Self Destruct test pressings

Funny enough a couple of years ago one of my main wants happened to be a test pressing of the first Self destruct 7". Self destruct were an awesome band that played old style hardcore and released two 7"s and then vanished. Their 7" 'This is not your world' was released on Dead& gone records and it's wierd why it really became such a highly wanted item of mine. Okay, it's a great record but because apart from the record release version which had a different sleeve there wasn't a limited version available which unusual for D&G-they usually did a colour vinyl as well as the normal black. I guess that added something to why I really wanted it. Also this test pressing had a superb and very striking sleeve (a rip off of the 'let them eat jellybeans' comp). One actually went for over £60 on the bay which I thought was pretty insane at the time but then again there only 10 of them so it was super rare really and that might have been the only chance the winning bidder would ever have to get one. Thankfully mine didn't cost that amount but I probably paid more than most people would these days. Not that I care to be honest, I've been after this for ages and the only people I knew who owned a copy wouldn't part with it so when this came up for private sale I naturally pounced on it.



As you can see I got number nine.


The dude I bought this off also had their second 7" on test pressing for sale so it made perfect sense to but that too. This is the better of the two as well. A really awesome record that was one of my favourite 7"s of 2008. It was a split release between Zandor records and Rumour control records. Alex of Zandor is still going strong putting out records but I think Rumour control called it a day. This was also limited out of 10 and this time it's a homage to the first Adololescents LP sleeve.

The original fold out sleeve looks like this.

So, a nice score. Also nice to bag something you've wanted for ages even if a lot of people probably don't even know or remember the records.

Champion-Count our numbers 7" record release

This marks my fourth copy of the Champion 'count our numbers', released on Bridge nine records back in 2002 (nearly a decade ago, fucking hell). I was listening to a lot of hip hop around then, as well as spending a lot of money collecting horror films on DVD and living a life style that was anything but straight edge so I was out of the loop with new hardcore releases which I'm paying for dearly now(quite literally). I've always been a sucker for the youth crew style and have been since the late 80's and Champion in my opinion were one of the best bands that did the '88 revival style. This was a limited edition of just 116 (my number is 76) on white label with a blank label. There was another white vinyl release too with a proper label and regular sleeve. The cover is obviously a take on Youth of today's classic album 'We're not in this alone' (still one of my all time hardcore records) and looks pretty darn cool. Just a few years these were going for silly money on the 'bay but thankfully the price has drooped down a bit and I bought mine off someone privately which is good on two counts-One, you don't get into a bidding war and lose like I normally do at the last minute and secondly because you're not lining the pockets of those greedy, rip off fuckers at Ebay.

Parasite-Metal punk massacre 10"

I've never professed to be big on or even know much about Japanese hardcore punk. I used to like some of the stuff from the 80's which turned up on comps like Outo, Rose rose etc and some of the 90's tackle on HG fact like Judgement, paintbox. The only 3 bands of the last decade I can claim to like from Japan are Disclose (RIP), Crow and now these guys.
I know a lot of collectors absolutely hate 10" records but I think otherwise-they're a really cool and cute looking format and I've always had a soft spot for them. Anyway this Parasite record is indeed 10 inches big and comes housed in a lovely gatefold sleeve. Although it was released by Tadpole records in the UK (500 I think)most of them were shipped abroad and Darren who put this out sold his stock very quickly. I managed to track this down from a distro he had off loaded a few copies too and boy I'm glad I did.
Let's try and describe this then-well it's very Japanese sounding (obviously) and they do love their metal as there's plenty of Maiden-esque riffs dropped in there but overall it's great sounding hardcore punk. Not as frantic as some Japanese HC but still very awesome. Seek.

Possessed-Seven churches LP

Like most people who got into hardcore in the late 80's I was into thrash metal previously. It was the crossover stuff of DRI, Suicidal T, Agnostic front that led me into straight up hardcore. Prior to that I loved all the thrash bands like Slayer, Metallica(up to 'master of puppets') Celtic frost, Kreator etc-and of course there was Possessed. This debut album 'Seven churches' from 1984 is one of the most evil and raw sounding records you will ever hear and age hasn't stripped it of any of it's power-it's still sick. Now these days I don't buy that much metal vinyl simply because it's too time consuming/expensive trying to keep up with the latest hardcore releases but I made an exception for this awesome LP-even though I already own an original pressing. Pressed on 180G white vinyl and housed in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve I simply couldn't resist this-especially when it only worked out at £9.99 postpaid. This is seriously THE shit!!! This is the sort of stuff that would make emo wimps or Nu metal fools absolutely crap themselves.
Thank you Back on black for making this available again. If you don't already own a copy now you have no excuse.

Artic monkeys-record store day 7"

As you'll know yesterday was record store day-a day where you're meant to celebrate the independent record store-truth is many chancers come out of the woodwork so they can cash in on the limited edition items that are made up for the day by sticking them on Ebay. Anyway, to some of us who get involved because we actually love music it's nice to pick up those exclusive items-well, if you're lucky enough-my local store had a huge queque waiting around the corner but I managed to get there early and get a decent spot and pick up most of my wants. Rather than go on about the releases like the Revelation represses and the bad brains 7" that no doubt loads of other bloggers will put up (probably much better) postings of I thought I'd surprise people by mentioning an item by one of the bands not many people know I like-The Artic monkeys. Yes I do like them, a lot in fact but like a few other folk I was pretty let down with their last album-the first two were great but that one just didn't do it for me somehow, maybe they were just trying to get away from the formula that I loved so much on the first two albums and it just didn't work, I don't know. I do know however that these two new songs from the forthcoming album are absolutely killer. I'll definitely be buying a copy of that when it comes out. This 7" made up exclusively for yesterday is about as basic as you can get-packaging wise but trust me when the needle drops it sounds great-the two tracks are 'Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair' and 'Brick by brick'. Not sure how many were actually pressed but I'm pleased I bagged one.

Drainland-And so our troubles began 12"

Around a year ago me and a couple of mates travelled to Yorkshire to check out a grand vegan resturant and then afterwards we went to the world's (in)famous 1 in 12 club in Bradford. The main band playing that night was some band out of Ireland called Drainland. I wasn't expecting much but I was mighty impressed when they belted out some great sludgey hardcore punk (ala Eyehategod and 16). Nice guys too. I had a chat about UFC with one of them after the show when I bought their split 10" (with Grinding halt). They had recorded and were just about to release this 12" but it wasn't out in time for the show.
Okay skip forward nearly a year and I just find out that these guys have signed to Southern Lord records-that's a mighty impressive feat and it seems that the first release on that label is a CD version of this 12". Since I didn't own a copy I thought I better track one down before they start going for daft money on Ebay. This is a split release between the band, Head wrecker, IFB and Degranrepublick. 6 heavy as hell songs that will pulverise. The packagaing is pretty minimal-in fact the sleeve is flmsy as hell but the vinyl looks nice and is thick.
I'm stoked for them getting signed-now more folk can appreciate their grand noise.

SSS-s/t 7"release show edition

Has it really been 5 years since SSS dropped their first 7" upon us. Wow, time certainly flies. Here we are on the blink of a third album and I've only just managed to bag one of these beauties which were made up for their record release show (which I didn't make it to). 50 were made and they came individually numbered in a spray painted 7" mailer.



Inside you get the 7" on clear and loads of cool shit like cards etc.

Including my favourite of all, a pop up thing with the number of 50 and a personal scribbled message.

This was released before they signed to earache and was put out by Dead& Gone (RIP) and thrashgig-SSS singer Foxy's shortlived label (as well as his gig promotion thing). Anyway like I said a new LP is due out sometime so get on it.

Sunn O)))- Agharthi live 09-10 LP

Well over a year ago Southern lord announced they were doing a subscription only club deal where if you signed up you would get the only colour version of the records (non members would supposedly be able to only just get the regular black vinyl and there was to be a special exclusive club only release. Well early on I started to regret making the descision to sign up, for starters it worked out very expensive living in the UK, then they fucked the first order up by just sending a regular black version of the Ascend LP and it turned that subcription members weren't the only ones recieving the colour version of some of the releases after all (The Pelican LP was at least released in one more colour apart from the black and subcription club version). And then the exclsuive record was announced-a live Sunn O)))) LP (+7"). I'm sure a lot of members jumped for joy when they heard about that but I wasn't among them-I've never really got into Sunn O))). Earth were doing that stuff first (and better). Anyway later than it should have it finally arrived at my door and despite being well packaged the cover still had a fucking crease on it. That said it does look great but listening to this reminds me why it's overall a disapoitment to me-I just can't get into them full on. Oh well, I'm sure a lot of Sunn O)))) fans are mad that one of these have slipped into the hands of someone who isn't overall bothered about owning this but if you want to hit me up with offers then feel free-I can live without this probably. Anyway it did come with a snazzy slipmat (which I'm not parting with) which looks great on my deck.

Low profile threat LP white

Okay , I've had a couple of weeks off as I've been in hospital for an operation, all went went but I have loads of recovery time (off work paid, yay) which means I have no excuse not to update this blog a bit more regularly. So let's get cracking then, a while back I purchased the Low profile 7"(which deep six records put out same as they did this). The fact it had Matt from Infest involved sold me straight away, I've loved Infest since 1992 or something. The weird thing about this LP is that the music was recorded around 2000 and the vocals recorded some ten years later (like the 7inch). It you love the fast, blazing fury of Infest then you'll dig this. Annoyingly I bought a bog standard black vinyly copy and then discovered there were just 100 pressed on white, don't you hate it when that happens? I had no choice but to swallow my pride and open my paypal account (again) while I still had the chance to get one. Anyway I'm glad I did. This shit rules.