L7 - Bricks are Heavy

I had been chasing down this LP for some time now, and I saw it every now and again, but it was always really expensive, not that I didn't think it was worth it, but factor in postage, and I wasn't really keen.



About 2 1/2 months ago, I saw this copy from a dude in Brazil (yeah, didn't sound like the best idea I know, but it was only $10 BIN), so I snapped it up. Dude said he would send it Regsitered Post from Brazil, so I figured it was safe right? 1 month passes, no record. 6 weeks, no record. 2 months, no record. I am getting a little worried, but I forget to hit up the dude about the LP. It hits 10 weeks, and it is now too late to do anything (it was too late at 2 months anyways), and I was preparing to write an angry email to the dude about how he'd ripped me off, and it turned up in my PO Box. I was stoked!

I love this album so much. It reminds me of when I was 15 or so, and this dude who lived on the same estate as me, had it in his car (he was 21, a deaset loser, but was keen on the 24 year old sister of my best mate at the time, and he defs wanted to get himself into her. I did make out with her once at the park while drunk, but it didn't go down to well with my mate, or Matt to be honest), and he used to play it heaps, along with heaps of Nirvana, but also stuff like Short Dick Man by 20 fingers/Gillette and Rump Shaker by Wreckx-N-Effect, and one of my all time favs, Jump Around by House of Pain! Pure gold!



Anyways, I pinched the tape one night, and I actually still have it somewhere. I also didn't know that Mr Brett of Bad Religion fame contributed to their songs.



This is in pretty good condition, the cover is nice, the vinyl needs a clean, but is pretty good with no real scratches, but this pressing has no insert. Shithouse.

Samhain - III: November Coming Fire

I picked this up at a record store I hadn't been to before, when I went in to buy some larger LP covers (Ones to fit over my big gatefold LP's), and I had a quick scan through what the guy had. It was mostly Pop and 60's & 70's stuff, not a whole heap tp grab my attention, but he had an old Punk section, and I had a squiz and came across this little guy.



I'll be honest, I haven't checked out Samhain before, and after this LP, I am pissed that I haven't. I really don't know why I hadn't before, I guess I just stuck to Danzig era Misfits, and Danzig's first 3 records...



I paid $30 for this, not sure if this was a good price, but I was pissed to find that it didn't have the insert, which I should have checked, as so many records of this era are missing the inserts, and I did my checks on Misfits Central, and it is indeed a first press. It has a version of Halloween on it called "Halloween II", and this is the only song that doesn't do it for me on the LP, probably because I love the OG version that he did with the Misfits so much.



Anyways, I love the cover art on this, and it is in pretty good condition, and I am sure it will get a good workout on my record player in the coming months. Oh, and I loooooove the pic of Danzig on the back cover. So Dark, So Brooding...

Millencolin - Use your nose EP

Another one of those records I grew up with that I didn't know existed on vinyl. Seriously, Discogs is a help and also the bane of my exsistence!



But anyways, I first got into Millencolin when I saw they play with No Fun At All at the Central Club for $8 in the mid 90's, and I got right into them from there! I bought this EP on CD at Missing Link, when it was a tiny store crammed to the walls with records and a few shirts at the front of the store. I fucking loved that old joint.



I bought this of a bloke in Japan. Only cost me $15 plus $6 for postage. Not bad for an old piece of my youth in 7 inches. The cover isn't in too bad condition, not great but not the worst I have seen. It's on shitty cardboard stock, and the colours are really washed out (that's not just a shitty pic) and the vinyl is shitty and thin, but I don't give a fuck. It sounds like it should to me. One thing though, each side has a different speed on it, so I got shitty, because I hate that, especially with my record player, where I have to take off the plate to chance the speed, but it was just a fuck up in the printing of the labels!



This record reminds me of skateboarding, hanging out in the summer sun, wagging school to skate and just having a much simpler life. Sometimes I miss those days, but not too often...



Stoked to have this, and now I want to get the Skauch EP, which will be pretty easy I reckon...

Refused - Songs to Fan the Flames of Dsicontent (Re-issue)

Early on in the week I got my order from Epitaph of a bunch of re-issues. I'll start with this one, as it is one of my favourite records.





I actually posted about the OG pressing here , So I won't go on about it, but I will mention a couple of things.

It's on Red in this case, and I fucking love Red Vinyl!



The artwork is on better quality stock, and the vinyl is thicker. Epitaph actually rectified something that was my biggest criticism of the OG pressing, to do with the sequencing. They have moved "It's not OK..." to the start of Side B so that it goes with "Crusader of Hopelessness", and I am so stoked they did this, but they forgot to change the labels and the back cover to reflect the change, so the info on all the art is wrong, as it lists the original Track listing. This kinda bums me out, as I would expect an amateur like myself to fuck something like this up, but not Epitaph. Oh well.



Other than that, stoked it is back in print. Now I really want "This just might be the Truth" to be re-issued. I am tempted to try and get the licensing myself for it, as it is a fucking good SXE record.

Baroness - First & Second LP

So many records have come in in the last couple of weeks, but as I said in my last post, I haven't much felt like writing too much.





Here is a record that had long been talked about, but there had been no sign of it for fucking ages. Then old mate from hyperealist starting posting about it on the vinylcollective message board and this motherfucker here started to get just a little bit excited!



Now, I have both the original pressings of these records, but I have to say that it is nice to have them both on one LP. I was also pumped for the updated artwork for the gatefold release. The new artwork has made good use of the original art, but made it look like a good single package. I love to foil printing on both sides of the sleeve, I'm always a sucker for that shit. I bought all 3 colours, but I have decided to just keep the black copy, as I have black copies of first and second. Kind of a nerd like that sometimes.





The songs have been remastered for this re-issue, and they sound rad. A good treatment of what I think are the best work from Baroness.





Stoked.

Nirvana - Blew EP

It has been way too long since I have posted. It's not that I haven't had good stuff coming in, I've just been a bit down lately, and not really feeling like sitting down and writing. I am making an effort to try and get back into routine, but it isn't too easy to be honest.



I got this in the mail not too long ago, from a guy in Seattle (If you're gonna buy a Nirvana record, where else would you buy it from?), and I probably paid a little more that I had too, but I have been chasing this for a while (not a bootleg version either, I really wanted an OG pressing), so I was happy to shell out my $60 for it. I have seen bootlegs at second hand stores before, and they usually go for about the same here in Australia, so I wasn't too worried. As you can see, it still has the price sticker on it, I don't want to try to take it off, incase I ruin the sleeve. It looks awesome for a 21 year old record too!



This is up there with one of my favourite EP's. This was a great band at a great fucking time in their lives, making awesome music.



"Blew" has the "Bleach" album versions of Blew and Love Buzz, Stain was later on Incesticide, and Been A Son is a different version than the one that appears on Incesticide.



Simple artwork, I love the layout, and it just makes me happy to have a copy of this in my collection. Stoked.

N.U.F.A.N.

The second of the 2 Triple posts are from one of my favourite bans growing up, No Use For a Name!

I picked these up from the Fat Wreck store, and they were fucking cheap as shit! I think all up they cost me $15 postage paid. If I were to buy these from a store here, even 10 years ago, it would have cost me at least $20 a piece, so I was super stoked when i hit the cart on the Fat Wreck site.





These are the only 3 records I have from NUFAN, but as far as I am concerned, these are the only 3 records that matter. Anything before doesn't really grab me, asnd anything after Making Friends is soft fucking bullshit, so this is where it's at for me!
I first heard Justified Black Eye on Survival of the Fattest after seeing Lagwagon play in a venue that is now a nightclub. This shit was fast, melodic and had an actual meaning behind what they were saying.





I didn't pick up Leche Con Carne straight away, but I did get The Daily Grind on CD cheap as shit, and I reckon I played that thing at least 2-3 times a day on my walkman. It got me through some fucking shitty bus rides to school.







These records are going to be the basis of my summer listening. I cannot fucking wait to chill in the sun on my back porch with a glass of ice cold Dr Pepper and listen to thems shits!

The Streets

It's been way too long between posts, so i have a couple triple posts (3 records from the same artist) from records that I have bought together.


First up is 3 of 4 albums by the UK's The Streets,AKA Mike Skinner. I guess this is a little different to what I a used to posting, butI do love a good dose of Hip Hop at times, usually 80's and 90's Gansta Rap, but the UK has some really interesting stuff from time to time. I also really like Skinner's delivery.





The great thing about all the The Streets's records is, that they are all different. They are all un-mistakenly The Streets, and they all have pretty prominent Garage influences, but they are all very different. Each one feels more and more organic too, from a musical perspective.

I actually picked these up at a record store in Fitzroy, on Brunswick Street, called Polyester (which has a book store on the same road, that sells some great fucking books, but they get raided perioddically, as they sell a lot of un-censored books, which I love, but sucks for them), and I reckon I could have gotten them a touch cheaper,but I haven't seen these records around much too often for a decent price, and any chance I can support a local record store, I will.





The only record they didn't have in stock was my favourite of his 4 records, A Grand Don't come for Free. I was bummed, bu also super stoked as I picked up 3 records from an artist I really should have bought fucking ages ago in one fell swoop!
What I like about all of these LP's is the artwork, is the use of a photograph for the artwork. Only two (The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, and A Grand don't come for Free ) have Mike in the shot.





The photo for the Original Pirate Material, really sets the mood and tone for the music in the album, bleak. The art for The Hardest Way... sets the vibe that Mike is at a decadent chapter of his life, and the lyrics really drive that home. The art for Everything is Borrowed sets the tone once again, it's bleak at times, but a really soothing record, and for the most part, quite positive.

So now, on the lookout for A Grand don't come for Free and I amsuper fucking siked for when Computers and Blues finally hits the streets (sorry for the fucking shitty pun), which is the last under The Streets moniker.

Nailbomb - Point Blank

When I was in High school I dated a chick who's brother was in a band. I used to hang out a lot with his mates, and I got into the more extreme side of music.



Fear Factory was her favourite band (she had a mad crush on Burton C Bell), and I was chatting to another mate about FF and Sepultura, and he put me on to this, as he said it was a cross between Sep and the industrial type shit that FF were doing. My mate made me a dub on tape and I fucking loved it! I must have played that shit until it almost fell apart. I probably still have the tape somewhere.



Nailbomb was Max Cavalera and Alex Newport from Fudge Tunnel, and was basically an Industrial Thrash band. I don't really know what else to say about it. It is very early 90's in it;s sound. These dudes made 1 record, then played 1 show and ended it. I reckon that's pretty fucking cool actually. The 1 show was recorded and released as "Proud to commit commercial Suicide".





I got this on eBay for a BIN price, and I was happy to pay the $30ish that it was listed at. I've missed it a couple times before, and I really wanted to have it in my collection, so here it is.



The artwork is pretty full on, but I'm sure that was the intent. The insert on this copy isn't in the greatest condition, but I am just happy that it has the insert, and so many records of this era are missing their inserts. Probably because dudes had them on their walls, and when they moved out of home, mum threw it out. The record needs a good clean, but other than that, fucking stoked to have it in my collection now...

It feels good to be a Punk loser.

No Fun at All - Out of Bounds

As with the first No Fun At All LP, I hadn't actually seen one of these for sale any where, and when it came out, Vinyl wasn't even on my radar for priorities, so this one slipped on by...



The funny thing about this copy is that it was sealed, and had been sitting in a dudes shop in the USA for 10 years. I'm guessing it's deadstock from Rev Records (as they have had it listed as OOP for a looooong ass time), who actually put out the LP release for this Burning Heart album. I don't know if Rev were looking after distro for Burning Heart prior to the Epitaph buyout, but I know after that Epitaph released all their shit in the US and a lot of the Vinyl.



Anyways, this has different artwork to the CD which bums me out hugely, as I love the Penguin on the cover of the original CD version of this CD. For a lot of people I know, this is the best work of NFAA, but I disagree, and I still prefer No Straight Angles. This LP brings me lots of the same memories that the first LP does, so it is still going to be a busy LP come summer time!



I haven't seen this on eBay or anywhere else, and when I scored this off Gemm, I emailed the guy to make sure it was the LP, and he ensured me it was, so I payed for it. All up, including postage I paid $23 for this. Total bullshit if you ask me, I could not be happier, as it would have cost me at least $30 to buy it from a store when it came out. I know I paid more than that for the CD when it came out!





Stoked. Bring back the Motherfucking 90's! Fast punk, Angry Grindcore, and the summer of Nevermind!

Blink 182 - Chesire Cat

I actually didn't know that this actually existed on LP, I mean, I had my suspicions, but I have never actually seen one, in person or on eBay, etc, so I wasn't sure. In fact, I cannot find any pressing info on this LP what so ever.



But here it is, in all it's glory.



I bought this for way too much money from a dude in Japan (Where most of my best records have come from), but as I said, not having seen it before, I wasn't sure I would ever see it again, and I have seen copies of the Dude Ranch repress and the OG "Blink" version on this CD go for way more than I spent on this.



The cover is in great condition for a record that came out in 1994. No ring wear, a small tear in one of the bottom corners (shelf wear would be my guess), and it has the insert. My only gripe is there are a few surface marks, which were mentioned in the listing, so that's cool, but the first track on Side B has a massive squiggly mark, which looks like it may have been done on purpose at some stage, but the extent of this was not listed in the listing, so I will be raising that one with old mate in Japan.



I remember seeing Blink 182 play to about 150 kids in a small club in Prahran (smack bang in the gay district I will add, not that I had or have any qualms about this, but I find it funny that the kings of Dick, Fart and Gay jokes had their show in that end of town!), and they played for about an hour, and I had such a fucking good time. It was the second time the band had been here, the first being with Pennywise in 1995 I think, and they were in fine form. They were actually really tight, even though they were fucking smashed. I was 16 then. It was a different time...



This record is about 95% awesome in my opinion. The end of the record kinda let's it down for me. I dig that at the time, punk bands did dumb shit like this, and they were all super young dudes, but as a 30 year old man, the end of the record now bums me out a touch. Can't have everything can I?

Anyways, I am super stoked to have this sitting on my shelves, and I can honestly tell you that it will get one hell of a work out this summer! Fucking bring it on!