Wednesday, January 28, 2009

This Is Not A Test

Last night Aram had a bunch of ebay auctions end for some test presses that he was selling. I bid hard for a couple of the Right Idea test presses, but in the end I came up short. I'm not too interested in collecting test presses, as they typically go for a lot more money than I'm able to spend, but goddamn, I was hoping to get my hands on at least one of these.
A few months ago, Aram put out a list of records that he was selling at set prices. There was so much shit that I wanted to take off his hands, but I only settled for two...The First Step's Connection EP on red with white labels (limited to 270 for the European tour), and the Core Values demo 7 inch on gold (limited to 100). These are two of the best bands in recent years, and I was excited to add these to the collection.


We are getting a major snow storm today, so with the kids out of school, I decided to work from home instead of travelling into the office. On my "lunch break" I decided to pull out my collections for both of these bands.

The gold vinyl pressing from React! completes my Get The Most collection.



While my collection for TFS is far from complete, this latest Connection 7 inch was the last one that I needed for my Rivalry pressings. I'm only missing the pre-order cover from Waking the Dead Records to really be complete...and I haven't even started collecting the demo and Open Hearts 7 inches. Either way, it makes for a nice picture.


Sunday, January 25, 2009

Soul Out Of Control

Damn, I've had these records for a while now. Soul Control came up with this idea to release four one-sided 7 inches, with each cover being a piece of a larger picture when they all come together. Kind of a cool idea, but one song 7 inches seem like a bit of a waste. Still, when the band announced that the first in the series was up for pre-order, I jumped on it. The bands album, Involution, released on Rivalry, was great record...full of driving songs with a strong Burn influence. Great stuff. Shortly after the album was released, I believe the band replaced their singer, and I don't think that this new 7 inch is as nearly as strong. Still pretty good though. I kind of lost control when I was placing the order, and ordered both the pre-order pressing and the regular pressing. When I got the order, I felt like a moron for ordering both since the only difference between the two is the Triple B Records stamp and hand numbering on the pre-order press. Cool for the collector, but in hindsight, I probably could have done without the regular press, which was limited to 350.
In addition to the new Soul Control, I also picked up the new Foundation 7 inch. I had seen the band play at the Edge Day show back in '07, and I really liked the mid-90's hardcore sound they were playing...kind of like early Unbroken or Outspoken. The 7 inch was a bit of a disappointment when I first heard it, but it is slowly growing on me, and I'm liking it more with each listen. The packaging on this record is quality...great layout and artwork for the sleeve, with the vinyl pressed on a cool blue and green split. Limited to 150.

Monday, January 19, 2009

What Remains

With the Mouthpiece discography being released on Revelation this week, it seemed appropriate that I finally get this record up on the blog. I was on a big Mouthpiece kick a few weeks ago, and so I hit ebay to try and find some vinyl for my collection. I was surprised when I was able to pick up their LP for only $15, and once I received it, I saw why. This copy had no lyric sheet insert. The seller was some ebay store, so I'm sure that the guy had no idea that it was supposed to come with one, so I'm not blaming him...but how did the original owner lose the insert! I can't understand why people don't take care of their stuff, and how stuff like this can even happen. It boggles my mind. I've seen friends that keep piles of of CD's, some without a case, in the backseat of their car. I know countless people that don't keep their shit organized in any kind of fashion...just stacks of CD's in no particular order. Okay, I'll admit that I'm a little obsessive when it comes to my collection, but how these people let their records get scratched to shit, and the album covers beat to hell is beyond me.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Dreams That Move You

Okay, so when I had a dream about Ceremony's new album, Still Nothing Moves You, I figured that it was time to add the vinyl that I picked up last week to the blog. In the dream, I was a concert...not sure who was playing, but Chris Wrenn from Bridge Nine Records was there selling merch. I was the only one at the table and I noticed that he was selling the Ceremony album on clear green and coke bottle clear vinyl. I was so surprised because I had no idea that those pressings existed. I had stumbled upon something special and rare, and I was starting to ask him about them...then I woke up. You know that the obsession is taking over when it starts to infiltrate your dreams!
Anyway, when Bridge Nine put this album up for pre-order, I was feeling too broke to place an order, so I didn't jump on it. A month or so passed before I even bothered downloading the album...I don't know why, but I'm always late to the party when it comes to Ceremony. Christ, I think their last album was out for at least six months before I bothered checking it out. Just like Violence Violence, I fell in love with the album after I decided to give it a shot. I finally placed an order with B9, but they only had the second pressing of the album on olive green vinyl (limited to 1,000, I think). After I received the record in the mail, I noticed that the local record store had the first pressing on grey vinyl (limited to 900). I figured that since Bridge Nine was sold out of it, I better pick it up before I had nightmares about trying to find this color on ebay.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Welcome to Boston, Part 4 (Xmas Finale)

Christmas came around and I got the presents from my brother, Paul. Sure I helped steer him in the right direction, but he did make some great choices. He also spent more than I expected him to, so I'm grateful for that as well. Three classics.

Man, I love me some Jimi Hendrix, and this first album from 1967 is his best. This copy is some new Back to Black reissue, and the packaging on this is fantastic. Nice heavy vinyl with a gatefold sleeve. It also includes a booklet with some reflections on the band.


Another classic reissue is the 1977 Young Loud and Snotty album from Dead Boys. I downloaded this album a couple of years ago, and love the attitude and aggression in these songs. Dead Boys was the band that originally did Sonic Reducer that has been covered numerous times, but the first time I heard it was on Overkill's first album. I've tried to check out other Dead Boys stuff, but this is the only album that grabs me.

The third, and last, classic reissue that Paul bought me was Death's 1987 album, Scream Bloody Gore. This album was re-released on Back On Black Records, not to be confused with the Back To Black Hendrix reissue. A few months ago, I was on a mission to collect a bunch of Back On Black releases, but since they are expensive imports and I can only find them at online distros, my obsession died after only obtaining two albums. Still, I hope to continue to pick up a few here and there. So I was really happy to find a copy of Death's first album at Newbury comics, and thankful that Paul picked it up for me. Great gatefold packaging, with an awesome clear with red splatter colored vinyl.



My Mom and Paul both got me the Radio Silence book, so I returned one of them and put the money towards a new USB turntable so that I can easily rip my vinyl to the computer. Thanks for everything Paul!

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Welcome to Boston, Part 3 (The Raw Power of Dischord)

Shortly after our last trip to Boston, Jeff was desperate to get back to the Newbury Comics store in Harvard Square, and pick up some vinyl that he had to leave behind. With Christmas right around the corner, I wasn't too anxious to get back down, since I had no extra money to spend. I happened to be catching up with my brother, Paul, and reminiscing about the trips that we used to take down to that store. I mentioned to him that Jeff wanted to take another ride down, and Paul said that he would be interested in going, and that he could buy me a couple of Christmas presents while we were down there. Sweet! It wasn't long and we had a trip planned. While we were there, I only bought one record, the Four Seven Inches comp from Dischord on clear vinyl. I downloaded this years ago, but for some reason I never really listened to it...just burned it to CD and threw it in the pile. After reading blogs from Marcus and Lins, and seeing each of them post about S.O.A., I figured that I needed to give it another listen. Holy shit, these records are amazing. Teen Idles and S.O.A. are the better of the two, but Government Issue and Youth Brigade were really good as well. So here we are, over 25 years after their original release, and I'm finally getting into these bands. It's a shame that it took me so long to get into them. I guess that's bound to happen, when my mindset used to be to download anything and everything...some great shit gets overlooked. Thankfully, I was reminded to go back and revisit it. Classic D.C. hardcore.
Since Jeff said that it just wouldn't be right for me to leave the store with only one record, he said that he would buy me one. I had seen the Raw Power album on our first trip, but I ended up putting it back so that I could grab something else. This time I wasn't going to leave it behind. Cool Italian hardcore from 1985. It was released on Toxic Shock Records, and back when I was getting into punk and hardcore when I was in High School, I used to use Toxic Shock for all my mailorder. Apparently, Giuseppe, the guitarist died recently, and so the band reunited in his memory and did a couple of tours. Toxic Shock also decided to re-release the bands record to support the tour.
The biggest surprise was that other than what he bought me for Christmas, Paul didn't really find anything that he wanted. How do you spend an afternoon in one of the coolest record stores in the Boston area, and walk away empty handed!?!?! Blows my mind.

Friday, January 02, 2009

End Of A Year

2008 is behind us, and it's time to reflect on another year of music. The year was certainly strong for both Hardcore and Metal. For 2007, I only made top 5 lists, but with so many great releases over the past year, I could easily stretch it out to list my top 10. Even with so many great new records coming out this year, my aquisitions were down in numbers. This year I only added 279 new records and CD's to the collection....down from 362 in 2007. The number of seven inch records (38) and LPs (111) stayed reletively the same from last year to this year, but the number of CDs (55) and burned CDRs (75) took a big hit....dropping by almost 100 compared to last year.
It was a strange year for Hardcore. I expected big things from the big three, Have Heart, Verse, and I Rise, but in the end, only Verse managed to sneak into my top 10. The top 3 were easy enough, but the rest were diffictult to place. So, here you go, my top 10 hardcore records for 2008.


The year also surprised me with a bunch of strong Metal releases. Fantastic "comeback" records from Metallica and Testament top the list, rounded out with some solid new Thrash albums.