Cry For Happy

These past few months I have been really interested in going back in time and exploring lesser known bands and releases on some of the bigger and more successful labels. I spent a bit of time going through the SST discography, and recently got interested in Minutemen, Buffalo Tom and Screaming Trees. Those were all bands that I had heard of but never really listened to, so their names stood out. But I also made a shortlist of other bands who sounded interesting, and figured that I would get around to checking them at some point.

One of these bands was Angst. They were a band from Colorado who formed in 1979 (!) and who then played through to the end of the 1980s. I checked them out and was really into it, so I had a look around and managed to find one of their LPs for cheap. 'Cry For Happy' was their fourth LP from 1988. I started here simply because it was available for sale in the UK at a really low price.

Unlike a lot of SST releases, this one comes with a lyric sheet insert.

Oh yeah, and I also found a test press of this LP too for cheap. You know I can't resist those classic Rainbo test press labels.

I'm really, really interested in this band. They originally hail from Colorado, but apparently moved to the UK for a little while, before then going back home to the States and settling in San Francisco. From what I read, they never made much of an impact, but did enough to get signed by SST, and managed to keep going long enough to crank out 4 LPs. They sound at times like a British indie band, and other times a bit like Bob Dylan. Yeah, I know, sounds weird, but it really works. I also read that apparently Frank Black said that Angst would be the band that he would most like to reform and play, and that they were a big influence on the Pixies. A great record for me to have found just before Summer gets going (if Summer gets going this year that is!), and I'm really keen to find the other three LPs at some point.

Another Breakdown

Last year (2025) some colour vinyl copies of Black Flag 7"s started popping up. Quite early on I managed to work out that these were not labelled as colour vinyl, and a lot of the sellers didn't realise that they had them. It was a bit chaotic, but thankfully I had some help and advice from a couple of fellow Black Flag collectors, and I ended up with a few different colours of each. Near the start of the year I picked up four different colour copies of the 'TV Party' 7", and then towards the end of the year I managed to find four colour copies of the 'Nervous Breakdown' 7".

Nobody really knows how many different colours exist, but I figured that if I came across any different colours then I'd probably grab them. Recently I spotted a copy on eBay on a nice orange colour. Turns out it was being sold by one of the fellow collectors who helped me previously, so I was more than happy to take this spare copy off his hands.

This now takes me to five copies of this 2025 repress. I mean, two of them are pretty similar really, but it still counts.

I'm pretty sure that these were all just one pressing, and there are definitely other colours out there. Another collector I know has amassed a much bigger collection of these, including a couple of much lighter browns, a couple of light greys and also a pinkish copy. So plenty more to keep a nerd busy for a long time to come.

Void Live

Back in 2021 I picked up a copy of the newly released Faith Live LP. It was released by Outer Battery Records, and the same label has recently put out a Void Live LP too. And even though I am not a big fan of live records in general, when the email dropped into my inbox at the start of the year announcing this was comnig out, I figured that I couldn't really own the Faith Live LP and not the Void one too, so I headed right on over to the store to buy a copy.

The LP is titled 'Void Live 1982', and each side of the record contains a different live set from (in theory) 1982. Side A has a set from The Wilson Centre in Washington DC on 30th April 1982, from a show that The Faith and Minor Threat also played. Side B contains a set from a show with Negative Approach at the 9:30 Club in DC from 5th December 1982. That said... after this got made and copies got sent out, the label found out that the show at The Wilson Centre was actually from 1983, not 1982. They've said that they will correct this on future pressings, but does this mean that they will change the title of the record too? I guess at some point we wil find out...

I picked up the glow in the dark vinyl, which was only available direct from the label. There were 400 copies made, and they sold out pretty fast, so I'm glad I grabbed one.

I also wanted to take a pic of the glow in the dark mode activated and, even if I say so myself, I think that this photo came out really well:

When the email dropped it said (quote) 'and for you Void super fans we have a limited edition of just 10 test pressings with a unique cover'. Well, I'm not exactly sure that I would qualify as a Void superfan exactly, but when I was in the store to pick up the glow in the dark record, I couldn't help notice that the test pressing was still available, and the price seemed very reasonable. So even though I didn't really want to spend more money, I ended up doing the sensible thing and buying one.

ALso, both of these records came with a copy of the zine. Turns out that the zine is more limited than the records, with not all copies sold coming with one. The label are selling the zine separately for $5. It's worth the money as it's quite thick, printed on quality paper and really well put together.

I couldn't fnid a digital version of this so actually put it on the record player. I have to admit that even though I don't like Live records, this one absoltely smokes. Side A especially is really, really good. The sound quality is great and the energy that comes through is fantastic. Definitely one of the best live records I have ever heard, and I'm really glad I let myself get sucked in.

The Clear Traversal of Route 7

My Dischord Records collection is all over the place. Some bands I still have never heard, and some of the records I do have I only have represses of rather than original pressings. I have no real focus or plan, although this year I have definitely been focused on triyng to check out more of the early catalogue that has passed me by.But one record I have had in my life for over thirty years now (!) is the Hoover LP. 'The Lurid Traversal Of Route 7' was released in 1994, and I bought it when it came out based on a friend's recommendation. I always liked it, and this is a great example of a record where the artwork really adds to my appreciation. I love the black and dark green colourscheme and the weird photo of a old sign. The whole thing is very early 90s emo.

I was recently surprised that Dischord professional collector Nico didn't have this LP, and reminded him that he should grab one. Around the same time, I realised that the record got repressed on clear vinyl in 2013. I'm not sure if I knew this and had forgotten, or whether I never actually knew. But when I saw it, I knew that I wanted one, so I added it to my discogs want list... and then, pretty damn quickly, one popped up for sale. The price was very reasonable, so I quickly paid up.

Given that this is my third copy of this record, I figured I would pull the other two out for a group photo. As a set of three, they do look pretty good together I think.

The black vinyl is a first pressing from 1994, the green is a repress from 2010, and the clear was apparently from 2013. It looks like there have been a couple of black vinyl pressings since, but no other colour pressings. I'm actually surprised by this. But it wouldn't surprise me if another pressing appears at some point in the next year or two.

I'd almost forgotten, but I once saw this band play live. According to my spreadsheet, it was on the 11th of December 2004 at Josephs Well in Leeds. I remember going, standing on my own and not saying a word to anyone all night, then going home. Pretty cool though to have actually seen them play live, right?

Holy Rollers

Towards the end of last year and the start of this one, I was getting into some Dischord (and related) stuff that I hadn't really been too into previously. This led me to looking through the label's catalogue and seeing if there were any other bands that I had never checked out, and I ended up listening to Holy Rollers for the first time in my life. They started out as a trio in the late 80s and ended a few years later in the early 90s as a four piece. I was quite into what I heard, so decided to look for records, and discovered that everything that they had done was super cheap. So I bought three LPs...

The first LP, 'As Is', was released as Dischord 42 in 1990. Bits of this really remind me of one of my other favourite Dischord bands, Jawbox.

The second LP, 'Fabuley', was released in 1991 as Dischord 58. The cover is, in my opinion, awful. But nevermind. Beyond the art, the record is great. It still reminds me a lot of Jawbox, but the guitar on a couple of the songs reminds me of Helmet.

I also got a test press / promo copy of this one too. It was super cheap. Nico tells me this is one of the most common of these Dischord promo releases. But still, the price that I got this for was a steal, being just a little more than a new release 7" costs these days.

This copy comes with a promo poster and press kit.

The third and final self titled LP, released as Dischord 86 in 1993. At this point one of the original members had left, and the band had expanded to being four humans rather than three, with a second guitarist added. You can tell that the sound shifted as a result.

This record sounds quite different to the other two, but I have to say, I think this is their best. Also, the last song on here ('Pure') is outstanding. If the rest of the record sounded like that then this would be fighting for a place in the list of top 10 Dischord releases ever. Yes, that's a strong statement, but listen to the song and tell me I'm wrong.

All of these records put together cost me a fraction more than the current price of one new release LP. For whatever reason, it seems that nobody cares about this band these days. But this is exactly what I am enjoying these last couple of years - exploring the lesser known bands/records from certain labels' back catalogues. I probably wouldn't have been into this sound when the band were actually around as my attention would have been absorbed by other bands back then, but all these years later this sounds really good to me.

Test Press Is The Reason

Revelation test pressings have always been pretty hard to come by. Even in the current record collecting climate, where test pressings are frequently made in larger than necessary quantities and sold by bands or labels online, Revelation tests continue to remain elusive and out of reach for most people. I think this is largely because the quantities have always been low, especially compared to modern pressings by most other labels. Rev continue to order 4 or 5 tests for most records they release, so it stands to reason that most people are unlikely to get hold of one. However, one of the exceptions is this test press of the Texas Is The Reason 7".

This is not an original test press from the first pressing from 1995. I think this test is for the clear vinyl pressing of the 7" that was made for the Rev25 shows back in 2012. It would have been pressed at Rainbo, but has plain white labels rather than the standard Rainbo labels.

I remember seeing this test press advertised a few years ago when Merchnow held a raffle to win one when you preordered a t-shirt. I think this was during a period when there were a few raffles to help the Black Lives Matter movement. At the time I didn't enter this raffle (although I did enter and win a Down To Nothing test press which I was stoked about at the time). Anyway, I found the ad for this raffle still online:

Given that five of these were given away by Merchnow, I always assumed that this wasn't actually a Rev pressing, but instead made by Equal Vision or the band themselves, so it was never really high on my want list. But when I saw this for sale, I reached out to Rev for info, and in response received confirmation that these were definitely made by Rev, and sent to the band. The band got Merchnow to make the covers that matched the black on black t-shirt design, and each member kept five copies, with the remaining five being given to the raffle. This nicely accounts for the 25 copies that this is numbered out of (mine being number 6):

I once technically owned a first press test press of this 7" for a couple of weeks, but sent it on to someone who wanted it more than I. Given the difficulty in finding a first press test, this will do nicely for me as a consolation prize. But with there being 25 of these out there, the chances of finding one are significantly higher than most other Rev test pressings.

Dead And Reborn

I had been a fan of the Dwarves for a long time. I was Sub Pop releases since I was a teenager, but when they shifted to Epitaph toward the end of the 90s I wasn't really into it. This carried on until I saw them play live in 2016 or so, and after that I started to appreciate their later records for the first time. A couple of years ago I picked up one of their later albums for a pretty good price and it exceeded my expectations. So I was then on a (slow) mission to catch up on the stuff I had missed. And recently I picked up two more records in quick succession from within the UK.

'The Dwarves Must Die' is the eight LP (although the seventh proper one) and came out in 2004, at a time when I was firmly not interested in anything that this band was doing. This one has been repressed a few times, but the white vinyl pressing from 2004 remains (at the time of writing) the only colour vinyl version that exists. Musically, it's all over the place, with songs of various different styles. But without doubt it is a fun listen, and the cover (as ever) has some boobs to look at.

'The Dwarves Are Reborn' is their ninth LP, and the one that follows on from the one above, but this one came out seven years later, in 2011. I'm not sure what went on the interim. There were a couple of 7"s released in between, but I'm not sure if they technically broke up for a while. Anyway, this copy here that I picked up is a first pressing copy. It seems that this one was repressed by the original label (MVD Audio) in 2018, and then on a different label in the 2020's (the band's own label, Greedy). Also, slightly out of character the cover promises boobs, but fails to deliver.

Interesting how for years I could not be less interested in anything they did beyond the Sub Pop releases, but now I recognise that this was not a smart move. There are way too many Dwarves records out there, but I'm definitely interested in trying to amass a complete collection of the LPs (well, 'complete' in the sense of one copy of each record, rather than all versons of all the records, which would be lunacy at this point). There are five more records I need to complete this objective, although this includes the first record which was pretty much a different band and sounds nothing like anything else they ever did, so there are only really four that I need. Game on!

Little Laughs

Hot on the heels of my last post about Big Laugh's 'Days of Disarray' 12" EP is another post about their debut release, the 'Manic Revision' 7". I first posted about this record in May 2024, when Rev reissued the 7" and I ended up with way too many different colours of it. And then last year I posted another couple of copies that I picked up, one of which was from the original pressing on 11PM Records. Well, when I picked up their latest 12", the place I bought it from also had a different copy of the 7" for a very reasonable price, so I couldn't help myself.

The clear vinyl was the limited version of the first pressing, and was out of 100 copies. I think we can all agree that clear is pretty much the best colour vinyl, especially when pressed at a good quality plant.

Well of course, after I had committed to this I had to see which other colours existed that I was missing. Turns out there was only one that I didn't have, which was the grey marble vinyl, and lo and behold there was a copy sat waiting on discogs. Obviously I had no choice in the matter and had to buy it.

This means that I now have all three colours from the orignal 11PM Records pressing:

Seems unlikely, but a test press from this pressing would be nice, then I think I am truly done here.

Days Of Disarray

Another 2025 release that I am finally getting around to is the 'Days Of Disarray' 12" EP by Big Laugh. I was slightly puzzled when this appeared as their last two records were put out by Rev, yet this is on a different label (Convulse Records). I'm not sure why this didn't come out on Rev, but still, I was interested enough to check it out. I gave it a spin online last year, and was pleasantly surprised at the change in sound, so I knew I wanted a copy. Little did I know I would end up with two...

There were 100 copies on clear which were only available from the label. That said, I got my copy from Vinyl Conflict, brand new and sealed for less than the label is selling it. If it weren't so cheap, I probably would have stuck with the yellow copy that I got from RevHQ (also limited to 100 copies) a couple of weeks before.

The first time I listened to this it sounded kinda similar to Deadguy, and I loved it. Somehow I don't really hear that comparison anymore, but regardless, this is still a really interesting record. Sadly there are only 4 songs on here, but I'd be really into more songs in this style. That said, I'm not sure another record is likely as I'm think that that I read at some point that they had broken up, but hopefully I imagined that and another record will arrive at some point.

Feel The Teeth

One of the 2025 releases that I am now catching up with is the sixth album by The Casket Lottery, 'Feel The Teeth'. I've been listening to this band for literally half my life now, and they've never made a bad record, so I was always going to buy this one. But as is often the case this day, I had to wait it out until the version that I wanted came up for sale.

This record was released by Iodine Recordings, and they usually crank out a lot of different vinyl colours for their releases. This record came on five colours of vinyl, and a lot of them look terrible. The only one that looked halfway acceptable was this clear with splatter version, which it turned out was only available to members of the Iodine 'Noise Cult' (a subscription thing). In theory you can't buy thse things. But people who subscribe to such things often sell what they receive, because when you subscribe for something and aren't sure what you're going to get, the chances are that you're not going to be into everything you get sent.

My copy comes with an obi strip which hasn't even been folded. At first I was confused as to what it was. But when I figured it out I had to decide whether to fold it or just leave it flat. In the end I just decided to leave it.

The pressing info for this states that this colour is out of 150 copies. But the obi strip I have is number 50/60. So immediately I'm wondering why, if there were 150, why only 60 of them come with an obi strip.

Anyway, even though this band has been going for more than a quarter of a century, they still write great songs. I was almost put off this one completely by the artwork, which is boring as hell. But right now this is my favourite record. It's one of those records where I am laying in bed at night and feeling excited for the morning so I can wake up and put this on again. No doubt I'll be over it in three weeks, but for now this is the only record I need.

Deprogram

One of the most difficult questions you could ask me these days is 'how many Planet On A Chain LPs do you own?'. About three years ago nobody had a clue who they were, and now they have more albums that some bands that have been around for twenty years. The rate of output of this band is quite unbelievable. The first LP 'Boxed In' came out in 2023, then 'Culture Of Death' appeared fourteen months later in 2024, and then a third LP 'Ritual Routine' came out last year (2025).

Oh yeah, and then there was another one that I completely forgot about. 'Deprogram' was originally a digital only release back in 2022, and then after 'Boxed In' came out and did quite well, Rev decided to press 'Deprogram' onto vinyl. Somehow this one kinda passed me by. So here I am finally catching up with it a couple of years later.

This is the 'Translucent Light Blue With Black And Dark Blue Splatter' (which could probably have just been called 'blue splatter'). This is the RevHQ exclusive colour out of 200 copies, and is long sold out.

The other colours are 'Translucent Green' (/600), and 'Translucent Blue' (/200) which was for shops. As a set of three, they look pretty good together, and go quite nicely with the cover art (well, more the back cover).

Each time I get a new POAC record I think its the best one yet. I really like 'Ritual Routine' and thought it was their best, but I have already moved onto this one as my POAC record of choice. I guess my favourite is really whichever one I am listening to right now. At least, that's how it seems.

Oh, and to end this post how I started it, I just checked my spreadsheet and it turns out that I now have 21 POAC records, of which 19 are 12"s. But in the time it has taken me to write this post and for you to have read it, probably another couple of albums have been released.

Nerve Agents Deluxe

I finally getting around to picking up on the Nerve Agents reissues that Rev put out last year (2025). I had these in my hands at Rev when I was there last Summer, but I didn't really have room for them in my case, so I paid and left them to be sent later... which has ended up being ten months.

All three Nerve Agents 12" records have been reissued as 'Deluxe Editions'. To differentiate them from earlier pressings, these versions come with obi strips and large booklets The booklets look like this:

that contain photos and 'testimonies' by various scenesters who were around at the time. The booklets are of varying length. The one that accompanies the first record is the thinest, and feels like the poor relation of the three. The 'Days Of The White Owl' booklet one is thicker than the other two, and it definitely feels like this seems to be recognised as their best record, which I find interesting as for me it is the worst of the three.

The obi strips are nice additions, and I like that all three have one. It helps identify them as a separate little collection.

The first, self-titled 12" EP was originally put out by Rev in 1998. The younger version of me immediately loved the artwork. The older version of me still does. For some reason, this is the only one of the three reissues that came with a limited sleeve, numbered out of 131 copies.

This same clear vinyl version also comes in a regular cover, and given that they sold out relatively quickly there was then a second pressing on purple (both pictured below in the collection shot).

'Days Of The White Owl' was the second release and first proper full length, released in the year 2000. This reissue adds an extra song on to the end of Side A that was originally on some compilation that I'd never heard of before. It came on two different colours of vinyl, and has also been upgraded to a gatefold sleeve.

'The Butterfly Collection' was the third 12" and the second full length, and was originally released by Hellcat Records in 2001. I remember at the time being slightly surprised that they had jumped ship from Rev, but I guess this was because unbeknown to me at the time they had crossed some boundaries a bit and become popular with a lot of people outside of Rev's usual sphere. The original vinyl copies came out in an era when vinyl was at a pretty low point, so there was only one pressing (well, technically two - a US pressing, and a EUro pressing) with all copies being on black vinyl. So it's kinda cool to finally get see this one pressed on colour.

There were three colours of this one, which means that all in all I ended up with seven records. Here's a picture of the lot all together:

Shown in the photo are (top row to bottom):

'S/T' - Clear w/ ltd. cover /131, Clear w/ regular cover /419, Opaque Purple /550
'Days Of The White Owl' - Pink & Purple Marble /300, Green Marble /700
'The Butterfly Collection' - Grey Marble /300, Red Marble /512, Blue Marble /900