Instrument

Despite Fugazi not being active in over twenty years, you'd be excused for thinking that they were a current band given the number of times they've appeared on record blogs this year. Between me, Mike, and Ralf there was a bit of love for Fugazi this year, thanks in part to colour vinyl represses.

I thought that I had all of the Fugazi records that I needed, until a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled across a burgundy vinyl copy of the 'Instrument Soundtrack' in a Texas record store. For $11, I couldn't pass it up.

The burgundy pressing is from last year (2024) and is sold out by the label, but there are still copies out there in stores if you look.

The record is the soundtrack to the film 'Instrument', which is a 1999 documentary about Fugazi. I watched it once and thought it was ok, although I would have preferred a different format with more of an interview type format. The soundtrack contains 18 songs which are very different to their previous records, with most songs being laid back instrumental affairs. I'd never listened to this before, and whilst it isn't going to make it into the top 5 Fugazi records, it does tick the box for 'good background music while you work'.

The World Is Yours

Back in Summer I spent some time driving around California, and the record that that I listened to the most was the first LP by a melodic UK punk band called Diaz Brothers. I was late to the record as it came out back in 2020, but given how much I enjoyed it in summer this year, it was inevitable that I would eventually pick up the second LP, 'The World Is Yours', which was released this year.

I just got back from another trip to the States, and this was probably the record that I spent the most time playing whilst driving around Texas. There's something about melodic punk and american roads that makes for a good mix.

This was pressed on 4 different colours of vinyl (red, blue, green, white) and there is no pressing info. I assumed that there were similar quantities of each, and ordered the white thinking it went better with the cover than the others.

Spoiler alert, but given it's almost the end of 2025, I'm pretty sure that this will be in my list of top releases for the year.

Complete Services

As I said a couple of posts ago when I posted about the After Words LP, I seem to be increasingly drawn toward DC hardcore as time passes. The guy who sold that LP also had some Ignition 12"s for sale at a very fair price, so I decided to scoop up all three at the same time. Rarely have I been so excited to pick up a pile of black vinyl records. Anyway, let's get down to it in chronological order...

The first 12" compiles the band's two 7"s which were self released (although the second was also part released by Dischord). This 12" was released by the band, which I don't think I ever knew until this arrived. I always thoguht it was on Dischord.

'Machination' is the band's debut 12 song LP. This was released as Dischord Recprds 31 and Ignition Records 4 back in 1988.

And finally, 'The Orafying Mysticle Of...' from 1989. Whilst this is described as an LP, it only contains 6 songs, so in my mind it's more of an EP. But Dischord definitely refer to it as a full length LP.

I tried to get into Ignition many years ago and it didn't really click with me for whatever reason. But as I have thought and said before, sometimes a record will only grab you at a specific time. Just because you've checked something out and it didn't grab you doesn't mean you shouldn't try again at some point. As we reach the end of 2025, Ignition is everything I want.

Better Off Red

About three and a half years ago someone asked me what my most wanted record was, and I replied 'the first 97A 7" on red vinyl'. The person who asked me then asked 'Why? It's shit' which made me laugh. Ok, so it's not exactly my favourite record of all time, but this was one of those records that had reached mythical status because it was so impossible to find. The record was released in 1996/7 and I got a copy on black vinyl not too long after. At some point I found out that there were 25 copies pressed on red vinyl with a limited sleeve. I added it to my want list and waited. Then 25 or so years went by.

I know someone in London who got one of these from the label when it came out. Other than that, I saw one for sale on eBay ONCE (back in 2010) which I remember clearly as I bid on it and didn't win. There hasn't been another sell on eBay since, and neither has one ever sold on discogs. Basically, it's nigh on impossible to find.

The inside of the sleeve is stamped with a number. Mine is stamped 25. In theory, this is the last copy. Twenty five of twenty five.

The front and back cover feature pictures of ex-professional skateboarder Mark 'Gator' Rogowski. He was featured in the first skateboard video that I ever saw, but is best known for raping and murdering his girlfriend back in 1991... a crime for which he is still in jail to this day. This record features a small written explanation of why he did it, in which he appears to blame drink, drugs and pornography and also express remorse. Sadly, the parole board aren't buying it even all of these years later.

After chasing this record for half my life, I finally got this a couple of weeks ago from a friend / collector in Europe. He had owned this for a long time but reached a point where he was ready to let it go. I spotted it in a pile of stuff he put for sale on instagram, and immediately reached out. I was very, very happy to finally receive it and finally cross it off the want list.

In celebration, I pulled out my other copies for a group photo:

I'm not sure too many people are still listening to 97A in 2025, but this is possibly my favourite pick up of the year. It's just a shame that the website that used to list all of the owners no longer exists so I don't get to see my name added, haha.

There's Love In This World If You Want It

Ten years after I first herd of and saw Higher Power play (supporting Burn at their London Show), and they're still going strong and this year released their third LP, 'There's Love In This World If You Want It' on Nuclear Blast Records. I'd seen it was coming out, but as is often the case I figured I would get around to ordering one later. I'm not sure exactly whern this was announced, but when Mike posted about it at the back end of September it reminded me to chek it out.

I had a vague memory of seeing preorders go up and thinking that the limited colour looked really ugly. When I saw Mike's post I started scouring the internet for a copy to buy. What became apparent very quickly was that there was only one vinyl colour available... purple vinyl. And even though I thought it looked better than the rarer colour, I decided that I wanted to wait for one of the rarer ones. There must be thousands of purple copies out there, and I just figured that it would be coloer to get the other one.

A couple of weeks back the bands posted on instagram that they had put a bunch of merch up in their online store, so I had a quick look and they had some copies of the rarer 'light green sky blue splatter' vinyl. This version is limited to 300 copies. I have no idea how many copies were pressed on purple, but significantly more.

I only got around to listening to this once I'd bought the record, so I missed out on this being the soundtrack to Summer, which I think it very much would have been. But this has been on heavy rotation for the last few weeks, and will very much be in my best of 2025 list... if I make one. The band has clearly 'progressed' from their earlier sound, and I'm very much on board with it.