Monday, April 29, 2024

Late Retaliation

I'll admit it. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the draw. Some bands just take a bit longer to hit for me for one reason or another, and The Chisel was one of them. I've dipped in to check them out occasionally since I first heard of the band back in 2021. I'd hear someone giving them a bit of hype and I'd queue up a couple of songs, but then would quickly move on when I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe I was just stuck on Chubby and the Gang, and didn't want to allow any other UK bands to come close to that style, but I could not ride with The Chisel... until earlier this year.
Say what you want about Spotify, but it has straight up introduced me to so much music. Earlier this year, when I was listening to the Spotify radio, which builds a playlist based off of your listening tastes, it threw the song So Do I at me. I heard the song and had to check to see who the band was... and then a half hour later they were serving the song Unlawful Execution, and at that point I figured that I needed to pay closer attention to the band. I saw there was a newer pressing of the record available, and the vinyl was looking good, so I quickly added one to my cart.
This record is really good. I tend to think that I'm not interested in the Oi sound in hardcore, and The Chisel gets that tag a lot... and that may have been part of why I was so hesitant... but this is good fast hardcore with plenty of snotty attitude, and I dig it. When I picked up Retaliation I had no idea that The Chisel had a new album out this year as well, so I'm definitely going to have to track down the What A Fucking Nightmare record at some point too.

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Talkin' Spiritual Cramp

So far, 2024 has given me two newer albums that have had me straight up obsessed. I posted about the new IDLES record earlier this month, but right there alongside it as one of my favorites this year is the latest from Spiritual Cramp.
The band caught my attention last year when I was chasing all kinds of new and different music. I was on Spotify and noticed they had a playlist for new releases that they put together based on my listening tastes. Normally, I would have ignored it, but given my mood most of last year, I figured that I'd give it a quick check to see if anything jumped out at me. One of the first things that I saw was a song called Earth To Mike from Spiritual Cramp. Given that my name was in the song title, I decided to listen to it... and it was so much fun. As I was getting into that song, Spiritual Cramp were set to release their new full length record, but I was still hesitant to commit to the band. I mean, Earth To Mike and a couple other songs from the Here Comes More Bad News EP were cool, but did I like them enough to hang with a full album?
As we were closing out February this year, early in the morning one of the newer Spiritual Cramp songs, Talkin' On The Internet came up on Spotify and I was instantly hooked. I immediately jumped in to listen to the full album, and by 10:00 that morning, I'd run through it three times. Fuck. It was so good. Two months later and I still can't get enough of this record, and I have to actively choose to NOT listen to it for fear that I'm going to overplay the damn thing. In fact, I'm also trying to not rush out and buy the three other vinyl options for this record like an addict.

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Rattle Your Boots

Back on my bootleg bullshit. I posted one earlier this year when I added another live Slayer boot to the collection, but I had the itch for more, so this is my first one for Megadeth.
I wasn't too impressed with the goofy looking cover art for this Megadeth bootleg, but since it was a very early live set for the band, I couldn't resist it. Recorded live in San Francisco on February 19th, 1984, so these are the very early years of the band. We are a full year out from the release of Megadeth's first album, and Mustaine is still cobbling together musicians trying to find a group that works... in fact, based on the time frame, I'm fairly certain that this live set is one of the five shows that had Kerry King on guitar before he went back to focus on Slayer full time.
The setlist had me excited to check out these songs but the sound is so rough at the beginning that I can't tell what is playing. The first song is Hook In Mouth, and I was curious if this was an early version of the song that ended up on the So Far, So Good album from '88, but the sound is so bad that I have no idea... same with the next song Burnt Offerings...it is just a blur of noise. Thankfully things clear up and sound much better by the time we hit Chosen Ones, and the rest of the album is a lot of fun to listen to. It is very raw and really captures the young thrash scene with Mustaine's over the top between song banter... and yes, he talks plenty of shit on Metallica. Overall, this record is very raw and what I would expect from a live bootleg from this time period.

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Red Chunks

At some point last Fall, Marcus reached out to me with an eBay link for someone that had a copy of the Last Rights 7 inch on red vinyl for sale. It was no surprise that I hadn't heard anything about this colored vinyl pressing, but Marcus appeared to be stumped as well. We couldn't find any info anywhere online. Was it a legit TAANG release, or was it a boot? Well, for $15 I figured that I'd take the chance.
Turns out, TAANG is selling the record on Discogs, and have it listed as only 200 pressed on red, so it appears to be an official release. Surprisingly though, Discogs shows the selling history is at zero. None of these have sold through Discogs... and I'm one of three people listed as owning it there? Kind of weird for a classic hardcore record reissue that has been available for at least six months.
I love the Last Rights songs... a lot. Their entire output is some of the best Boston Hardcore, but the reality of me owning an original pressing of the Chunks 7 inch was very low. Sure, I've dropped $500 on original pressings for albums... but, man, to spend that for a two song 7 inch... I don't know. Seeing this colored vinyl version seemed like a good enough option to get something into my collection.

Monday, April 15, 2024

Test Tour Remission

There was a time, not that long ago, when the first thing that I'd do each morning was open my latest Discogs wantlist message to see if there was anything new that I should buy. Over the past 6 months or so, I gave that routine up. Same shit everyday with the same shit prices. It was frustrating, so I started ignoring them. A couple months back, I was itching to buy some records, but didn't know what I wanted... so I hit one of the wantlist messages and was surprised to see something that I wanted... and at a good price.
What? Posting my second test pressing this year? Damn, this almost feels like a record collector blog again. I've got a pretty solid Remission collection, so when I saw this test available on Discogs from the guy that used to run Amendment Records, I quickly added that shit to my cart and bought it.
This has been a nice reminder of how great Remission were. This record came out near the height of my record collecting mania, and it is cool as fuck to get my hands on this test press eleven years later.
I exchanged a few messages with the seller after he had shipped the record, and discovered that he also had a copy of the tour press that I was missing. I was so excited about the test press, that I failed to look to see what else he had available when I ordered. We worked a deal off Discogs, and quickly another Remission record was headed my way.
There were 110 copies on blue vinyl, with the European Tour 2013 stamped dust sleeve.
The tour press also included a couple of nice inserts with tour dates and stuff. Cool additions to capture the moment in time. This completes the Pain Understood collection, and now all I need are the tests for the two albums (and a transition press of Winds Of Promise if you want to get technical about it).

Monday, April 08, 2024

New Idles

Last year, I was all about checking out new music that was outside the normal spectrum of what I typically listen to. I was really craving something new and different for me, and I found all kinds of stuff that was fresh and interesting to me. In that spirit, I stumbled upon the band IDLES as I was checking out some new music on Spotify. The artwork of the pink frosted cake for the single Gift Horse caught my eye, and I figured that I'd take a chance and give it a quick listen.
I was really digging the Gift Horse single and quickly checked the other two song that were on Spotify to promote the upcoming album TANGK. I listened to those songs a lot... partly because I really liked them, but also because I wasn't sure how much I really liked them. A couple of the songs were a bit raucous but still restrained, and one of the songs, Grace, was really laid back... and I couldn't easily define the band. I could feel myself starting to obsess over the songs, and after being drawn back to Grace over and over, I started to wonder if I wanted to buy the record.
There was a deluxe edition of the vinyl available, and I was wondering if I should make the jump for it. It cost a bit more than the regular version, but the holographic cover sounded like it would be a cool touch... but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the cash for a band that I didn't know too well, so I stared at it in the webstore for about a week... and then it sold out. I was mad at myself for not making a move sooner and for playing it so safe... and then a couple of days later the webstore had it in stock again, so I quickly pulled the trigger.
Initially I wasn't sure how I felt about the full album, but after a few listens it really started to click with me, and it is one of the most listened to records for me so far this year. I'm still listening to a bunch of stuff that is a bit different for me, and this IDLES record is definitely one of my favorite things right now.
The entire packaging of this record is so good. The metallic holographic TANGK logo on the front, the great looking vinyl, the large booklet insert, and the Love Is The Fing sticker on the front. There is also a sticker that is stuck over the opening for the record, and I had to carefully peel that off to get into the gatefold cover, which was a bit of a pain in the ass, but was a unique touch. Well done all around.

Saturday, April 06, 2024

Out Of Takes

I'm not big on alternate recordings for songs. It just doesn't interest me. All I need is the final version that ended up on the record. Anything else is wasted on me. So when I heard that there was a new Minor Threat record with some outtakes, I didn't give it much thought. However, as I was listening to the DJ station on Spotify and it queued up this different version of In My Eyes, it caught my ear and I thought it was kind of cool.
Okay, a little backstory. Chad Lutzke is an author that I enjoy quite a bit. He writes short novellas that tend to come in just over 100 pages, and focus on darker coming-of-age themes and slice of life stories. He writes in a very stripped down style that works incredibly well for him, and I binged seven of his books to start the year, including his classic Of Foster Home And Flies and a reread of one of my favorite novellas ever, Out Behind The Barn. The other thing about Chad is that he loves old school hardcore punk, and we have exchanged a few messages and comments through Instagram... but I was surprised when he had tagged me in a post a few months ago asking if I'd picked up the new Minor Threat 7 inch. While I hadn't really considered buying the record, getting called out like that had me rushing to the Dischord store so that I didn't lose any punk points with the man.
Was I happy that I caved to peer pressure when the record arrived? The packaging is great, with the story on how this recording came to be, plus the photos from that time are a perfect documentation of history... the clear vinyl looks great, and the songs are fun as hell. Does that answer your questions, motherfuckers?