Converge and Trap Them

While at the Converge show I scored a couple things other than the 7″s. Here are the other records. I’m not going to talk too much about them because they’ve been covered here in the past. As far as pressing is concerned, I’d be interest in knowing about the No Heroes and Darker Handcraft. Both of these bands were brilliant live and were also fantastic people cept for Nate Newton who appeared to be stoned on some kind of aerosol…..okay, not really but he really looked like there was something wrong with him. He was cracking me up all night.

Trap Them – Seance Prime: The Complete Recordings (1st print on white)

Trap Them – Darker Handcraft (Tour edition limited to 250 – 180 gram silver)

Converge – No Heroes (clear red)

Converge – Jane Doe (Black 2nd pressing)

Converge/Dropdead split 7 inch

Last night I saw Converge in my hometown of Morgantown, WV. While I was at the show I picked up the new Converge/Dropdead split 7″. This was a bit of a problem for me because Juan wanted four, Josh wanted one and I wanted two. I was a little sketched out cause I didn’t wanted to be identified as a eBay flipper (which I’m not) and told to fuck off. I had a game plan but it quickly turned to shit when met by the Converge merch guy.

The game plan was to name drop Vinyl Collective and mention that several people on the forum needed records. A goofy plan I know, but it was true and it was the best I could come up with. So I approach the merch guy, name drop VC and the dude looks at me like I’m a fucking alien. At this point I was fucked. I quickly got my records and took them to the car to formulate plan B.

Plan B never materialized. I knew I was just going to have to grow some nuts and ask for the remaining five records. At one point Jake B. was standing next to the merch guy for a while but I didn’t have the balls to go up to him with the same Vinyl Collective plan cause I wasn’t ready to deal with the same rejection the merch dude served me. In the end I just waited for the show to end, knowing there would be a huge crowd and maybe asking for five 7″s wouldn’t seem so strange amongst the chaos. Guy did give me a strange look but sold me the records without a problem. I still felt like a dick, but I’m a sensitive guy.

Anyway, if what the merch guy told me is true, they used a ton of colored vinyl in making these and the variations are limitless. He seemed to really enjoy the fact that these things were so varied.

By The Grace Of God – Three Steps To A Better Democracy 7″

If you know anything about Louisville HxC and attended Krazy Fest this past weekend, then you know who By The Grace Of God are. And you’re well-aware of awesome they are. Were. Still are. Right.

This 7″ is not new music. It was originally released back in 1998 on CD only. It was to be BTGOG‘s final recording and released by the Three Little Girls label in Louisville. After that, the band called it quits and each member went their separate ways. I kept on top of following whatever Rob Pennington and Duncan Barlow were doing since I was already a big fan of theirs from their ENDPOINT days. Rob went on to Black Widows which then morphed into Black Cross and then now just put out new music with Black God (which I did a write-up on a few weeks back). Duncan did d.biddle which was completely un-hardcore music. Very folksy and alt-country.

The Three Steps… 7″ is now out to basically coincide with BTGOG‘s reunion and not only performance at Krazy Fest but also a bunch of dates over in Europe. The 7″ is simple all around. Simple blue color and sleeve. Nothing fancy schmanzy here. And that’s completely fitting to the music. Hardcore with a message.

If you want to grab this 7″…and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t want to…then head on over to Cobra Records’ webstore. They’re based out of the Germany so remember the craptastic dollar exchange. But the 7″ is fairly priced and the shipping is affordable and quick.

Red Fang

A month or three ago a friend of mine in North Carolina – presumably because he knows how much I love stuff in the vein of Black Sabbath and Queens of The Stone Age/Kyuss – recommended I check these guys out after he saw them open for…uh…somebody. I don’t remember who. Anyway, after checking out a couple of their cuts online I was stone dead hooked. Finally got around to ordering the vinyl last week and, man, is it sweet.

These guys are out of Portland, Oregon but would fit right in with any of the popular ‘Georgia Swamp Metal’ bands that are dominating so much of heavy music these days. As for the record itself; a pretty neat take on how they did the packaging on this one. The outer sleeve is a sort of ‘off white’ sleeve with a big center cut hole, similar to what you’d see with a 12″ DJ single or some such thing. Then, instead of a standard plain white outer sleeve you get a full color, full artwork sleeve that utilizes the large center cut hole.

Pretty awesome if you ask me. The record itself comes in a couple variants. Of course, there’s the standard 100 clear versions that Relapse does on every vinyl release as far as I know, but are never for sale unless you randomly stumble across one on eBay at some godawful inflated price.

QUICK SIDE BAR: What exactly does Relapse do with those if they’re not for sale? I mean, I’m sure (just assuming) they go to friends of the label…and the bands for their own use…but,that’s only gonna cover so many I’d think. And they do this, as far as I know, for EVERY record they press on vinyl. I’m genuinely curious both as a fan of the label and as the creator of this here blog dedicated to the sometimes obsessive culture of vinyl records. If anybody from Relapse is reading this, get at me. Oh, and if you’ve got an extra copy of any of the clear Baroness, Coalesce or Red Fang records laying around you’d like to hook me up with to write about that’d be cool too. HA!

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah..pressing breakdown. You’ve got 100 clear of this, 81 on maroon, and 300 each on 180 gram black…Purple with Marble…and this one; Pastel Green with marble. Although I see it myself a turquoise, but hey…that’s just me.

This is a really excellent record, in terms of not only the vinyl/packaging/presentation itself but the music cut onto it too…it’s already one of my absolute favorite records of the year. So, if you’re into stuff in the vein of Volume 4 era Sabbath…Queens of the Stone Age…and Kyuss…then you really need to hop all over this asap. It’s too damn good to pass up.

Chinese Telephones

Democracy is a collection of songs from splits and singles that were put out by Chinese Telephones. It is a very good collection from a very fine punk band featuring members of the now semi legendary Marked Men. If you know me, you know I am a sucker for all the bands that feature Marked Men members. I was on Vinyl Collective the other day and there was a thread mentioning that It’s Alive had pressed these. I knew I wanted to score it immediately. They also pressed the self titled album too though for some weird reason I didn’t pick that one up.

This is on super rad pink and black wax and limited to 100.

If you want to check out some tunes head HERE.

Most Precious Blood demo 7″

When I found out a couple months ago that Trip Machine Labs was pressing Most Precious Blood’s original demo to a 7″ it took me about .032 seconds to hit the link and pre-order the release. As a fan of everything the band has ever released it was a vital 7″ that had to be added to my collection.

A very straight forward release, there were a couple of different colors and whatnot available for this one. I went ahead and snagged the /150 variation. These come on opaque red and are hand numbered.

The package also came with a coupon for an mp3 download of the demo. This type of thing has become almost second nature a lot of the time when you buy vinyl these days, but it’s still always a pleasent surprise when DIY and/or indie releases have this little bonus for the buyer.

Also, for those not up on their NYHC/MPB history, the songs on this 7″ went on to make up a chunk of the first Most Precious Blood release ‘Nothing In Vain’ which might be my personal favorite release of theirs to this day. I love everything they’ve done up to and including their latest monster ‘Do Not Resuscitate’, but I always seem to find myself going back to that album and these songs. Whatever the case, this is a must own for any fan of Most Precious Blood, Indecision and/or NYHC in general.

Whiskeytown

Lost Highway Records is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year by releasing some of their most beloved stuff on ‘limited edition, clear vinyl.’ Only 1,000 of each are being pressed as they move through the year so you can expect some pretty awesome stuff to continue to drop on us.

We’ve already covered one of the releases here, the first release of the bunch actually, so if you read the blog regularly you already know what this series of releases is about.

I was introduced to Whiskeytown sometime in 1999/2000 through a friend of mine in college. He was the manager of a local indie record store, I walked into the store one day and he had this very album playing on the store’s P.A. From there I was hooked and started seeking out all the Whiskeytown (and later Ryan Adams) tunes I could fine. For one reason or another, this album was never pressed on vinyl until now so for a long time fan of the band such as myself it’s a nice treat.

I had a conversation with Nick about this record after I picked it up and he told me  he personally had been going through a stretch of all the clear vinyl he seemed to pick up sounding like total crap. Yikes. Luckily I haven’t had anything like that happen to me lately, and this release is no different…at least on my turntable. I suppose your results may vary, but I’m pretty pleased with this release overall. I would have liked to see this release get a silver pressing, or something involving blue and black since this is the first time this album has even seen a vinyl release. But, that’s just me being nit picky. I’m really happy to finally be able to add this essential piece of music (especially for fans of Ryan Adams) to my vinyl collection.

Foo Fighters (Record Store Day 2011)

As I discussed in my write up for the Nirvana RSD release earlier this week, Record Store Day – mostly due to my work schedule – is always a bit of an adventure for me when it comes to getting even one of the things on my wishlist. This year I managed to get all three of the things that topped my list, which might well be a first.

I have been a Nirvana fan for, oh, 20 years or so now. Like so many others in my general age range I was in high school/junior high when I was introduced to Nirvana (I was a Freshman in high school if memory serves and my rough math is correct), but unlike a lot of people I know who were “into Nirvana” in high school I continued to be a fan of the band and actually dug into their earlier music prior to ‘Nevermind.’ Of course, Nirvana eventually ended in a most abrupt fashion and a bit of a musical void was left. Thankfully Dave Grohl got bored and decided to keep making music.

Dave Grohl is the single most talented musician in the world. There, I said it. Stop and think about what he’s done; Nirvana…Tenacious D…Queens of The Stone Age…Them Crooked Vultures…Probot…the FRESH POTS video…a pretty damn good impression of John Bonham…and that doesn’t even get into his time in the DC band Scream.

Of course his main gig these days is The Foo Fighters. And, fresh on the heels of the release of their latest studio album (and arguably the best album beginning to end they’ve released since ‘The Colour and The Shape’), the band put out a collection of cover songs for Record Store Day 2011.

With the exception of three ‘new’ cuts, all of these songs have been out and available in various forms for years now. The artists covered range from Paul McCartney, to Prince, to Thin Lizzy, to the Ramones…so it’s got a little bit of something for everybody. Very simple packaging here and the songs are pressed on a high quality black vinyl. A very good score all around really.

I got this album, as I mentioned in the previous Nirvana RSD write up, by working out a trade with a guy for the extra copy of ‘Hormoaning’ that I ended up with after the dust settled on RSD. This was one of the ‘hotter’ items of the day from what I can tell so I’m very glad…as a big time mark for Dave Grohl if nothing else…that I was able to snag one to rock on the turntable.

Public Awareness: Ryan Rado Of Ill Patriot On Tourette’s, OCD And The Quest For Peace Of Mind.

This is a non-vinyl related post but still crucial and something that I need to bring to people’s attention. I originally posted it on the other music site I write for (The 1st Five) but I figured that the word needs to be spread as much as possible.

The name Ryan Rado may not be familiar to most people. He probably isn’t well known outside of the very small and inter-connected hardcore community. Especially the hardcore scene in Nashville, TN. He was the lead vocalist for Ill Patriot and currently sings for Worker. He was also involved with bands like As Cities Burn, Jonezetta, Life In Your Way, and a handful of others. But you still may not know the guy personally, but you probably are very well aware of his plight and what he is going through.

You see, at the age of six, Rado was diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Surely something that is not easy to fully comprehend for a six-year old. Rado is now 33 years of age and has been struggling with TS and OCD and making attempts at getting a handle on his situation. We all know someone, a friend, relative, friend of a friend, in a similar (or even the exact same) situation as Ryan. A mutual friend of Ryan and us here at The 1st Five (and They Still Press Vinyl), brought him and his condition to our attention. To say that his story touched us would be an understatement. Rado is searching for alternative ways to get a handle on his condition that veers outside of the norm of prescription medications. Medications that more often than not change a person in such ways that they become someone else due to their effect.

We here at The 1st Five (and They Still Press Vinyl) are all about helping people and spreading good vibes. As well as exposing you to new music. This is not a plea for money or even pity. Just spreading the word on Ryan, his search for peace in his life and awareness of these illnesses that affect so many but so few encounter or are fully aware of.

Check out the video trailer (link below as it’s not letting me embed it for some reason) to get an introduction to Ryan and also his blog in which he will document his “quest for peace of mind”. If you feel inclined to assist financially, awesome. But in the least we ask that you offer support and send a lot of positive vibes and thoughts his way.

Video: http://vimeo.com/23539383

Ryan Rado’s Blog: Figuring It Out

Trap Them

We covered the news that Deathwish had put up this record last Friday. Today, the copy I ordered showed up. And it looks awesome.

One thing I really like about this release is the way they went with a basic black and white color scheme for the artwork. I know the original release artwork was mostly b&w but it did have some color. It didn’t look bad at all, but for me this black and white scheme just works better for some reason.

Inside that sleeve we find the record itself (on a pretty sturdy clear vinyl) and a simple black and white inner page for liner notes, etc. I continue to be a big fan of these kind of simple and to the point packages.

Sorry the images of the vinyl itself are a little grainy. I shot them in an area with absolutely NO natural light so they didn’t turn out as well as I hoped. But you get the idea I think. Anyway, this is an awesome package from an excellent band and tremendous label. If you like heavy music and vinyl you need to make this a part of your collection ASAP.