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

reinventing axl rose test

Today the mail man brought another piece of the Against Me! puzzle - a test press of Against Me! is Reinventing Axl Rose. This was a steal on ebay but took over a month to get here and I was starting to freak out a little bit. Turns out that whole good-things-come-to-those-that-wait thing was true, this time at least.

From what I understand, the original pressing plates started to wear out after so many pressings, so this was a test for the new set of plates made in late 2006 (just before the 11th pressing). This is kinda funny, as my existing copy was from the 10th press, the last on the older plates.

Apparently there were 18 tests pressed in this batch, but the real gem is that the sleeve is actually a silk-screened fabric sheet.

The part I find the funniest is the sleeve that the ebay seller sent as part of the packaging to protect the record in transit. Check the pic after the cut.

liquid seperation

Cobra Khan are a kickass local Auckland band and the Liquid Separation 7" has 2 great tracks from their 2008 album Helgorithms.

You can pick this 7" up for dirt-fucking-cheap at their bigcartel store, but there's only 150 of these suckers around all on black wax so you better get on it sharpish. I asked if there were any tests going but apparently someone fucked up the pressings on the tests and the audio was total shit. The pressings were approved off the plates, weirdness.

Anyway the real gem on the 7" is the b-side, Shutter, which was the first single off the album.

You can check out the music vids for both tracks after the cut via dirty-old-youtube.

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.

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.

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.