Friday, August 31, 2012

ILL INTENT - No Masters



Once again I'm lagging on my posts. Now that I've run out of free space for my pictures, maintaining this blog has become quite cumbersome. Some photo hosting sites don't seem to work when looking at the pages on a mobile device (atleast on my android phone), so I've been having to try different sites. All in all, it makes it a pain in the ass for something that I'm doing for free! But the show must go on, or so they say...

Lately my two most played records have been that PEACE s/t 7" with the goofy cover, and this 7". This is an absolute BRUTAL ripper. I feel the music really reflects their Northwest style hardcore, I picture them recording and it being all dark, depressing, cloudy, wet and rainy outside. That's the feeling that shines through on this thing. Like Rakim said "Ain't Nobody Smiling", and the sheer brutality of the lyrics and vocals are what make this such an amazing release. I'm totally into it and I can't wait to see them when they come through San Jose on tour. This pretty much blows away almost every other release I've gotten lately, hands down one of the best releases of 2012. Check out "No Masters" featuring the singer from Rotting Out:



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

ANGEL CREW.. 2001... We're taking over this shit!



On a recent trip to San Francisco I got to stop by Amoeba Records and found quite the gem for $2.99. A slightly tore up copy of Angel Crew's "Another Day Living in Hatred". I have had this record on mp3 since 2001 and I have always loved it. Angel Crew was a European tough guy hardcore band from the early 2000s, and this record is raging as all hell. I have never owned any Angel Crew vinyl and honestly I haven't listened to this record in probably a year or two and had somewhat forgotten about it, but I was thrilled to find it for so cheap. After listening to this the last few days I am remembering now why I loved this release so much, this release is filled with absolute bangers.


It came on what appeared to be normal white vinyl, but as I took it out at the house I was surprised to see that when held up to light its kind of an off white marble. Looks pretty interesting though. If you have never heard of these guys, check out the opening track below, ant that brutal intro:




Sunday, August 26, 2012

Rotting Out 2nd Press






So when I heard that 6131 would be repressing Street Prowl I was all over it. The first press sold out pretty fast, and I only managed to get a red copy and black copy with printed labels. I've seen the clear copy of the first press go for over $60 on ebay, so I may have to wait a few years before I acquire that one. I headed over to the 6131 store and saw that there were only two colors pressed, so I put in a pre order for 2 copies. The layout was slightly redone, obviously its in black and white now and different back picture. You can check out my old post on this album for more info.





The colors were a kind of whitish gray marble and a reddish black swirl. I'll go ahead and coin them "bone" and "blood red" marble. The red actually looks very nice when held up to the sunlight. I'm not sure which one is more limited or what the pressing info on this is. One thing I found interesting was that the blood red version came with the "Rotting Out" sticker on the polybag, while the bone marble version had no sticker. I'm not sure if it is like that for all copies, but that may possibly be a way to tell the colors apart if it is sealed?




Another big ass poster, though not quite as big a poster as the first press, still pretty cool. The lyrics are on the back. I've been listening to this release alot lately and it is really quite excellent. However, some bands are better on record than they are live, and some bands are better live than they are on record. Rotting Out is better live than they are on record. They are one of the best live bands I have seen in a long time, and I'm hoping that they can find a way to channel that live stage presence and energy into their recordings a little bit more for their next release.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Omegas - Blasts of Lunacy, and Clothing Advice





Here is my copy of Omegas' "Blasts of Lunacy". Great band name, great record name, great cover art/layout. Simple and to the point. This has been one of the more hyped records of the past few years, and was at the top of many 2011 best of lists. It was out of press for a minute so I finally scooped a copy up a few months ago. There are some very good songs and parts of this album where they flash brilliance, but I don't think it's consistent enough all the way through to warrant the hype that it has received. Like many bands, it really comes down to vocals for me and there are times where the singers voice just flat out annoys me. Maybe this will grow on me like that Fire & Ice LP did, time will tell. I've been trying really hard to get into this. 




Maybe this is what annoyed me right from opening the packaging. The two things I hate most about hardcore music are 1) Hardcore dancing and 2) Short shorts/Tiny ass clothes. I'm sorry but if you are a grown ass man, please cover up your legs nobody wants to see that shit. Have some respect for yourself. They're called Dickies, go buy some! So I am 6'0, almost 200 pounds and I rock a 2XL or XL tee, I have seen guys my size at shows right next to me at the merch table buying a size small or medium. Really bro? I'll never forget last time I saw Trapped Under Ice that "freaky franz" guy was working their merch table. I went up to buy a 2XL shirt, and there was a guy next to me that tried to get a small and he was almost my size. The merch guy asked him if the shirt was for him, dude says "Yes" and the merch guy said he refused to sell him anything less than a large and said that he needs to buy a "grown man size, like this guy" (points at me). I literally lost my shit. I felt kind of bad laughing right in the guys face but it was the funniest merch table moment I've ever seen. 

Thursday, August 23, 2012

M.O.P. - Firing Squad. Harder than Hardcore.




At a recent record store shopping trip that I mostly came up empty handed in the hardcore and punk sections, I was thrilled to find a gem in the hip hop section. One of my favorite groups of all time M.O.P. (Mash Out Posse)'s "Firing Squad" album from 1996, and an original pressing at that. Even though this is my second favorite M.O.P. album, behind "Warriorz", this is still a classic and essential hip hop album. If you ask my friend Max who is a complete hip hop connoisseur he will swear up and down that this is M.O.P.'s best album. For those of you that don't know M.O.P. and say you like hip hop, well, you suck. Billy Danze and Lil Fame (aka Fizzy Womack) are two of the hardest, rawest rappers ever and they blend perfectly together. Especially for someone that likes hardcore music, these guys are basically the hardcore version of hip hop. They yell and have a ton of energy. Crucial record.





Although this is not necessarily super rare, it is still hard to track down and old hip hop LPs don't come around too often on ebay. Especially when you consider 90's hip hop on vinyl, they probably pressed a few thousands and most of them were used as promo copies. Back then, and even today, it is difficult to find most hip hop new releases on vinyl. It is especially difficult to find them with the real album art, as most hip hop LPs are promo copies, which basically mean they are a plain black sleeve with just a sticker on it with the rappers logo and the album name, and a little blurb about the album. Either way I'm stoked to own this now, and I'm just going to keep it sealed since I already know for a fact that this was only pressed on black vinyl. This is an original pressing on Relativity Records so it is much rarer than the later repress on Epic Records which was a 2LP version. Check out the rather corny video below for "World Famous" which suddenly turns into "Downtown Swinga", so the video is like half of both songs:




And still my favorite M.O.P. video, their first ever single "How About Some Hardcore?" So Good! This is the type of song that you can play at any social gathering and in the words of Lord Finesse, "turn a house party into a concert". My old band used to play this over the PA before we started our set:






Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Get the Most - Common Goals EP



For a quick post, check out these Get the Most 7"s that I got from my recent Crucial Response order. Here are the limited 2nd press copies of /296 on red and /206 on blue. These guys broke up not too long ago and that sucks, they were a solid youth crew hardcore band. I have a few of their LPs from React! Records that I'll try to post soon. That's it for now guys, I'm off to work!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

LIFTING WEIGHTS TO THE ALBUM OF THE YEAR...





This is one I've been waiting to write for a while. It's because I first got Shipwrecked's "The Last Pagans" from Grave Mistake Records on black vinyl months ago, but I had to wait a while to finally pull the trigger on the expensive shipping from Germany to get it on the limited clear and white vinyl from Crucial Response Records. This has been hands down the album I have been listening to the most in 2012, and it is hands down my favorite release to come out this year. Scandinavia's Shipwrecked is a glorious mix of Oi! and 80s style Boston hardcore. Anyone that knows me at all knows that bands like The Templars and 86 Mentality are some of my favorite bands ever, so its no surprise that Shipwrecked sounds like the Templars and 86 Mentality had a love child, and maybe Slapshot was that boyfriend on the side and they're not sure who the baby's daddy is so it's all about to go down on Maury. Ok stay with me...




Here it is in all its glory on /632 black vinyl, /218 clear vinyl, and /201 white vinyl. It cost me a pretty penny to get these two color copies from Europe, but since I think this album is just so incredible I wouldn't be able to live with myself a few years from now knowing that there were limited color copies that I let slip away. These were the most expensive imports on the Crucial Response website, something about additional taxes for items from Scandinavia to Germany and then of course to America, so all in all they were about $20 each for the color copies. That's heat right there for a new release, but I just had to have it! Atleast I got the black copy for $12 or so from Grave Mistake.



The clear vinyl is the best looking of all three. As I've said before usually I don't like clear vinyl, but this is more of a milky clear, and it looks great with the silver and red labels. 


And the B side label. Woof.



This is some incredible artwork. I love the knights strolling through the town and the "Arctic Nights" graffiti on the wall. It is just a dark and menacing cover, they just look like they are coming to bring their nordic hardcore and smack you across your face with it (no pun intended). The silver really pops on the jacket itself, the pictures don't do it justice. Everything on this release looks amazing.





Look how brutal those lyrics are to the first track. Fast violence baby, forever wrecked. Fuck Yes. Seriously if you don't have this album yet, then you are really, really missing out. It is going to take a miracle for this release not to end up on my number one spot for 2012, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite records of all time. Since they are not an American band and don't really tour, I wouldn't be surprised if this album is forever slept on. If they were a young Boston band, everyone would be going nuts, but anyone who sleeps on Shipwrecked is losing out. Listen to Fast Violent Noise below and then go buy this record!!!




Friday, August 17, 2012

More Rev Represses (Chain of Strength & Side By Side)



Rev just keeps pumping out the classics, with "The One Thing That Still Holds True" of /557 on white vinyl. So apparently the "Final press" on grey in 2001 of /440 was not really the final press. Surprise Surprise (sarcasm)! The white is definitely much more boring than the previous grey and green color releases of this. 


Here is it is next to a copy that I picked up around 2009. According to discogs, this was pressed in 1996 and 2001, but I really have no idea how many on black over the years. If you look at Dobek's 1996 and 2001 copies they are both similar to the newer 2012 release on the left, with the more transparent green bars on the top and bottom. If you notice on the right, the green bar is not really transparent and you can't really see the crowd through it like the one on the left, or in Dobek's pictures. So I'm guessing they changed the cover sometime in between the 2001 pressing and the most recent pressing, and then returned it to the original cover. If anyone knows the real pressing info on this release I would appreciate it! Revelation says that there were only 3023 black vinyls pressed in 1996 which I know can't be true because I have a different cover than Dobek's.


There is also a difference in the insert from the new (left) to my older copy (right). The colors are a bit different, the most notable difference being the newer one has a forest green bars around the C.O.S. logo while the older one has lime green bars around the logo.


I feel very happy to have a color version of this without having to pay a bunch of money for it.





Rev also just repressed Side by Side "You're Only Young Once" on a beautiful red vinyl that looks to be exactly the same as the YOT presses in my last post. The pressing is out of /550. I'm glad they put this out on color because that original 1997 baby blue out of /100 is rather hard to get ahold of. One sold last year for $356, damn!


Here it is next to my old black copy. As you can see the older jacket on the right is a darker blue. The newer jacket is more gray than blue. Stoked on Rev repressing all these heavy hitters lately, and I know that Bringin' it Down has got to be coming up soon. I can only hope! Keep 'em coming Rev!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

More Rev Represses (Youth of Today)





Back in May Revelation repressed BDTW on red and WNITA on white. Turns out the Official numbers are /760 on red and /788 on blue for the 2012 repress. We all know the history of the BDTW on red, and if you don't then you should go read Marcus' account of it on Vinyl Noize. Since Revelation repressed it on red, we knew it was only a matter of time before it was released on blue as well. I am glad that I have a chance to own copies of this album on these colors now without having to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for them. However, I am slightly disappointed that these were released because it ruins the mystique a little bit surrounding the original releases of this album. I think it would have been more appropriate if Rev kept the red and blue colors but changed it up by making it a marble or splatter. Something to make it a little bit different from the originals. But hey, I'm just glad to own these so I shouldn't be complaining. Both colors look incredible, but I think I am more partial to the blue vinyl. Red just seems to be a much more common color.


The earlier red copy has a black sticker on the wrapping that says it includes a digital download, while the blue copy has a blue sticker that says limited edition color vinyl. Both jackets look exactly the same with the same barcode number so these stickers may be the only way to differentiate sealed copies of these releases. Little things like these are why I prefer to keep the shrink wrapping on my releases.


I would say this reissue cover is much better then Revelation's last effort.



Here is WNITA on red, looking sharp! I prefer the red color over the white, but I typically just don't like white vinyl that much. This red looks exactly the same as the BDTW on red. The Official pressing info for this is /770 on white and /790 on red. 


Here it is next to the white copy. It should be noted that the more recent red copy also has the blue Rev sticker on the front saying its limited edition color vinyl. 


Here is Rev's most recent reissue of CCME on clear. Looking pretty sharp as well. I have never been very fond of clear vinyl but it seems fitting for this release somehow. This clear version is out of /550.


Here it is next to my red copy out of /443. The newer clear copy also has a an additional white sticker that is not on the red copy. Now that the purple copy of this release is out of press I feel the need to own it. I knew I should have just bought it when I had the chance. 


I'm glad Revelation is cutting out the corny reissue covers already. This ones far superior to the 1997 reissue, which was possibly one of the lamest covers ever!



Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Focused Minds Sound and Fury 2012



I just took over a hundred pictures of new records (that I've been lagging on taking for almost a month), and I don't have much time so I'll do a quick post. I didn't make it to Sound and Fury fest this year. There just wasn't enough bands that I really wanted to see for me to justify the cost. I was happy when I saw that 6131 was putting up their remaining copies of their Focused Minds "Stay Focused" S&F2012 press. I quickly headed over and ordered two copies, since one side says "Focused" and one side says "Minds", I figured I would get one of each. Unfortunately I received two copies of the "Focused" cover instead. Focused Minds is another one of those bands that I never was that into until I saw them live and was blown the fuck away. So don't get it twisted, these guys are really good. Now I'll have to be on the look out for the "Minds" cover on ebay. Stay tuned for a bunch new stuff in next couple weeks!