a wilhelm scream collection

I've been getting into these guys for a while now but only recently started trying to get a collection together. Managed to pick up 1 thing I never expected to find, and haven't managed to track down another thing which should be much easier!

Just how it goes I guess.

beggars

The great new Thrice album, Beggars.

Pre-ordered this one too, managed to score one of the clear presses, limited to either 147 or 99. The first batch were all signed and numbered (but I forget out of how many.... 3000 maybe?) and came on selection of colours.

warren of snares

Fall of Efrafa was a project that lasted from 2005-2009, a post-hardcore project "...based around a re-imagining of the mythological and political overtones in the book 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams..." as Wikipedia puts it.

The Warren of Snares box is the collection of all their albums plus a bunch of other neat extras. I preordered it months and months ago, and it turned up a few weeks back (I forget when).

The packaging is just insane, that's the only word for it.

You can also download all their music free off their site, so get in while you can before the links are taken down or something.

Many more pics to follow!

a selection of 7"s

Things have been awfully quiet on the vinyl front lately. I bought a few 7"s before Christmas and took pics with the intention of posting, but then the internet didn't happen and I lost interest. Sorry.

Anyway, here they are in no particular order.

against me collection

Thought I'd post the current state of my Against Me! collection, as I've not actually put it together before. I'm not one of those must-have-every-colour-of-every-press types, for the most part anyway. I mean, I would be, but there's just so many different pressings to collect - Axl Rose is up to 27! Reading the list on No Idea, that totals an amazing 78 different variations across all the pressings. You'd have to be insane to chase that many variations, and that's just 1 album!

Anyway, the 12s I do have are (top to bottom, left to right):

• Against Me! is Reinventing Axl Rose - 10th press, baby yellow /550
• Against Me! is Reinventing Axl Rose - 2006 test press, silkscreen fabric cover /18
• From Her Lips to God's Ears (Energize-O-Tron) - 1st press, black /3185
• Don't Lose Touch - 1st press, black /3050
• The Original Cowby - 1st press, baby blue /524
• New Wave - 1st press, clear yellow /6000
• Searching for a Former Clarity - 1st press, white + black /3105

Still missing a few key 12s, namely As the Eternal Cowboy, the 12 of White People for Peace, the double-12 live record Americans Abroad, and the much pursued self-titled (which will is the current white whale).

In the 7s department, we got (left to right, top to bottom - just to be difficult):

• The Acoustic EP - 1st press, clear gold /256
• The Acoustic EP - 1st press, clear /267
• Crime as Forgiven By Against Me! - 1st press, black (big hole) /5400
• The Disco Before the Breakdown - 1st press, clear red /336
• The Disco Before the Breakdown - 16th(?) press, purple/pink swirl /75
• Thrash Unreal - 1st press, black /6500
• Cavalier Eternal - 1st press, clear blue /327
• Cavalier Eternal - 5th(?) press, pinky/purple swirl /574
• Thrash Unreal - 1st press, black /6500
• Sink, Florida, Sink - 1st press, blue/white swirl /2000
• Sink, Florida, Sink - 4th press, pale blue swirl /150
• Thrash Unreal - 1st press, clear red /500
• White People for Peace - 1st press, white /1000 (signed by Tom!)
• White People for Peace - 1st press, black /6500
• Stop! - 1st press, black /4500

Still a few 7s to go before I'll consider the set is complete. Mostly that's the last colours of the singles from the New Wave recordings - the yellow press of Stop!, the single for New Wave, and I think there was 1 more colour for Thrash Unreal too.

Crazy shit. Hit me up if you fancy helping to fill those gaps

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

against me! is reinventing axl rose

Against Me!'s first full length is a total classic - can you believe this is over 7 years old now? Crazy shit.

It's got heaps of really awesome tracks like Pints of Guinness Make Your Strong and Walking is Still Honest. If you don't have this record you are a failure, go and buy it now.

Seriously. I'll wait.



Ok, so there have been 27 pressings of this, amounting to over 20,000(!) individual discs. This copy is from the 10th press on a beautiful butter yellow (limited to 550) which I picked up off ebay a month or two ago. Really I should have taken some pics of it rather than using the ones from the ebay listing, but their pics are way better than what mine normally turn out like so maybe I won't bother.

EDIT: I did bother, but I shouldn't have. The ebay ones are definitely better.

be not content

I was still on a high from my Soul Control find when I stumbled across this 12" from Trapdoor Fucking Exit. I'd vaguely heard of them before but had no familiarity with their music and thought it was worth a spin. Like Involution, this was stupid fucking cheap too, weighing in at five bucks.

I've only listened to this a little but I'm impressed. They've got a really different sound, the syncopation and odd sounding time signatures are fun. They're worth a listen, so pick this up from No Idea now. They still have copies of this sexy grey marble even tho it was pressed 5 years ago and there were only ever 550 of them. Maybe No Idea just forgot to update their site?

involution

Of all my bargain-bin jackpots, this has to be my fav. A mint-condition 1st pressing of Soul Control's Involution on red wax (limited to 600) and it broke the bank at $NZ6. I've spent more on a cup of coffee than this record, and it's an absolute killer.

So stoked!

I'm keeping my eye out for the red/orange swirl wax on this one too, which was limited to just 200 and it's an absolutely stunning record.

Go and get this, it's a necessity.

new wave singles

These 3 are single 7"s released from New Wave and they're fan-fucking-tastic. New Wave ranks pretty highly on my favourite album list so any tracks off that album are going to be pretty solid in my books. Stop! was pressed 4500 times on black, with another 500 on yellow. Thrash Unreal got 6500 black presses with another 500 on red. White People for Peace was pressed on 4500 blacks, 1000 whites and another 500 on red.

Even if you can only find the black presses of any of these, they are such great tracks (and all 3 have fantastic b-sides that aren't on New Wave) so you should grab them. I've got a spare black Thrash Unreal if you want to hit me up on Limited Pressing for a trade.

I've not managed to track down a yellow Stop! or a red White People for Peace so let me know if you've got either to trade. I have, however, scored a white press of White People for Peace which is signed by Tom Gabel - ace!

dropped their brains

I got sent this 12" free with an Against Me! 7" I was after and have only really had a chance to listen to it in the last few days. The Inoculators have a really great sound and I'm glad I got introduced to them. There's a bunch of tracks up on their site for free download, and I definitely recommend you check them out.
They're also practically giving their vinyl away in the store too - a copy of the above Dropped Their Brains pressed on clear green wax (limited to 855) will cost you $US8, and their 7" split with Noise Attack on clear red with black splatter (limited to 500) is just $US5. Did I mention that both prices include worldwide shipping? I'm pretty sure it will cost them more to ship the 7" I just bought to New Zealand than I paid for the whole thing.

That's fucking cheap.

Get over there and support these guys. http://www.theinoculators.com/

sink, florida, sink

This is another really awesome pair of songs from Against Me!, and I love the hidden artwork on the sleeve too - can't believe I didn't take pics of it all unfolded.

I got my first copy from RG in welly on a pale blue & white marble, which I think is a 4th press limited to 150.  Grabbed a 1st press on a deep blue with a little hint of white too, which was limited to 2000.

cavalier eternal

This was yet another cheapie from RG, hiding in plain sight on the wall down there. I have no idea which pressing this is from - maybe from the 6th? It's a weird grey/pink kinda marble but it has a big dark smudge running right through the disk so it had to be from a pressing with darker colours. The 6th press was light pink, grey and black which is about the best match - maybe it's a transition between the pink+grey? Also managed to score a first press on ebay, and there's definitely no mistaking that one - a clear, dark blue wax that looks fantastic.

Anyway, Cavalier Eternal is just about my favourite AM! song, and definitely my fav off Reinventing Axl Rose. The acoustic cover of You Look Like I Need a Drink is just epic too.

There's about a billion pressings of this 7" out there, so pick one up if you haven't already.

anger management in four chords or less

This is another sweet score from the bargain bin at Real Groovy in Wellington. For the princely sum of $6 (that's 6 New Zealand dollars folks, not even a fiver by American standards) I walked out of there with a really tight album from a great little band.

I love the rough cardboard sleeve, but it wasn't until I got back to the hotel I saw the wax was pressed on a gorgeous orange/white marble! Real Groovy are out of their mind for letting such an awesome record go for so cheap, but to let it go that cheap when there's only 467 pressed is just criminal.

You should already own this record. If you don't, then go and get it right now. Side note: Real Groovy doesn't have any more copies. And I don't apologise.

senor and the queen

I saw this pinned to the 7"s wall in Real Groovy down in Welly and it was priced at something ridiculous like $10, just stupid cheap. There's a little sleeve wear in the corners where it's been knocked about, but hardly anything major. Get it home and find it's one of the limited 1000 on clear wax - what a score!

I've only listened to a little Gaslight Anthem (their 2007 Sink or Swim) but what I have heard is really solid and I'm into hearing more. Really, even if this EP sucks, it was a tenner! I can't walk away from a bargain like that.