Goodbye 2024

I probably say this every year, but 2024 felt like the quickest year of my life. It feels like it was only a few weeks ago that it was starting, and now here we are already at the end. Crazy.

It feels like I spent a lot of time this year working. And whilst it is certainly true that I worked a lot of hours this year, I also did some other fun stuff. In Feb I went to Bristol, which is a great UK city I had never been to before, then in April we popped over to the States for 5 days to pick up records and visit a couple of awesome people and a couple of new states. In July we had a couple of weeks in the sun in the South of France, and then at the back end of the year we nipped over to Berlin (Germany) for a few days in October, then Lisbon (Portugal) for a long weekend in November. To end the year we popped back over to the States for a couple of weeks in December, taking in Nashville, Florida and Boston. All were enjoyable in different ways, and after years of having a phobia of flying I am now at a point where I am regularly thinking 'when can I next go on a plane?'.

I also continued to do 100 push ups a day for the entirety of 2024. This means that I have done at least 36,500 push ups in 2024. I had to stop for four days back in early April as I had back pain, but I made sure to catch up the deficit by doing 500 in one day once I felt better. I'm not sure anyone really cares about this, but I'm proud of keeping this going for so long.

In terms of music, I'm still not using any streaming services but continuing to download files as my primary means of playing songs. iTunes tells me that I added 127 'albums' (some of which are actually just 7"s) in 2024, which averages one every 2.8 days, which is nuts. I have bought and listened to a lot of music this year, so there is a lot for me to dissect with this post.

Even though I didn't actually buy too many records this year, I welcomed a lot of records into my house, mainly because I received the majority of records I bought in 2023 this year (yeah, don't ask). I came back from the States in April with over 200 records, and went into blogging overdrive. 2024 marked the 17th year of my doing this blog, and somehow it became the year with the most posts I have ever made. And yet I stil have a backlog, mainly as I picked up a few things earlier this month in the States that I haven't had time to get to yet. As I have said before, there is simply too much music and not enough time...

MY FAVOURITE 2024 RELEASES

When I came to write this post, I thought that I had only picked up a couple of new releases this year. Turns out there were a few more than a couple, and I had enough to make a list and take a nice photo:

I haven't tried to limit this to a 'top 10' or put these into any kind of order. I just picked my favourites. From the top left (and moving to the right), are the following:

Eyeteeth / Burial Rot Split LP - beautiful packing for an ugly as hell record from these two evil UK bands.
Fast Blood 'Sunny Blunts' LP - great UK poppy punk record with a great female vocal. Top 3 this year if I was ranking them.
Planet On A Chain 'Culture Of Death' LP - a great hardcore record with a fun cover.
Spaced 'This Is All We Ever Get' - possibly my favourite 'hardcore' record this year, the second song is so good!
No Plan 'Lotsa Potential' LP - Eva from Power Alone's pop punk band, this is a great sound.
J Mascis 'What Do We Do Now?' LP - a great new solo LP from the Dinosaur Jr frontman with the usual cute cover art.
Major Pain 'Intent' LP - great debut LP from this young Orange County hardcore band.
Jade Dust 'Grey Skies' 12" - the best current DC hardcore band... even thoguht they are from Oregon.
Chat Pile 'Cool World' LP - a great LP cover and a very dark and strange sounding record. Difficult to pigeonhole, but brilliant.
Stand Still 'Steps Ascending' LP - thanks to Nico for drawing this to my attention. A great Long Island band reminiscent of Capital, Movielife and even Saves The Day.
Karate 'Make It Fit' LP - I haven't listened to this band for a while, but Ralf and Mike put them back on my radar and I am grateful they did. I love this new LP so much.
High Vis 'Guided Tour' LP - this one was definitely a bit of a disappointment after the last one, but I have still ended up playing it every day since I got it, and I feel it still has a lot of play left it it.

SUB POP 7" MANIA

At the end of last year I did as I always do and posted a pic of my favourite pickups of the year, and a friend sent me a message to say that he was particularly impressed by the Nirvana 'Sliver' 7"s I had bought, and that this drove him to decide to pick up more old Sub Pop 7"s in 2024. After a couple of weeks I asked him how it was going, and then I also decided that this would also be a fun activity for me to get involved in too. There were a few Sub Pop 7"s that I have always wanted and never really got around to picking up, so I figured I'd prioritise them in 2024. Before I knew it, I had bought about 30 Sub Pop 7"s. Unlike a lot of records I collect, it turns out that majority of the early Sub Pop 7"s are really cheap these days, and readily available in the UK. Sub Pop 7"s then became a mini obsession, and I spent a lot of time researching the old Sub Pop catalogue (thanks to John Pette's discography), and scouring discogs and eBay. In the end I picked up 64 Sub Pop 7"s in the year, which forms a nice 8x8 square (although I had to overlap them slightly to get them in a photo):

A lot of these records I had never heard of before, and some I had seen a lot of the years but ignored. But actually buying these things was a great way for me to hear some new music or get reacquainted with older bands from the distant past. My favourites were 7"s by Dickless, The Reverend Horton Heat, Gas Huffer, Sister Double Happiness, Rein Sanction, Hole, Creep and Codeine. All really great bands that I'm so glad I gave a chance to, albeit 25-30 years too late, and all of which I have already (or will) explore further.

There are still a few more Sub Pop 7"s that I didn't manage to find, and then there are also a bunch of early Sub Pop LPs that I also decided I would like, so this mission will run on into 2025 for sure. Watch this space.

MY FAVOURITE PICKUPS

In terms of rarities, I don't really feel that I picked up many big hitters in 2024. But I definitely managed to find some nice items, a few of which had been on my want list for many years. Here's a photo of my favourites:

Starting at the top left are:

Annihilation Time 1st LP Test presses - 2 are pictured, but I actually bought 3 different tests of the same record. Love this record and these tests all look really nice.
Understand Test Press - a really important record for me personally, I was stoked to be able to grab a test press from the label.
Gas Huffer LPs and Test Press - I forgot how much fun this band is, and picked up two albums I had never heard before, then found a test press of one.
Quicksand 'Slip' test press - ok, so this is a test press of some 2012 repress, but it'sstill a nice one to have.
Uniform Choice 'Screaming For Change' LP 1st press - this one had been on the want list for many years, and I finally found one with a poster and sticker.
Mouthpiece discography LP with Natefest sleeve - this was the last version of this record I was missing for a complete collection.
Lights Out 'Overload' LP Test press - a great test press of a great LP, I really like the special cover on this one.
Soundgarden 'Superunknown' LP clear vinyl - my favourite record of the year, and I was very happy to find an affordable vinyl copy.
Disembodied 10" on Purple - I think this had been on my want list since it came out, so it was good to finally find one all these years later.
Swiz 'With Dave' 7" Test press - this is the 3rd Swiz 7" test press in my collection, I felt very lucky indeed to find this.
Blood For Blood / Hudson Falcons Split 7" on clear vinyl - another one that had been on my want list since the late 90s, I was very happy to finally get this and see that it does actually exist.
Bad Religion 'Atomic Garden' 7" on orange vinyl - this one is stupidly rare. I'm not really a Bad Religion collector, but I've wanted this for a few years after missing one about 5 years ago.

We Are The End

I think the format of this post is slightly flawed, as I spent a lot of time listening to Olivia Rodrigo this year, yet somehow didn't find a way to get her in any of the above categories. Oh well...

As ever, thanks to those who carry on reading this guff, and hopefully 2025 will be a good one for us all...

Leeway Live At CBGB

This is my last regular post of 2024, and it has taken me months to get around to posting this record. I'm not sure why. I guess the truth is that I wasn't overly excited about listening to this record because it's a live record. It's funny, but I will often buy a live record, and then when I receive it wonder why I ordered it in the first place. I bought this as soon as it went up for sale, mainly because I figured it would sell out fast and so I may as well grab one while I had the chance. At the point I ordered I could have chosen any of the colours available, but I went for the blue vinyl as I figured it would match better with the cover art.

Leeway 'Live At CBGB March 22, 1987' captures the band at an early stage of their life, a few months before 'Born To Expire' was recorded, with a different lineup (with Mackie on drums).

In terms of the tracklist, this is basically the songs later released as the 'Born To Expire' LP but played in a different order. And despite not being massively excited by this (even though I ordered it) I have to say, this is probably better than 'Born To Expire' because it sounds rawer and a little more chaotic. A live record sounding better than a studio recording? Really? Who'd have thought it? A good job by all involved here for sure.

Borrowed Time

There didn't seem to much fanfare around the release of the latest Morning Again record last year. 'Borrowed Time' came out in May 2023 as a split release between Revelation Records and Dead Serious Records (a German label), and if you weren't paying attention, you probably wouldn't know. I'm not sure why, but Revelation continue to release Morning Again records but not put much effort into promoting them. I have always liked this band, so given it was on Rev it was a must for me.

There were only 500 copies of this one pressed by Rev (or at least, available from Rev) and both colours are still available. The 'translucent yellow with black smoke' is the more common colour, but looks the nicest, whereas the black & red mix' is out of only 200 copies. And that is all there is... well, from Rev. There are three other splattery colours available from the European label, but I'm going to conveniently ignore those.

As I mentioned, I have always been a fan of this band, and this record is really, really good. It's as if they have decided to not even bother trying to sound like they used to sound, but are just going to do whatever they want. It kinda sounds odd to say it, but this doesn't really sound like previous Morning Again records, and sounds more (ahem) 'progressive'. Pretty cool that a band that has been going this long are still experimenting and changing their sound, and I'm slightly bummed that there are only 5 songs on here. I'm hoping that they record and release more material that sounds like this, although I'm unsure as to whether the title implies that they are thinking about hanging up their boots.

Realize

Yet another Sub Pop record for the collection, and I was super happy to get this one. Earlier in the year I was obsessed by the band Codeine after I picked up their debut LP, 'Frigid Stars'. I then became aware that they had put out a 7" on Sub Pop and was keen to find one. Well, it took a while, but right near the end of the year, one fell into my lap.

'Realize b/w Broken-Hearted Wine' was released in July 1992 as SP155. Most copies were on clear vinyl, but there were also some on white, and I will definitely grab one of those at some point.

One of the benefits of listening to a label's output is that it forces you to check out bands that you otherwise wouldn't have. In theory I could have been listening to this band in my teens, but it has taken me to the end of my 40s to get around to it. Without doubt one of the great musical discoveries of 2024 for me, and there are some other records of theirs that I can check out eventually, which is one reason to look forward to 2025.

Inhuman Test Press

In the latter half of this year I rediscovered the band Gas Huffer. I used to own a couple of their records in the early 90s, after they came to my attention via a split 7" with Mudhoney. Well, this year due to me collecting Sub Pop releases, I went back to them, and then ended up buying two of their later LPs that I had never heard before, which made me absolutely fall in love with them. I feel like such a dick for making a decision that they weren't cool and selling the records that I used to have. But these later records were great, and I spent a lot of time with them, and I am absolutely down to listen to more at some point when the time comes.

Well, sometimes things just kinda work out, and I ended up meeting a friend in the States a few weeks ago who I had previously traded with, and I became aware that he had a test press of one of the two Gas Huffer albums that I picked up earlier in the year that he was looking to let go. So I did the right thing and offered to take it home with me.

This is the band's 4th album, 'The Inhuman Ordeal Of Special Agent Gas Huffer', which was released by Epitaph Records in 1996. Here's a photo of it next to the regular cover.

I'm really stoked about this one, not least because it's an Epitaph Records test press, which are generally pretty rare. For a minute I thought that this was the first Epitaph test press that I own, but then I remembered that I have a test of the second Down By Law LP too. That one, however, doesn't have the Rainbo Records labels, which this one does, and which makes it even cooler.

Clean As A Broke Dick Dog

The year is fast drawing to a close, and I have a few more things I wanted to put up here before 2024 is done. This year has been all about (re)discovering many of the old Sub Pop Records releases, and even though I have picked up a lot of them, there are still quite a few that I didn't get around to finding, so no doubt this quest will roll on into 2025.

One that I was keen to find, which I achieved about a month ago just before my last trip to the States, was the first LP by a band called The Monkeywrench, 'Clean As A Broke Dick Dog'. There were a few different colours of vinyl pressed for this record, but I wanted the purple marble version, as I used to own this very same colour back in about 1992.

The photo of the front cover isn't great as the shrink wrap is stuck more in some places than others. But overall this record is in absolutely top condition. It came out in 1992, and I used to own this but sold it when I sold a lot of my Sub Pop records when I clearly lost my mind.

The Monkeywrench is a supergroup of sorts, with Mark Arm and Steve Turner from Modhoney, Tim Kerr, a dude from Gas Huffer and an Aussie from Lubricated Goat. To me this sounds like Mudhoney (mainly due to the vocals being provided by Mark Arm) although some of the songs feature an organ and/or harmonica, giving it a more bluesy feel. I probably wouldn't usually go for something that sounds like this, but I'm a Mudhoney fan, so that helps.

Sub Pop always released a 7" by the band, which seems kinda weird as it came out after the LP, but the first song is on the LP and the second song is a slightly different version of one song on the LP. So in some ways this seems a little pointless. I didn't fully realise this until I bought one, although I'd probably have still bought one anyway as it sits in the range of Sub Pop releases that I have spent the year trying to collect.

This one also comes on pink vinyl, which seems harder to find. I'll hopefully pick one up at some point.

Superunknown

Spoiler alert – this is my favourite album of the year. However, this is not a new record. This year Soundgarden's 4th full length, 'Superunknown', turned 30 years old and even though it is clearly old, it was new to me this year. Without a doubt I spent a more time listening to this than any other record in 2024.

I actually bought this record back when it was originally released in 1994. I had liked the previous album, ‘Badmotorfinger’, so was keen to check this one. It was released as a double LP, and there were about 4 different colour vinyl options. I think at the time I ended up with a clear orange copy. I don’t remember exactly. But what I do remember was that I found the whole thing boring. There are 16 songs on here and it goes on for an hour and 15 minutes, give or take. The 19 year old me just couldn’t get into this, and I ended up selling the record. And for the best part of 30 years, I had this filed under ‘boring’ and ‘overrated’.

So what changed? Well, back near the start of this year someone on Instagram posting something about the third song (‘Fell On Black Days’) and the post said something about how great the song was and since I wasn’t familiar with it, I decided to check it out. And instantly I agreed that yes, this is a great song. This then prompted me to download the album (yes, I still don’t use Spotify) so I could play this song. And then you know how it goes – you play one song, but at the end you just leave it playing, and then after a few plays you start enjoying the songs that follow it too. And in only a few days I found that I was really enjoying playing this from start to finish.

Of course, I then decided that I wanted a vinyl copy, but in 2024 these things are not cheap. Despite there being four different colour vinyl options, and two pressings of each colour (one pressed in the US, one pressed in the UK), meaning there are technically 8 different versions available, every single one costs a lot of money these days. I find this kinda surprising given that there were probably thousands of each version. But it is what it is. Nostalgia is big business. Anyway, I wanted a US version, but in the end I went for this clear vnyl UK version, purely based on price. This one was listed on eBay as an auction and for whatever reason, did not attract much attention. So I got it for a relatively low price.

I was really into this back in about April this year and on a trip to the US this was played in the car several times. And here I am, writing this in the States in December, and it was also played in the car on a couple of drives on this trip too. I generally find these days that I get bored of records pretty quickly, but this one has been on rotation for most of this year. I think this is a great reminder of the power of the album. Sometimes a long record is kinda off putting, but there are times when a long record is really great as it is something that you can get absorbed into. It feels like a long time since I enjoyed a record this much, and no doubt I will be playing it long into the future too.

Also, slightly annoyingly, I realised that when I saw Soundgarden play live back in 2014 (supporting Black Sabbath) their set was this record. Back then it was the 20 year anniversary. Of course, I had no idea that they were playing this record in its entirety that day, as I didn't know most of the songs. But even though I didn't fully appreciate it back then, I'm happy that I was there, as (obviously) it will never happen again.

Funny how things change over time I guess...

Sub Pop 7"s (6 of 6)

As the title suggests, this is post number 6 in my series of 6 in which I am trying to cover all of the early Sub Pop 7"s that I have picked up this year and haven't got around to posting about. I'm doing this in catalogue number order, and here we are at the back end of things, covering the end of the 150s to the late 180s. By this point in time, the label had moved on quite a bit from the early days, and the sound of the bands was no longer consistent or typical. I guess they didn't want to be pigeonholed as 'grunge' or whatever.

SP159 Monomen 'Skin & Bones' (September 1992). There were 2,746 copies, all on blue vinyl. I really like the cover art, and this record contains a good slab of garage, verging on grunge. An enjoyable 7".

SP172 Green Magnet School / Six Finger Satellite 'The Declaration of Techno-colonial Independence' released in October 1992. No idea on the pressing info, but there are no back copies of this, so it's probably not rare at all. God only knows what the title of this is suposed to mean, but the artwork is kinda funny, with one band dressed as fools from the past, and the other wearing future outfits... and they seem to be communicating via an old fashioned cell phone (which no doubt would have been the height of technology when this came out. Anyway this is ok. Green Magnet School are the more interesting of the two bands to me.

SP174 Antiseen 'We Got This Far (Without You) b/w (We Will Not) Remember You', released in November 1992. There were 2,205 copies, all on red vinyl. This a band I had heard of but never been interested in. They have been going forever, starting out in 1983 and still going. AT some point GG Allin did a record with them, and Flea from Red Hot Chilli Peppers was in them at some point too. This record is ok, but it kinda makes me think of the kind of punk that I am less interested in. I can kinda picture them playing a vanue in California full of bikers. Its ok, but I'm not really too fussed about checking anything else out.

SP181 Wolverton Brothers 'My Assassin b/w Max Gomez Love' released in January 1993. There were 2,015 copies all on white vinyl. ABout five seconds into the first song on here and organ kicks in, and I was reaching for the off button. The two songs on here were not offensive, and kinda reminded me of something that would have been on a skate video in the late 90s, but overall this is not really my thing.

SP187 The Legend 'Do Nuts b/w Rockaway Beach/Roses' released February 1993. I have seen this one many times over the years and always thought that the cover suggested it would be a litle odd. And yes, this is clearly some kind of inside joke. I guess the label was so popular at this point that they figured they could put out literally anything and it would sell. But here's the thing... this is so utterly terrible that it's actually somehow good. I challenge anyone to listen to the song 'Donuts' and not get it stuck in their head for at least an hour afterwards.

So this marks the end of my series of posts showcasing some of the Sub Pop 7"s I picked up this year. A lot of them are really cool, and have definitely opened my eyes to new (old) bands to check out. Some are also awful (generally the later ones), but I still enjoyed picking them up and giving them a chance all these years later, especially given how cheap they are these days.

Credit where credit's due: the pressing info in this post came from the Pette discographies site. Thanks to John Pette for developing and maintaining such a great resource for Sub Pop collectors.