three songs on here. But they're really good. I'm slighly annoyed that I took someone's advice and avoided this for so long, although to be fair I probably wouldn't have been into this in the 90s anyway, so in a way they were probably right.

Sinker

Atthe end of last year I picked up three Ignition 12"s, and three months later I'm still playing them regularly. Last week I picked up an almost mint condition copy of their first 7" (and debut release), which I am particularly stoked about.

This copy is a second press, denoted by the red & black labels (the first press had white & black labels).

I don't think I had ever seen one of these in real life before, and I never appreciated that this is a glued pocket sleeve, rather than a folded paper sleeve. This is even more interesting given that it is made of quite thin paper, which no doubt makes it difficult to find copies in such good condition these days.

With this having been released in 1987, It's crazy to think that this record will be 40 years old next year. And also, kinda weird how cheap this can be bought compared to other records of similar age. Not that I'm complaining of course.

Two Years Of Toothache

Last year I picked up a cool record by an old UK band, Jailcell Recipes, which was put out by a newly ressurected First Strike Records. The label was around in the late 80s and early 90s and is probably these days best remembered as the label that put out the UK pressing of the 2nd Chain Of Strength 7". But they also put out a few other releases by bands that are largely forgotten these days. The record they did a couple of years ago was a kind of 'best of' compilation, and it just made me want the original records. So I kept my eyes open and recentlyish picked up a couple of their original releases.

The 'Poulton Road' 7" was released by First Strike Records in 1989. The grey vinyl is a second pressing, and hand numbered out of 1063 copies on the back cover.

This 7" is musically a bit slower than the first LP, but definitely 'hardcore'. As far as I can tell, Poulton Road is located in Wallesey, where the band came from, but I'm not sure of the significance ot this particular street. The insert has them thanking the 'Poulton Road Posse', so maybe they lived there, or skated there. Not sure. If anyone knows for sure, please comment.

I also picked up the second LP, 'Two Years of Toothache', which was also released by First Strike Records, in 1991. This one marks a bit of a change from the previous records, with a slower and more melodic sound. Also, the front cover art was done by none other than Karl Alvarez of The Descendents, which is pretty cool.

I get the sense that this LP did quite well. The CD version was the first CD that the label made and it sold out in a month. I know that the label had quite good distribution too. So it's a bit of a mystery as to why this band wasn't way bigger. On the strength of this LP, they should have been huge.

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Back in the early 90s I would sometimes spend a day record shopping in London. There were a few record stores dotted around the city, and it would take the best part of a day to travel around to them all. Back then there were about 5 different shops in Camden alone, and these were where I saw and held a lot of Sub Pop Records for the first time, many of which I ended up buying and listening to for the first time only a couple of years ago.

One of the records I used to see a lot back then was a 10" by The Reverend Horton Heat, 'Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em', with a cover that featured a photo of guitarist and vocalist James Heath looking very much like he had just arrived fresh in from the 1950s. The teenage me was confused as to why this would be on the same label as Nirvana, Mudhoney, Tad etc. and I would always think to myself 'who the hell would be interested in that?'. Well, it turns out the answer is me... thirty four years later.

There were three different colours of vinyl for this one, and at this point I was happy to just have any of them. This particular copy is in great condition, with the shrinkwrap still intact and the 'color vinyl' sticker is still there too. Oh yeah, and it's on some kind of swirl vinyl before that was even a thing. Records that looked like this in 1990 were rarely seen.

This is not the kind of thing that I would usually listen to, or would even have thought that I would like, but back in 2024 I picked up a Sub Pop 7" that featured two songs (both of which are on this record, annoyingly) and I really, really liked it. Ok, so it may be psychobilly or rockabilly or whatever, but it's just some damn catchy music. Hey, maybe I'd even like Hifi and the Roadburners these days too?

Live Agression

These last few years I have been picking up as many of the It's Alive Records represses / reissues as I can get my hands on. The label started pressing very limited colour vinyl versions of a lot of it's releases, and also pressing up some old Mystic Records releases too. WHat marks these represses out from the original pressings is that most come packed with extras, usually in the form of stickers, flyers, unused record labels, etc. Some of them have so much extra stuff that it's difficult to get it all into the sleeve. But they are all really well done, and feel like a lot of time, effort, money and thought has gone into them, which is really appreciated.

I picked up another one for the collection via a trade. This one is a live 7" by Agression, with a very long and accurate title. 'Agression – Recorded Live At The Underground Railroad' was recorded live in 1986 at a venue called The Underground Railroad (which is/was in Morgantown, West Virginia), and was originally released by Super Seven Records in the same year. It contains 6 songs, and even though I'm generally not a fan of live records, this one sounds great, and really captures the energy.

As the photos show, this comes in a printed inner sleeve, and is on dark purple vinyl.

This pressing is from 2020. There were only 100 copies, which were all hand numbered out of 100 copies. Oh, and there were also an additional 10 copies which were numbered out of 10 which contain 'left over vinyl' (not sure exactly what this means). This copy is one of the ten (number 4), but given that I have not seen one of the 100 copies, I'm not exactly sure what the difference is. Anyway, a really cool 7" and I'm happy to have another one in this ever growing collection.

Brat Fest

Sometimes you see a record online and your brain instantly shouts 'WANT!' at you. Such was the case when I saw a picture of the test press for the upcoming repress of the Disembodied 'Psalms Of Sheol' 12". It comes in a rip off sleeve of the Charli XCX 'Brat' album, which is pretty iconic in it's own right, and also comes on a matching colour vinyl... which is rare for a test press. It just looked awesome so I decided that I wanted one and then made a move.

This thing looks so good that it even made me want to buy the Charli XCX record. I listened to it, and I wasn't really into it, but there's this part of my brain that thinks it would be good to be able to put the two things side by side in order to appreciate this thing even more.

The repress of this record was announced last week, and features all new artwork. But of course, it doesn't look anywhere as cool as this test press. I love a good rip off cover, and one that comes from outside of the world of hardcore / punk seems somehow even more interesting, as even 'normal' people may appreciate it. Not that they will ever see it of course.

Well anyway, I had for many years also wanted the Mudhoney rip off sleeve for the same record. It was made for Rain Fest in Seattle back in 2010. Watching their set now, the first thing that strikes me is how young the singer looks. Anyway, I love how they made a rip off cover of a Seattle band for a Seattle event. Given that they also made a New Order rip off for the UK show in 2010, it seems that someone here gives some real thought to what they are doing, which I really appreciate.

Interestingly, this rip off cover is technically a rip off of a CD rather than an LP. Mudhoney's first 12" was titled 'Superfuzzbigmuff' (named after two guitar pedals, 'Super Fuzz' and 'Big Muff'), but there was a later CD version titled 'Superfuzzbigmuff plus early singles'. I am sure that this would have been intentional, as ripping off the CD cover & title makes more sense, as this Disembodied release is itself a compilation of early singles. So again, the thought that went into this is fantastic.

Of course, I now find myself in familiar territory. I never intended to collect this release, but now that I have these I feel myself wanting the Bauhaus sleeve version, and the first press test press. And might as well get a regular sleeve version too. Ugh. Why does my brain work this way?

New York Crew

I went to California last Summer and stopped in at RevHQ, and in the big room with the big table there was a pile of 7" boxes containing a new delivery of Judge 'New York Crew' 7"s. All of the boxes were sealed. Now, I was there on the 23rd of June, and there was a packing slip from the pressing plant (Erika) which was dated the 3rd of June. So even if you assume that the boxes were not received at RevHQ for a couple of days, it means that they had been sat there for two to three weeks without being opened, which seems crazy to me. I asked Igby if he had seen them and he told me that no, he had not, but he then proceded to open one box of each colour so I could have a look. So there I was, technically one of the first two people in the world to clap eyes on the colours of this new pressing... and yet somehow, it totally escaped me to ask if I could buy any of them. I think I just assumed that they wouldn't let me buy any until they officially went on sale, so I didn't ask, and left with nothing but photographs on my phone.

What is cool with this pressing is that they reverted back to the original Schism layout. As per my photos, there were three colours of vinyl, which some people think look awful and do not go with the artwork at all. The colours are opaque pink (/1100), opaque purple (Retail Store Exclusive /330), and clear with purple splatter (RevHQ Exclusive /330).

Kinda ironic that I was one of the first people to see and hold these and yet, having only just received these recently, I have ended up being one of the last to actually own them. These finally went up for sale in October 2025, so most other people who are remotely bothered received theirs months ago. Still, at least I didn't miss out completely. The clear with purple splatter is sold out and has traded hands on discogs twice for around $50, so I'm glad I got one from Rev eventually.

Ritual Routine

Now that we're into the third month of 2026, I have 2025 releases coming in thick and fast. It was only in mid 2024 that Planet On A Chain released their last full length and then, towards the back end of 2025, another one dropped. 'RItual Routine' is their third LP on Revelation, containing 12 songs that clock in at 24 minutes.

'Opaque Yellow' is the RevHQ exclusive colour, and is out of 330 copies.

Even though they're not really doing anything different here, for some reason this one has clicked with me quicker than their previous records. When I finally got around to checking this out, I was really in the mood for some fast hardcore, so this really hit the spot. And, as stupid as it may sound, I love the artwork, which just makes me want to reach for this one. I also like how they have abandoned writing out their full name on the front cover, instead going with 'POAC'. Maybe next time they won't feature the full band name anywhere, a la SSD, DYS, MDC, SNFU etc. Just POAC. I'm sure we'll find out in the next few weeks when I imagine there will be another album scheduled to come out.

The other colours are made for this one are 'Translucent Blue' (/330) which is the retail store version, and 'Milky Clear' (/769), which in the olden days would probably have been known as 'clear'.

As I type this, all three colours are still available at RevHQ.

Mirrored Life

Last month I posted the Miltown 'Tales Of Never Letting Go' LP, which came out last year. Well, it wasn't alone in the 'surprise 2025 release' category. The other big shock for me was a new LP from By A Thread titled 'Mirrored Life'. Their first two releases were released by Revelation, with the first LP being released in 1999 and the second following twelve years later, in 2011. I remember when the second LP came out, and it seemed like a lifetime since the first one, yet somehow the gap between the second one and this third one is even longer, being fourteen years.

Given how much I love the first two records, there was no way I was going to miss out on this one. I just had to work out which version I wanted.

After some deliberation, I decided to get the most limited color, 'metallic gold marble' out of 100 copies. I generally hate modern gold vinyl, but the reason I chose it is because it comes in a sleeve with the band name and title printed using a gold foil stamp. But when it arrived, I thought it actually looked pretty good, so I'm very happy with my choice.

As the photos show, this does indeed look like a shiny gold record. But interestingly, when held to the light, it looks like clear vinyl with brown streaks. Weird huh?

Despite the previous two LPs being released by Revelation, this one has been released by Spartan Records. I'm curious as to why this didn't come out on Rev. Heck, maybe I'll ask one of these days.

I listened to this a fair bit last year, and I'm still playing it every week at this point. It's a really good record, although I have to say, I don't think it quite holds up to the previous two. Not really surprising though, as not much does.

A Life's Refrain

Another 2025 new release that I've only just acquired physically (although I did spend some time listening to the digitally last year) is the debut LP by Sweden's Speedway, 'A Life's Refrain'. This came out on Revelation last year at some point, following on from their 7" that came out in 2022, and with a three year gap since then I was surprised to see this album come out. I mean, a lot of bands don't even manage a three year lifespan in the world of hardcore, so I had kinda assumed that this band had broken up a couple of years ago.

There were 200 copies on this 'Blue with white splatter' colour which is only available from the label and, surprisingly as I type this, this colour is still for sale at RevHQ.

I also picked up what I thought were the other colours of this one:

Shown above are the 'Translucent Ruby' (the retail store version /300), and the 'opaque custard' (out of 500). Annoyingly, after I got these I then found out that there is another colour ('copper nugget') which was sold by the band. Given that there are apparently 500 copies, I imagine that some of these will appear for sale in the not too distant future.

Anyway, this is a slightly weird record for me, in that when I am listening to it I absolutely love it. But no matter how much I listen, none of the songs get stuck in my head. In fact, when I am not listening to it, I can't remember a single thing about it. Very weird indeed. But at least I don't wake up in the middle of the night with the songs going round in my head, so I'm kinda looking at this as a positive.

Less Empire More Ashes

I bought the first Propagandhi LP ('How To Clean Everything') back when it came out in 1994. I was into some of the Epitaph releases back then (Bad Religion, Pennywise, Rancid) and I had friends who had latched onto Fat Wreck Chords. I got to hear the Propagandhi LP and I liked it. But I then picked up their 'Where Quality Is Job #1' 7" a year or so later, and I didn't like it and didn't get it. And that was it. Given that I had also discovered straight edge hardcore and felt that I was moving on, I totally wrote off Propagandhi at that point and managed to avoid listening to any of their other releases... until 2022. I picked up their latest LP last year and realised that I had some catching up to do. So I started to keep an eye out for any more of their records. And recently I picked up another couple of their LPs.

'Less Talk More Rock' is their second album, from 1996. This version is a repress from 2009 on 'Root Beer' vinyl out of 666 copies. I was happy to pick up this 'older' colour vinyl repress because the colour suits the cover quite well, and all other colour vinyl options are from the 2020s and pressed on splatter colours that look terrible.

I'm not as into this record as the later ones. It sounds a bit more like their first LP to me, and what I have learnt in recent years is that, even though the first one was the only one I had heard for many years, it's probably their worst. I prefer the more 'hardcore' sound of their later records than the 'pop punk' sounds of the first one. I'm not sure if this is a popular view, but that's where I sit.

I also picked up 'Today's Empire, Tomorrow's Ashes' which is the third album, from 2001. This one is a 2015 grey repress vinyl (officially called 'Dirty White') out of 529 copies.

I get the impression that this is regarded by a lot of people as their best record. I can see why. It definitely marks a movement away from their older sound to a more 'serious' band. But I can't really give an opinion yet as I have only listened to about half of their catalogue. There's another 4 albums I have yet to hear. I'm sure at some point I'll get around to it, but there's no real rush. But for sure I can see why everyone likes this one.

Triskaidekaphobe

When I think of SST Records, I think the of the same big acts as everyone else, i.e. Black Flag, Descendents, Dinosaur Jr, Hüsker Dü, Bl'ast, Sonic Youth, Firehose, Bad Brains, Minutement... but for every one of those bands, there are acts that mean nothing to me. Having just had a look at the list of their releases, there are records by Painted Willie, Blood On The Saddle, Zoogz Rift, Treacherous Jaywalkers, Divine Horsement, Fred Frith... I could go on. Oh, there's also a Pat Smear solo record (who knew?). My point is that there are a lot of much lesser know or remembered acts on the label. And there are some artists that sit somewhere in the middle, in that I have heard of them, but never knowingly heard them.

Until a couple of years ago, Das Damen were in this list for me. I had heard the name, but not their output. But as part of my early Sub Pop 7" journey in 2024, I picked up their 7" and, to quote myself, wrote 'I quite like this record. I'd definitely give an album a go'. I think the fact that they had other releases on SST made me even more curious to give them a go. A few weeks ago I was searching for something new to check out, and I listened to a couple of Das Damen SST released songs online, and really liked what I heard. So of course, I then moved into 'online shopping' mode, trying to find records for sale. And to my pleasant surprise, it turns out that in 2026 their records are very cheap, and not difficult to come by.

I picked up a copy of their second LP, 'Triskaidekaphobe', which came out on SST Records back in 1988. Apparently the word refers to extreme superstition regarding the number thirteen.

I love the cover of this one. Kinda looks like a Shelter record or something.

I also found a test press for super cheap. I'm a sucker for those old Rainbo Records test press labels with the gold 'R'.

Right now, as I type this, this is my favourite record. It sounds like a mix of the kind of music that I'd expect to hear on the Santa Cruz Speed Wheels video crossed with a British indie/shoegaze band from 1990. It ticks a lot of boxes, and for the past week or so has been the highlight of my day.

And it didn't end there. I also picked up a 12" called 'Marshmellow Conspiracy'. This was also released by SST Records (as SST 218) in 1988 I don't know how many copies came on pink vinyl, but not all of them. This is a four song 12" EP, and contains two songs from the above LP and two additional songs. It was also really good value and cost me £2 (plus postage).

It's always nice to find a cool new band, even if it's one that broke up about thirty years ago. WHat makes it more fun in this instance is that I can probably pick up some more of their releases for dirt cheap. Without doubt I will pick up more before the year is out...