Tuesday, February 22, 2011

This Will be Updated More

I've been slacking a lot recently and I just got around to trying to catch up. I'm trying to be more up-to-date with this blog. Currently I'm posting records I got sometimes two months ago. Expect some more updates soon.

So Time Flies was a band from Virginia in the late 90s. They shared members with Count me Out and Cloak/Dagger. This is the only LP they put out, on Indecision Records. I picked this up a few months back at Celebrated Summer in Towson, MD. The black is out of 1,105. I actually had never listened to this release before buying it. I had heard Can't Change the Past and was digging it so I thought this would be a good purchase. I was right, I'm listening to this for the first time and it rules, hard.

So way back when Bridge 9 put up there Black Friday sale, I decided to pick up some more New Found Glory records. I ordered these two copies of the latest LP and the second press of the Tip of the Iceberg 7". They sent me a copy of the first press on the White with splatter. I sent them an email and explained what happened. Matt in Mail Order offered to send me a picture disc to make up for it. I didn't understand this as I wanted the 2nd press, which I said in the e-mail and ordered originally. Not to mention picture discs are dumb. So after more than necessary communication, he said he would send me a copy on black. So here we are. I offered to send mine back for free, but he didn't want to do that. I'm guessing they're looking to get rid of these, as I know the NFG releases haven't sold as well as they planned.

Puffer of Alert put out his zine, which had been over-due for a while from what I remember. It's a pretty simple zine with interviews with three great bands, Stick Together (current hype), Face Reality (soon to be hyped) and Thought Crusade (are they still together?). Not sure if he still has copies, but this is worth picking up.

With my Black Friday Deathwish order, I picked up two copies of the latest Alpha & Omega LP, which rips. This thing looks amazing too to top it off. I didn't hear much about this band for a while and then all of sudden they put out this LP and it was worth the lack of attention. This honestly was one of the best releases of 2010. The bottom is on Green with Black swirl, a very dark green pretty much. The top copy is supposed to be on black, but it isn't.

This is the copy of Green/Black. It looks much more green when held up to light.

Here is the "Black" copy. It is green with a lot more black in it. Now this isn't as noticeable unless it's held up to the light, but if you just glance at it, you'd probably think it was black. To me this means I have two copies on Green with Black. Can anyone else elaborate more on this? Are all of the "Black" copies like this?

I picked up this React! rarity off of eBay. This is the special press of The First Step's Connection 7" originally pressed by Rivalry Records. For those that don't know, Aram pressed 88 of these and handed them out at the React! Showcase last year. This was not available anywhere else. I was lucky enough to be able to add this to the React! collection, which is getting pretty big at this point. I was a little bummed, this showed up in the mail with the top of the cover damaged and some creasing, which sucks even more because this is screen printed and any damage is more noticeable. It is what it is. This is more reason why I wish people would be more careful when packing records, and when you see someone who can do it right, you appreciate it that much more. By the way, this thing looks awesome, so clean and mean looking.

I picked up my third copy of Right Idea's Our World in my Deathwish Black Friday order. It's nice to have all three copies, and I didn't have to pay anything ridiculous for them.

Also with the Deathwish Black Friday order extravaganza, I thought I was due to pick up my first Minor Threat record. "What took you so long?" I know, I know. Either way this is the s/t release with the two 7"s on it. I have no idea what number press this it is, but I know it's the most recent.

I picked this up while I was in Lancaster, at the record store of the label that put it out, CI Records. This is August Burns Red's Messengers. This is one of those bands that I listened to years ago, and I still give them a listen from time to time. This record still does it for me. It's something that's hard to get rid of.

This is another guilty pleasure from back in the day, but even better. This is the legendary Zao album, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest. This was the first release after the band essentially restarted, with all but one new member. This was essentially the start of what is considered the real Zao. This honestly may be one of the best metalcore releases ever. Now keep in mind this is more metal, with a strong Death Metal influence, but it owns on every level. When I found out Broken Circles was putting this out on vinyl, I wanted to pick up a copy for a long time. I never got around to it until I saw it at CI Records. I'm very happy I did. This copy on red is out 400. I hope to be able to pick up more copies of this one.

I picked this up at Celebrated Summer. I had heard a lot about Justice, and I figured as much as I liked True Colors, I should give Justice a try. For those that don't know, Justice and True Colors shared members. So after purchasing I gave it a listen, it's not really my thing. It's not bad, just not my style. Oh well. It's something cool to have.

I'll finish this post with the updated Down to Nothing stupidity. Merch has started to get more serious, and I'm starting to run out of records that are probable I'll ever get my hands on. I just realized I didn't put the demo tape in this one, oh well. If you've got a test press, I want it.