Why would I buy this? I guess it was a spur of the moment during my Rival Mob pre order from Rev, and I just scooped some of the ones with my favorite songs that brought back the most memories as a kid. After looking at this, the thought of having these on seven inches of mass produced black vinyl seems really foolish. If anything I could have scooped an original pressing of a few old albums with these than buying this new... Whatever. If these ever become popular or collectors items or some shit, you can best believe I'll unload them without hesitation. These end my dismal month of posting for February (first time under ten posts.... Fuck!) Hopefully I can pick up the pace soon.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
White Whale - No Solace
Here is a really refreshing release that I let spin for the first time last night and was quite surprised. White Whale's "No Solace". This was a like a nice refreshing glass of water after walking in the desert all day. Sometimes I just need a chance of pace between my usual haunts, and this fits the bill. Kind of poppy garage rock with a healthy enough dose of anger and distortion to get my attention. These Buffalo NY fuckers are pretty damn good, and I'll be ordering the rest of their releases soon for further investigation.
"Hey man, can you do me a favor and take my place on this ledge?"
When I bought this online I considered the cover to be kind of lame, but then when I got it I was really impressed by the packaging. The White Whale logo (as you can see) is an Obi strip with a little sadistic message scribed underneath. Awesome. These are all Screen Printed on a nice heavy card stock. This release is out of /320, all on black vinyl and released by Feral Kid Records. This is one of the more creative records I've received in a while!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
I guess I'll take it...
A few months back I ordered a sweet Fire and Ice wind breaker from their big cartel. After about a month of no wind breaker and no word I started emailing them to bug them about it. It took a couple weeks but finally I basically got an apology and was assured that I would get a "surprise" with my wind breaker. Visions started coming of a Fire and Ice test press, or maybe even a rare record release copy of one of their releases or something cool like that. I waited anxiously for my wind breaker and my "surprise". Well, it turned out to be a rather anti climactic copy of "Grim" on black vinyl. Major let down, but still a nice gesture I suppose. I didn't have a copy of this 7", so I'll take it.
If you want to see what a real Fire and Ice collection looks like, then read The One Thing That Still Holds True. My shit is just stupid boring compared to this:
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Unbreakable Purple
What a low production month so far for my blog. Sigh. I haven't bought or been able to afford any new vinyl for a while now and I just kind of sift through old pictures and try to find stuff that piques my interest. My work schedule has been very demanding and I am gone most the time during the day now, so it is hard for me to get new pictures with good sunlight. Enough bitching, here is a recent Rev color repress (No, you don't say!) of Down to Nothing's "Unbreakable". No doubt a fantastic record and I'm stoked to have this on color vinyl. Even if it is an anti climactic purple vinyl that you can't even see without light behind it. Purple vinyl has to be the most boring color vinyl ever, along with white and clear. This copy is out of /500 and is surprisingly still available, but for how long?
Sunday, February 17, 2013
BACK ON THE MAP!
Here is my old copy of Slapshot's debut "Back on the Map". Some say this is Slapshot's best release. I think I prefer "Step on It", but this is a total classic too. I think Slapshot is criminally underrated. I remember when I was younger not really digging Slapshot that much, but as I have grown older they have become one of my favorite bands. It's a great mix of Boston hardcore with a nice Oi! flavor in there. You just can't fuck with Slapshot.
I love that funky old 80's Taang! logo. I'm not sure how many of these were pressed or if there was any color press, but I'm pretty sure this is an original pressing. I'm listening to this right now and it gets me so pumped up I want to start doing push ups or something.
Here's one of my favorites; "Addiction". It is a bit slower than the other tracks and has a nice Oi! sing along flavor to it.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Big Eyes - Back From The Moon
Last summer I ordered this 7" from Grave Mistake not really knowing anything about the band. I pretty much will always support Grave Mistake, especially when they are putting out some limited color vinyl. I pulled the trigger on the order when it came out, and sadly this is one of the few Grave Mistake releases I can't stand. It's not like every label is going to make stuff that you can dig. The music on this is okay but the singer's vocals are just annoy me and it sounds way too poppy. It almost reminds me of some 90's pop punk that you would see in one of those teen movies or something. Ugh. That's okay, I forgive Grave Mistake for one bad release out of hundreds.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
MORE THAN JUST WAX (Pt. 3 - The Bodies)
This is a post I've been waiting on for a while. One of my all time favorite albums and bands, The Bodies' S/T LP which came out on TKO Records in 1998. I've said it again and again, while most chase after Rev vinyl or other labels, I am all about early TKO vinyl. I'm not sure if I talked about it before but I'll tell the story again. When I was a kid I took a chance on some compilation CD that was selling for a few bucks at my local record store. It was the first volume of Punch Drunk by TKO Records. That damn CD single handedly changed my life and changed me forever. Ever since I first heard that comp, I have been chasing down nearly every band on that CD. The Bodies were on that comp, and there track was one of my favorite songs. Also on that comp was the Beltones, Anti Heros, The Templars, The Forgotten, Reducers SF, Swingin Utters, and a bunch more. In my opinion, this is the best compilation EVER made, Yes to me it is more important than any of the old classic compilations.
The first time I ever went to see the Bodies play in San Francisco, I got beat up at the show for being from San Jose. The Oi! and Street punk scene in the Bay Area was very violent in the early 00's, and crews had no problems beating the shit out of little kids coming to punk shows. Sadly for years I avoided Bodies shows because of all the drama and violence that surrounded them. It was really hard being from San Jose back then. If you were from San Jose then you would have to fight at almost every show that was out of town. Now things are so peaceful at shows, I can go anywhere and not have to worry about it. It makes me sad to think of all kinds of Bodies shows I missed as a kid. I would say from 1999 to 2003, gangs were such a problem at SF and Oakland shows that it wasn't even worth going. I'm glad those days are behind us now.
This album on glorious red is one of my most important pieces of vinyl. TKO Records only used to press maybe /100 on color and the rest on black. This red vinyl is out of /100 and is impossible to find. I think the black vinyl is out of /900, but I'm not positive on that. It took me years (and lots of money) to acquire this. What's amazing is that the Bodies never really toured that much and weren't that big, but have a huge cult like following that will pay retarded prices for their vinyl. These guys maybe play about once a year now, and whenever they do it is a big deal. I saw them last year in Oakland and they almost sold out the Uptown, which is a huge club. I was shocked at how many people came out to see them and were going totally postal. (You can watch the footage I shot of it here). This is my 2nd most important record, after my Beltones "Lock and Load" 7" on clear.
This album is an absolute classic. Every song fucking rules. One thing about the Bodies is that pretty much all their songs sound the same. That is fine with me, because they are all awesome. They are all simple as fuck and very catchy usually with an easy sing along chorus. Their vocalist changes his voice drastically on certain songs on this album, to the point where it almost sounds like two different singers. No matter how Abe sings, it sounds incredible. His voice has always reminded me a bit of old Glenn Danzig ala Misfits (think "Hybrid Moments"...). My favorite track on this is "Down the Drain", a song about him losing a friend to the world of drugs. "I saw another plane go down in the neighborhood tonight, Saw another friend spiral down out of sight..."
Instead of a standard white sleeve or an insert it comes with a printed insert containing the lyrics on one side and a live shot and some info on the back.
The Bodies are deffinitely one of the most fun and entertaining live bands I've ever seen. They usually play somewhere in between really drunk and blacked out drunk. They have been known to fall around the stage and act a damn fool. Their singer always seems to forget half the lyrics and will just start singing non sense, and everyone loves it! Most of their songs are real happy go lucky and their shows are always a blast. Despite for a few years over 10 years ago where they had a lot of shit heads causing problems at their shows, their shows now are a total blast and everyone just has a great time. Last time I saw them in Oakland, their guitarist poured a full beer right on top of my head. All in good fun! Check them out live below playing "California Republic" to see how much fun their shows are:
And the song that started it all for me. "Pack Your Bags" which was on this release and Punch Drunk vol 1:
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
No Gods, No Masters
I remember seeing Harms Way at a Locust Street house party in San Jose when they first started. They were on one of their first tours with Weekend Nachos. At the time, no one really knew who Harms Way or Weekend Nachos was, and it's crazy now how big they have become. I have read alot of stuff online about them being "assholes" or whatever, but my only recollection of them is being cool dudes. I remember I bought their first two seven inches at the show, and their singer who was selling the merch gave me a free t shirt with it. It was one of those shirts with the pentagram and the goats head on it that everyone has. What's funny is those two seven inches are somewhat of a rarity now, and I've seen them go for stupid prices on Ebay. I got this "No Gods, No Masters" EP sometime last year. Not really too sure on the pressing info. Come to think of it, I have pretty much everything that these guys had done early on (3 seven inches and 2 twelve inches) and this is the first time I've posted any of it. Hmph.
Pretty sweet artwork, going with their kind of weird satanic-ey theme. Honestly though, I really can't listen to Harms Way very often. I have never been into metal and I like lyrics that I can kind of understand, which Harms Way doesn't provide. One thing I will say about them is that they are heavy as all hell, and when I'm in that certain mood they are super refreshing. Kind of like Indian food, it is something I enjoy occasionally, but I can't eat that shit all the time like I can Mexican food, ya dig?
Monday, February 4, 2013
Good Morning, Baltimore...
Since Mindset just showed my blog some love by posting a link to it on their facebook, I figured I would show Baltimore some love by putting up the Bring it On "Only the Strong Survive" 7". I also wanted to show Baltimore some love for winning the Superbowl yesterday. As an Oakland Raiders fan that lives in the Bay Area, I would have hated to see the 49ers win and hear constant shit talking from my friends that are Niners fans. It was bad enough dealing with the Giants winning the world series two out of the last three years. So yeah, Good job Ravens!
Onto the wax... This was actually the first release for A389 records. I really didn't know anything about this but jumped to buy these in an ebay auction last year. I think the ebay add described it as "raw NYHC style from Baltimore" or something and then I saw the record release copy and I figured how bad can it be? I think I got both copies for about $5, can't beat that.
I was stoked to get the record release version with the alternate cover on clear. You can see the back is clearly labeled #29/35. Honestly though, I think the cover art for both versions is pretty terrible. With the corny skeleton and Microsoft Paint text on the regular version, or the goofy cartoon on the record release version which doesn't resemble the music at all. However, the music on this is actually quite good. These guys really remind me of Sheer Terror. I don't really know anything about this band besides this seven inch, or any other pressing info on this release, so feel free to leave some comments if you have more insight on this matter. I'm sure my East Coast bloggers are more familiar with these guys.
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