War Is Our Destiny

A while back a Skull Fucked post caught my eye about this record. It was revealed that Obliteration shares the same singer as Knife Fight. Not to mention, it's released on the powerhouse Beach Impediment Records, who appears to do no wrong. This is fast, noisy, sleazy stuff that many relate to Scandinavian hardcore, but I wouldn't know because I haven't listened to much Scandinavian hardcore. I picture it more like Knife Fight but with more sing along choruses and goofy (and awesome!) guitar solos. This is a total banger... Pressed on black out of /600. 

Ruleta Rusa

Behold one of the best releases of the year... San Francisco Mexican punk rockers Ruleta Rusa debut LP "Aqui No Es". Ruleta Rusa is from San Francisco and their vocalist used to sing for Peligro Social, another great band. I have seen the name on fliers but sadly I haven't caught these guys live yet. I stumbled on this in the Sorry State webstore and quickly grabbed it once I read the description. This is the mail order edition on red vinyl with an obi strip, limited to /163 and still available. Even though I don't speak Spanish, I think Spanish and punk rock go together perfectly. All the music on this and the vocals are excellent. I just wish I knew what the fuck they were saying... Can't wait to catch these dudes live when they play out here again. Don't sleep on a chance to get this on limited vinyl. 

Check out Ruleta Rusa live above.

Gas Rag - Human Rights

 

Gas Rag from Chicago is one of those "it" bands right now. Lately there has been a big revival of noisy, simplified d-beat inspired Neanderthal punk. Gas Rag also just came out with their debut LP which the limited colors sold out too fast for me to snag one. I am digging this, it reminds me of East Bay style hardcore that has been going on for years out in here the Bay Area. When I hear this release, I can't help but think of Rotten Fux, which puts a big smile on my face. This is the 2nd pressing with red and yellow center labels out of /500. I'd love to track down a first press of this on red out of /100, which appears to be the only "limited" variant of this out there. Beach Impediment strikes again, they are killing it right now! Check out Gas Rag live below...

Strictly 4 My Jeeps

 

In the rap game today, Action Bronson is surely one of the best MC's to grace the mic in the last decade. 90's revival rap that takes no prisoners and brings a fresh take on raps golden age. His EP "Saab Stories" seems to take a little bit more of a mainstream approach than his other releases, and I must admit that I prefer his other releases more than this one. However, seeing this get sold out really fast on red vinyl inspired me to grab it on white vinyl when I saw it at a local record store in Santa Cruz. Bronsalino is still the man, so anything he puts out on vinyl from here on out... I'm all over it. If you aren't familiar with him, check out the "Strictly 4 My Jeeps" video below. Bam bam in the buildin.

 

 

RSD 14 Pt. 6: THE BELTONES

It was great to get some of these RSD releases... The UN album, the One Man Army album, and all the others were just sweet bonuses. But for RSD, I had my eye on the prize for one piece of wax... The Beltones "On Deaf Ears". The Beltones are arguably my favorite band and have been one of the major influences on me ever since I was 13 years old. I even chose The Beltones to celebrate my 100th post nearly 2 years ago. This release is an absolute classic. Unfortunately, when it was released in 1998 it was only on CD. It took 15 years to come out on vinyl but the wait was worth it!

I've been lucky enough to catch the Beltones live twice over the last few years, and both times I hounded them to release this on vinyl. I also hounded Mark from TKO Records at the One Voice Fest this summer to release this on vinyl. I was thrilled when I heard they would finally be pressing it for RSD. I like the little story on the lyrics sheet.

For historical reference (because no doubt someone will read this before they pay a bunch of money for one of these on Ebay in a few years...) The TKO Records version (Splatter) only has one sticker and is not shrink wrapped, with the sticker being on the poly sleeve. The black copies are shrink wrapped with two stickers. 

The splatter vinyl is out of /300 and the black is out of /2000. The splatter vinyl is amazingly still available! Considering that old Beltones vinyl goes for big bucks on the bay, I figured these would be long gone. If you don't have a copy, go pick one up and I promise you will not regret it. Without a doubt this will end up being my favorite and most important release of the year, and I'm super thankful it's finally out on vinyl. 

Check out this later 90's live footage of the Beltones playing "My Old Man".

"Another empty bottle thrown over your shoulder, another hazy morn grown another day older, another weekend gone and so are you. And all the bottles collecting up on the shelf are there to ease the pain but it just done help, so now you hate yourself and you hate me too.

Well lookin at you puts a lump in my throat and makes it hard to swallow my beer, there's a reason that it's giving me the fear.  Cuz you're shaking like a leaf and I've seen that shake before my friend. I ain't giving you no shit just understand... You're looking like my old man!"

RSD 14 Pt. 5: Up Front & Autistic Behavior

I am going to admit that I had never heard this record. I have seen the iconic cover, but never owned any copies of it and never took the time to find a download for it or listen to it. Shame on me. I'm glad I got one of the RSD represses of this. Out of /700 on red vinyl and looking sharp. Just what you would expect out of late 80s East Coast youth crew. 

Here is a release of early 80s punk that I have never heard of before Record Store Day, and this was totally an impulse buy. It sounded good enough on youtube after a quick preview to throw in my online shopping cart. I got the version on splatter vinyl which apparently is long gone out, out of /500. They also pressed this again on red and black vinyl on a larger pressing. This is a decent release but it's not exactly blowing me away. 

RSD 14 Pt. 4: Die Kreuzen & Toxic Reasons

I was pretty excited when I heard there would be a repress of Die Kreuzen's first EP from Beer City Records for RSD. "Cows and Beer" is surely a 80s Midwest Hardcore classic that can't be denied. When I saw Sorry State Records post it online the day after RSD, I quickly ordered it without hesitation. While doing some research for this post, I realized there was 5000 of these pressed, with 1000 each on five different colors. That irritates the fuck out of me. 5000 pressed, are you fucking kidding me? That is just way too many pressed. 

It did come with a really cool comic book. This is the third comic book I have now in a release... The others are from Bumpy Knuckles and Cross Examination.

I also threw in the Toxic Reasons seven inches that were Beer City RSD releases. These were slightly more limited at 1000 per release. "War Hero" was the bands first release, recorded in 1980. I must admit I had heard the name but I had never actually heard Toxic Reasons. I did a quick youtube search to hear the song "War Hero" before purchasing, and threw it in the mix without hesitation. Now I'm glad I picked this one up since it seems it sold out pretty quick.

This was recorded in 1981 and is a great release as well. The track "Ghost Town" mixes in some reggae elements, while "Killer" and "Noise Boys" get right back to business. I'm glad I picked these up, I downloaded all the songs and now I've been listening to them quite a bit. Great stuff!

RSD 14 Pt. 3: Taang! Box Set

I was very pleased to see Taang! was doing a box set this year for RSD with their first ten singles. Some of them are fluff (Moving Targets and Oysters, I'm looking at you), but without a doubt a couple very heavy hitters in there. I have never owned any of these of vinyl, so I was glad to add them all in one shot. 

Nice professional sturdy box, it even has some velvet type material on the inside.

Here's the lions share of the box. It also came with a CD with every track from these singles, a great bonus I quickly uploaded onto my itunes. I had mp3s of alot of these, but they weren't as high of quality as the CD is. It sounds like Taang may have remastered some of the tracks because they sound great. 

A very nice booklet, with a couple pages dedicated to each release.

But let's be real, I really wanted this for the Choke trifecta. Negative FX, Last Rights and Slapshot. I love all of these bands and anything Choke has ever done (including Stars and Stripes). 9 out of 10 hardcore kids are going to say the NFX single is the Alpha dog in this pack, but to me Last Rights just can't be beat. I love Last Rights and I wish they released more material. I'm glad to finally have all these on vinyl, but I wish Taang would have done them all on different colors of vinyl. All copies on black vinyl. I would have loved a Negative FX on red, Lemonheads on yellow, Gang Green on  green, you get the picture. Kind of a missed opportunity in my opinion.

#1405 out of 2000. I was also disappointed with the sheer amount pressed. A "limited" box set I think should not have had more than 1000 made. I would have preferred /500 copies. Then it would really feel special. Something tells me that with 2000 made I'll be seeing these floating around in local record stores for years.