Over The Line 7"

The second post in two days about a 7" by a band whose name starts with the word 'over', this is the new 7" by OVER THE LINE. As usual, Livewire Records have pressed only 300 copies, with two colours of vinyl:

I'm not actually sure what the pressing info is on this one. On the Livewire homepage they say 200 Red and 100 Blue. However, in a previous article on Livewire they said there were 200 Blue and 100 Red. So yeah, there's 200 of one colour and 100 of the other. As usual with Livewire releases, the packaging is pretty impressive, and this 7" comes with a large fold-out poster.

I don't know much about this band. I think they were around back in about '97, did a demo and then disappeared. Then they came back a couple of years later and recorded some more and then disappeared again. So I think that this recording is from about '99... but I might be wrong. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm into this or not. I listened to it about 3 or 4 times now and it doesn't really grab me too much. That said, however, there's a song called "Dead Eyes" which I am into because there are moments where it sounds just like BURN to me, which is always a good thing. I'd link you to a myspace page so you could check them out, but I think this is the only band in the known universe to not have one. So instead you can preview one song on Livewire HERE (mp3 link is at the end of the first paragraph).

Overstand 'Kali Yuga' 7"

About 7 years after I ordered it, I got my Overstand 7".

I don't really know anything about this band. Former member of Charge apparently, although I have never in my life heard Charge before, so that doesn't mean a lot to me. To be honest, I only really bought this to support my friend Adam who put this out on his label, The Essence. I got some numbered version:

I don't know what the pressing info is on this. I think there was going to be only like 300 total or thereabouts. Not sure what the difference is between the version I got and the regular version either.

Anyway, considering I had no real expectations for this thing, I'm into it. I played it a few times and I like these songs. The first song, 'Brainwash Mind Games' is probably my favourite, it has some Annihilation Time type rock guitar riff going on which I am into a lot. But there are 4 good songs here. I'd recommend checking this band out and picking up a 7" before it vanishes. To help you, here's a couple of links.

First up, the band can be found and listened to here:

http://www.myspace.com/​overs​tandn​j

And the label can be found here:

http://www.myspace.com/​thees​sence​hc

Enjoy!

Redlisted

One of my favourite releases in recent years, the Blacklisted 'Our Youth Is Wasted' 12". This red vinyl copy came with free tear in the bottom of the cover. Lucky me.

Wolfpack!

Today's entry comes courtesy of my man in Japan, Dobek. He sold a whole bunch of records recently so that he could buy another record, so I picked up something I'd never heard before - The New York Wolfpack LP:

What I know about this band you could write on the back of a postage stamp. The vocalist was Steve Reddy, who owns Equal Vision Records. If you want to know more about this band, read the only known interview HERE.

Capital LPs

Once again I got suckered into buying a record for the cover. I was checking Revelation's website a few weeks back & this picture of a church against a blue sky caught my eye. The picture in question was the cover of an album called "Homefront" by a band called CAPITAL. I liked the picture, so decided to read about the band. Then I decided to order the record.

I think there were 300 copies on gold vinyl. Blue vinyl also exists, which I think is rarer. I also decided to order the band's first album too, since it's uneconomical to buy just one record, with the crazy exchange rate and postage rates. I bought two versions of this one:

Even though I was initially attracted by the cover photo, I'm glad that something drew me to this band. I can't say enough good things about this. I don't know exactly what to say, so I am just going to tell you the things I like in no particular order:

1. The singer used to sing for a band called Silent Majority. I used to listen to this band a lot.

2. There's a song called "On A Mission", which is a story of how the singer discovered the "New York City Hardcore - The Way It Is" LP in a second hand record store. The lyrics are fantastic. The chorus is "And now I've spent half my life just chasing that excitement of hearing something new", which somehow seems to sum my life up perfectly.

3. There's a song on the first album called "Early Nineties", which features the line "I tried searching for the light, then I cried the holy name". As far as I am concerned, references to early 90s records are cool.

4. They have a song called "Goth N Roll" which is about shitty fake bands, which features really great lyrics, the best bit being "I'm resurrecting Minor Threat just to take you out. All you scream about are dead girls bleeding hearts and fake worlds. As you can see, I'm not that frightened". Genius!

5. Both albums were recorded in a local kindergarten for free. Talk about punk!

It's not often that a band can come along and make me want to like them so badly. I guess this band just seem to sum up what hardcore is to me. Musically they sound like a few bands from the more melodic end of the spectrum. I can hear bits of bands like Silent Majority (obviously), Avail, Death By Stereo, Dag Nasty, Strike Anywhere and Quicksand. The songs are catchy. But its more the band's principles, intelligence and sincerity that I'm into at this point.

You can check the band out here:

www.myspace.com/capitallihc

If you want to order any records, the vinyl is on Underground Communiqué, which you can find here:

www.myspace.com/undergroundcommuniquerecords

Enjoy...

Jazz June Test

I'm not sure how you would define this band. Emo rock? I'm not a huge fan of stuff like this, but I got into this band many years ago because one of my favourite labels at the time (Initial Records) put out a 7" by them. I really liked the record, so then tracked down a couple of 12"s. My favorite was their first album, "They Love Those Who Make The Music". I played this to death back in 1998 or so. Anyway, I was checking eBay recently and found a test press of it. I figured I would bid, and was extremely surprised to win it for only $15... especially since the same seller had another Jazz June test that went for $63. It's always good to pick up something nice for a bargain price.

I hadn't played the regular version of the record for years, so I got it out to compare. This is what my copy looks like:

What's interesting is that my regular version of this album was a split release between Choke & Workshop Records. But the matrix on this test press has a Workshop code (WR-011V-A & WR-011V-B), whereas the regular record has a different matrix that reads "Choke 2A" & "Choke 2B". So I immediately wondered if the test I picked up is a test press of an earlier pressing or a later repress, or is it a possibly an initial test press that was rejected for some reason? I asked the seller. He thinks that the original pressing of the album was on Workshop Records and on black vinyl, and the split release with Choke Records that I have was a later version. Which would suggest that my test press is a test of the original version. But not sure I'll ever know. Regardless, it's still a nice one to have.

1986 > 2009

This week I received the latest Dischord colour vinyl re-issue. The Embrace LP.

In my opinion, this is probably the best Dischord release of all time. Such a good record, and one which has stood the test of time for me. These songs never get old or boring. It's nice to own this on colour vinyl, and great that Dischord had it pressed somewhere decent, unlike some of the recent re-issues which came on crappy vinyl with paper thin sleeves.

Whilst shopping, I also picked up an LP by a band called ONE LAST WISH. The album is called "1986". The band was made up of 3 people who would later go on to form Fugazi, and Michael Hampton (who was also in Embrace and SOA). This album has just been issued for the first time on vinyl, previously being available on CD only.

It may be 23 years since these songs were recorded, but this has aged well. I'd never heard this band before, but I've been spinning this a lot the past couple of days. I'd highly recommend checking it out. I was never a big fan of Fugazi, but this record is great. It kind of mixes the best elements of Embrace, Rites Of Spring and Fugazi. And even though they only existed for 8 months in 1986, they still have a myspace, so if you don't trust me and aren't sure whether you should part with the few dollars it would take to own this, you can try before you buy. Go here:

www.myspace.com/onelastwishdc

Forgotten Trade

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. Posting on here has definitely slowed down, due to the exchange rate. Only a few months ago I was getting something new every two or three days, and now I'm getting maybe one parcel a week. Things are gonna get better for the next few days though, since I've just received a few items in the last couple of days.

Anyway, on to today's update... I did a rare "in person" trade a couple of weeks ago, but I'm only just getting around to posting about it here because I placed the records in a stupid place in my room, so I immediately forgot about them (I guess I probably wouldn't have misplaced them if they were exciting though, haha!). First up is an Ignition 7":

I'm not a big Ignition fan if I'm honest. I always thought they were one of the weaker Dischord bands. I have the CD with everything on, and it never really grabbed me as anything special. I still wanted this 7" though. I like the art and the vinyl colour. This one also comes on blue. Both colours seem to sell for about $15 these days. Not a bad price for a Dischord half number, in my opinion. Anyway, if someone can tell me about Ignition I'd appreciate it. Tell me something that is gonna make me more excited than I am now. Please.

Second 7" is a Wind Of Change 7" called "A Promise Kept" (inspiration for the Champion LP name perhaps?)

I guess the most noteworthy point of this 7" is that it's on Step Forward Records, which is the label that released the first pressing of the Unit Pride 7".

I like it when the record contains pressing info. As you can see, there were 1000 copies of this one made back in June 1988.

This was just before I started skateboarding. I guess the me of 1988 would have found this band cool as hell... although, looking back, it's difficult for me to take a band seriously who looked like this:

(Photo borrowed from Double Cross)

It's not often that a record makes me laugh, but this one did. Check it here:

I just love how they apologise for messing up and missing a song off the record, yet at the same time tell you that if you want to hear it you have to spend more money. Fantastic!

If you want to read a recent interview with one of the dudes in the band, there's a good one on Double Cross HERE

A Is For Asshole

Just picked up a record that came out in 2003, which was in the dark period when I was losing touch with hardcore because I was busy doing exams. It seems I was studying so that, a couple of years later, I could get a better job and earn more money and buy records that I was too busy to buy when I was studying. Here we have the "A Is For Asshole" LP by the A-Team, on mint green vinyl. It also comes on camo vinyl, which I guess I would also like to pick up at some point. I spotted this on eBay a few weeks ago and decided I wanted it, then that night had some bizarre dream that I managed to find three super rare colour vinyl versions which were limited to one copy each. When you dream about records, you know you have a problem.

From the same dude I also bought a Cross My Heart 12" that I already have:

I bought it again because this one is numbered out of 50:

However, it is identical in every way to the other one I have that is not numbered. So I'm wondering whether the one I already had is one of the same 50, but the numbered insert got lost? The numbered one is more grey, whilst the unnumbered one has a little more of a brown tinge to it, but I can't believe for one second that these are two different colours:

If anyone knows anything about this, please let me know. Thanks!

Break It Up Test

There's an old saying / piece of advice that I have found can get you a long way in life - "If you don't ask, you don't get". What this really means, of course, is that if you want something badly, then you should be a cheeky bastard and ask for it, because sometimes you'll be lucky and end up with exactly what you wanted. I whole-heartedly subscribe to this theory. It's worked for me numerous times over the years. One time in about 1997 I wanted to see the band Will Haven play in my hometown, but they were supporting The Deftones & it was completely sold out. Undeterred, I went along to the venue, asked to speak to someone from Will Haven, and just told the dude I wanted to watch his band but the show was sold out. He put me on the guestlist. Another time I phoned up the owner of Revelation Records and asked if I could get a Chung King record, and a couple of months later we did a dodgy trade and I had one [NOTE - do not try this now, you will get nowhere]. And today, once more, the simple piece of advice yields great results, as I received a Break It Up test press in the mail:

As you can see, I got the "fucked up" test pressing:

I was interested to know exactly what was wrong with this record, so (for a change) I actually put a record on my turntable. The answer is that there is a constant, high-pitched ringing noise throughout the duration of side 2 of this record. I would therefore concur with the description of this being "fucked up". If you are interested in pressing info on this record, see Lins87's blog HERE.

The dust sleeve also came with a cool message from Lins87 himself:

THANKS DUDE! This is greatly appreciated!

For those of you who don't know, Break It Up were a UK band that existed circa 2003-2006. One of the best shows I saw them play was in some basement in Leeds. It just sticks in my mind. The night was horrible, and I just sat in some kid's room with a load of other old men watching tv, waiting for Break It Up to play. They played, I jumped on someone's head, the night seemed slightly improved. It's funny what you remember sometimes I guess. Anyway, for anyone who never heard Break It Up, check them out:

www.myspace.com/breakitupuk

You can probably still pick up their album somewhere I'm sure if you wanted.

Clouds - We Are Above You

The second album by Clouds, "We Are Above You", came out a good couple of months ago. I wanted to order this when it came out, but the price put me right off. Hydrahead wanted $20 for the record (it's a double LP) and also $20 postage. With the current exchange rate that would have been circa £29 in real money, which to me seems utterly ridiculous. So I abandoned the order hoping that I would be able to pick it up cheaper at some later date. This weekend I was in London and found it in HMV on Oxford Street. It was £25. I was so stoked at finding something half-decent in HMV that I momentarily lost my mind and decided to just buy it. I was happy to pay less than it would have cost me to get it from Hydrahead, although £25 for a new album is still a total rip-off. Overall I think there's something severely wrong with the world when you can buy something in HMV cheaper than ordering direct from the label. To get to HMV it's been through a distributor, who have added a mark-up, and then HMV will have added their own mark-up. And still it's less than ordering from the States.

If you've never heard this band, they play some loud-ass rock music and feature they guy from Cave In who looks like the guy from Piebald.

www.myspace.com/cloudsrock

Walpurgisnacht III

Another day, another 'Walpurgisnacht' 7". This one is white and has a holy terror stamp on the dust sleeve.

I have too many copies of this record now. Although, that said, there is at least one more version I need. Yes, you read that correctly. Need.

Can't Kill What's Inside

Got my latest order from Revelation, which I am pretty happy with. Although, I gotta say, I am distinctly unhappy with the amount of money I had to part with to get this stuff - the combination of the exchange rate and Parcel Force slapping a customs charge on me meant that I paid an average of about £16 per record for the contents of this parcel.

Anyway, first up, the whole basis for me placing the order - the Mouthpiece discography LP, which they named after the title of this blog post:

I love the aesthetics of this thing. I love the photo on the cover. You can read the story of the cover photo HERE. The vinyl also looks nice, with the black labels and gold ink contrasting with the "Chung King White" vinyl. I also like how, in keeping with the legendary straight edge hardcore records of the past, the insert is a double sized fold out affair:

I haven't listened to this yet, so I'm not sure how different the remixed & remastered songs are going to sound. But one thing that immediately puzzles me is how they could fit everything on one single LP. I mean, this stuff was originally released as an LP and two 7"s, plus this record includes 3 songs from compilations too. Crazy. Anyway, the buzz around this record has caused me to revisit Mouthpiece for the first time in ages. "Can We Win" is still an awesome song, as is "Cinder". I even started to like the songs from the LP which at the time I was really let down by. Overall I think these songs have aged pretty well, and it's good to see Mouthpiece getting brought to the attention of a new generation of kids.

The next record out of the box is the latest LP from Ceremony, "Still Nothing Moves You". I had never listened to this band before, but checked them out after Mike suggested I give them a listen a few weeks ago.

I must admit, I was kinda drawn to this LP by the artwork. I like the minimal packaging. Occasionally artwork can make me want to check a record out. This is one of those times, and I was not disappointed. This album, and band, is really good, and I feel like a fool for failing to check them out sooner. This green vinyl is a second press, but I'm not too fussed about that I guess.

The next record I added to my order was an LP called "Seasons" by a band called Wait In Vain. I'd heard a couple of songs by these dudes which I liked, but (again) it was partly the artwork that enticed me to buy the album. The cover is a photo of some big ass black storm clouds over a field. I love the contrast in this image. I guess the band do too, which is probably why they used it:

This LP is hand numbered out of 267 copies. It also comes with a cool insert. Rather than the usual single sheet insert, this comes with three postcards in an envelope. All three cards feature more storm photos. Really cool idea.

Next, a record I already own three copies of. The Iron Age LP that Youngblood put out. This is a recent repress on clear. I had to buy it to get one step closer to my goal of owning every colour of every Youngblood record. If you don't understand that comment then you're reading the wrong blog.

The final record in the parcel is a split 10", featuring Pelican and These Arms Are Snakes. Each band covers one of the other's songs. I love Pelican, but generally I hate 10" records, and this one immediately fails to impress with its crap artwork:

Finally, I was stoked to get a spare LP sleeve for the 2nd In My Eyes LP:

I asked for this in the "comments" section of my order. I wanted it to put my test press in. So cool that Revelation were kind enough to throw this in.

Mindset

I got my Mindset pre-order this week. I ordered it back on 27 November 2008. So more than 3 months to wait for this. But once again, React! Records makes the wait seem worth it.

First thing I see when I open the package is another cool piece of screen printed cardboard, with my three 7"s underneath:

Then I check the records out. I knew there were two colours for this one (200 on red, 300 on white) plus the usual black vinyl. So I check to make sure I got one of each, like I expected. Immediately, something looks wrong:

Yup, I'm missing the most limited colour, the red vinyl. I can only assume that I got my order in late. Knowing my luck, I was order number 201. So React! send me two white vinyl records instead. I feel disappointed. Anyway, after the initial disappointment, I check out the the records, and once again the packaging is top notch. Each record comes with a sticker, a download code (two thumbs up!), as well as the standard insert:

I also got sent a huge React! Records poster, which is kinda cool, although I will clearly never "use" this:

Once I'm done checking everything out, I notice something weird. One of the two white vinyl 7"s has a stamp on the dust sleeve, whilst the other does not. So I take the two records out & lay them side by side to investigate:

What suddenly becomes apparent is that I didn't get two white vinyl records after all. I got one of the regular white records, but I also got one super limited "transition press" version. When records are made, if the plates aren't cleaned between colours, you can get traces of one colour in the other colour. Which is what has happened here. I'm guessing the red were pressed first then the white. Consequently, some of the white records contain traces of red. The traces of red are very subtle and I couldn't get the difference to show up too well on my camera. The most obvious way to see the difference is to place them both in front of the light. This brings out the red in the "transition press" & makes it appear almost pink:

So, after the initial disappointment over not getting one of the red vinyl records, I was then left feeling really lucky, since the transition press variants with stamped dust sleeve are limited to 45 copies. So I lucked out yet again. The irony of this is that each record also comes with a short article about "appreciation", which talks about how we're never satisfied with what we have, but we always want what we don't have. This is so true. The moment I opened this package all I could think about was the red vinyl I didn't have. I guess that makes me the perfect example of the modern fool.

So what does this band sound like? I mean, that's the point, right? Well, if you used to like straight edge hardcore 20 years ago and then took an extended break, all I can say is... you didn't miss much. I mean, yes, things went a bit funny in the 90s for a while, but we're over that now & back on track. Mindset isn't anything particularly fresh, but they're certainly welcome, since there aren't too many bands around in 2009 doing the traditional straight edge hardcore thing. These guys also have great lyrics. "More than words, this is a revolution". Check 'em out:

www.myspace.com/mindsetsxe

Instant Burden Collection

It's funny, but when you start to get old time seems to whizz by and you lose track of how many years have passed. There are some bands that I always planned to get around to listening to at some stage, but never did. One of these was BURDEN. I distinctly remember Burden coming up in conversation with Bedard on the first Bane euro tour in 2000. At that time I had heard of Burden but never actually heard them. I also knew that they had a 7" and a few copies came on red vinyl, and I made a mental note to check them out and pick up the 7".

What happened next is that, somehow, nearly 9 years passed without me managing to pick up that record. Nine years! I suppose the band didn't blow up as big as some others, so the record never quite made it onto my "must hear asap" list. And time ticked on. And then recently, Jason Kolins (vocalist) was selling some records via internet message boards, and I figured it would be a good time to pick up that 7". I emailed Jason, and managed to also pick up everything else that Burden released in one go:

The first 7" on red is limited to only 50 copies, apparently. I also got the LP and the second 7", both of which were put out by a euro label, Dead Serious records. Jason was also kind enough to throw in a couple of CDs, which were very much appreciated.

Listening to these records, I'm kicking myself for overlooking this band for so long. This is great hardcore. Check out their myspace page, where you can still pick up a couple of these records if you so wish:

www.myspace.com/burden

Free To Think

One of the Bane records I never picked up was the first press of the 'Free To Think, Free To Be' 7". This is their second 7" from about 1997. Years ago, when I picked this record up for the first time, I obtained a numbered yellow vinyl pressing, which I was more than happy with. No need to chase a black copy. But a while ago I realised I needed the numbered black version else I would clearly just be some kind of moron. I finally got around to getting a copy:

I like how the label says "black". Just in case you weren't sure I guess. I have now decided that I also need a regular black press with the regular labels. I now have 7 copies of this record, and just realised that they all have plain white labels. So a "regular" copy with a proper printed label suddenly seems rarer, hence I need one. Ebay here I come...