Miss Machine

My last nine posts on here have been on clear vinyl Relapse Records releases that I picked up a few weeks ago. I bought a bunch in one go and I wanted to make sure I posted them all together rather than space them out and take months to get them up here. Today's post is the tenth and final post in the series, and I like to think that I saved the best until last...

At the end of the 90s I was really into what Hydrahead Records was doing. Generally their mission statement seemed to be to put out bands that nobody had ever heard of who, unbeknown to them at the time, would then go on to be huge a few years later. One such band that I bought records by (despite having no clue who they were nor what they sounded like) was The Dillinger Escape Plan. They had a split 7" with label mates Drowningman, and then an album ('Calculating Infinity'). Back in 1999 when it came out, I was into it. In 2002 they put out a record on a weird label with Mike Patton on vocals, which confused me so I just ignored it altogether. And then, a couple of years later in 2004 they got a new singer and released a second album, 'Miss Machine' which was on a different label (Relapse Records), and which featured some actual singing. Despite the second album being a bit different to the first, I still enjoyed it when it came out, but it was the last one I ever picked up. After some big festival appearances they seemed to get pretty big and, as often happens, I lost interest. Heck, they had a lot of new fans and probably didn't need me anyway.

Well, when I was recently picking up a bunch of clear vinyl Relapse releases, I filtered my spreadsheet to see if there were any other Relapse releases that I had forgotten about, and at this point realised that my copy of 'Miss Machine' was some standard colour vinyl from the first pressing. I am quite proud of the fact that pretty much every record in my collection that is on Relapse is on clear vinyl, so I started thinking about trying to upgrade this record to a clear vinyl copy. And after the thought entered my head and the chance presented itself, I couldn't help but pull the trigger.

The release page for this record on discogs suggests that there are 9 separate pressings of this LP, and as I type this in 2026, there are 19 different colour vinyl options listed. This first pressing clear vinyl (Not available to the public - Friends of band and label only') copy is the rarest of them all.

After deciding to buy this recently, I have listened to it quite a bit, and I feel that it definitely holds up really well. In fact, I think I am enjoying it now more than ever. Back when it came out I liked it, but also had this slight sense of disappointment. With all the passing years, that feeling is long gone and I'm able to enjoy it for what it is, not what a young version of me hoped it would be. I guess I can finally acknowledge why the band got so popular, and for the first time ever I'm now thinking about checking out some of their other releases.