Monday, November 30, 2009

involution part 2

Another ebay purchase turned up this afternoon - the 2nd copy of Involution by Soul Control that I've been waiting on. Picked this up for a steal (less of a steal than my 1st copy though!) so I'm pretty happy.




This one is the red/orange swirl limited to 200, but you have to agree it's some beautiful wax.

Friday, November 27, 2009

happy test-pressing friday

Not long after I started on my current ukulele bender, I tracked down the acoustic work of Chuck Ragan. I was just about to start scouring Limited Pressing for Chuck's Blueprint Sessions 7"s Club when the test pressings of those very same records popped up on ebay - and today they arrived.




These are my first test pressings, so they are always going to be special, but I'm pretty stoked that it's Chuck.

Happy Friday indeed.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

a day of contrasts

So, yesterday was a bit of a weird one for music. During lunchtime I picked up Based on a True Story and Dr Boondigga and the Big BW by Fat Freddy's Drop.





FFD are just about the best example of New Zealand dub music, and they are fucking awesome. They have that lazy Sunday afternoon BBQ sound that just makes you feel home - the sound of Wellington summer in a record.



Boondigga is their latest album released this year and there's some pretty dense brass arrangements in there (when was the last time you heard a tuba?). True Story was quite dark lyrically, but Boondigga is a lot more uplifting and happy - very we-are-all-a-community-and-we-support-each-other in style. Both fantastic albums and really every kiwi should own them.

It's hard to explain how fantastic FFD are for people outside New Zealand, but really you've just got to sit down and give them a try. There's an audio sampler on their site so get over there and at least do yourself the service of listening.

In terms of the wax, both records are double-gatefold on black wax. No idea on the number of pressings of either, but I don't give a shit if there's a million. Both these records are a must, and the artwork on the sleeves is awesome.

The contrast comes in with this pair of 7"s from The Inoculators which were waiting when I got home. You might recall I scored a free copy of Dropped Their Brains not too long ago with an Against Me! 7" and was pretty stoked. I ordered their 7" split with Noise Attack right then and there, and it turned up today with a friend - their new 7" Home for the Holidays.

I emailed Murphy from the band to check it out, turns out there's 550 of their new single pressed, all on the stunning clear with red + green splatter. The other single was pressed 500 times on clear red with black splatter.

If I'm not mistaken, that completes my Inoculators collection!



Thursday, November 19, 2009

o pioneers!!! + city and colour



Picked up these two 7"s off ebay a few weeks back and they were waiting for me when I got home tonight.

Sleeping Sickness is a great acoustic track by City and Colour, and also happens to be the track I'm trying to learn on the ukulele right now. It's a sad song but it's so beautiful, check it out if you get the chance. This 7" is the first pressing (I think there's only been 1 so far anyway) on black wax out of 1000.

Next up we have Under the Influence 10, the O Pioneers!!! split with New Bruises. I've not heard of New Bruises but I have just recently discovered O Pioneers and I'm pretty damn impressed. I really love the folky hardcore sound (oxymoron?), but you should check out their myspace (or their profile on Punknews) and listen to the tracks they have.

After you've done that, at the very least you should go and grab their latest 12", Neon Creeps - if not their entire catalogue.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

landmines....wtf?


This is a bit more "WTF?!" than Landmines - not that their self-titled 12" isn't awesome.
Ordered this off Paper+Plastick a week or two back, under the impression it was pressed only on black wax. In fact, I wasn't even going to post when it turned up because it's just an epic album and that's all that needed to be said.

So you can understand my confusion when I get a beautiful clear orange wax copy in the mail this afternoon. Is that for real? I have no idea on the number of pressings of any colour for this record, so anyone out there with info, please share! I emailed Paper+Plastick to see if they've got the skinny and will update if I hear back.
Pics after the cut.

Monday, November 16, 2009

buzzsaws and politics

It's been a little slow lately while I wait for a bunch of ebay treasures to arrive or for a magical find down at the bargain bin.



I thought I'd had the latter when I stumbled onto a red copy of the Acrid / Left for Dead split Hacked to Pieces on buzzsaw vinyl (picture mercilessly stolen from ihatepunkrock's flickr because I forgot to take any......again).

I was really stoked to find it, mostly because I tend to fall for tacky shit like discs with funny shapes or cool packaging, but what I didn't notice until I got home was that one of the teeth had previously snapped clean off.

Arg!

It must have happened ages ago because the missing piece wasn't in my bags or back in the store, so I took it back and washed my hands of the whole affair. There goes my interesting post for the week. Collectors: you can officially correct the number of presses for this record from 104 to 103, because damage like that makes the copy I owned for the weekend worth approximately three-fifths of bugger-all.

In lighter news, I did find a still-sealed copy of A Perfect Circle's eMOTIVe on lovely orange wax while I was dropping off the saw disc this morning. Nothing particularly special about that - god only knows how many copies of that there must be floating around out there - but the 2nd disc for this has a really beautiful white swirl in the middle of the clear orange and I can't take my eyes off it.

My phone is near-death for battery right now so I'll try and get some pics tonight.

EDIT: Pics added after the cut.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

heart burns




I picked up this record on the strength of Tom’s first single Anna was a Stool Pigeon and it’s not a disappointment. The record is a definite shift away from Against Me!'s previous work but not in an unpleasant way. I guess if I picked this up and it sounded exactly the same as Against Me! I wouldn’t be upset, but it wouldn’t be much of a progression of his sound.

There’s a lot more electronics in here - synths and drum machines - so it won’t appeal to a lot of people, but I appreciate he’s trying new things and going in a new direction.

I’m fairly sure this was only pressed on black wax, but it came with the CD and a decent lyric sheet as well so it’s not a bad package. If there are more colours then I’d definitely like to know - anyone got the inside word there?

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

the butterfly stroke



I bought this 7" partly because I love the colour of the wax and partly because I thought it could be worth something. I'm not a fan of Mudhoney. I've heard of them but know none of their work and don't really have an interest to find out.

I found this in Slow Boat Records in Wellington still wearing the original price stickers it had when it was first put onto the shelf. I figure with a name as big as Sub Pop written all over a brand new record that's been in the store for 10 years, someone must be looking for this.

Hit me up on Limited Pressing if you're interested in trading.