Saturday, March 31, 2012

Street Prowl on Red.. Wait its BLACK vinyl!?! WTF



So now that I'm done ranting about not getting the red vinyl on the Stick Together "Surviving the Times" pre order, I figured I'd give another story on how I missed out on some Red vinyl. This past December I saw Rotting Out with Madball and Take Offense in San Francisco. I knew before the show that their new "Street Prowl" LP had copies on black, red and 200 on clear which sold out pretty much immediately. At the beginning of the show I asked their merch guy if they had red copies, he said yeah they had a bunch. I asked him to hold onto one for me until the end of the show, and he said "no problem".  




Ok, so Madball finishes and a rush is underway for the door/merch tables. I had a long night of drinking and was feeling pretty good by then so this next part of the story is my own damn fault. I go to buy my copy of Street Prowl and I ask the guy if its on Red vinyl, he looks at me and says "Yeah". My friends are in a hurry to go so I grab my record and Rotting Out "Raiders" shirt and get the hell out. Now keep in mind, the record isn't even SEALED. I could have easily pulled it out and looked at it. It's not until the next morning when I go to check out the record that I realize I had a copy of it on black. Fuck. I really doubt the guy did it on purpose, because he was trying to get a few people their merch all at the same time. It's really my own damn fault for not taking the 2 seconds to look at the vinyl. And even more my fault, I should have just gone online that day and picked up a red one because they were still available. You live and you learn, right?




So onto the release. This is a really quality album, and they did a really nice job with the layout, cover art and big ass poster. I really like Rotting Out, they play fast ass hardcore punk with no frills.  I've seen them live a few times now and their singer always has great stage presence, jumping around and getting crazy as well as interacting with the crowd in between songs and telling little stories. If you haven't had a chance to check these guys out yet I would definitely do so. I'm anxiously waiting for a 2nd pressing and hoping to scoop this on some nice colored vinyl, but until then this will have to do.


Friday, March 30, 2012

Stick Together - Surviving the Times Pre-Order


So I pre ordered the Surviving the Times 7" a little while back from Triple B and I am very disappointed. I know Stick Together is really big on hand numbered and limited sleeves, so I was hoping for some kind of special pre order sleeve... No such luck. They couldn't even give me the red vinyl... Really? It's 165 on Red, 406 on Clear grey, and 906 on Black. I highly doubt that I didn't get my pre order in fast enough to get in on the red copies, but who knows. Maybe they only give you Red if you ordered multiple copies. 



Besides that this is a really good release. It comes with a digital download so I've been bumping it on the Ipod for a few days now. Triple B did a good job with the layout and art work on this release. I don't know if I like it as much as "No More Games" yet but time will tell. 

I ain't no joke, I used to let the mic smoke



Here it is, one of the best hip hop records ever made: Eric B and Rakim's "Paid in Full". This is an original pressing on 4th and Broadway with the Yellow labels and "Dope Remixes" Sticker. It also has a gold promo stamp on the back. I don't have a great story behind this, I had been looking for one on ebay for a while and finally got this one for under $20. Sometimes patience pays off, I had to sit on the sidelines will some broke $70. Like most hip hop original pressings, this one was probably pressed a million times so it's definitely not as rare as an old hardcore record, but original pressings still aren't always that easy to come by in decent condition. The overall quality of the jacket and vinyl seems very poor. Similar to my Wu-Tang press below, this vinyl is super thin and flimsy. The jacket itself seems thinner than normal, even considering its age. Gave it a spin and it doesn't sound that great either. Oh well, I'll stick to the mp3's I guess.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

15 Songs in 9 Minutes. Reality Choke.



Heres my 10" copy of Reality Choke by San Jose "grind violence" heavy hitters In Disgust. Before In Disgust there was Hostile Takeover, and before Hostile Takeover there was Corporate Villans (yes, misspelled on purpose). Corporate Villans was one of the first bands I played in and a bunch of fun. I remember the day of my 8th grade graduation, I never showed up so I could go play a Corporate Villans show at the "Chemical Free Zone" in Campbell. Way better than any stupid graduation!




Anyways, this release is not really my style but In Disgust was always really fun live and of course they're cool guys. I do know that in power violence, raw noise, grindcore, thrash whatever circles they are considered to be top tier. I don't even know the fucking difference between all those styles I just said so forgive me if I'm offending anyone haha. According to deadformat.net this had 566 on clear, 96 on black (hand numbered), 50 black test presses with silk screened "tooth brush shark" and 4 on black pressed as "b edition" copies. Damn, that is a shit load of test presses? I think it may have been like 50 record release/tour copies or something and 4 test presses, but thats just speculation.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

It's all no use, It's all photo cropping...



Ok, So I know I'm a terrible photographer but I am trying to get better! I finally found a slightly better set up for my photos than the first round which were on my coffee table. I am now getting them next to a window upstairs with a little better natural lighting. Most importantly, I finally figured out how to use that damn "Iphoto" to crop the pictures so they look less shitty. I'll keep playing with it and as time goes on hopefully I'll get better, so please just bear with me for the time being :)




Here two copies of "Tied Down". One is the 2nd pressing (I think it was pressed in '85?) on pink (or violent, purple, whatever). I love this album on pink, I just think it looks so much better than the green! The Green is a repress from an unknown year. I was trying to see if anyone could help me figure it out. I traded for it with an old friend around 2006. I recently saw a copy at my local store that had "Free Digital Download" stickers on the shrink wrap, so I know that it must have been pressed again very recently and this is not that one. They are both on black vinyl. The green pressing has no lyric insert (atleast that I acquired in the trade) and the Chicago address. If anyone knows what year it came out or even how many of these were pressed, I would really appreciate some insight. 



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Bring the motherfuckin' thin press...




Here is my original pressing of Wu Tang's 36 Chambers. Even your grandma probably knows most these songs so theres not a whole lot to be said. One thing that 80's to early 90's hip hop original pressings are known for are their terrible quality. Most of the records are so thin they feel like a fragile piece of paper, and its always a bunch of long songs crammed onto ONE record so the sound is usually as thin as the record itself. That's why all hip hop records now (and represses of these old records) are all released as 2LPs. This copy isn't necessarily rare, I'm sure there were a million pressed, but it has been repressed a million times also so it's always nice to own the original. My copy is a little beat up, but there is no promo stamps, saw cuts or cut off edges or anything like that so it was a regular consumer copy at one point. 


Sunday, March 25, 2012

We be causin' a mosh pit like Cro-Mags at L'amours...



Here is my sealed copy of Heavy Metal Kings which is Vinny Paz of Jedi Mind Tricks and Ill Bill of Non-Phixion. Pretty solid album, I wouldn't say its a soon to be classic or anything like that, but one of the better hip hop releases of 2011. I'm surprised more hard core kids don't fuck with these dudes. They use a ton of hardcore references in their songs, which is fucking awesome. "I'm hardcore like Paul Bearer in Sheer Terror" - Vinnie Paz, or "Where to go, we gotta know, like Harley Flannagan" - Ill Bill.   Vinnie Paz is even rocking the Keepers of the Faith shirt on the back cover! My favorite song on this album is "Age Of Quarrel", with the "We be causin a mosh pit like Cro-Mags at L'amours" chorus, here it is below:


If you don't have anything by these guys I would recommend Jedi Mind Tricks "Legacy of Blood", "Visions of Ghandi" or "Violent by Design" or Ill Bill's "What's wrong with Bill?" first. Don't get me wrong, this is a solid release but some of the tracks seem rushed and in my opinion they should have just kept them on mix tapes. I bought this when I went to see them at Slim's in SF last year. They had Danny Diablo (Lord Ezec) from Skarhead/Crown of Thornz open for them on his hip hop shit, and wow that was really sad. He really needs to stay with the hardcore shit, he has no business at all in hip hop. I felt bad cause half the crowd was just clowning on him the entire time. Heres some footage from Heavy Metal Kings' set that night on my youtube channel:


The Tables Will Mysteriously Turn


Sorry for not posting anything in a while, I've been real busy at work and haven't had a chance to post after a nice 60 hour week... (More $$$ to blow on records!) Anyways I am posting my copy of "Tables will Turn" that I got for the cheap on ebay a while back. I assumed it was the 1st pressing of 700 on "black and purple marble", but it looks very different on the Reaper Discography and also on Flanders Fury's post, so I'm not so sure this is a first pressing after all. This is just purple and has no black in it at all. Either way this is a great release. This was one of those records that had to grow on me. First couple of listens I wasn't really feeling it with all the Suicidal style singing parts, but after a while I was loving it. Their singer is one of the rare vocalists that can pull the singing off without sounding lame. Definitely check this out!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

For your St. Patty's Day Hangover... Fuck Bar Culture!






For being a guy that goes out to bars alot, I sure love this fucking 7". Great layout and I love it on pink vinyl (out of 300). I just got this recently so I think this is a 2nd or 3rd pressing (if anyone could elaborate on that I would appreciate it.) I was going to wait so I could get some pictures of my other Coke Bust vinyl but I have to leave for work soon so I just figured I would throw up a quick picture I already had before I left. Nick Tape's vocals really set this band apart from other similar bands for me. This is a solid release on Third x Party records, but I ended up buying it through Grave Mistake. It is available still at both places but I would pick one up quick if you haven't already!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patricks Day!

Unfortunately me for me I will be at work tonight, but how about some Green vinyl and St. Patricks Day(ish) records to celebrate? I only took a couple, since its so overcast I can't get any natural daylight in to get good pictures so I've been having a difficult time with my crappy camera skills to get my girlfriends camera to focus.



The Duckhunt/Hammertime Split on Green speckled vinyl. Two bands that went on to play in a bunch of other bands (Sabertooth Zombie, Allegiance, Ceremony).


A random break beats album from the dollar bin. "Raw Beats" for DJ purposes. I was shocked to open it up and see this beautiful sea green marble with green label, though.



I've never been real big on Dropkick Murphy's, or any of the overly Irish stuff for that matter, but I have acquired some of their early 7 inches over the years. Mostly just to round out my TKO Records collection. Here is the best one, just because it has Anti-Heros on it. And the Anti-Heros rule, OK? I've seen this on blue and clear colored vinyl, but I just have the boring black version.



The Dropkick Murphy's/Oxymoron split. Meh.



Ouch, maybe I should have cleaned off that record a little better. Maybe its because I haven't even looked at it in 10 years. There's a few pics for you for St. Patty's, Have fun and be safe!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Deke DaSilva and Matt Fox are.... NIGHTHAWKS!



Here is a now classic concept album with Cage Kennylz and Camu Tao (RIP) as Nighthawks. The album is based off of the 1981 Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams movie. Two rough and rugged cops, one white and one black, battling a Russian terrorist named Wulfgar hell bent on destroying New York. Basically Cage (a white rapper) plays Stallone's character on the album, while Camu Tao (a black rapper) plays Billy Dee William's character on the album. Every song in this album is written from the view point of a corrupt cop. This is an excellent album and a true classic. This thing is super hard to find now, and I don't think I could ever sell this. The death of Camu Tao a few years ago just makes this thing even more sought after. Also, this was released on the now defunct Eastern Conference records, and pretty much anything with the Eastern Conference logo on it adds a ton of value.


I ended up finding this album at Streetlight Records in Santa Cruz in 2006 in the used bin on the floor of the hip hop section. That day I found almost an entire Eastern Conference Records collection in that same used bin, one of the best record shopping days of my life! I'll post more of those at a later date. I always stop at the same store whenever I am up there hoping that lightning will strike twice, but I doubt I'll ever have a shopping day with that much luck again. Check out this song below that is the best one off the album, also featuring Tame One. The little commentary in between verses by Cage is fucking hilarious, you just have to hear it for yourself. If you like grimy NYC underground shit, then go pick this thing up on CD, you can still find them for under $10 on ebay.



Thursday, March 15, 2012

New Grave Mistake releases just in...

I just got a bunch of stuff from my latest order from Grave Mistake, one of my favorite labels. I'll show some of their new releases below...



A very solid by a band called Bad Advice on limited Orange vinyl. I like the simple lay out and it comes with a digital download card, yet no lyrics/insert. Bummer. Good fast hardcore punk rock with members of Government Warning, Direct Control, the Ladies and Cloak/Dagger. Go pick this up on Orange vinyl before its gone!



The next one is Sectarian Violence on limited Red vinyl. This is a Coke Bust side project and this release sounds great as well. It comes with an insert with the lyrics, which I'm not so sure if that is such a good thing. The lyrics are kind of corny, but this is still a very solid release. The vinyl is thick as hell, you could use this thing as a ninja star.




Here's a re release of an album that came out in 1986 by Richmond VA's Unseen Force. I remember seeing a picture of this album years ago but I have never actually heard them. I haven't listened to it yet but I'm going to throw it on tonight, I'll update this later with what I think.




Here is Cardiac Arrest's "Life is a Dead End" on Blue. This is the fourth pressing and only out of 100. This is another one that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, so I will update this later with my thoughts on it.



So I saved the best for last. This is my favorite release of all of these so far. I have the "No Shores" ep by Wasted Time and I love it, and this LP does not disappoint. Super raw and hard as fuck, it really makes me want to punch some holes in the walls. The vocals are excellent on this and the music is sharp with tight drums and crunchy, thick guitars. I haven't heard some of these other releases because I just can't seem to get this off my turn table! I also picked up some other distro items in this order, but I'll post those individually some other time.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The Glory Stompers??? Really???



Here is a very rare European only split by the Templars and the Glory Stompers. The Glory Stompers has to be in the top ten for corniest Oi! band names EVER! For a long time people were drooling over this thing because its so rare and never comes up on ebay, but I just checked discogs and there is one for sale for only $30! Oi! Records just don't hold value like they used to. If this is your thing then I would go scoop that copy for $30 up because I'm sure it won't be back around anytime soon. I can't find any pressing info on this besides that it was only released on black vinyl. I would be amazed if there was more than a 1000 of these pressed, but if anyone could clarify the pressing number for me that would be awesome.

Love/Hate Relationship





I have a love/hate relationship with Trapped Under Ice and their cover art. I love TUI's music, but I really can't stand most of their cover art. To me, their 2007 demo pictured above is just atrocious. Why do they have their shirts off? When I first seen it I really thought it must be a joke or something, but then I opened it and said "Oh fuck....... Pitbulls......" and I just knew they were dead fucking serious. It's silly, but I'm over it. I love these recordings. Now on the other hand...




This is, in my opinion, TUI's best lay out on any of their releases (excluding test pressings). I really love this lay out, maybe its because I'm a sucker for Spoiler art? I love how that smoke or whatever is coming out of the eyes and mouth, the city scape that has a mouth under it, the red eye in the bottom corner, the knife, trashcan, random detective with the gun... it's just all together awesome. Plus a great color scheme. Please TUI just have Spoiler do your next release, I am really sick of all the emo artsy covers lately.