Saturday, December 19, 2009

Snowed In

So since I can't really do anything this weekend with the snow, I decided to finally do this post, it's over-due and has a lot, so it should be worth your time. In other news I did get to go to the Trapped Under Ice Video Shoot last night in Baltimore before it got really bad. It took 3 hours to get home however, bummer.

The first record was giving to me as a Christmas gift from a friend. I'm pretty stoked about records as gifts.

This is the Explosions in the Sky Double LP, The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place. I've been meaning to pick up some Explosions vinyl but never got around to it, probably because it was just easy enough to get that I didn't think I ever had to get it at the time. Luckily someone took care of this for me. This is actually a pretty cool release, the dust sleeves both have artwork on them and actually makes the whole layout of the record pretty cool. I thought that just with the cover alone, it was pretty boring, but with the dust sleeves it works.

The second LP is one sided, with the B side etched. Another nice touch that really works with the whole layout of the album. I'm looking forward to seeing this band again someday.

Ok next I got a large package from Six Feet Under Records, in it were the Title Fight and True Colors pre-orders. First is Title Fight.

This was pressed with three colors and a limited deluxe version. The deluxe version is on transparent red with black swirl and has a special cover with an actual Polaroid, limited to 88 copies, nice touch. The grey marble vinyl is also limited to 97. Overall I was a little disappointed with the colors for this one. I think the original press just had better colors.

So the main reason I ordered was for the latest True Colors LP, finally released in the U.S. Like Title Fight, this had 3 colors and a special limited jacket package with Rush of Hope and Focus on the Light. I think the insert is awesome, what's better than a picture in D.C.?



So the copy of Focus on the Light that came with the special cover was on white and had very plain labels, I guess to just make is more limited and simple that way.

The last thing I got was my Outlast pre-order.

This was done really well. The white is the pre-order color, limited to 100. I think the colors were done very well. I do wish that the blue vinyl was more like a Carolina Blue like it is on the cover, oh well. Good job overall.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Weekend We'll Remember

So with all of the bands coming to the east coast for the A Time We'll Remember fest in Lemoyne, PA, there were several off-dates. The day before the fest there was a show in D.C.:

Get the Most had to drop this show and the fest, which was a bummer. Praise was added, and from what I've heard they are awesome. Still haven't seen them, I've missed them twice now. I'm sure some recordings will be done soon. Anyway Mindset and Not Sorry were awesome, and as always Coke Bust did their thing. I picked up the new 7" from Not Sorry on the two colors available.

The white is out of 100 and the red is out of 400. Notice the different color inserts for the two version. Nice touch. This is the 4 song demo plus two other songs, haven't listened to the two new ones yet. This band just joined the React! crew and I'm sure will have plenty more good things to come.

So the next day I drove up to the fest in Lemoyne and sadly, the attendance was very low. I'm guessing this is because of the fact that there just wasn't a headlining band that would attract a lot of people and the fact that Lemoyne isn't really close to any major cities. Most people were mainly there to see Mindset, who had a great set. It was a great time and lots of solid bands played, but the turn out was defiantly disappointing. What made the trip worthwhile was defiantly the records I picked up.

The first is the True Colors Perspective 7" on white and red split, limited to 425 copies. Just a solid release from probably the best band in youth crew right now. I can not wait for the spring tour to the states.

This is The Geeks What's Inside 7" on clear limited to 150 from the first press. Just a solid band I've gotten into recently that I've been looking to pick up vinyl from.

So I found another Carrier 7" I didn't have, this is the No Love Can Save Me 7" on Grey, limited to 1,000. I realized that I have a good amount of Carrier 7"s at this point.

Deathwish just announced that they'll finally be putting the LP out on vinyl, so I'll be getting that once pre-orders are up.

This is the Bad Seed/War Hungry split put out by 6131. This is the Sound and Fury version limited to 100. This still has not been released by 6131 officially, just this version is out.

I found a copy of the Get the Most Common Goals 7" on black from the first press, which I didn't have. I now have all of the regular versions of this record, the rare ones are all that are left.

Ok the best part of the fest was the things I picked up from Sean Youngblood. Totally made the drive worth while.

I got five Fired Up 7"s from Sean. First is all three versions of the latest release, Doomed to Repeat, including the Youngblood Fest version limited to 100. I also picked up two copies of When the Lights Go Out. First was the Youngblood 10 year anniversary version on green vinyl limited to 200 copies. The other is on Orange and I have no idea how limited it is. There are two stamps on the dust sleeve, however neither give me any idea about the pressing for it.

Now for the best part of this post:

Sean had copies of the Carry On It's All Our Blood LP. This is the Youngblood exclusive color, white, limited to 250. At the time the pre-orders went up I didn't have the money to pick the Youngblood version up, only the two from React!. So this was major clutch. I'm guessing this means that the pre-orders will be shipping soon. This LP looks amazing. The tri-fold insert is just amazing and everything just looks awesome. I couldn't be more impressed. If you look closely at my copy you can see a little bit of red in the top right. Obviously this makes me think there's some transition presses that eventually will go for lots of money.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Plenty of New Stuff

So I got several new things in the past 2 weeks or so. First up I got the pre-order for the Forfeit LP on Reaper.

I just picked up the pre-order color, and I'm happy I only picked up one copy of it because this LP disappoints me. I loved the 7" they put out on Reaper and this band has been very good live the few times I've seen them. So I had hopes for their LP release; they weren't met. It's just not at as emotional and raw as the 7". It's still a solid hardcore record, but it doesn't hold a candle to the 7". Props to Reaper for giving me so much with the pre-order. It came with that poster on the right in the picture, and a bunch of other little things. I also picked up the Trapped Under Ice Stay Cold 7" finally.

This is the third press on clear limited to probably like 1,000 or 2,000 or something. It took me a while to finally get this one. Solid 7" and very solid band, every release has been great.

Probably the thing I'm most stoked on getting is finally getting my hands on a copy of Uniform Choice's Screaming for a Change.

I believe this is the second press because of the green writing on the cover, but I'm not sure what it's limited to. If anyone knows please let me know. Also, because I think this album is that good I've got a link for you to download it:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mwdey2xytid
I picked up the Mob Mentality demo tape at a show.

It's put out by Trash King Productions. I believe the band has members of Lion of Judah, Mindset and others that I cant think of right now. I'm not really into it, it's a little too slow for me, but when I saw them live it was pretty good. The tape looks awesome though. They also had the Disengage tape for sale, and I'm kicking myself for not getting it. Disengage is a straight edge band from Wilkes-Barre, PA featuring members of Title Fight and Bad Seed. It sounds decent.

Next Up I got two more Effort records to add to the collection. First is a copy of From Our Mistakes 7"

This I believe is the "snot" color, 2nd press limited to 50 copies, but I'm not totally sure. It looks pretty dope either way. I think Hellfish did an awesome job with this one.

Next up is the Record Release cover of the Wear Your Heart 7".

I was surprised how little I had to pay for this on eBay. It definitely was a great deal. This only makes the 2nd version of the 1st press that I have, so I've got plenty more to pick up.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Pressing Confusion

So I bought a record off ebay a little over a week ago and I've been delaying posting about it because I wasn't sure if it actually existed. When I bought my test press off Alex of Grave Mistake, I asked him if this record actually existed. He said no and that I should try and get my money back. After about a week of procrastiantion I finally sent the guy I bought it from on ebay a message. As I figured, he had no idea about this version not being a valid version. So what did he do? He e-mailed Alex, and got about the same response. So who really knows if this exists technically, either way I've got a copy of it, and that's all that matters.

This is the pink version of the Down to Nothing/On Thin Ice split, with the Posi Numbers 2005 Stamp.

Just a comparison, here are all three versions of the pink color. The furthest being the regular 1st press, the middle being the pink with the Posi Numbers fest and the closest one being the record release. The posi press and the record release are very similar in color, the 1st press version is much darker. Maybe the record release and the posi number stamped ones are the same batch? I sure don't know.

With all this said I realized I have 10 versions of this record, including the European versions, so I decided to take a picture of them all together.

This is pretty sad, but I think its awesome. On top of that I'm still missing 3 versions. As always if you've got Down to Nothing records, get in contact with me.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Celebrated Summer Score

So I was up in Towson, MD visiting some friends and I heard about this place called Celebrated Summer. It's in the back of this comic shop, and its this little room maybe like 12 feet by 10 feet and its full of stuff. So I spent about an hour and a half going through this guys collection of vinyl. I could have easily spent over $200, but I resisted, mostly due to funds. The shop is run by this really awesome dude, Tony, who is in a band called Deep Sleep. Dude had a fantastic store, I'd say the best one I've ever been to. Tons of OOP and hard stuff to find. So the following is what I picked up.

First is the Go It Alone - Histories 7". I believe this is the first press limited to 875. This came out to promote the LP.

Next up is the Harms Way - Imprisoned 7" put out by Organized Crime. This is the most limited version, with 167 copies. This was probably the best deal for what I paid for.

This is the Prayer for Cleansing - The Tragedy 7" on blue with white splatter. I believe its the 2nd press limited to 380 copies. Very cool looking and the packaging is top notch. This is my second copy of this. Members of this band went on to form Between the Buried and Me.

I had been wanting to get a copy of this, so it was a no brainer. This is the Fired Up - When the Lights Go Out 7" on red 2nd press limited to 300 copies. I wish I coulda picked up the new 7" also put out on Youngblood. Will have to look for that in the future.

I saw the Mindset - Real Power 7" and went through each copy to make sure Tony didn't have a copy I didn't have. I found this one on White from the 1st press limited to 300 copies. Pretty nice score, especially since this is a band from Baltimore, I would have thought that this would have been snatched up already.

This in my mind was the best part of the purchase. Floorpunch - Twin Killing I believe limited to 1,700, but awesome and not easy to find none-the-less. This is the Division One Champs 7" and Goal Line Stand 7" released together on Equal Vision.

All in all, this was a really good pick-up, and hard to resist despite the fact that financially I probably shouldn't have bought anything, but whatever, I'm not in Towson often. I even had to turn down some nice Champion records, a dude had just dropped off some of his collection that day. What makes it even more easy to stomach is that I got all of these for $40 all together, yeah that's a really good deal. So if you're in the Baltimore area, head over to Celebrated Summer, it's totally worth your time.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

First Test Press

I posted my DTN collection on the D.C.H.C. board and Alex from Grave Mistake Records asked if I collected test presses. I said of course, and yes I'd be interested in picking one up from you. So once I could afford to do so I sent Alex an e-mail and it was in the mail the next day. So here it is ladies and gentlemen, my first test press:

I'm extremely happy with it. Alex did a really cool touch by putting a plastic clear sleeve with the artwork in black as the cover for it. It came out really cool. It kinda reminds me of the plastic pieces that teachers put on overheads when I was in school back in the day.

It is numbered #15 of 24.

Once again someone contacted me about trading for my Alert tour press. Dudes must really be into them. I like the band and all, and I was happy to pick up the tour press, but there are other records I want more. So I traded away my second copy of the summer tour press to get two Get the Most 7"s.

The copy of Common Goals is from the first press, limited to 300 copies. If you look closely you can see some black streaks on the vinyl, left over from the other 700 copies on black. Makes me think there might be some transition press versions floating around.

The other 7" is my first copy of Moment in Time on black limited to 1,220 copies. Nothing special but the insert is pretty cool.

The record didn't come with a dust sleeve, I'm not sure if this is the way Crucial Response put the record out, or if it was a previous owner who took the dust sleeve out. Either way I'm a little annoyed. It makes no sense to me to not have a record in a dust sleeve.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Support the Locals

So I picked up some releases at two shows in the past few weeks. First was the Troops of Tomorrow Demo from this show:

Troops opened the show, this was the first show they had the tapes. Here it is:

A decent tape and layout, not to mention a good release. If your into street punk give it a listen: http://www.myspace.com/troopsoftomorrowdc
The other night I went to this show:

I had previously won a record off a friend who lives at the house the show was at, the Corpse Fortress. So I just said I'd pick it up from him at the next show at his house. Here it is:

It's one of the pre-order versions of the latest Pulling Teeth record, limited to 333 copies. There was another pre-order version on green splatter also limited to 333, making it 666 all together, nice. I thought I'd take a picture of the hologram to give you an idea of what its like if you don't own this record.


Now I've got a decent collection of PT records, still got plenty more to get my hands on.

I just realized I got both of these from Garybird, he does vocals in Troops of Tomorrow. Maybe I should sell something to him next time.