React! Records Catch Up

Back in late July I was MOVING HOUSE and when Doug & Mike were posting up about their latest React! Records scores, I felt left out. It seemed that those dudes were picking up some great records whilst my React! collection was starting to feel like it was lacking. I was even thinking about giving up. But I had other things on my mind at the time. Carrying your record collection down the stairs and buying a wooden floor are serious matters!

However, once I got into my new place, I realised that my last React! order had gone a bit wrong and despite paying for three copies of the Get The Most LP, I had only been sent two. So I emailed the label and they admitted a minor mailorder mistake. They asked for my address so they could send another one out. I then found myself in a familiar situation. A single record being mailed overseas seemed like a wasted opportunity. I mean, if you're going to send me a box, you might as well fill it the fuck up, right? So I went straight to the label's CEO, Mr Arslanian, with my negotiating hat on and I bargained HARD. In the end he agreed to help my React! collection get back to an almost respectable level. Unfortunately though I forgot to negotiate delivery times. This stuff took a good couple of months to arrive... although, to be fair, I think that was something to do with problems with one of the new releases. Goddamn pressing plants.

The first thing I ordered, albeit later than the rest of the world, was the new Betrayed 7". I have to admit, I have no idea what is going on with Betrayed. Their first 7" was on Bridge 9 and was amazing, their LP was on Rivalry and was amazing, and I kinda forgot but they also got signed to Equal Vision. They were poised to take over the world. And then they broke up. But then a year or two later they seemed to start playing out again every so often. And now they have new songs out on a 7" on React! and (even more surprising) Todd Jones seems to be still in the band despite doing rather well with his other band Nails. So at this point I don't know whether Betrayed is a full time band or a part time band or if they are together or broken up or what. But what I do know is that their latest 7" is very good and I have three shiny copies of it.

The second new release I pre-ordered late was the Give 7". Something about this band has me psyched. For those who do not know, Give are basically the Swiz of 2010. No more and no less. They also seem to have some kind of fixation with flowers. I don't get it at all, but I have to admit that the flower logo looks cool and the band rocks pretty hard If you like Swiz you cannot fail to like this... unless of course you are a dickhead.

Give have other records that I still didn't get around to picking up but I badly want to after listening to these two songs. I also badly want the 7" on Deranged Records on purple vinyl, but I don't fancy paying the $200 shipping that the label seem to want to charge, so if anyone out there has one and wants to let it go then please get in touch!

And finally, the third of my late pre-orders was for the Common Cause 12". As I understand it, this is actually a repress of a 7" on some dodgy Euro label with demo tracks on the flipside. This is really good hardcore. Dudes in this band used to be in other quality hardcore bands like Damage Control and Insurance Risk, so it's no surprise that this is good. Not sure it is good enough to warrant me buying four copies, but I guess that's the game I'm in these days.

Once I had caught up with the pre-orders and was then kind of up to date, I tried to fill some holes in the back catalogue. The rest of the package was therefore stuff that had either sold out or that I didn't know about, and seems to be mainly stuff that was limited to 100 copies or so. Here' a quick run-down:

The orange vinyl of the Damages 7". This one was limited to 100 copies and comes with a patch that you can sew on to your backpack as you read HeartattaCk zine through your thick rimmed specs and attempt to time warp back to 1995:

Next is the pink vinyl of the Praise 7". This one was also limited to 100.

And here's the blue Get The Most LP that was accidentally left out of my previous order:

I also got jealous of Doug & Mike for getting the green vinyl release show pressing, so I had to get one of those too. Limited to a strange 133 copies (is there a significance to this number that I am missing?):

Thing is, Mike & Doug are going to be jealous of the number I got sent. They were both stoked with the numbers they got, but clearly my number trumps them both. I mean, everyone knows the significance of 44, right?

I probably sound like some 18 year old fag who has never heard any bands from before 2008 at this point, but goddamn I love this LP. I wasn't overly impressed with it when it first came out, but like most great records, it's a bit of a sleeper. It takes time to appreciate, but the more you listen to it, the more it grows on you. This has slowly worked it's way into my top releases of 2010 for sure.

Next, the Gone But Not Forgotten 7" with alternate cover on red vinyl. There were 100 of these things. I think this cover looks way better than the regular cover. I also think that this may be the most under-rated React! release. Not that I have a clue what the kids rate and don't rate though you understand.

And finally, the Mindset 2nd 7" record release show version. Again, 100 of these suckas exist.

As you may have guessed, I was pretty stoked on this package. It's nice to be up to date on both the blog and React! releases for the first time in 2010. Mind you, I say that, and at this time there are three other pre-orders that have been up for a few weeks that I have ignored. So technically I suppose I am behind after all. No change there then...