Sunday, October 31, 2010

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.

Friday, October 22, 2010

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.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Breather Resist - Charmer

I remember getting a copy of this on CD as part of a Promo thing through a mate, and I fell in love with the songs and the production on this record straight away.





I honestly have no idea why I didn't pick it up when it first came out on LP, as I have never owned a copy of this one. I remember seeing the artwork and being blown away by the cut of the cover and the overall aesthetic of the whole packaging side of it.





This one came out on Level Plane (under license from Jade Tree) in 2004 and it has taken me 6 years to actually put my hands on a copy. While it has been on my top wants list for some time, I'll be honest and say I never looked that hard for it.



I like this over all of the other stuff of theirs I have, as this record has a full on Botch/Math-Metal vibe, that I really fucking love! That and it was recorded by Kurt Ballou, so you know I am alllll over that shit Motherfuckers!



Picked this up off a Euro dude on eBay. Paid about $20. Stoked.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Millencolin - Life on a Plate

You have to love that Epitaph have kept all of their old vinyl, and kept it so well. So many times Deadstock is destroyed and the records are lost forever, but I have bought a couple fucking winners in the last couple of months.



Millencolin were one of the first punk bands I went to see. I saw them at the No Fun at All show I mentioned a couple posts ago (so I won't go into it again), but I have been going about getting all of the punk records that remind me of summer, from when I was growing up.



This was right at the top, along with the first No Use for a Name records on Fat (the only ones I am interested in to be bloody honest!). I got this in the mail today, and I have to say that it looks like it was pressed last week, not in 1995.





For me, this record still stands up as one of my Favourite 90's pop punk records. Fast, melodic, with super fun lyrics.



Not much else to say on this one, except that I am super stoked to have it sit on my shelves. This will get a good and proper spin during this summer!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hole - Live Through This

A record I have been looking for for so fucking long that it hurts.



This record has so many memories for me growing up. I was a big Nirvana Fan, and when Kurt and Courtney got together, I felt the need to explore Hole. I am really lucky that I started with this record, as if I had of started with "Pretty on the inside", I probably wouldn't have been so into the band. Not that it isn't a good record, but being as I was 15 years ago, then I can pretty much say that I wouldn't have been into it, as I had much more descriminitive tastes.



At 15-ish, I was working in a Milkbar (local/corner store for you non-Australians) stacking the fridge and cleaning up the back yard area, and the shop owners eldest son was a huge Cobain/Nirvana fan, and as such got me into a lot of good music. This was a time before the internet was the behemoth it is now, and trying to track down rarities of Nirvana and the such were pretty fucking hard. He was one of the first people I knew who were on to Hole, and dubbed me this onto a tape (The other side was Soul Asylum's "Grave Dancers Union") and I used to listen to it on my walkman in the fridge and freezer of the shop while I was stocking the shelves in there.

I really had no knowledge of other shit like this, except for Nirvana and Soundgarden, and this record had great production, and there were rumours that Kurt Cobain had written most of the record for Courtney Love were circulating (which would explain why the songs are so fucking good, and still stand up against the test of time Today), so I was stoked on it, and I wore that tape to fucking nothing. I still have the copy of the CD version I bought years and years ago in a box somewhere, but now I don't need the fucking thing anymore, because I have this lovely piece of wax finally in my collection.



No insert on this one. It has all the details listed on the back of the jacket. No mention of Kurt though, only Dave Grohl.

I was pretty lucky with this one, as I have seen it go for upwards of $100 on eBay. I was about to go to bed, and I never actually wake up to bid on stuff when I set my alarm, so I just put my max bid on and hoped for the best. I woke up the next day, checked my eBay account and found that I had won it for $41. Seriously, to buy this LP in Australia in 1995 would have cost me $25-ish dollars anyway (and $39.99 if it were released today and I bought it in an Australian Store), so I think I made out like a bandit on this one!

This is super clean, plays like a dream and was another top want crossed off of my list. Stoked to say the least...

Ancient VVisdom / Charles Manson Split LP

Nothing overly exciting with this post, but I found this LP interesting, so I thought I'd post about it.



I'll be honest and say I have no real idea how I got onto this one, only that I must have been turned onto it by Dwid writing about it somewhere. Ancient VVisdom is Nate from Integrity and one of the dudes from Iron Age doing Dark Acoustic Folk stuff. One the sticker on the front, it says that a main influence is Danzig, and I can feel that vibe. The recording isn't top notch, but it really adds to the feeling of the record, and it does make it sit in line with the Charles Manson songs, as he has limited access to recording gear I can only imagine.



I really like the AVV stuff, and I have read that they have a 7 inch coming out soon on Withdrawal Records, so I will be sure to pick that up.

Now, I have always been interested in Charlie Manson and The Family, as I went through a stage where I was interested in all Serial Killers, Cult Leaders, etc, and the story of Charles Manson is a super interesting one. I won't go into it here, but if you only know him as what you have seen on TV, read into it, it is a weird and interesting read.



As for his musical exploits, I am interested in the songs that he does, and I'm really keen to see how the Elements Series on Magic Bullet goes, but for the most part it is pretty standard Folk/Pop stuff. The first song of his on this LP is a ripper, The Irony of Life, but the second song sort of tumbles along. Not bad, but nothing on "Look at your game Girl", that's for sure.

A nice little 1 sided LP on Red. Pick it up from http://www.withdrawalrecords.com/ while the dollar is so strong (if you're in Australia I mean), and it won't cost you much at all.

I'm on leave this week, so hopefully some updates to come!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Cursed - Blackout at Sunrise

This EP was the perfect pre-cursor to the III: Architects of troubled Sleep LP. From the start of the Blackout at Sunrise with the whispered vocals, to the super noisy Kittens Cover, Hawaii. I think that the production on this is better than the III LP though. I just like it more.

I have no story for this EP (although it is the 3rd time I've owned it), but I do find it really funny that the inners of the picture discs are the wrong way round. Kinda like putting the labels on the wrong side.

I do like that there is an explanation of the song printed on the insert though. It's been way too long since I have seen a good story explained behind a song.

I picked this up pretty cheap in a private sale, so I am even more siked on this. I still don't know if I love or hate Picture Discs though...

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Extortion - Degenrate

This was my number 1 want for the last year atleast. Very rarely does this show up for sale, and when it does it commands a premium for such a current LP.\



Probably the best work from Perth's Extortion. Angry PV influenced Hardcore. Rohans stark artwork works really well on this release, and I do like it a lot better than the CD versions artwork.



Raw. Fast. Angry.

Fucking stoked to get this into my collection. Picked it up in a private sale with a total ruler of a dude in Sydney.



Again, Stoked to have this one on my shelves. It ain't going no where this time motherfuckers!



Go and buy the CD version of this. It will rip your tits off.