The Get Up Kids - 4 Minute Mile LP

As usual it's been way too long between posts. Life gets busy sometimes.



I got this in the mail today. A bit of a weird one in regards to actually getting this to me. I bought it on eBay, at a BIN price of $10. It's a first pressing of this amazing album, and to be honest I should have been dubious of a first pressing of this for a tenner, but I do love a good bargain, and this is what I had gotten.



It was listed as EX vinyl and EX+ cover, so I was super stoked.



To start with, it took 2 weeks before it was shipped. The chick who sold it to me told me that she had posted it but it had been returned to sender saying the address wrong. The thing is, I work for the Australian Postal Service, so I advised her that that wasn't possible, as it would have been sent back via seamail, and it would take between 3-6 months to be returned. I also advised that I buy and receive records daily with no hassles. Then the story changed a couple times, but I left it as she said it was being "resent" that day.

So I wait.

Luckily a week later it has turned up. I got super pumped as I fucking love the shit out of this album, and I haven't owned a copy in years...

Side story: the first time I heard this record was on a record player in a vegan cafe that an old friend of mine used to run in Adelaide. I used to work there when I went to Adelaide to hang out, and I used to eat salad with Pinenuts and make coffee with my mate Gabe. I loved the LP so much I got my self a copy. I may have even convince her to give me the copy she had in the cafe. I played the living shit out of that LP...

Back to eBay story:

So I pull this bad boy out of the mailer and I look it over, as I was sure it was gonna make my month.

WRONG!



The sleeve is actually OK I guess. A bit creased along the spine, but I can live with that. I pulled out the inner sleeve and it is pretty rough, and it has food stains on both sides. It's at his stage I get fucking furious. And as some of you will know, I do get angry about this shit from time to time.



Then I slip the LP out of the sleeve and there are so many visible surface scratches on this piece of shit that it looks like it was stored out of the sleeve most of the time. This is taken from the listing: "This album is the original pressing on Doghouse Records from 1997 which is long out of print and difficult to find. Plays with a tolerable amount of noise between tracks. "



I put it on and it crackles all the way through. I do love the occasional record sound (pop or crackle) but not audibly through out the whole album. So much that it over powers the music at times. This thing also fucking skipped at least 6 times.

I now know why I got a bargain.

Fuck.

Refused - This Just Might Be...The Truth!

So, I don't have much of a story on this one, I'm just stoked beyond words to have a copy of this.



I honestly never knew that this had an LP Release, as I had never seen it listed anywhere, and I can't seem to find any pressing info on it either.

I picke up this copy on eBay, and yes, I paid too much for it, but as I said I have never seen one before. I have in the past chased records that don't exist (Fiona Apples first 2 records for instance), but this is the first one I've had just show up on eBay and blow me away.



I put a bunch of stuff up for sale so I could afford to buy this treasure from the Japanese dude selling it. He listed this perfectly. It said that there was some wear on all edges and a mark on the back, but the vinyl was pretty clean, and he was spot on. It's nice that I get something for a change that doesn't upset me. Honesty really is the best policy when listing records on eBay people!



He even sent it registered international post, and it was wrapped in bubble wrap inside the mailer, and outside! Unlike another record I got today that was a 180gram 2xLP just wrapped in brown paper. No mailer, no cardboard. NOTHING! Hopefully I get a replacement on that...

As for the music on this one, nothing groundbreaking. Fairly standard metal influenced hardcore by a bunch of straightedge Swedish weirdos, who would continue to release some of the best music I've ever heard.

The sleeve says that this was distributed by "House of Kicks Records", but I don't know if that means it was self released but distro'd or if it was released by Startrec or what? This one didn't come with an insert or any notes at all, so Really, I have fuck all on this, just an awesome piece of Swedish Hardcore. Oh yeah, the labels are wrong on it too...

Anyone with any other info on this maybe drop me a line? Or if you have Dennis' email, let me know and I'll hit him up myself.

After all, he was my hero for years...

Converge - On My Shield (Euro)

I got this little ripper in the mail today.



I had bought this on the Black/White colourway from the Converge store, but then I paid way too much for this copy on eBay, and the other copy will now be traded away.



I know I should have been happy with the Black/White copy, but this looked so much fucking nicer in the pics I had seen, so I drop $40 on this, and I am fucking glad I did. I sold another 7 inch for the same price to pay for it, so it was almost a trade, I guess.



The song is a ripper. It starts out slow and dirgy. Really heavy, and the. It goes into a fast part, really reminiscient of You Fail Me era, and then slows down and gets super heavy at the end with double kicks and repeated vocals, and ends with feedback.

I'm really into it, but even moreso because of the clear gold vinyl I have it on now.

If anyone needs a copy of the Black/White 7 inch, drop me a line...

Burning Love - Songs for Burning Lovers

I think in my older age I am getting soft(er). It used to be I wanted to listen to Cursed and nothing else. Now, when I come to get my Colohan/Colofan fix, I head for Burning Love. I still love my Cursed records like no other, and I won't be parting with them, but this LP is fucking kick ass.



The demo really hinted at some good stuff, but this LP hits the nail on the head. With a 10 pound hammer!



Awesome crustyish rock and roll, channeling Iggy and The Stooges, mixing it with awesome hardcore punk and Chris Colohans trademark vocal. Rough as fuck, but a lot rockier than his Cursed/Ruination/Swarm days.



The artwork on this is kinda curious to me. The images look to be specific photos for the art, but they are half toned, so it kinda prints like a newspaper. But the art is still slick. I think I really like it...



I got mine on Red (I do love red vinyl) and for once in my life I bought only 1 copy!



Pressed by Deranged, whom I love as a label. Solid solid shit motherfucker!

Hopefully these dudes make it across the oceans and play for me in some weirdos lounge room, or they let me put on a jam room show and I get punched in the face by Colohan himself.

Now that would top off an already awesome year!

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NB: Sorry for the shitty photos, I bought a new camera for taking pics of records, but it really sucks as a camera, and I am trying to get my old one working better. I might bust out my Wife's old Digital SLR for record photos once I charge the old battery pack...

Sleigh Bells - Treats

Wow.



That was the first thing I thought of when I first heard the songs from this LP. And when I put it on now, I still think "WOW!".



I knew very little about what this was, and I downloaded it (Yep, I'm "THAT GUY"!) based on the cover art alone. Then I read into what it was and got even more stoked on it.



I actually picked this up last night at Polyester Records in Brunswick, as I was out for dinner with old mate Shane, and he mentioned that they were still open and I thought I'd duck my head in and have a gander for PJ Harvey Records, and while Shane was pointing out a record on the wall, the one next to it was this little bugger.



Now, I have a love/hate relationship with Picture Discs. I love the look, hate the sound. This has been done well as pic disc, still sounds heavy as fuck, but the pop side of things shines through in just the right amounts.



It seriously sounds like everything apart from the vocals was run at 11 and is as distorted as all shit, and it fucking rules!

The main songwriter is Derek Miller from Poison The Well, and the vocalist is some chick he met while he was waiting tables, but she was in some teen pop group and had a couple singles when she was younger. I can't really explain why I like this so much. It has a real UK garage feel to a lot of it, and it's on M.I.A's label, an there's even comparisons there.

Not sure bow available this thing is, and I paid $35 at my local store, but it would have cost me more to buy if from their webstore. That's. Weird one righ there matey.

The Get Up Kids - Something to Write Home About

I have had such a huge amount of records come in in the last month, it is so hard to keep up, and I am gonna say that I haven't been as diligent as I should have been. I know I say that often, but I get busy, being in a band, hanging with my chick, shopping for vinyl and just being a lazy sh!t.



There's a ruler of a collector selling of some of his collection, (including one of, yes one of, his copies of Chung King Can Suck It), so I picked up this little gem. Something that has been missing from my collection for a few years now, it's nice to have it sitting on the shelves where it should be.



I first bought this record about a week after TGUK toured Australia for the first time with Jebidiah. I went and saw them at the Hallam Hotel in Melbournes Southeast, and they played first to me, my girlfriend at the time, and about 30-40 other people. While I felt bad for the band, I was soooo stoked that I got to watch them play and not have to worry about every other dickhead in the venue.



I had my copy on Black back then, so I am super stoked to have a copy on Black again. It almost feels like it never left.



What mine didn't have though, was this cool as fuck advert/mail order card that had their other shit on Doghouse for sale. Man, I need to work on getting a first press copy of Four Minute Mile now...





The songs on this record really remind me of a time and place, and to an extent some people I used to know. The songs are great, I'm glad I have a first pressing again, and I can listen to this bastard whenever I bloody well feel like it.





Even my wife doesn't mind this one...

Converge - Axe to Fall LP (Tour Version)

I have had a few copies of this LP, but now I have only 2 copies, and this one I just got from a mate out of the kindness of his own heart. I'll have to find something to repay Oliver, as he is an awesome dude, supports local bands and labels, and has bought heaps of shit off of me in the past. Thanks amigo!



This record took some time to grow on me. Yep, I am one of those "I start to listen to a Converge record, then I just go straight back to Jane Doe" people. Once I actually sat back and listened to everything going on on this LP, it blew me the fuck away!



It has everything you want from a Converge record. Insane fast parts, Heavy as fuck mosh parts (I mean come on, the Breakdown in Axe to Fall makes me want to mosh the fuck outta something) and then the branched out Atmospheric songs with sung vocals and some gnarly as hell solos thrown into the mix. I still love Bannons vocals on Converge releases, They always feel super frantic and urgent, and just plain fucking angry.



The production on this one is spot on in my opinion too. The songs flow really well into one another, making them good songs alone, but as a cohesive piece of music, they are just plain crushing. The collabs on this one are mindblowing also. Seriously, if you haven't heard this record yet, don't be like me and palm it off for too long, stop reading now, get a copy and then come back to me, hahaha.



When I saw Converge play not so long ago, they played a bunch off of this record, and it translated live, just as well as on the record.



I like Clear records. Not as much as I like Red, but a good Clear LP is always a nice addition to my meagre, yet ever growing, collection.



The artwork on this one is fairly typical Bannon fare (and that's not to say it isn't awesome, but it is unmistakably his style of art), and until I sat down tonight to actually take some pics of it, I didn't really realise how much work must have gone into it. While it has a fairly common theme of a female form of some description, the layers of paint that have been photographed for use within the art, and the structuring of the images themselves is awesome. I have a print from this art that I want to get framed and hung pretty soon.

So, go and buy it (You can still get copies of this one, and the Yellow on the Converge store, or hit eBay, you can get Yellow copies for $11 plus postage from some places), listen to it and enjoy. Your ears will thank you.

Cursed - Hell Comes Home 7 inch

A quickie today...



I picked up this little fucker pretty cheap actually. Just a touch over $10, plus postage. I actualy paid the same at Resist Records when the 7 inch first came out.



This is actually the 3rd time I've owned this record, the first time was on black, then a copy on clear (both at the same time) and now on black again. I did have the chance to buy a copy on clear, signed by the man himself, but snoozed and loozed.



I prefer this version of Hell Comes Home over the LP version, and the Stooges cover fucking rips!





I don't have a story with this one. I do really liked Cursed though, and I am well on my way to becoming a fully fledged Colofan.

At The Drive In - Relationship In Command

A long while between posts again. I have this week pretty much free, working the late shift, so hopefully I can catch up on the 30 odd records I got this week. It has been retarded and I need to take some time off...



A really dear friend of mine was selling a bunch of his records last night at a show his band was playing, an I was lucky enough to be the second person to dig in the crates before they went "public". I go myself some fucking gold, but one of the most notable bargain scores was this little motherfucker!



A pristine copy of At The Drive In's break through LP "Relationship in command". When I told my mate Sham I picked this up, he was less than impressed, especially as I had only drop $10 on this bad boy!

I have ne'er owned one of these I don't think, but I did buy the CD the say I heard one armed scissor and lost my mind at the awesomeness of it!



I played in a band called Snubfighter, and this is thenkind of stuff we wer trying to do. Slow and heavy with frantic parts, lots of bass effects and some keyboards towards the end of the band. I no longer talk to any of the guys much, and I depise one of the dudes, but we made some ok music for the late 90's/early 2000's.

We did do a rip off of the end of "Invalid litter department" though, and I flailed around like a weirdo. Good times.



Sitting down and listening to this LP this morning though, I have realized that it hasn't really dated much at all. It is still punchy as fuck, sooo heavy and well written.

I saw these guys a couple times when they came to Australia to play The Big Day Out, including the infamous Sydney show where they stopped after 10-15 mins because the crowd was too violent. They didn't like moshing or crowd surfing at their shows. Cedric yelled at the crowd, called then sheep and then bailed. Later that day a chick died during Limp Bizkit.

Hopefully the oft rumoured reuinion happens one day.