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...

Where They Talk 2025

So my last post was the Spaced 'No Escape' 12" which, despite being a great record, felt like it should have been a 7". So while we're on the subject, here's a new 12" by Ignite.

Well, I say 'new', but this is actually a 30th anniversary pressing of their debut release, a 7" released in 1994 titled 'Where They Talk'. This came out before Zoli joined the band, but still sounds great. The purple vinyl version of the original 7" is really tough to find, and it took me many years to track one down, but I finally bagged one in 2013. But here we are all these years later and the 7" has grown into a 12" with two extra songs (both of which previously released on the 'Scarred For Life' LP that I don't acknowledge even exists as it was put out by Lost & Found Records).

Despite having two extra songs, I'm still convinced that this could have been a 7" rather than a 12". In total it clocks in at just under 13 minutes. And as if to emphasise how short this is, both sides of the record contain the same songs. Yup, that's right... there is no Side A or Side B. Both are exactly the same.

Of course, with this being a Rev release I felt compelled to pick up one of each colour. In addition to the turquoise version pictured above (the RevHQ Exclusive /300), there was also 'cloudy white' (/600), and the 'Blue And White Mix' (/300). I like Ignite, I like these songs, but I feel that I would have been happier if this was actually a 7". Oh well.

No Escape

A couple of years ago I picked up a new release on Rev by a newish band called Spaced. I really liked that record, and also picked up their earlier full length, 'Spaced Jams' too. And then last year they released a follow up 12" titled 'No Escape'. I figured that I would pick one up, and have recently got around to it.

As is the case with most releases these days, there were a whole range of vinyl colours pressed, with none of them looking particularly attractive as far as I could tell. In the end I went with this 'Yellow and Black Ice Cloudy' version (why the fuck we need the words 'ice cloudy' in that description, I don't know) because it is the rarest, and was the easiest for me to get my hands on. But clearly it does not go particularly well with the (terrible) cover art.

Despite this record scoring low on the aesthetic scale, it does do very well on the music front. Without doubt this band is just getting better and better as they go on, and in my opinion this is their best release yet. Yup, this is a really great record, and without doubt my current go to when I need something at the harder end of the spectrum. Sadly, however, it's quite short. There are five songs here and they are over in just over ten minutes, so this could easily have been a 7"... if it weren't for the fact that 7"s aren't really in fashion anymore. Overall, a great EP, but there probably should have been more songs given the cost of 12"s these days.

Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows

I gave up on Record Store Day years ago. I literally don't even look at what is being released for it anymore. Then last year my attention was drawn to a Dwarves record that sounded interesting which it turned out was being touted as a Record Store Day release. It sounded kinda cool, but then when it became available for sale, the price was utterly stupid (and I'm not referring to the second hand market). I decided not to bother chasing one down. However, a few days later, the band announced that they had 300 copies for sale directly in their online store for a much lower price than every other fucker. And even better, their version came with an extra limited, numbered cover. I was all in.

Ignoring the limited cover, this is a picture disc that comes in a gatefold sleeve, which is signed by the singer.

This version also comes with a few other extras - a copy of an old flyer, a sticker and a mock $100 bill (Bobby bucks) and a sticker:

So this record is actually an old recording. The story is that when the bane went into the studio to record their first two song 7", they also recorded twelve other songs, most of which then ended up being re-recorded and released as their 'Blood, Guts & Pussy' LP. So here we are all these years later and those 'demo' recordings of the first LP have been released. And what makes this so cool is that they have used original, unused photos from the first LP cover shoot, and also used the same layout style as the original release.

Here are some photos I took that show the orignal picture disc and the original LP sleeve (which did not come with the picture disc version) next to this new release to show the comparison. In all photos, the original is on the left and the new release is on the right.

Ever aspect of this is really well done. And because the recording is from back in the day, it sounds great. And even though I generally think that Record Store Day seems to be totally pointless, this is a good example of something that I am really glad was brought into existence.

Primal Rock Therapy

I pretty much had a year off in 2025, but I'm now right back on my 2024 mission to pick up old Sub Pop releases again. The late 80s and the early 90s were such a great and exciting time for music that there are so many forgotten gems out there that still sound good in 2026. And some of these things are really very affordable in the current day, which is a nice bonus.

Blood Circus was one of the first bands that Sub Pop put out. They had a 7" that was the second 7" that the label released. Their full length, 'Primal Rock Therapy' was then the ninth 12" that they put out, back in January 1989.

Apparently the first 1,000 copies of this LP were pressed on red vinyl. It also originally had some kind of hype sticker on the shrinkwrap, but sadly this copy doesn't have it. The sticker simply had the name of the band and the record, probably as whoever designed the front cover art didn't believe that text was in any way necessary.

Reading about this record all of these years later, it seems that the band didn't survive much longer after this came out, apparently partly due to the terrible reception this received. I'm really surprised by this because, to my ears in 2026, this sounds pretty good. It is without doubt a text book example of the late 80s Seattle grunge sounds that became huge just a couple of years later.

Tales Of Never Letting Go

I've now started to pick up the 'hard copies' of my favourite 2025 new releases, so am getting them up here in the usual late fashion.

One record that came out last year that nobody saw coming was the Miltown LP 'Tales Of Never Letting Go'. The band had Brian McTernan (Battery, Ashes) on guitar (I think) and Jonah Jenkins (Only Living Witness, Milligram) on vocals. The sum total of their output was a 7" in 1996 on Hydrahead Records, and a split 7" with Cast Iron Hike in 1997, and a CD that combined both (plus one extra song) onto one digital disc. Such was my love for this band back then that I actually forked out for the CD just to get that one extra song. So imagine my excitement when, last year, out of the blue it was announced that they actually recorded an album back in 1997 that was now going to be released. God damn.

There were two colours of vinyl pressed (as well as black), and I opted for the 'tangerine' (aka fucking orange) because there were slightly fewer of them, and because I saw a pic online and it looked nice.

So yes, this is a great record, and I feel really grateful that I am still around and in touch enough that I finally got to hear it. That said, one thing that is ever so slightly disappointing to me is that, of the 13 songs included on here, three were on the 90s 7"s, which means that every time I listen it feels like a new record is being interrupted by an old one. But that's just me. For anyone who is not quite as familir with the old songs, this is a pretty much perfect record.

Nardcore Tests

Over the last few years I've picked up some great Nardcore records. For anyone who is unfamilliar, 'Nardcore' is a term that describes hardcore punk bands from Oxnard, a city that is located in Southern California, roughly 50 miles north of Los Angeles, and has a strong skateboard and surfing community as well as more than its fair share of hardcore bands, dating back to the early 80s.

Back in 2022 I picked up a compilation LP that Indecision Records released in 2020 called 'Nardcore For Life'. I really enjoyed that record and it definitely helped ignite an interest in the Nardcore scene. Recently a test press appeared on eBay and I was intent on winning it. In the end I got it, and for only $23.46 (plus postage). Like a few other Indecision Records tests from the last few years, this comes in a spray painted sleeve.

A couple of months after I picked up the 'Nardcore For Life' comp, in November 2022, I picked up another compilation called simply 'Nardcore'. The version I got was a repress on It's Alive Records, although the compilation was originally released by Mystic Records back in 1984. Well, I got a test press of this one too, and it came in a regular sleeve:

I'm really not sure which version this is a test press of. It has a 2018 date written on the labels, but also has 'Mystic' written on it. According to discogs (which isn't always right), the only pressing of this in 2018 was on It's Alive Records, not Mystic. So something doesn't quite add up. But anyway, whatever, it's still a cool find.

Blue Balls

Record collecting moves in funny ways sometimes. A couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that there were two very different blue vinyl variants of 'God's Balls', the first full length by Tad. I've owned a light blue copy for a long time, but only recently I saw a pic for a darker, greyish blue copy. I had literally never seed one before in my life. Then, as if by magic, a copy appeared for sale in the UK. I have loved this record since about 1992, so given that the price wasn't ridiculous, I felt that I couldn't really not buy it.

Even though this version is referred to as 'blue', depending on the light it can look greyish or slightly lilac.

Obviously as soon as I received this I had to pull my other copy out for a comparison. As the photo shows, the colours are quite different. And this is a rare example of the word 'variant' being used correctly, as these were both part of the same pressing.

Of course, having been happy with one copy of this record for years, I now feel that I am going to need to pick up a first pressing copy too. I was never overly fussed about one of these as they are on black vinyl. However, the crucial difference is that the first press copies come in a gatefold sleeve. So clearly, I need to find one. I mean, why have one when you can have three?