Friday 23 July 2010

I don't think you understand, these boys killed my dog.






Graf Orlock - Destination Time Today - purple /150

This band fucking rules. Cinema-infused grindcore,; such a good idea and executed perfectly.

I got into Gorlock early lasdt year when my dear friend Lydia sent me a track off their EP. I hadn't listened to anything like this before really (and even now I still can't really get into grindcore all that much) so I was pretty taken aback by how fast and intense it was, but loved the use of film samples. Completely different to anything I had heard up to that point.

I ended up downloading their discography and they fast become one of my most listened to bands (I think they're 7th in my LastFM as of now), so I'm glad I finally got around to acquiring a solid copy. First off, the colour is absolutely gorgeous, Pirates Press seem to be leading the way with vinyl quality and they do not disappoint here. The packaging is fantastic, again like nothing I've seen before. Graf Orlock and Vitriol Records seem to have fucking great ideas for vinyl packaging (see the Graf Orlock/ Greyskull split; a backpack as the sleeve, awesome). The notes below each famous person are a brief description of their notority in their lives, and also how they died (the theme here as you may have guessed is assassination, although not all mentioned died that way), but written in a very sarcastic light.

I believe this is the first release with their new vocalist (not that new now but yeah) and to be honest, I could not tell the difference. Which isn't a bad thing really as the vocals are fucking killer, if they'd ended up being weaker or too different this record probably would have sucked ass.

I'm listening to this now and one of the tracks gets stuck on a loop. That is so fucking irritating.

www.myspace.com/graforlock
www.vitriolrecords.bigcartel.com

Monday 19 July 2010

WeHateFredPhelps.com



Touché Amoré - Demo 2008 - clear gold /500
Touché Amoré - Demo 2008 - coke bottle blue /245
Touché Amoré - Demo 2008 - red /300
Touché Amoré - Demo 2008 - white /600
Touché Amoré - Demo 2008 - clear /100


So I have already jabbered on about how much I love this band and everything, but I finally got the last colour of the demo 7" I needed in the post today. Took quite a long time to arrive, even by international shipping standards, but I'm glad it's here. It was the clear variation, and is the rarest of the 7" colours so if that had been lost in the post I'd have been super pissed.

Although I have all the colour variations, there are still a bunch of tour covers that TA did. And they are fucking horrible to try to collect. They basically did 5 different covers for the 10 cities on the tour, and then split those 5 into 1 red vinyl and 4 white vinyl. They have made it a total nightmare for collectors haha. I'm only sem-serious about collecting, I'm very happy with just having all these colours, but of course if the oppertunity to get one or two of these tour covers (or a test pressing for that matter) arose then I would jump on it.

The two 7"s at the top are the 2nd press of the demo, and the covers are printed on a lot nicer paper, but the artwork came out a lot darker. Seriously though, the first press covers are ludacris; they'd tear just from looking at them. The centre labels on the 2nd press are pretty boring though, just an A and a B on either side, no image like with the first press.

2 of the songs that appeared on the CD version aren't on this 7" though, Huckleberry and Hipsterectomy. You still get them with the instant download though which is cool. Apparantly the band aren't too fond of those tracks which is a shame, because Huckleberry is such a great song.

I think I'm done now. I'm waiting on a few 12"s so I'll post them when they arrive. Think I have 2 in the post now and one about to be paid for, so it's going pretty well.

Saturday 17 July 2010

I will always love you.

I haven't had any vinyl in the post for a little while (hate it so much when people don't post things when they say they will and then don't tell me about it). I've been on a massive screamo binge lately so I'm just going to post some awesome songs that I hope you will get in to if you aren't familiar with any of the bands.

I'll start with the obvious:

Orchid - Le Desordre, C'est Moi



Circle Takes The Square - In the Nervous Light



pg.99 - In Love With Apparition



I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism In Your Yearbook - 2



Oh, Apollo! - Wolves



Love like... Electrocution - We've built our tombs and now we're sleeping in them



La quiete - Fobbeo



I Would Set Myself on Fire for You - Twelve



I Hate Myself - Caught In A Flood




Other noteworthy bands: Ampere, Caravels, Indian Summer, Loma Prieta, Adorno.

Hope you like it!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

I am marching to the beat of a dead horse.




Touché Amoré - ...to the beat of a dead horse - Spring 2010 tour press mint green 17/80


Finally, one of my many TA records arrived! At the moment I think I am waiting on 5 TA records with preorders and things, once they all turn up I'll take a picture of my collection, it's coming along very nicely.


I first heard of Touché Amoré about March last year, a couple of months before this album came out. A friend of the band who is/ was a moderator on the AFI board posted about them and I instantly fell in love. Their demo is fantastic, so passionate and energetic. A better recording quality than the LP too but that's not a big deal as I'm pretty sure that the low quality for the LP was on purpose. 'To the Beat of a Dead Horse' though, fuck, when I first heard that I was in awe, easily my 'record of the year' for 2009 and no doubt their future releases will not disappoint either.

They're coming over to the UK in November and my pal Lydia is putting them on in London. Weeks of bugging her to listen to them paid off! I am incredibly excited.

TA seem to have blown up a lot now, getting on big tours and getting noticed all over the world. It's amazing to see, they deserve every bit of success they get, and I shall keep on collecting the whole way!

Thursday 8 July 2010

I need to take a step back.



Punch - s/t - white w/ red haze /300


This has to be one of my most listened to records of the past year or so. Lastfm tells me that their number 13 in my Library, which I think is pretty good considering the amount of time I've been into them (a bit over a year?).

I had the pleasure of catching them live in Kingston last Sunday which was fucking great, I never really thought they'd hit these shores for some reason, I guess I thought they would never reach the sort of status where it'd be possible. They put on an awesome show though, Meghan's vocals sound perfect and the rest of the band are tight and energetic. She mentioned that they were meant to have a new record out but they're stuck in Germany right now. I was quite shocked; I hadn't heard anything about a new record and I like to think I have my ear to ground with new releases so I have no idea how this got past me, but the new songs they played were fucking great and I am very excited to hear it. Bring on the Brighton show this Sunday, hopefully they'll have them there!

Punch also have a demo and a 7" titled 'Eyeless', neither of which I've spent too much time listening too. Neither of them really clicked with me as much as this full length, so they were completely overlooked. I should probably go back and give them another chance, they played a couple of songs I didn't know which is always kind of annoying when I'm really into a band; I like to know all the songs and be able to sing along.

On top of all this, their drummer has the most magnificent beard/ heair combo. Looks truely dirty haha. It reminds me of the guy in Knocked Up where he get's get at the beginning of the film that if he doesn't shave he won't have to pay his rent, and by the end of it he has a mammoth beard. It's like that sort of size, awe-inspiring. Also Meghan is a total babe, so cute.

Anyway listen to this band, get their new record, get their old record, buy some merch, go see them on their Euro tour with Comadre, just generally support this band because they fucking rule.

www.myspace.com/punchcrew

Here is my favourite track from them, gutted they didn't play it last week.

Monday 5 July 2010

They don't hear it. They don't feel it. They can't see it. Turn it up.



Lifetime - Jerseys Best Dancers - white/ 500

I picked this up yesterday whilst out at a show in Kingston from Banquet Records. I had never been to Kingston and therefore never to Banquet, but I knew of the store from buying off it online a couple of times and their online selection is pretty awesome, so I was excited to go and have a browse there in person. Although nothing truly outstanding really stood out, I was very pleased to be able to get this record. Lifetime are one of my favourite pop punk bands, and contain members of one of my all time favourite bands, Kid Dynamite.

I had the choice between this and the equally fantastic record, Hello Bastards. However, Jerseys Best Dancers has my favourite Liftime song on it, 'The Boys No Good' so in the end that swung it. Hopefully I'll get around to buying Hello Bastards at some point too.

Also, I really like how white vinyl looks. I don't see it around all too often, a lot of bands and labels are opting for the splatter or marble effect lately, but I think white vinyl has a fantastic look to it. The only downside to it is that every little hair or bit of dirt/ dust shows up and it get's really irritating trying to keep all that shit off haha.