Jul 30, 2010 Explosivo! - ...if the Devil Had a Guitar

About a month ago I heard that Mike from Dead Broke Records, a small label here on LI, wanted to release an album called Explosivo! If the devil had a guitar. This album was recorded about 10 years ago and just got buried. Explosivo then broke up and the members formed bands like Iron Chic, Small Arms Dealer, and The Devil Himself. Well for a while Tom and I have really wanted to contribute and help out the LI scene with a small label that released LI bands. Unfortunately, we really don't have the time to run our own label. While it seems easy to just "start a label!" it's a rather frustrating process that can really consume a lot of your life. And I have no life to spare right now. So instead we decided to just seek out projects that we like from labels/bands on LI that are looking for a little help with promotion or money. Well Mike was using Kickstarter for this project, so I thought maybe he needed some help. I know it's tough to press a 10 year old album, from a band that broke up, and basically never heard of when they were around ahha. Seemed like this was the perfect opportunity to help out a buddy of mine and start the ball rolling on the "supporting LI from the inside" project. So I contacted Mike, told him we could go half, and blingo! Explosivo - If the Devil Had a Guitar was a go. It's going to be a pretty limited vinyl release. Not sure of the number right now. Maybe 250-350. 1 color and 1 black I think. Handmade covers and artwork like only DBR can do. Should be very fun. I'm really excited to see it happen.

I have a full stream of this album up on the Limited Pressing homepage if you'd like to listen. The band sounds something like Iron Chic or Latterman. If you're familiar with this genre of music, which is basically modern pop punk, I think you'll be impressed by how long ago this album was recorded, and how new the style sounds. A lot of bands now a days are using that Chuck Ragan type of vocals. But this was 10 years ago. Very ahead of their time. So give it a shop if you got a few minutes. Thanks a lot!

Jul 25, 2010 Danzig Prints and a Trip to CT

Yesterday Tom, Brian, Napoleon, and I took a little trip to Redscroll Records in New Haven CT. This is a great shop that I've only been to once before. They have tons of vinyl there and they really concentrate on Punk and Hardcore. The reason I took the long drive up there though(3 hours) was not the vinyl. It was because Brian told me that they got a ton of framed prints in recently 6 of which I was told were Danzig related. So I did some research and decided that the price they were asking, and the prints/posters they had available, made the trip worth it. Plus they just opened up a Sonic down the road from there. That's the reason everyone else decided they wanted to come with me btw.

So let's take a look at what I picked up. First one I grabbed was this Danzig II 12" x 12" Cardboard promotional print released in 1990.

Basically this is just the front of the vinyl jacket from Danzig II, but if you look closely, the matting and framing that was done to it makes it look pretty incredible. It's a 16 x 16 frame with 2 ply matting(red and black).

Next is a 12 x 12 cardboard promo from the Danzig - Satan's Child album, aka Danzig 6:66 released in 1999.

While this album is not one of my favorites, I do like the design and the print looks great framed. It also has 3 ply matting, Black, light green, and red.

Looks like the print needs to be adjusted a little. I'll have to fix that.

The third one is a 12 x 12 cardboard print released in 1994 for promotion of the Danzig 4p album. Now what's interesting about this one is it's not the album cover artwork which is the Danzig skull above Danzig spelled out in some old german medieval language. Instead of that they used the Skull Yang logo that's on the inside of the album, which was designed by comic book artist Michael Kaluta. For some reason redscroll believed this was done by Pushead. I don't think Pushead did anything for Danzig. Either way though it's really an awesome logo design.

Another cool part about this print is there's a back design to it as well. It's just a simple black and white Danzig 4p logo like the one of my long sleeve.


This one has 3 ply matting as well.

And lastly is my favorite pick up. This is a promotional poster for Danzig III, aka How the Gods Kill, released back in 92. Now the cardboard promo for this album was 12x12, just like the others, that's why I'm pretty sure it's a poster. I haven't opened it yet, but I'm about 99% sure.


Pretty great size too at 16" x 30". I also love the purple which they've used throughout the promotional process for this album. And of course the Giger dagger is totally sick. If you read my How the Gods Kill tour long sleeve post, you know I'm a huge fan of this design. This poster looks a little wavy in the picture. In reality though it's barely noticeable. The flash on the camera accents the small wave in the poster...hmmm you know what, this proves without opening it, that it's a poster. Well at least that's settled.


So I think I picked up some really cool framed prints for my place in october. I'm starting to feel like my place is going to be a shrine to Danzig though. I may have to even this out with some hardcore/punk memorabilia. Not exactly sure what though.

There's one more part of this trip that I'd like to talk about. Sonic Drive In. Now I've only been to this place twice before. Both times with Tom and Napoleon. This time we brought Brian who had never been there. I was real excited to get one of those toasted bacon cheeseburgers. When I got there though, I was just hoping I'd be able to order my food before they closed! Turns out the grand opening was THAT day. How about this for a line!?

Jul 21, 2010 #17 - On the Might of Princes - Where You Are....

On the Might of Princes - Where You Are and Where You Want To Be

Released by Traffic Violation Records in 2002

This album took me a few years to really fall for. I think in 2002 I was a pretty jaded and pissed dude. I didn't like who I was. And I didn't like who everyone else was becoming. I was totally stuck. When this album came out, and the album that came out shortly before this one, Thursday - Full Collapse, I was like, "Seriously? This is what we're doing now?" Do I blame myself for thinking that closed minded shit? Nah, not really. I was a product of my surroundings. And all I surrounded myself with was Exit/Wreck-age. There was a stretch of about 5 or 6 years where I had the same 12 disks in my car cd changer. They never moved. And 1-3 were Silent Majority. Once I realized that the 90s were over, say around 2004 haha, I really started to love a bunch of albums I missed. Where You Are, and Where You Want To Be is definitely on that list with Thursday - Full Collapse. I'm not saying it's on the same level as FC. Don't get me wrong here, Full Collapse is basically and all time great album. It's probably the greatest album of its genre. But I reacted the same way to it. I misunderstood it in the same way. This whole screamo genre got my nuts all twisted up. If only someone would have picked a better name! Now a days I can like bands like I Robot, or Saetia. I can listen to them and enjoy them. I've learned to understand them better. But this album is different. This is more toward the Full Collapse side of Emo/Screamo or whatever you want to call it. That's the side I've really learned to love and appreciate.

Lets talk about this album's spot on the list. I think this definitely could have been higher on someone else's LI list. Someone that started to go to shows in say 2000 maybe. Like I said, it hit me at a weird time. And I think this definitely gets in my Top 10 of the last 10 years. Probably top 5. Something else that's interesting to think about...what would have happened if they took either the 2 hardest songs out or the two slowest songs out, rearranged the remaining songs, and then put this LP out as an 8 song full length instead of a 10? I believe this change would've created a more fluent of an album. It seems like right now you get sort of derailed when you go from Old Wives Tale to An Allusion of Italy. It's more noticeable on CD for sure. On vinyl, after you listen to the charged up A side, it's easier to take a step back before you flip to B and listen to An Allusion of Italy. With a cd though there's no flip. You just go right from rocking the fuck out, to banjos for days.

I'm not speaking for anyone when I say this but you got to wonder if the shit they got for going to Revelation affected their writing. Sirens was a decent album, but it's nothing like this one. Did they try too hard? Did they want to prove something? People were cursing their future left and right when they went to Rev. Like Revs some giant label or something. It's a total joke. In my world, when you went to Revelation Records, you were a fucking hero. You DIDN'T sellout. You stayed true. These people out there think going to Rev was like going to TVT or some shit. Now that would have been selling out. TVT is a graveyard for goatees and earrings.

#16 is in the works.

Jul 18, 2010 SFA - So What? I'll Tell You What!

Exit and Wreck-age are the most important record labels in my life. They have been since 1995. I've done some pretty crazy things for a rare release from one of these labels. This wasn't the craziest, but it's an interesting story.

The story begins about 4 weeks ago. As I mentioned in my Neurosis post, if you want to find the rare stuff, you need to search your ass off. And this entails more than just keeping some saved searches on eBay usa. You need to search other countries, and if you want to collect Exit/Wreck-age, eBay Germany is the key. Germany is Wreck-age territory. In fact the label was originally located in Germany in 89. The bands that were on Wreck-age toured Europe a lot and fans stay very loyal to US bands that frequent their country. To be honest I feel pretty honored that people out in Germany collect a US label like this. I've had a bunch of people contact me about pressing info and possible doubles. I'm assuming they follow this blog now too. And it's really cool to hear from them. I love talking records with people on the other side of the world. Back to searching. So there I was, practicing what I preach and searching ebay Germany for Wreck-age releases. But I was also doing my usual "Test" search. Well the "Test" search worked. The listing was written as follows:

"SFA-LP-Test Pressung-Hardcore-Mosh-Sxe-Punk-Terror-Civ"

As you can imagine, I went insane. If I had to rank this album on my favorite wreck-age album list, it would be in the top 5. In reality though, this never should have been an album. Let me explain. Back in 90/91 SFA put an album out called The New Morality. A really great hatecore nyhc album. They were on top of their game and genre. Pavlos, owner of wreck-age, basically had to have these guys. He had a new label, and he was ready to roll with releases. At this point he had only released Bad Trip's positively bad 7", Necracedia's I See Clearly lp, and a 7" from a band called Gulag back when the label was in Germany. So he was raring to go. He contacted the dudes from SFA and told them he wanted their next release. He also asked if they had the songs for a full length, cause he wanted to do it soon. Well when someone says they want to release your album, and also asks if you have the songs ready, you say YES!! It doesn't matter if you have the songs ready or not. Well SFA didn't have the songs ready. They only had about 6. But they told Pavlos they were ready to roll. They got caught ahah. Pavlos told them great and he booked the studio. So they were basically writing filler songs in the studio. It really should have been put on hold for a good month. But they had an opportunity and they took it. This is why when you listen to this album there's songs like, Overture, Evilcow, and Rudeboy. Enough on the SFA history lesson, let's get back to the story.

So check that listing title out again, you see the issue? He spelled the word Pressing, with a "U", "Pressung". That's a problem. It might not seem like much, but it is. See what this does is anyone searching for Test Press or Test Pressing, won't be able to find it. So this cuts off a very large portion of record collectors that just search for test presses. Also another interesting part about this listing, it was written in German. Well I've learned to live on Google Language Tools in the past year or so. It's a very important tool that I really think every record collector should start to use if they plan on finding the rarest records stranded overseas. And finally, there was a third issue with this auction. An issue that could actually ruin my chances of picking it up. The seller states, with multiple exclamation points I might add, that he will not ship outside Germany...yikes, that's no good. So here's what I did. I messaged this guy and basically told him that there's no way he was going to be able to get full value for this record unless he let me bid on it. I explained that I was the biggest wreck-age collector on the planet, and I also made it fairly clear that I WOULD win this record if he let me bid on it. And by that I meant that no one could out bid me. Which is true. No one was out bidding me on this record. I got no response. I waited about 2 days and I messaged him again stating basically the same thing, and also giving him some credentials. My full name, my email address, shipping address, Limited Pressing links. Basically anything that would make him comfortable. No answer. Hmmmm this wasn't going well. So I figured maybe there was a language barrier here. Maybe he couldn't read english at all. So I used my trusty google language tools, translated my message, and then sent it to him....NO ANSWER!!! Ok buddy, that's it, now I'm pissed. So I made the decision that I was going to bid on this record no matter what. But the hunt was on to find someone in Germany that I could ship the record too. Want another issue? OK no problem. What about the fact that the only people I know in Germany collect WRECK-AGE!! So I contacted a few people on VC and I talked to a couple of friends and asked if they knew anyone. By now there was only about 24 hours left in this auction. And also I still haven't heard from the seller. Finally my buddy Brian told me about a guy he knows who runs a label in Germany called Artic Rodeo Recordings. I contacted him, he was down, and the game was on. Now I was still a little nervous about this complicated process of winning the auction, the seller sending it to ARR, and then the label sending it to me. But something interesting happened. About 15 minutes before the auction ended the seller responded to one of my messages. His response was simple, "OK!!!" hahha ok so maybe I messaged him a few too many times. But in the end it looked like he was going to send it right to me. So I won the record for an INCREDIBLE 25 Euro. With shipping this came to less than 50 bucks usd. It's really hard to explain how good of a deal this is. I think on eBay usa this could have approached 150 or even 200. I know I would have paid at least that much. So it arrived and wow I was so damn happy.

See that jacket on the left?

Well it's not actually a jacket. It's only a printed piece of carboard. Almost like a cardboard insert. Pretty cool. I've never seen something like this. I also didn't even know this was coming with the record. So I was extremely happy when I saw it. The real jacket is on the right. That has something printed on it as well.

So the last thing to check is the matrix...well you know I wouldn't have brought this up unless something interesting happened. Here we go. This record was pressed on both Black and Green. 500 units on Green, and 2500+ on Black. They look like this.

I checked the matrix on the test press and it read "WAR-003-A-1" ok sounds smooth. I like the way that read. I was pretty confident now. Normally when you see a matrix on a weird bootleg it rarely has something very confident sounding like that. Well whatever. I grabbed one of the standard records off the shelf and slide it out of the plastic. This one happened to be the Green one. I checked the matrix "WAR-003-A-RE" ahhhmmm what? I checked the test again, and then the green vinyl. Shit. They're different. I got screwed. This is some sort of a rejected test press. Or maybe it's a bootleg. But it didn't feel like a bootleg. Here's the label on the test press.

I was a little confused. Everything that this test press came with screamed real deal to me. So I thought I would double check something. I grabbed the black version of this record and took a look at the Matrix "WAR-003-A-1" BOOM! There it is! So it looks like they made 2 different pressings of this record. Tom actually was the one who pointed out that RE must stand for Repress. Right! So I wonder when this happened? I mean I've heard people say you shouldn't use the same plates for more than 2500 records cause they tend to wear out. So that's what must have happened here I guess. I mean there's also a chance that there's some black circulating with "WAR-003-A-RE" for a Matrix. Either way though this means I have a real deal wreck-age test annnddd I'm no closer to getting all the Wreck-Age test presses, than I was a week ago! Son of a bitch.

Feels really great to lock up another Exit/Wreck-age test press. This makes 7 now. All LPs, all from my favorite bands: Milhouse, Sons of Abraham, Indecision, Yuppicide, and now SFA. Still missing a Silent Majority - Life as a Spectator though. Maybe one day I'll get one.

Well this is the final post in my 3 part weekend blogging spree. I need to get back to my Top 20 in the last 20 series. Probably do that next.

Jul 17, 2010 Shutdown - Against All Odds

As you may remember about 2 months ago I was feeling like complete crap and I took it out on my bank account by picking up some Shutdown test presses. I also noted that I really wanted Shutdown - Against All Odds, which is pretty high up on my want list. In fact it's REALLY high on my want list. But the person that I thought might have it, didn't. Well the other week my friend Brian sent me a link to someone selling a bunch of stuff on ebay. I've seen this guy many times selling tons of cool records. Mostly from Victory. I didn't think I was going to find anything I wanted but I scrolled, and I scrolled, and right there at the bottom of the list there it was. A record I've been looking to find for almost 10 years. Shutdown - Against All Odds Test Press. BOOM! What a find. With Victory they didn't make a lot of tests. There might only be 6-8 of these. Who even knows, there might be less. But there it was. Unfortunately there was a slight problem. The listing was a buy it now and included 2 other copies of the album on color. Not sure why he put these 3 records together. I mean I doubt there's anyone that would pay an insane amount of money for a test press, and not have all the colors. Maybe he figured he'd give it a shot. Either way the buy it now was there for the taking. And the slight problem? I personally thought the price was a too high. But then again, I rarely ever think a buy it now is cheap, as I pointed out in my Rhythm Collision test press post. So I shot this dude an offer, he made me a counter, and by the end of the next day the deal was done.

Victory was one cheap label when it came to test presses and pressing plants. As you can see, just a plain white label test from some unknown plant. They did with this with a lot of records. I got a bunch just like it. This one has a small sticker on the jacket, and some hand writing on the sleeve.

Another cool little part of this purchase is the person I bought it from owns a label called Words of War. So he sent me a couple of records.

The first one is a band called At Half Mast. The album is "Alive, Alone, and Waiting." This is a hardcore band from South Carolina. Don't know much about them, but in checking out their myspace page it sounds like this could be a good record.

The other record he sent to me is from a band called On My Side, which is a texas hardcore band who sound pretty decent as well. Unfortunately their breaking up. This album is their most recent on Words of War called 'Grow".

So there it is. Shutdown - Against All Odds test press. Pretty amazing that I own this after this much searching and hoping. The economy going to shit here in the US has definitely hurt a lot of people. This includes me. The only comfort I can take from it is the exposing of some of the most exciting records. It's like sunken treasure in a lake drying up from the drought of cash. The deepest and most protected treasure is always in the center. And it's always the last to go. The question is, have I seen the deepest part of my lake...

That was part 2 of my 3 part post. Tomorrow's item is great. There's no doubt about it. But to most it won't be as great as this record. The story is more interesting though...that's for sure.

Jul 16, 2010 Neurosis - Enemy of the Sun

What a mail day. WOW! What a mail day. I tell you right now, this is most definitely in the top 3 mail days of all time. Easily top 3. And it's probably #2. Actually it IS #2. For sure. So I got 3 test presses today and I plan on posting one each day this weekend. Damn this is so freaking exciting. OK! Let's do this.

Neurosis did something only a few bands have done in their career. They released an album that was so insanely good, so amazingly creative, so mind numbingly brilliant, that it made all their other stuff, before and after it, completely null and void. Thursday did the same thing with Full Collapse. Slayer did it with Reign in Blood. And Neurosis did it with Enemy of the Sun. Really sucks when this happens. It doesn't mean their other stuff is bad. Not at all. It just means that this album is so good, it makes everything else look bad! This album is by far my most favorite sludge metal album of all time. It's so incredible to think that this album was released in 1993. I mean jesus christ I was freaking 15! I was listening to like offspring, green day, and dead kennedys. All california punk bands. Right state, WRONG GENRE IDIOT! How could I have been listening to DK and not check out this album when it came out on Alternative Tentacles? It makes no sense. I missed 7 years of listening to this album. It was only when Neurot reissued it in 2000 did I give it a shot. God damn, what an album. Still listen to it all the time. It really helps me get into thinking mode. I got 2 playlists at work. One is the, "Holy shit I gotta get this done now!" Playlist. I keep Pantera, Slayer, etc on that one. Then I have the, "Holy shit I need to think about this for a bit." Playlist. I keep Danzig, Samhain, etc on that one. This album is always in serious rotation on the thinking playlist.

Enough about the incredibleness of the album. Let's look at the find. And what a find it was. eBay UK, I love you. People really miss out on so many great records when they don't look at the foreign ebay listings. I'm really giving away all my secrets here but whatever. You need to look at the foreign ebay sites. Some sellers just don't realize when they post using ebay UK, the listing doesn't show up in the US by default. I make it a point to search most of the different ebay sites once every couple of days. Learn google language tools and skower ebay germany. Hint for sunday's post haha....back to the UK though. So I'm searching for test presses on ebay UK and up pops a Neurosis - Enemy of the Sound Promo LP. Ok you got me on another one of my secrets. When searching for Test Presses, yes you search for the word "Test" in the record section, but you also need to search for the word "Promo". Some people don't know what a test press is, but they know it's different then the standard release, so they call it a promo. Well my searching skills paid off this time cause this was most definitely a Neurosis - Enemy of the Sun test press. AT always made a bunch of these things and sent them out as promotional items. Take a look...

Check out the makeshift label.

Also another thing labels liked to do was give you a sleeve, but do something to it so you couldn't sell it. Most of the time you see a slot grooved into the side. With this one they sliced off a corner.

Normally I don't get very good deals on records. If I want a record, I win it. I can't remember the last record I got outbid on. I bring this up because on this record I got the deal of a lifetime. I paid about 55 bucks shipped for this thing. 55 BUCKS SHIPPED! That's crazy cheap. The regular pressing of this record goes for that much or more. eBay UK you are soooooo awesome!

OK stay tuned for tomorrows part 2 of my 3 part test press extravaganza. It only gets better!

Jul 15, 2010 Rhythm Confusion

Truthfully there isn't much to this blog post. In reality it's only because I thought up a pretty ingenious word play of a title, and I guess the story is some what funny, that I'm going to write it. Actually the price is kinda cool as well...ok enough of the lead ins.

About 5 weeks ago I was skimming through the newly listed test presses on ebay and I saw a Rhythm Collision - Now for a buy it now of $9.99. I have this album in standard black, it might have been pressed on red too though...not really sure about that, but either way, I had a copy already, it's a real good album, and the test would look nice next to the standard. So I thought for 10 bucks this was a total no brainer as far as buy it nows go. Usually I never do buy it nows. NEVER. I can only remember a handful I've ever went through with, and they were total steals. The best being my $200 purchase of a Green Day 39/smooth test press on Lookout! with the promo sheet, that I later donated to the haiti charity auctions on LP. Let's just say, it turned out well for haiti. But for 10 bucks, you really can't go wrong here. So I grabbed it. What transpired next is a fairly funny story that I will now share with you.

After I bought the record I waited about 2 week and received a package from the seller. The package was heavy so I was confused. When I opened it, there was 2 copies of Danzig - Circle of Snakes inside. See what happened here was after I bought the RC test, I just happen to win 2 copies of this album from the same guy. But it was a few days later, and for some reason I got these records before I got the test. Odd yes. But I figured he just forgot about my other order. So I messaged him. He apologized and about a week and a half later I got another package. This one was lighter. But it still didn't contain my RC test press...

ahhhh yes, the highly allusive Rhythm Doctors - Reggae Injection album... These people look a lot happier than I was at the moment.


The front cover girl isn't even laughing at me, she's just like, "ppfff rhythm doctors. Sucker."

So I messaged the guy and he apologized and said he'd send it out. So I waited about a week and I messaged him to make sure everything was cool. He proceeded to tell me the record arrived 3 weeks ago. I told him once again it was some reggae pile. He apologized AGAIN and said he's send it out. Then like a week after that this arrived!

NICE! On to the shelf it goes. In the end it was still a sweet deal. 10 bucks for a Rhythm Collision test press, and a sleeve that'll I use to house one of my stranded test presses. Thanks TKO Records!

#17 is being a total bitch. But I think I've nailed it. Took me a while to really be sure though. Next post...

Jul 9, 2010 The Collecting Before the Storm

In October Tom is moving out west towards the city, and I'll be going back to living alone again. We moved in together last year when LP launched because of our need to meet and discuss the site on a daily basis. It's not really needed right now. There's not many more unknowns with LP. So I've slowly been gathering posters and prints cause there's going to be a lot of walls to cover in the new place. I've also got some cool ideas for displaying my colored Exit/Wreck-age LP collection...which currently stands at 1 LP short. Yuppicide - Shinebox on gold. I know, I'm an embarrassment. And of course there's the X Rated Maxi that'll look good. Then about 2 weeks ago I found a totally classy(heh) poster to add to the mix. Danzig - How The Gods Kill 92 Tour Poster.

Pretty sick right?! 34" x 22". Which if you don't realize, is rather large for a tour poster. They must of been selling these at the concerts, not using them to promote it. This thing is totally mint. AND there's a semi naked, sword wielding, she-thor chick on there. Can't get much more impressive than that.

Living with Tom has been great. We bounce ideas off each other non stop. Our place is super nice. Patio, garage, bathrooms galore. But I got too much shit to be jammed into one bedroom. Shirts are everywhere, records are everywhere, and architecture books, uggghhhh, hundreds of books on architecture. I need to spread out like asap. October is going to be real good for me. You know how much room 50 XL long sleeve shirts take up?! It's mind boggling. How do these shirt collectors do it? Records pffff easy. I got like 1000 records in one corner of my room. Then I got about 75 shirts in the other corner and they take up more room than the damn records. Makes no sense.

Side Note: If anyone is interested I have a few hard to find items I'm ready to deal. Trade or Money, either is cool. If it's money, just make me an offer through LP or email me using the address in the top right hand corner. Thanks

Test Presses as well as other cool stuff

Jul 7, 2010 #18 - Capital - Signal Corps

Capital - Signal Corps

Released on Iron Pier Records in 2006

Here's where it starts to get difficult for me. 16-18 has really given me trouble. Let's go with Capital Signal Corps for 18. What a surprise this album was. Before I heard it I thought it was going to be good for sure. But I didn't think it was just going to hit me right in the face like it did. It was fast. It was melodic. It had a 90s flare. And of course, it had great lyrics. Pretty much all you need to make me love it. Let's talk about the hit of the album for a second. "Meanwhile Back in LA". OOHH you thought I was going to say "Wolverines" didn't you? Sure "Wolverines" is great. It's crazy catchy and the twist of the song is definitely interesting. But in reality that's the gimmick talking. You're suppose to love that song. And of course we all do. But in my opinion, MBILA is the hit of the album. That's the song that makes me think this is one of the best LI albums out there. Just hidden right there in the 7 spot, on a 9 track album. It's weird, just like rapcore bands and vampire movies, if you write a song about how TV will just mess your shit all up, I'm going to fall in love with it. It's really strange actually.

There's some other cool things about this album. Other than what it sounds like! What about the fact that they recorded it after hours in a school library? Only thing cooler than that would be recording the album during school hours. Another interesting bit of info. They got the singer with the coolest voice on LI in their band. That's right, Duncan Macdougal on bass! I mean come on, you ever hear People in Glass Houses Stay Warm Through the Winter? I'll leave that for the Top 20 Best LI Demos. But yeah Tommy was always about lyrics for me. His voice is great, but Duncan on bass is just one of those weird, "wait, what did you say? He doesn't touch the mic?" type things that makes this album/band pretty special. FWIW, If I had that voice, I'd be singing under suicide girl's bedroom windows. Not playing bass in Capital. For real people.

No download on this one. You can steal it from a different blog, or it's available for 3 measly dollars in the Iron Pier Store 3..that's it.

I'll can give you this link though. Duncan Macdougaling My Style

Slick ref right?

Side Note: This is the last active band you will see on my list.....maybe.

Jul 5, 2010 Nice, It Turned Out All White

Another deal that I've been waiting to complete for a while is one I made via B9/LP. Seems like all these deals have been starting out on Bridge 9. That board is absurdly huge. So many people looking to get rid of stuff. This guy was from upstate NY. It didn't go as smoothly as the other ones I've made recently, but in the end it turned out great.

So about a month or so ago I wanted to listen to the Mouthpiece Can't Kill... on vinyl. I've had that record for a while, but mine was sealed and I had it in white, so I wanted to keep it sealed. That day though I didn't care that it was sealed. I yanked it out, and when I looked at the plastic, the Revelation trademark blue sticker indicating that it was on color, was not there. Hmmm that's not good. I cracked it open and it was black. BLAST! I could have sworn I had it on white. But alas, I did not. Fast forward about a week later I noticed a link on B9 getting a lot of hits on LP. I tracked it back and it was someone selling their entire collection. The link was going to their list. As I was checking it out I saw that he had 2 things I needed. One was the Mouthpiece discography on white, and the other was Capital - Blind Faith on white, which he indicated was the record release. Which I knew, but not to what extent he meant. See I thought the white color was the record release. And just the color. This is where that, "turned out great" part came into play. I'll get to that.

So the deal went down on LP with the deal making system and everything seemed to go smooth. Until the part where the dude was required to actually ship me the records! I did get them in the end. And I may have gotten them sooner if I pointed out the fact that I owned the damn site we were making the deal on haha! But it's cool, I'm not like that really. It was the typical, "oh I shipped them yesterday(2 weeks after I paid him)", when in fact he hadn't ship them, then proceeded to ship them about a week after that. I mean come on, the date when you shipped it is right there on the package! Teenagers these days. Vinyl Please? Sure no problem...

Still has the plastic on the cover. Nice! As I'm looking at this picture though, I'm noticing that there's no sticker on this one either. Weird. Pretty sure that record is white, so I think we're cool!

Now for Capital. This 7" was released by a small Long Island label called Iron Pier which is owned by a really good dude name Dave Vibert. He's the only other person I know that has an Inside - My Funeral test press. Great record. When he did the Capital record he pressed it on 3 colors. Red, Pinkish swirl(the rarest) and white. Now the white was first available at the record release and it sold out there, and in his store, before I was able to grab it. I got the pink through a side deal, and I bought the red from his store. But the white was alluding me. So this was a great find. Unfortunately though, it looks like I'm not done collecting this release yet!

Confused?


Still confused?


How about now!? There was a separate cover made for the record release! Damn I've never been so happy about having gotten something I didn't think I was getting ahha. So I still need a standard white version of this 7". Shouldn't be too difficult I don't think.

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Side Note, read this blog - Sara Sells Porn. Seriously, this is the funniest stuff I've read in like I don't know how long. Found it yesterday and read every post in like an hour. Half the time I was ridiculously uncomfortable, and the other half of the time I was dying on the floor laughing. It's great therapy.

Jul 4, 2010 #19 - Incendiary - Crusade

Incendiary - Crusade

Released by Eternal Hope Records in 2009

As many on Long Island have known for some time now, the Island hardcore scene changed around 2000. There were still good hardcore bands around after 2000, but it was different. That 90s LI sound wasn't there anymore. Those bands were gone and our local scene floundered. But in a way, it blanked the slate. Reset all the counters back to zero. And when that happened, kids learned from bands outside of Long Island. That's the case with Incendiary. People might be wondering how I could put an album that's not even a year old on a list of the top 20 albums of the last 20 years. It's simple, for typical LI, it's a ground breaking album. Bands don't sound like this on Long Island. They pull from their influences, and up until now, not many bands on Long Island were influenced by Trial and Strife. I think if I did this write up again in 10 years, which I really hope I can, then I'd probably be putting this album well into the top 10. For Long Island, this album is a total game changer. New bands are going to feed off this sound for years to come. Backtrack as well. When we look back on these 2 bands, we're going to say they started it all. I can already see it happening. Good solid bands are forming on LI that have this type of sound. Scourge for instance, sounds like they're straight out of Cleveland! This never happened here. This sound is completely foreign to LI. But not anymore, and it's because of albums like Crusade.

So the download. A week or so ago I saw a thread on the B9 board about Incendiary. Someone from the band posted a link to download this album. So I think we should be clear on the piracy accusations. Incendiary - Crusade - Download and you can buy their album at their webstore.

The fact that I'm promoting a bigcartel store on my blog should basically tell you this is an important band. Get into it god damnit!

Jul 1, 2010 Insendyaree - Record Release #9/50

I've had this for a bit but I wanted to wait till now to post it. You'll see why soon. For now though, let's just get to the vinyl. Incendiary - Crusade. Incredible album from a band you're going to hear a lot about in 2010. If you haven't already. This was pressed on 3 colors. Black, White, and a weird black/white swril type thing which confuses me. I think I like it, it's just confusing cause I've never seen a record come out looking like this. The swirl was sold as the rarest color version from the label, but was also sold at the record release show with a folded sheet numbered out of 50. I wasn't at the record release show, so I've been looking for it ever since. A few weeks ago I found a fellow long islander selling his on B9. I met up with him and we did the deal in a parking lot, old school style. Felt real good. In fact I've been doing a lot of long island meet up deals lately. We'll get to those another day though. So, the release, there isn't much to it at all. It's the same color and cover, they just added a little something for coming to the release show.

So as you can see here the color is mostly black with a little white mixed in there. Ok makes sense. Well check the other side out.

Weird right? I mean I've never seen a record turn out like this. Maybe I'm lost, but I've been collecting for a while, and this has never come up. This isn't some one off weird version either. All the swirls are sort of like this. I know this cause I have another swirl that I got from the label a while back. That one has less white though.

And the other side is almost all black. So here's my question. Is there a version out there with all white on one side and all black on the other? Cause if there is, I want it! This almost reminds me of the Sons of Abraham - Termites in His Smile marble vs clear problem that I ran across last year. What I never explained, after I explained why there was a marble version and why there was a clear version, is there's actually a third version that I've been searching for. It's a clear marble version. Someone had it on ebay and I got outbid...yeah, someone outbid me on an exit record I didn't have. It's retarded I know. But basically it's the perfect storm while pressing. Almost like a transition within a transition, if that makes sense. It's the point where the marble disappeared enough that it was clear, but still marble. And something along the lines of that could have happened here.....Nerd out complete.

One other interesting thing to talk about here is the folded photo copied sheet that was put over the record. Something like this creates a perfect opportunity for a little bait and switch on the unsuspecting customer. You have one record release version and one plain swirl. You take the record release folded sheet, photo copy it, and slap in on the spare swirl. Fairly simple process. You sell a numbered copied version, and you keep the original version. Except for one smaaallll problem. Sharpie bleed. Always look for the sharpie bleed through on a numbered sheet like this. Little tip from me to you.

I love single digits....that sounds gay.