Sunday 22 September 2013

Stick To Colour

I find that when I moan about not having a colour vinyl version of a record on this blog that one falls into my lap a day or two later. So, when I recently posted up my black vinyl version of Stick Together - Surviving The Times, I almost immediately spotted the Clear Grey version of 406 on eBay. I was never not going to win this. Easy score!



Such a great layout.

Sunday 15 September 2013

Truly A Clear Head

Well, this isn't the usual sort of release I'd expect from Youngblood Records. True Head play a kind of grungy / early 90's college rock, you know the style - melodic without being catchy or having big chorus' - that kinda thing.

True Head - S/T E.P



In fact this record feels like this years Gypsy - Giants Despair for me, in that it's taken a couple of listens to really get to grips with this release and I suppose musically it's not a million miles away really, but now I'm on board it's getting some heavy rotation. If your into Jawbox, Jawbreaker and Quicksand and some of those 90's Rev bands that weren't hardcore per say, this will be right up your street.


After consulting other blogs I've found out that this clear vinyl version is of 150 copies with a further 100 being on pink vinyl and 200 on black vinyl.



Friday 13 September 2013

Time To Ignite

A few weeks ago I finally made it back to Ignite Records in Birmingham only just short of a year since my last visit there. I was in the second city for some new Nike Air Max mainly but there was no way I wasn't going to be paying Rich a visit.
It was just the right time too, as Rich had literally just got some new stock in and I wanted a few of the records that were yet to go from box to shelf.

Night Birds - Born To Die In Suburbia


Obviously the reason I'd not yet ordered this online was to give myself the opportunity to buy this record in person from a shop, I just didn't know it yet. I was stoked Rich had just gotten this in stock and quickly made it the first record on my pile. As the Maimed For The Masses taster release suggested this is more of the same from the Night Birds and that's just fine by me, I really like this band and the continuation of their sound makes for another good record.
 

Magic Circle - Magic Circle


Walking into the shop I knew there was another record that I had been after but hadn't got round to ordering yet but I couldn't for the life of me have told you what it was at that time. Luckily a mental list isn't needed in Ignite, Rich rooting through the new stock boxes held up the Magic Circle record and said 'have you heard this?' - ah! That was the other record.
This release is brilliant, I had a feeling it was going to be good from what I had read but this record really knocked my socks off! It's hard to believe actually that this is the same vocalist from Rival Mob on this Sabbath-esque doom record but he sounds awesome here. As Mark Sandwell said, this is better than a lot of the stuff put out by Southern Lord and Rise Above. Definitely my most played record over the last few weeks. Limited to 1000


 
Downpresser - Don't Need A Reason
 

I don't think Downpresser had put anything out since the Age Of Ignorance 7" a few years ago which I liked so when I saw they'd just released a new LP on 6131 I figured I'd check it out. Luckily this isn't at all bad. I wouldn't have minded scoring a colour vinyl version but this is the black vinyl version of 600. The packaging of this is really good on a side note, thick gate fold sleeve much like the Southern Lord releases.
 
 
Along with these 3 new releases I was also able to pick up 3 older releases that I'd been meaning to get for a while but hadn't been in the right place at the right time to actually purchase.
 
All Pigs Must Die - All Pigs Must Die
 

A friend of mine first told me to check this record out about 2 years ago and I've heard a few things from All Pigs Must Die since then but just haven't got round to actually buying anything. In fact they have a couple of more records out since this one but being anal about these things I of course couldn't even think about buying those before securing the bands first release. Being that it features Ben from Converge it's probably not hard to imagine what's going on here, great, fast, heavy stuff in the vein of bands like Nails. There were 850 black vinyl copies in the second and third press, I'm not sure which this is. Great album art.
 
 
Jesuit - Discography
 

Speaking of Converge related bands and great album art I was also finally able to pick up a copy of the Jesuit discography too. Despite hearing all this stuff before I'd never actually physically owned any Jesuit releases so this is a good way to get everything together in one place. As mentioned the cover of this thing is just insane. The record also comes with a CD inlay style book about the history of the band which is interesting too.


 
Chosen Ones - They Called Your Number
 

I was also able to pick up a missing Reaper Records release too. I remember being curious about what this record sounded like for quite a while when Mario blogged about it and confirmed to me that it was different from most Reaper releases. Mario did however describe it as assessable punk rock in the style of Harrington Saints and the Sydney Ducks though which is right up my street in punk rock terms so I made a note to pick it up if it was ever in front of me. Blue vinyl version of 724 copies.
 
 
Not a bad days work on the LP front and I also picked up a few 7" records from Rich's Speedowax label too.

Kickturn - The Untruth EP


This features members of Losin' It I believe. Pretty good stuff. I think Rich said this was some sort of pre-release copy but I forget now.

Machinist - Blacklist

 
 
This is the 16th Birthday Speedowax press
 
Kato - Buried With The Rain


I like this 7". Isis, Integrity, Full Of Hell style stuff. Nice!!

That completes the Ignite Records haul! Great stock at a great shop run by a really good dude. I'm gonna try and not leave it a year before my next visit this time.


Thursday 5 September 2013

No Spiritual Surrender

A quick post before work. Very late but always one of my favourite 7" releases from Rev this is the Inside Out - No Spiritual Surrender repress.



I don't really have a huge amount to say about this classic release other than its fucking great. The red seems an odd choice for the repress but as there were already blue and white copies I guess there wasn't anywhere to go that would have been in keeping with the sleeve.

Here it is next to my trusty old black vinyl version.


The old version has a glossier sleeve and the blue bar at the top but other than that there's not a huge amount of difference.


Tuesday 3 September 2013

The Endless Sale

Recently I found myself a little flusher than normal (as will become obvious in one of my next posts), so when Marcus over at The Endless Quest announced he was selling some records, I couldn't help but take a look. Sure enough Marcus had a couple of things I wanted, so after giving me a stern telling off like the grumpy old man he is for daring to ask how much he wanted rather than make him an offer, we hit upon a fair price and made the exchange.

Converge - Petitioning Forever



Always keen to add to my Converge collection I was really pleased to be able to score this 2005 double LP set of two of the bands earlier albums Petitioning The Empty Sky and Forever Comes Crashing. Jane Doe like the majority of people is my favourite Converge material but this stuff especially Forever Comes Crashing is definitely next for me. This is the first press on clear gold of 500 and includes a bonus 7".


Marcus also had another record I'd been looking for Comeback Kid - Wake The Dead. I have a real soft spot for this record as it was one of the records that was always on the play list when me and some friends played poker a lot a few years ago and I guess I associate it with good times. Not to mention big wins!!! Boom!



The title track especially is superb but I hadn't heard the whole thing for a while and listening to it again I remembered that I like this record a lot, super catchy stuff. This is the blue first press version of 944 copies. Good to finally have this on vinyl.

27 - Holding On For Brighter Days

Last year I wrote about this record that Marcus released on his own label and how much I love it (here). This record still gets a lot of play in my house, so it seemed rude not to pick up the Green (with glitter) version of 105 when Marcus offered me it for cheap.



I don't know why I didn't buy this rarer version first time round actually, maybe at the time I thought the Amber (with glitter) version looked better? I dunno, but I'm pleased to add this second copy to my collection anyway. Really great record.

Being a gent Marcus also asked me if there was a Endless Quest Records release I didn't have that I wanted him to throw in for free. Well, I didn't have Search and Destroy - English Terror Boys so was more than happy for him to chuck it in as well.


As a freebie Marcus could have just chucked in a black vinyl version but he was good enough to send me a red vinyl version of 117 pressed which was much appreciated. Nice one Marcus!

Sunday 1 September 2013

Mind Crawler

I didn't even know this new single from Uncle Acid was being released until I saw a picture online and thought 'that's a cool cover'. I then realised it was their just released new single and headed over to Rise Above Records to grab a copy. Of course as to be expected they had completely sold out of the 2,020 copies of the single, that's mental right? Especially as 1600 of them are on black. Anyway luckily for me the non Rise Above colours were still available online at a UK distro. Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - Mind Crawler


Sorry if the picture is a little hazy I've left the single in the shrink wrap and it proved a little tricky to capture it seems. Anyway this thing looks awesome with it's B-movie style cover and 'R' rating tying in perfectly with the full length Mind Controls' inlay.


The single happily contains an exclusive track too. The rather well chosen and extremely catchy Get On Home originally by Charles Manson. This version stays pretty true to the originals acoustic folky styling, minus the female 'family' members vocals. I can't find any pressing info for this orange colour version but I know there's also a red and a blue version not exclusive to Rise Above.