Stranglers Gonna Make Me Pay (a fair price)

I some how managed to get hold of one of the most sought after records of recent times it seems. Boston Strangler - Primitive. I didn't hear this band straight away and when I eventually caught on, it seemed like everyone was talking about how hard it was to track down a copy rather than the music on the record it's self. I scored a copy all thanks to Twitter.

A few months ago I was talking to Mario about this and that when he mentioned that he had joined Facebook/Twitter recently just to keep up with new releases, because he found that this was where labels and the like dropped the information first. I'm a bit stuck in my ways I have to say and don't really go in for social networking, but a few weeks later after a conversation with my friend Ross who runs thisisnotascene about how useful he finds it, I decided I couldn't just keep relying on Mario's heads up on things (doesn't mean you can stop the emails mate) and I should really investigate this 'Twitter' as the kids were calling it thing myself.
I saw the benefits almost straight away when one morning at what seemed to be a weird time I saw a message from Grave Mistake Records saying ' Boston Strangler LP - got a few back in stock'. 'Hmmm that's gotta be a weird time in the states' I thought 'hopefully everyone else will literally be sleeping on this'. Seems they were. I headed straight over, paid my $12 and got the hell out of there. A couple of hours later I checked back out of curiosity and just as expected, they had all gone.

If anyone doesn't use twitter then I do recommend it for stuff like this, I've scored a few other things since that I think have solely been announced on there. Then again I'm probably the only one who didn't already know this haha.

So Boston Strangler and this album - Well it's good, frantic, old school fun that's for sure. It's never gonna live up to the kind of hype the record has created, you'd have thought they'd reinvented the whole hardcore genre the way that hype has gotten. It's certainly a cracking album though, played with an infectious and obvious sense of humour.

Visually it's a nice looking album all clean and black and white, much like the Off! LP.

Twitter Core!!

Internal Affairs

Here's another recent ebay pick up. Internal Affairs - Deadly Visions.

This is the record release version that caught my eye and sold really cheaply which I was surprised about. I mean I didn't expect it to sell for a fortune but we're talking a few pounds including postage. It's always the way though, stuff I think will creep up in price doesn't and things I think I've nabbed at a steal with minutes to go because no-one else has spotted or interested in suddenly rockets up.

On yellow vinyl and obviously has a different cover to the normal release. This is number 169 of 230.

Reaper Round Up

I've had Turnstiles - Pressure To Succeed 7" first pressing on blue vinyl for quite a while now and it's a record I just don't get bored of. It's a hell of an impressive debut, I like it alot. So when I read on Mikes blog that a second pressing had been released by Reaper Records on the far less exciting black vinyl I knew I wanted a copy of that version too. I didn't even know it had been re-pressed, I just can't keep up sometimes.

Anyway here they both are. 830 on Blue and 300 on Black:

So in order to once again make a dent in my own back log - whilst in the Reaper webstore I also picked up some other releases by them that I didn't have.

S.O.S - I owe you nothing. I actually did have this but on CD, which I sold so I had to pick up a vinyl copy. Black and Gold Mix of 450.

Naysayer - No Remorse. This is the second press on red of 980. It has the familiar Reaper Records centre that a few other releases by them also use, such as Trapped Under Ice - Stay Cold.

Terror - Rhythm Amongst The Chaos. Which has some sweet packaging.

and Death Threat - Lost At Sea. Blue Vinyl of 980.

Shelter for the Youth Of Today

Every blogger and his dog have written about these reissues so I'm gonna make this brief.

Here are my copies of the recent Youth Of Today represses on Revelation Records. Both look awesome and as I didn't have them on vinyl previously I'm super stoked to have these.
It's the same with all these reissues from Rev, when they have come out in previous pressings I've been deep in CD land, so whilst I've owned them and I know the albums well, I just can't get enough of adding these vinyl copies to my collection.

Break Down The Walls:

We're Not In This Alone:

On a related Cappo note, I thought I'd include this in the same post. Shelters - The Purpose, The Passion.

I loves me some Shelter and I picked this up the other day in a bargain bin for £4. What can you buy for £4 ($6 for my american friends) these days?

It's on the weakest looking red colour vinyl I've ever seen, I mean that thing is seriously anemic. At that price you can't go wrong though.

For The Sake Of Time...

...I'm gonna post up some recent 7" scores all at once. I've bought loads of stuff recently and I'm never gonna get through it unless I start grouping some stuff together. I mean I bought some Rev represses what seems like ages ago now and I still haven't posted anything up about them.

First up Sectarian Violence S/T

But no ordinary S/T release, this is the U.S Tour Version of the record

Limited to 100. I spotted this announced somewhere that the band had some left overs on their big cartel and struck fast as I was about to buy the regular version anyway. I like this band.

Next a related release as both bands feature Nicktape on vocals. Coke Bust - Live On WMVC. Released on Carry The Weight Records. This is the brown version limited to 150 copies.

Next up Cornered a band I first heard on their split with Cold Snap. Released by Carry The Weight also. This is the blue with white splatter version of 200.

I was impressed by Cornered so picked up their charmingly titled FUCK OFF! 7"on 6131 Records. This is good too, fast as hell, brutal, heavy ass hardcore.

Lastly whilst picking up the Cornered release and some other stuff I picked up Bracewar - Whatever It Takes Demo too. I'd had a download of this but not a physical copy so got the clear version limited to 300.

That's made a small dent in the stuff I still need to write about at least.

Gypsy and the Common Cause

Sooooo....When I ordered the Cold World - No Omega repress earlier in the month I needed something to bulk up the order as usual. It was at this point that my eyes fell upon a release I'd seen mentioned on some other blogs and read about with interest, mainly because of the nature it had been spoken of. It seemed to be a real enigma of a release, people dug it but didn't know why almost. What the hell, I added it to my cart. After all, it features members of Cold World, Mother Of Mercy and Stick Together and I like all of those bands.

This Is Gypsy - Giant's Despair

I have to put myself in the same camp as other peoples opinions on this one, it really is an odd listen and also sounds NOTHING like the band members other outfits. At first I thought, 'yeah it's ok' and although I knew it was an album that would require some patience, I didn't really know where the fuss about it was going to come from, but 2, 3 ,4 listens later it had started to sink in a little and really grow on me, and when I was looking for something to listen to last night and automatically reached for this I really can say this is a really good LP.
On a side note and strangely,my wife thought this was good stuff on the first listen. Guess she 'got it' before me. Or maybe it was due to having no preconceived ideas? I dunno.

Packaging wise, it's a really striking album layout and suits the mood of the music perfectly, it appears to have been done by Jacob Bannon. As I'm late to the party I have the white vinyl version which is a pressing of 715. I think the Lavender version that Mike wrote about probably looks better but the white still works.

Fans of Helmet, Jawbreaker, Quicksand and Make Do and Mend would be into this. This is definately the most 'surprising' release I've bought this year I'd say.

At the same time I also picked up this:

 Norway's Common Cause - S/T 7"

I pretty much bought this just based on the Norway thing as I tend to like scandanavian bands, I've always viewed it as a real musical hot bed. Truth be told though I've only had a brief listen so haven't had chance to form an opinion yet. Sounds alright though.

Bear Trap

A second post today working my way through the back log (very slowly) . Here's another record I got recently, Beartrap's -Nailed Shut 7".

This is the Euro Press Tour version of the record limited to 50. It has a different screen printed cover to the regular release as is the way with many limited tour pressings. It looks good too although again my photos aren't given it the due justice. The silver on black looks good though.
The Massachusetts based mob play frantic, brooding, spazzy metallic hardcore. It's up in the grindcore end of the spectrum but I'd say it's a little more listener friendly than most grind core. To give an idea of how frantic this is, there appears to be about 16 tracks on offer here, but with how they are jammed together and most of them lasting just seconds you'd never know. I like it though.

Two of the tracks from it can be found here http://beartrap.bandcamp.com/album/nailed-shut

Not Sorry

A while ago I was picking up another copy of Out Of Vogues S/T 7" that I've spoken about previously here. I'm a big old fan of that band and wanted another copy, this time on Blue limited to 150. Actually, quite why I didn't pick up the black version too to complete the set i don't know. Idiot. Either way I'm still loving this EP.

As part of the order I emailed David who runs Salad Days Records with a few general questions, in the conversation he mentioned that I should really check out one of his other releases if I hadn't already as he was sure I'd be a fan. I'd had my eyes on his release of Not Sorry's - Moving On but had yet to strike, so I did just that.

David of course was right, I do like it, it's right up my street in fact, 6 tracks of balls to the wall hardcore indeed in a similar vein to the aforementioned Swedes Out Of Vogue. I'm a sucker for urgency, passion and gang chants in my music. Not to mention an obvious intelligence that Not Sorry display here.

I've got the blue version here of which 96 were pressed. After the first break neck speed listen to this I stuck it straight on again which is always a good sign.

Good Stuff.

Cold World - No Omega

This came through today from Six Feet Under. It's their re-issue of Cold World's - No Omega and is made up of their debut 7", the Ice Grillz 7" and the split with War Hungry as well as two songs from the split with Strength For A Reason, remastered and given a new cover.

I already have those previous releases but when I got the tip about this reissue I had to jump on it. I bagged the orange w/ black & white splatter version Limited to 100.

My picture doesn't do it justice but this is one of the finest looking records I've ever seen, that black and white splatter absolutely POPS off that clear orange. Glorious.

It's a good package (even excusing what might be the most casual band photo ever used on the back of an album - have they been shopping?) and the inlay includes a little bit about each song from Cold World and associates.

I got some other stuff from Six Feet Under too which I'll post up soon