Taylor Swift – Red 2xLP

By this point it’s no secret that I have an unhealthy obsession with Taylor Swift and her music. It’s a bit inexplicable since I am not a 14-year old girl. Instead, I’m an old and jaded hardcore punk rock metalhead. Weird huh?

So Swift put out a new album this year, Red, and as expected, it decimated all in sales and release week records. Sold a gazillion records already out of the gate and when tour dates were announced and tickets went on sale for next year, those sold out with the quickness as well. And yes, I will be hitting up one of the tour dates here in FloriDUH!

The vinyl version of Red was released a few months after the regular edition. The 16-song tracklisting requires this to be a 2xLP. Nicely done gatefold jacket with the lyrics and images printed on the inside. The vinyl itself is a solid heavyweight. It continues the trend of quality in the release as the Speak Now 2xLP. Only difference is that this sound a lot better.

A great opportunity was completely missed by the label and even Swift herself. This record begged to be pressed on red vinyl. Why wasn’t it? With the amount of importance that Swift made of the color red and how it fits into the theme of the album and its songs, red vinyl would have been a no-brainer for the release.

As for the music itself. Red is further moving along in Swift’s effort to expand her sound and veer away from any trappings of the pop-country she had a foothold on. The new songs are still all pop but a few flirt with indie rock and some more experimentation. There is even a hint of dubstep in there!

Recently, someone asked me why I am so hooked on Swift and her music. It was an easy question to answer: the fact that she writes her own music and lyrics (yes, she has some co-writing credit on some songs), is impressive enough and gets mad respect from me. Her music is catchy as all hell and I’m ok with it being mainstream and Top 40. I may have been weaned on hardcore, punk, and metal, but I still can appreciate and get hooked into a good pop song.

And don’t worry, I’ll regain some of my hardcore punk street cred when I get my hands on the new Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind 2xLp and post about it.

Karma to Burn

Holy shit! You thought the only thing that came out of West Virginia was rednecks and radioactive opossum….wrong boy! We got us here one of the bands at the forefront of the whole stoner metal/rock genre. Yup, these boys were doing it back in the days of Kyuss and damn near pioneered a style of music. Not one damn banjo on the whole dern recordin.

Morgantown, WV in the early 90’s was crankin out amazing band at a rate most people aren’t prepared to deal with. I was going through an old compilation the other day and there were 18 bands on the comp. These were the 18 bands that made the comp. Crazy part is that the whole thing was pre Lincoln and Karma to Burn. We had it all in those days and I don’t think we even knew what we had.

Well times change but we still have Karma to Burn. One of the best bands this state has produced and as I said earlier, a band that was at the front of an amazing music style. Karma to Burn have a long a convoluted history that I really don’t have the energy to point out here but it is fairly well laid out on their wiki page.

This new album is titled V. The album is what you’d typically find on a  Karma to Burn record in the form of grizzly/heavy/mathy instrumental rock. There are also three songs with vocals (care of Daniel Davies) and one is a cover of my favorite Black Sabbath song Never Say Die. This album is actually my favorite Karma to Burn record and has blown the minds of many people I know. If you are a fan of this kind of music I’m sure already have it but if you don’t, I can’t recommend it enough.

The packaging is perfect. Dark gate fold with a beautiful sounding 180 gram LP. Sorry the pics are so crappy, my camera broke and the girlfriends isn’t quite cutting it.

Indecision – Unorthodox 12″ LP Remastered Screenprinted Cover

I figured that Nick over at the Alternate 1995 blog would have posted about this already. But it seems that is not the case. When I tell you that Nick is a huge Indecision / Most Precious Blood fam…trust me he is. He is to them as I am to say…anything Aaron Turner. Yeah…we obsess plenty.

But since Nick has given me an opening, I will take it and post. Ha!

Here is Indecision‘s Unorthodox 12″ LP. This is Indecision‘s first release but this time around it has been remastered and re-released by Bitter Melody Records. And let me tell you, Grant has done a fantastic job with this. Just like his first label release, Most Precious Blood‘s Merciless, plenty of attention and care has been taken for Unorthodox.

The album has been remastered from the original DAT tapes giving it the necessary punch and bite that was missing from the original pressing. Limited to about 750 copies on reverse board jackets, the colors were broken down as such:

Black 180gram – 150 hand-numbered with screenprinted covers
Red/Black – 248
White/Clear – 356

Being that I don’t have deep pockets…at least not after a few box sets have dropped in the last couple of months…I went with one color: the black 180gram with screenprinted cover. And it is awesome.

Overall, this is yet another solid release from Bitter Melody. The relationship that I hope Grant has been able to create with the Indecision / MPB folks should be solid enough to have future releases locked in. At least I hope so.

And a bonus! Button and sticker!

The Black 180gram w/ the screenprinted covers is long sold out. But if you want to get your hands on either of the two colors…or both…get on over to the Bitter Melody webstore.

Do it. Do it.

Foo Fighters

When we get to the end of the year, and I start discussing with Nick and Juan our favorite records of the year I’m pretty much sure that ‘Wasting Light’ will be at the top of the heap on my list.  So, needless to say, I was pretty happy to pick it up on vinyl recently.

For one reason or another I kept putting off buying this particular record. Yeah, I’d bought the CD…and downloaded the album…and listened to it numerous times in the prior 5 months or so…but for whatever reason I kept putting off buxing it on wax. Luckily I finally stopped messing around and added it to my collection.

The record comes on two heavy duty pieces of wax – it’s honestly one of the most sturdy records I own – in a really nice gatefold packaging. As all three of us (Nick, Juan, and myself) have expressed on more than one occasion, double lps in a single flap jacket sucks. So it’s always nice when a label does it right and gives a double record the proper packaging.

The record also comes with the standard download code and card. What makes this one stand apart is that this particular digital download is ‘specifically cut from the original vinyl recordings.’ Maybe that’s common practice (I really don’t know) but I know that’s the first time I’ve seen it promoted on a download card I’ve gotten with a record. I guess for the real audiophiles that matters.

This Is Hardcore 2011 Releases

Ask any vinyl nerd what aspect of the whole hobby/game/lifestyle/obsession of collecting they enjoy most and a few are more likely to answer that they like finding and getting rarer versions or pressings. Whether it’s a record-release pressing, or something limited to 10 copies, or even friends pressing given out to random people who  commit lewd acts in front of the band or send in nudes…ya know, crazy shit like that.

When it comes to fests and special shows, some bands and labels take the route of creating something special and unique to have for sale at their merch tables. This is awesome as it makes the release more special and specific for that event and performance. But sometimes it can be a downer since some fans can’t make it to the show or fest when they’re far and away from their hometown. But much thanks to the internet age, it’s gotten a bit easier for someone to get Band X’s first album repressed with special cover covered in the singer’s blood only sold at the band’s final show in their Podunk hometown. Again…some crazy shit like that. But yeah…now thanks to message boards, Twitter, and Facebook, Fan Numero Fanatico Fantastico can beg and plead to friends and people attending the show to hook them up with a copy of that one record they want. Some get lucky and do get hooked…while others who tend to be overzealous and annoying in their pleas go unnoticed and ignored.

I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of that mess. But sometimes waiting can also work out as if there are any leftover merch, including those rare pressings, they become available online via the band or the label’s webstores.

In the case of this year’s This Is Hardcore, I lucked out in both fronts: having someone who went help me secure a couple of releases and also waiting for some to be available online afterwards.

Thanks to a good lad over at Dead Format, I was hooked up with Strife‘s My Fire Burns On 7″ and Moutpiece‘s Can’t Kill What’s Inside LP.

Strife was one of the first sXe hardore bands I got into way back when. Even though I am far from sXe they still hit home with their message and the music was great to mosh to. Ha! For TIH they repressed their My Fire Burns On 7″ and did a special silkscreened cover that folds out into a mini-print of sorts. Limited to 50 hand-numbered copies it’s on a grey marble puke messy color.

Mouthpiece is another sXe band I got into early. I believe it was last year…or maybe in 2009…Revelation Records compiled all of their recordings and put out the Can’t Kill What’s Inside LP. The band reunited and has been playing shows. For TIH, they took the second pressing of the discography LP of green vinyl and made a special cover for it limited to just 50. They got creative with this one using the G.I. Joe figure from the early 1960s on the cover. If you know your Revelation Records history, then you know how the “connection” with G.I. Joe and how this cover is an homage to that.

And now we have Deathwish Inc. They took the leftovers from TIH and posted them on their webstore thus giving fans a chance to get their grubby hands on these.

For TIH, DW took three records that they had vinyl for but no jackets and made special silkscreened covers. As it tends to surely happen, labels probably get an overrun of vinyl or jackets for some of their releases and these just sit in their warehouse or storage as they can’t really be released. So with these three, Deathwish went ahead and made something special for TIH.

Cold World – Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First. Black vinyl…unknown number on this pressing. Maybe a “reissue” for sorts to keep it in print. It feels weightier so 180gram perhaps? The TIH silkscreened cover is out of 110.

Killing The Dream – Fractures. Transparent Ice Blue (Coke Bottle) w/ White Splatter. The vinyl itself is the second pressing out of 200. With the silkscreened cover out of 150. So does that mean that only 50 copies of the second pressing had real jackets? Hmmmmm… This is probably my favorite of the TIH releases DW did. The cover is like a mini print of J. Bannon’s artwork and design. Which is also an actual art print he did a year or so back. And it goes perfect with the vinyl color.

Blacklisted – …And The Beat Goes On. Black vinyl. No pressing info that known. I do get the sneaking suspicion that this the vinyl from a recent repress on 180gram. I say that because over at Six Feet Under Records’ webstore (and email newsletter) they mention a 180gram black vinyl reissue. Yet another Hmmmm. But this is out of 180 with the silkscreened cover. And it sold like hot cakes! Understandibly so as it is a great record.

Deathwish did a bang-up job on these for sure. Much like the Converge – You Fail Me leftover vinyl w/ silkscreened covers from a couple of years back, these are special and pretty overall awesome.

Pretty cool isn’t it?

And by the way…if anyone has an extra or willing to trade/sell a copy of the YFM red w/ black stripe w/ the silkscreened cover get at me. I’m down for a trade or purchase. juantspv@gmail.com

So that basically wraps up the TIH releases I got my hands on.

Surely there will be plenty of more fests and shows with special releases and pressings and variants that I will want to get my hands on. But only those bands I’m into. And labels I continually support and consistently put out great music. Like Deathwish Inc.

“Shamelessly brown-nosing since 1995”

Kayo Dot – Stained Glass 12” EP

By this point I have become such a fan of Kayo Dot’s music, that if and when I get a chance to pick up any new pressings of their releases, I’m all for it. A while back I took a look at their most recent LP, Coyote, which was put out by the always-impressive Taiga Records. (Posted about that here). Kayo Dot followed up Coyote with the Stained Glass EP. As usual Hydra Head handled the release but they allowed the EP’s vinyl version to be released by Antithetic Records. We posted on the pre-orders for Stained Glass a while back at the end of June.

The records are finally showing up at people’s homes and their turntables. (Geez…that last phrase sounds so damn cheesy)

I wasn’t feeling too extravagant and opted to  just get the Black version limited to 100 hand-numbered sleeves. Other colors available are Purple and Teal. Those limited to 200 each.

The overall presentation on the record is superb. Sturdy and thick sleeves, insert with all the credits, a poster (bonus!), and the vinyl itself on 180gram.

The black vinyl compliments the artwork and design in not only its simplicity but also subtlety.

The music itself is a bit more experimental and synth-driven than Coyote but that is what makes Kayo Dot interesting. You never know what you’re going to get with each release. Stained Glass is more about creating an ambience and feeling of impending dread than the tumult and chaos that was Coyote. You still get some harsh moments from the guitars and synth here, but it sets itself apart from the rest of the 20-minute EP. It’s almost as if this violent drive halfway is a reminder to keep vigilant throughout the rest of the record.

Stained Glass is an experiment in creating a darkness with the ambience and within the environment. It can be argued that it’s typical of Toby Driver’s conducting of the Kayo Dot orchestra but it’d be missing the point of just enjoying the music for what it is. And thanks to a stellar edition from Antithetic Records, the mood and feeling of the music can be experienced in a whole new way.

Harmony – Self-Titled LP

One thing that I sometimes have to give props to is this blog. And Twitter. And Facebook. But it all goes back to TSPV here. In my time “contributing”…and I put that in quotes because I don’t take myself seriously and never think that anyone cares or gives a rat’s ass what I have to say and feel like I am so obsessed and such a fanboy that I lose all words to be sensical when it comes to this stuff…BUT…during this whole time I have fomented a few great e-friendships and connections. In the process I have been able to get turned on to a lot of new music and bands that I would have otherwise never known were out there.

I have mentioned this before in the Abraxis post (here) and I could on and on and on. Well…my good e-buddy Craig from Australia and who runs/owns Midnight Funeral Records turned me on this band: Hamorny. If I recall correctly he had been raving about them for quite some time after I posted about Whirl (here) and mentioned them non-stop on my Twitter. I’m a sucker for Shoegaze music and all the bands involved in that genre. Well, Craig mentioned to me that I should check out Harmony, as they had a feel of Shoegaze and then some and I’d dig them. And they happen to be a local Aussie band.

Well…fuck me was he right!

Harmony play a style that is all things Shoegaze in essence but soundwise is more of a Folk and even Americana…would it be Australiana then?…style that is just tough to really pin down.

I don’t know much of the history of the band or their members…I just know that I soon as I listened to the tracks on their Soundcloud page (here) I was hooked! They were/are a breath of fresh air into this hardcore punk who also listens to and loves Taylor Swift kid’s life…yeah…that AWESOME!

The record itself seems to have been self-released by the band on their Solar/Sonar label. It’s all on black 180gram vinyl. It definitely feels nice and heavy. According to the band’s webstore, the records is out of 250 copies. And pricey. At least for us U.S. residents. I think after all was said and done with shipping it came close to $47. Or was it $57?…I can’t remember but it was pricey…and it hurt…but it was OK because it’s so damn good the music and well worth it. Plus now I can say that I feel the pain when my Aussie HxC brethren order records from the U.S. and how much it costs for them. Ouch.

So yeah…if you dig great music…get this record…you’ll be glad.

If this post doesn’t make sense…then it’s OK too…I’ve had quite a few beers tonight. So this is interesting to say the least. Ha!

“Drunk blog posting since 1995”

Whirl – Distressor 12” EP

Every once in a while a new band will come along that blows my mind with their music to a level that I obsess about them non-stop. It’s rare, but it does happen. And I listen to their record(s) ad nauseum and dissect the music and try to just drown in their sound. It has happened again now with Whirl. I honestly have no solid idea how exactly I stumbled upon the group and their music. It’s definitely through the band’s connection with Deafheaven. It turns out that Nick Bassett of Deafheaven was and still is in Whirl prior to him joining Deafheaven. This connection is more than likely what prompted me to check out Whirl. As soon as I got through listening to the Distressor EP stream on their bancamp page, I was hooked. Whirl (now going by the name Whirr due to some legal tanglings), play straight-up shoegaze indie pop that is in the same style and feel as the bands of that genre back in the 90s. And it’s awesome.

The band put out a very limited cassette of Distressor and as expected it quickly went out of print. A second run of it is available from Bridgetown Records. But of course finding the vinyl version of this is what matters most. At least to all the nerds involved on this hobby.

The vinyl was done by The Sounds of Sweet Nothing out of the UK. At the time of looking into it, I did not know you could order directly from the label. So after seeing it posted on Whirl’s Facebook page, I ordered it from Rough Trade in the UK.

500 copies pressed in black vinyl. Simple jacket and artwork. The images adoring the record are vague and allow for the music to speak for itself. Which is what really matters here. Especially with the music Whirl creates.

Now here’s where I am annoyed to no end.

First. There must be some sort of cardboard shortage in the UK. Do they not have normal LP mailers like we do here in the U.S. I always seem to get records shipped in these flimsy envelope mailers that will guarantee the records to get all jacked up.

Second. I know and understand that Rough Trade is a label and a store. Why in the hell is there a price/info label sticker affixed to the jacket itself?!?! Talk about taking away from the simplicity of the cover art with this thing. I’ll have to figure out a way to safely take it off without damaging the jacket. Any suggestions?

Third. I should have waited until Deathwish got these in their distro and have a better chance of un-jacked and un-stickered jackets. Hopefully.

Oh the risks and adventures of mail ordering. Never ceases to amaze me.

Oh yeah…I wrote a pretty damn good review of the actual EP over at The 1^st Five…check it out here…Boo-yah!

Descendents

I think it was 1988 and I was a typical skate kid of my generation. I ate,  slept and breathed skateboarding. Little did I know that this would be a trend I would follow for over 20 years. For me and my crew, skateboarding was more than riding every day. When we weren’t riding, we read every magazine, watched every video and hung at the local skate shop all day every day. During this time my musical intake was pretty much hair metal and whatever was played on the radio and Mtv. I don’t know what it was but all the sudden I started paying attention to ads in skate magazines for bands and record labels. I’m sure this is the story of a zillion of punk and hardcore kids around the world but that’s the way it happened. Noticing these ads was a profound experience in my life because the music I discovered there genuinely shaped me into the person I am today.

Of all those bands, the one that instantly became my favorite was the Descendents. I remember walking into the local record shop, which amazingly had tons of punk stuff and that was it. There were posters for the Descendents on every wall but I remember one being for Hallraker and saying….damn I need that. I bought that and Black Flag – Everything Went Black the next day. I loved both, but the Descendents records made an incredible impact on me. To this day if someone asks me my favorite band they always seem to struggle with the fact that its a punk band that sings about girls if they even know them at all.

I remember reading the liner notes of that Hallraker tape every day until I memorized the entire history of the band. Strange looking back that I was falling in love with a band that had just broken up. That fact I didn’t discover for some time later as I worked my way through their catalog.

Hallraker has a very special place in my mind to this day, so as I’m just now starting to but all their stuff on vinyl, Hallraker is the one I start with. Fantastic album that sounds perfect and has some of their best songs. Pep Talk on this record may even be my favorite Descendents song ever.

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)