Samiam - You are freaking me out.

I have to say, that on a record front, I am kicking goals at the moment, because I honestly do not know how long I have looked for this LP!



I remember the time I actually bought my CD copy of this album (Which I actually still own, 10 years later!), which was on the second floor of Dixons recycled records in Dandenong. It was a time when I had been listening to pretty much only Swedish punk bands like Millencolin, No Fun At All and Satanic Surfers, and when I saw that this CD was on Burning Heart, I didn't hesitate and just paid the $8 sticker price. I remember getting it home, putting it into my CD player and being a little bummed out, as it wasn't superfast and poppy. I have to be honest and say that I put it away for a little while after the first listen.



Over the years, my taste changed a little, especially when I started to get into other sorts of punk bands, and I came across this CD in my collection, so I pulled it out, chucked it on, and I loved it. I got my hands on Clumsy and Ashtray, and that sums up my love for Samiam really. NB: I wasn't super stoked on the older stuff, although I really should give it a go now, as I reckon I would love it. I also didn't vibe on the last record either. It wasn't bad, and I quite liked the production, but it didn't grab me for some reason. Also, they ripped off a Blueline Medic song pretty hard after Donnie gave Sergi the demos for the last Blueline Medic LP. Kinda cool in a way, pretty shitty in another.



Every time I listen to this now, I remember seeing Samiam last year at the Arthouse Hotel in Melbourne (for those overseas, it's a 300 person pub/bar that has been the main stomping ground for Punks of all genres for the last 20 years, and will be closing it's door forever in May 2011), because they played so many songs off this album.



So, I saw this on eBay, and I had missed a copy the week before when it went past my $60 limit at the time. I had gotten to the point where I needed just "Man up and pay what I needed to get it", so that's what I did. $66 later, and it's finally in my collection. I have seen it on another site for sale in it's 4x7 inch box set, but to be honest, don't want to have to get up after each song and change it over, I'd rather this on the LP format I have. All that aside, I will probably buy it to have the 4x7 inch box set, just to look at...



This thing is so clean that it hurts. The cover art is amazing on a larger scale and this copy is in amazing condition. I was a little apprehensive as it was coming from Canada, and the Canadian Mail Service is pretty woeful (Not bagging Canada or Canadians, but your mail service sucks!), but this arrived in lightning fast speed and in the best possible condition.

If you haven't heard this album, buy the CD (or hell, download it even!) and sit back and enjoy.

Now all I need is a copy of Clumsy on LP... Anyone?

PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

Another of my top wants. I have to say, I have been a very lucky monkey in the past few weeks.





I've seen this one around every now and again, and I usually get blasted put of the water for what I want to pay for it, but lately I have taken a new approach. "Just fucking man up and pay what you think it's worth", and it's been working pretty well. I have had some big ticket items going on, but that doesn't bother me, as I am stoked to add them to my collection.



This particular LP usually goes for $100+ (along with the Uh Huh Her LP), bit I reckon I got a pretty sweet deal at about $66 postage paid from the UK. I had a bit of a Patrick Bateman moment today while spinning this LP while my wife made dinner (yep, she fucking rules), and said to her that while To bring you my love and Dry are both amazing records, this is my favourite, and the quintessential Polly Jean album. Not a single bad song on this one. Infact, I really wish that PJ and Thom Yorke had written a whole album together. I would have fucking loved that shit. This copy is pretty clean too. A couple of creases on the jacket, but I am stoked with the condition of this one, especially given how thin the jacket itself is.



As with Uh Huh Her, the layout is of shots of Ms Harvey in the studio and in her apartment, and it gives a good vibe of the album and where it's come from.



I mean come on, who wouldn't want to record to that beautiful tape machine?



Lyrically it is also an absolute cracker. I love it from start to finish, and although I kinda dozed on the couch while giving it it's first spin on my record player tonight, I'll probably play it again when I get home tonight from taken my wife down the street.



I actually saw Polly Jean when she came out to Australia for the Big Day Out, in support of this release, and I can tell you know, I was in love at that point. She can sing like a motherfucker.



Oh, and PJ Harvey is from the same county as me in the UK. Gotta love Somerset...

More posts coming soon, when things in life get back to normal.

2 more top tens off the list!

The Icarus Line - Mono



It has been a good week so far for me record-wise. 2 of my top 10 wants have arrived in the mail, and this is the first of the 2.



This is not the rarest of records out there, but it has taken me a fair few years to get a copy back into my collection. I actually didn't realise that it came on this colourway, as I had only ever seen it on Red or Black. I had it on Red when I owned it many many moons ago. I guess the people who actually liked the band hung on to what I would say is their best material.



I remember seeing this band about 8 years ago. They played to next to no one, and while I paid to go to the first show, it went so bad that pretty much anyone who wanted to got on the door list for the second show, just so the band didn't play to an empty room. Still didn't help much. I did meet Aaron North (of Buddyhead fame) at that show, and yeah, he was an asshole, but I was stoked, as it was exactly what I expected. I miss the wit of Buddyhead sometimes. They did that schtick well.



My wife has described the show as 40 mintes of outro music, and I reckon to an extent that that is the perfect description for this band. On a side note, my wife and I were both at the show, although we had not yet met.Another part to all of that, my long term girlfriend of the time met the drummer after the show, and turns out she was supposed to move to the US to be with him after we broke up, but he was a total weirdo and decided to drive trucks, so she hooked up with the gremlin looking bass player from The (International) Noise Conspiracy. I tell ya, my life has been filled with weird stuff like that...



Now, I f*cking loved The Icarus Line, and "Feed a Cat to your Cobra" is still one of my favourite songs, so getting this in the mail was an awesome day for me. I danced a jig. Yep, I danced in the post office.

Next up we have an LP that I have never actually seen a physical copy of: No Fun At All's - No Straight Angles.



This is the first international punk band I ever went and saw. They played an All Ages show at a place called The Central Club in Richmond, Victoria, and I remember it as I had never been to a proper punk show, and it was all so exciting. I had only heard some of the songs from NFAA on a mix tape a skater dude had given me at school (I used to be an avid rap/hip hop fan), and this was the fastest thing I had ever heard. Ever.



Piled on the train, keen to get there early to make sure I got in (I think the show was $8 or something crazy like that), and I was keen to check out some live bands, up nice and close, and not behind a barrier like when I went to see Smashing Pumpkins. Lining up, I met some cool kids, only 1 of which I still see regularly, and then got into this dirty, dingy club, that let kids smoke. Me and my newly cut off camo shorts were stoked. I also remember I had a Frenzal Rhomb shirt, the biggest wallet chain I could find and a huge safety pin to make sure I didn't liose my wallet while stage diving.



The first band up was No Comply (I think), then One Inch Punch, then a very young Millencolin (yep, when Nikola was still tubby), and then No Fun At All.

Seriously, I don't think I have ever stage dived more than that day. Ohhh, maybe when I first saw Blink 182 play in a tiny little venue in Prahran.

This record brings me so many good memories, and it's still as fast as sh!t.

I got this cop through my sneaky little ways again (I haven't ever seen this on eBay to be honest), and it is so clean that I almost fell over when a dude at work picked it up and slipped the record out of the sleeve. Plays like a dream, and there is only 1 thing that bums me out on this one, no secret track of "What you say".

Can't win them all can we?

A New Rega P2 & Alkaline Trio...

It's been a long time between posts, and again I have no excuses. Living life the only way I can.

I spent the weekend away (Kinda on tour I guess you could say) playing some shows with my band in Queensland. It was a fucking awesome (albeit a very expensive weekend), and while the shows were ok, hanging with some awesome kids, and meeting some new ones, was the highlight. We ate great food, my guys drank a shitload and I drove them around trying to make sure we didn't get beaten up.

I was super glad to get home on Sunday to see my chick and the dogs. As I walked in the door, the Wife gave me a wrapped gift. It was an Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge. I was stoked as I was going to order my Rega P2 online as I have been working overtime for a few weekends so that I could afford to buy a nice new record player, and a rad cartridge was an amazing present to be given.

I was super stoked, and got ready to make a cuppa, when she said she had a card from the place that she got the cart from, because they said they would set it up for free when I got my turntable. Instead of the card, she grabbed a big box with REGA printed on the top, and my night went from awesome to awesomer!



Seriously, Wifer knows me so well, and sussed out what I was after with my best mate Shane, and they pulled it all together.

Could you really ask for more in a woman?

I spent the day with her today, setting up the media area we have. Here is a pic of my new set up.



So, what to listen to on my new record player (I know of at least people who will call me a hypocrite for it not being Converge's Jane Doe)?



This is what I rolled with, and it is a record I have kept sealed for just an occasion such as this one. I had this record years ago, and it was even signed by Matt and Dan (I still kick myself for letting it go). I got it back at a fucking good price, (BIN on ebay for $69.99, which is half of what I bought it for the first time) AND it was sealed. I actually don't know why I didn't bust it open and listen to it, but I had planned for it to be my 100th post, but this seemed like the perfect time for me to open it.



I love this EP. It reminds me of so many things, including my story about meeting Matt Skiba, so it always makes me feel good. I still sing along at the top of my lungs on this one.





It does sound like they paid $300 to record it, but I really don't give a flying fuck.







And straight after that, I put on the preceding EP, For Your Lungs Only, which came in the mail this week.











I defs paid less for this than I was prepared too. A good result all round.

It's good to be back...

Ten Foot Pole - REV

There is something fantastic about crossing a major want/10 ten want off of your list.



To be honest, this was my Holy Grail. The one record I wanted so badly, but never seemed to be able to attain. I looked everywhere, but alas, it eluded me...



This has sat so high up on my list for so long, that I actually thought I'd never get it. It isn't a super rare record, but I have never seen it on eBay myself, and Epitaph had a bunch of old/dead stock up on the Store when the new store went live, I didn't know about it and never managed to get one.



And to be honest again (wow, twice in one post...) this is the first time I have ever listened to it on vinyl. It was almost all I hoped it to be. The reason I say almost is, It's a Monday night at 930 and I can't listen to it as loud as I want to, and I don't have my P2 yet...



For those not in the know, this is one of the greatest pop punk records released in the mid 90's in my opinion (and also one of the most under rated releases from the mid 90's Punk Scene). Released in 1994 on Epitaph, I first found this band on "Punk a Rama volume 1" with the song "My Wall", and from then on, I needed to track down this band. I got onto my local record store and picked it up on CD, and I was so stoked. From the artwork, to the sound (Over driven guitars, not heaps of distortion), to the awesomely fast songs. In 2000 the drummer in the band I was in then wanted to cover something off of this, and I am spewing it never came about. Even though I would have ruined it, it still would have been uber cool!



This is the second full length that the band release with Scott Radinsky, and, again in my opinion, they're best work. Scott was kicked out of the band in 1995/1996 due to his commitments playing Major League Baseball (Whitesox/Dodgers/Indians).

I never got to see Ten Foot Pole, although they did tour Australia with Satanic Surfers, but they had Dennis Jagard on vocals. I was more upset by missing Satanic Surfers to be honest. Although, when Scott came out with Pulley, my mate Melder took the Rev skate deck I have (My wife tee'd it all up, in one of the most lovely things anyone has ever done for me), and got Scott to sign it. It says " Craigos, Like The Sk8, Scott" I still need to get that one on the wall...





I was lucky enough to snag this little piece of my past, not by using eBay, but getting it off of another site. I kinda don't want to give away my secrets on this one, but it wasn't deadformat or vinyl collective, I can tell you that now. The guy who sold it to me was from the UK, and as you can see, this thing almost looks new. I mean shit, it even has the fucking sticker that came with it in there. This this is 16 years old!



I haven't been so stoked in a long time, and When I busted it out of the PO Box, I wanted to bail home and put it on straight away...

This album makes me remember High School. Some good times, a bunch of bad times, skipping school to go skating and heaps of good tunes.

Bring on summer so I can crank Ten Foot Pole, No Fun at All, Pennywise and Millencolin non stop!

Woo!

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...