Wolf Whistle - MA Glory

In my feeble attempt to keep up with the kids and new (new-ish?) bands I decided to jump at the Wolf Whistle - MA Glory 7" when it was released. Except I didn't. For whatever reason, I thought it would be a good idea to go for the more "exotic" versions of the record instead of the ones Six Feet Under Records had up for preorder. Now I am playing catch up again. Great.

I guess most people are down with Wolf Whistle by this point. They may not be breaking new ground, but what they do is tight. Fast, raging hardcore venturing on power violence. There are worse things in the world than sounding like Infest. I love Infest. 

People were initially attracted to the band because of who was singing. I guess that's kind of unavoidable not to name drop the biggest band of the 2000's. So anyways, Pat Flynn sounds like Pat Flynn, but this definitely doesn't sound like Have Heart.

The band released a couple raw demos a few years back. The first one is near impossible to find on vinyl, but the second one on Triple B Records was pretty easy to track down. I only have the second press of that one, so hand me a late pass. Again. At least I'm doing a little better with MA Glory.

First up is the Sound & Fury 2012 sleeve version. I guess these didn't sell out at the festival, so Six Feet Under made the leftovers available through their webstore. At first glance they don't look too different from the regular cover except for the black border and the color contrast with the regular cover. Not too sure how many of these were made up.

It looks like they used the common solid blue vinyl from the regular first press.

Of course once I got this version, I wanted the others so I made a SFU order and picked up the common solid blue. Somehow I missed the clear blue version out of 250 that is still available. Doh! The most rare version, black vinyl is long gone. The way ebay is these days, maybe I can find one for about $160. 

A big difference with the regular sleeve compared to the S&F version is that it is printed on the inside with lyrics and credits. Download code comes with it as well. Good stuff.

One day I was checking out the Vinyl Collective board and saw a post that MA Glory would be released on cassette from Working Man Records. If I'm not mistaken, Working Man is a label run by the bass player in the band. Regardless, I jumped at the chance of scoring one. There were very limited numbers made and this green one was limited to 50 copies.

 There were different color cassette tapes made as well. A red one limited to 20, which was a label exclusive; a clear with blue stripe out of 30 which was a band exclusive, and these green ones. All 100 of the tapes sold out quickly, but there is a "second press" up now on white out of 50. Act fast and all that.
Damn, I love cassettes.

Sinking Ships - Disconnecting: Record Release

Things have been pretty quiet for me on the ebay front this summer . For whatever reason, I have decided that I am not going to try so hard to outbid people anymore. For six solid years I rarely lost an auction as I would be the idiot sitting in front of the computer at 3:30 AM waiting to make a last second bid at an inflated price I knew couldn't lose. 

I guess my "passion" for overpaying has waned quite a bit these days as now I simply put a bid in that I am willing to pay and walk the fuck away. If I win, great, but if I don't - whatever. Plus, I'm kind of at the point where my want list consists of records that are either insanely rare, popular and expensive to buy or are ones that I couldn't be bothered to bid on because shipping would cost as much as the damn vinyl.

I guess that is why I was pretty happy to finally track down the record release version of the Sinking Ships - Disconnecting album. When this album first popped up on my radar it was an easy $80 - $100 seller on ebay. I tried hitting up some of my west coast contacts to see if I could score one and they were more than willing to sell theirs to me, for $100.

Yeah, that pretty much put me off the record and I let it drop to the bottom of my want list for a few years. When I stumbled on it last month, I put in a low ball under $50 bid three days before it was over and forgot about it. Surprise, surprise I won the thing.

Nothing to really write home about with this once you get it in your hands. Half clear, half green vinyl with grey splatter. No labels. I know this is one of Marcus's favorite color records ever. He just raves about the combination of colours and overall aesthetic of how it matches the artwork. Isn't that right my man? ;)

The outer sleeve is a silk screen cover that obviously can be smudged pretty easily.

Each sleeve is hand numbered out of 75. I have either 54 or 64. If you have either one of the numbers, let me know so I can get it straight.

I'm not sure when the next post will be as the only things I have coming in the mail are 80's era thrash metal cassettes and the same pre-orders that you all have coming. Hey don't scoff, I picked up Slayer - Haunting The Chapel for $2. That's awesome.

 

No Tolerance - Boston Straight Edge 7"

Wow, two posts in a month. That has to be close to a new low for me. I apologize profusely for being lame. In my defence, I haven't received a "post worthy" record in eons. At some point there is just isn't anything to say about yet another color repress or a random record I picked up from RevHq.
I was also making an effort not to spend big bucks on ebay. It seemed to be easier to just write about them on Vinyl Noize than drain my bank account making a play for them. I do have to admit, doing 20-25 posts a month for Vinyl Noize has cut in on my blog time and I will try to do a better job balancing the two.

Of course all of this is precluded by assuming anyone gives a fuck.

Moving on, I was FINALLY able to score one of my major wants from this era of hardcore, the No Tolerance - Boston Straight Edge 7" on gold vinyl.

I have had a hell of a time trying to get this record. When I finally saw it up on ebay I decided to go all out and use a sniper program for the first time to win it. I entered a RIDICULOUS final sum for it and hoped for the best. Guess what? I was still out bid. It sold for a number I just couldn't fathom. I pretty much decided at that point that this game was getting too rich for my blood and I should just look forward to $5 preorders.
A few hours later I got a surprise email about a second chance offer on the record and I found myself checking out at paypal in roughly 15 seconds. I'm not sure what happened, but the selling price on the auction I lost was a good $20-30 more than my max bid. In the end I got it for what I was grudgingly willing to pay for it and all is right in the world.

By this time everyone knows the score on No Tolerance. Fast, super aggressive, yet catchy hardcore in the same vein as Step Forward and all the other Boston bands Chris Corry and DFJ are/were in; well except Mind Eraser. This sounds nothing like Mind Eraser.
This recording was originally released as a cassette tape for an Edge Day show. It got the vinyl treatment later on 540 Records out of Texas.

The gold version is obviously the hard one to get and is limited to 88 copies.

The dust sleeve is hand numbered and other than positioning looks just like the Floorpunch Div 1 Champs layout. That's cool.

Of course there is also the black vinyl version out of 500. This isn't exactly easy to get either. I remember it was available through Deathwish's distro store for about 15 minutes. I think you can get one now through Discogs for $40 if you were keen.

Both versions come with a fold over glossy, two sided, black and white lyric sheet.

Now I just have to track down a No Remorse, No Tolerance on blue vinyl. Good times ahead.

Verse - Bitter Clarity, Uncommon Grace

When word came down that there would be a new album coming from the recently reformed Verse, I was one happy camper. I felt that there was unfinished business when they first broke up. The sound that they had developed with the Aggression album was still being fleshed out when they called it quits. With this new album I feel they have become the new Modern Life Is War. I like that.

There is so much raw emotion in these songs, both in the singing and the music. Dare I say there is some 90's emo elements woven in there. The music barely gets above a gallop which may alienate some of their older fans. Still, it's not like this progression hasn't been coming. Every album since From Anger and Rage has been heading in this direction. Bitter Clarity... is still a hardcore album but such a far cry from Rebuild, they are barely the same band.

There were three color options available at preorder and I of course jumped for all three. Bridge Nine hasn't updated the discography page yet, so I don't know what the pressing numbers are. All three colors are quite unique from each other but work well with the album layout.

First up is clear with red swirl. This one is my favorite and kind of has to be seen to get a good appreciation of it.

Next up is clear & black split.

Finally we have straight up solid white. The sun was going down when I took this picture so sorry it is so dark. The white is not this creamy color here.

Of course there is also a glossy two sided black and white lyric and credits sheet.

Word is there is already a second press available for pre-order at Bridge Nine as this first press sold out unbelievably fast. There was also a record release version that used the clear with red swirl vinyl. I think there were 150 of them which is a hell of a lot. It had a special release show printed cover made up for the show. That one piece of yellow paper put one hell of a premium on the record as the one I posted on at Vinyl Noize ended up selling for over $100.  I guess people like Verse.

No Tolerance - No Remorse, No Tolerance 7"

This post is seven months in the making as I finally received my huge Youngblood order I made back in December. The Youngblood Records preorder contained new records from Police and Thieves, Give, Face Reality and No Tolerance. At the same time, a few leftover 2011 Showcase packages were made available for order as well. I immediately jumped on both just to get all the versions of this one record, the No Tolerance - No Remorse, No Tolerance 7".

We all know how crazy fast the Boston Straight Edge 7" sold out a couple years ago. I scrambled to get just a black vinyl copy of that one and I am still looking for the gold vinyl. So when the opportunity arose to score all of these in one shot, I took it.

Well, with the inevitable manufacturing delays of some of the other records in the package, we were left waiting... and waiting. Months past and I even started emailing Marcus and Mike to see if they had heard anything about when these might be coming. Finally, Mike had received his order and I immediately jumped all over Sean Youngblood asking him where mine was. I asked nicely, but I am sure I was still a pain in the ass. A couple months later and here we are, up to my neck in records and posters. It's all good.

No Tolerance is one of those Boston buzz bands like The Rival Mob, Boston Strangler or Step Forward that through word of mouth and message board hype end up "THE" band of the moment. T-shirts and vinyl sell out immediately and everyone is left scrambling. Luckily, with this Youngblood order, everyone was able to get their No Tolerance fix. Well, for about an hour until it sold out.

First up is the Youngblood Showcase 2011 version. This comes on black vinyl with blank red labels. There were only 85 of these available. The cover is a fold over screened print with a large lyric sheet on red paper. Obviously the covers and vinyl weren't ready yet at the time of the show. How it didn't sell out at the show is a mystery.

Next up are the versions that came as part of the preorder. First up is gold vinyl out of 128.

Next is red vinyl out of 330.

Finally there is good old black vinyl. I assume this is the most available color. No idea how many were pressed, but there couldn't have been that many as it is sold out too.

These regular versions all come with a glossy insert.

Musically this is exactly what you would expect if you have the first seven inch. Fast, agressive, pissed off hardcore with plenty of old school Boston straight edge influence. The usual cast of characters are involved so you know this isn't just hype. These dudes can play. This is easily my mid-year contender for record of the year. Hopefully everyone who wanted one got one. Ebay can be a bitch.

Mindset - EP Collection : Deluxe Edition

It seemed kind of silly to want to buy the super special fancy deluxe version of a band's discography when I already own five copies of each 7" and three copies of the live lp, but I did it anyways.

Despite my age and leaning towards "older" hardcore, I still dig Mindset a lot. With the break up of most of the posi straight edge bands I love in the last couple years, Mindset have taken over the top spot.

The EP Collection of course contains both the REALPOWER and Time & Pressure 7"s. The big hook is that they have been remixed and remastered. The results are impressive.

The deluxe edition also throws in a second press of the LiveSET album that was originally released on Upside Down Records. I think all the versions are gatefold, but this one actually uses it.

The deluxe was released on red vinyl with only 200 pressed. The red has a lot of black mixed in. I'm not sure if all of them are like this, but I suspect they are. Not surprisingly, they sold out pretty quick.

The LiveSET lp is also on red vinyl, but came out pure solid red with just a little white in there.

As you can see, compared to each other the reds are very different.

There is also a two sided full color 12"x12" insert which nicely distinguishes the two separate eras of the band with the member changes.

Also included is this really cool booklet. It has a lot of pictures and whatnot on the history of the band, different members and friends/crew, etc.

The last time I checked, there are regular EP Collection versions on white and black vinyl still available through the React!/Hellfish store if you were interested. I am glad I got the red vinyl deluxe version though. There was also a record release version on gold vinyl, but I didn't even know it existed until I saw it sell for huge bucks on ebay. Oh well.

Manliftingbanner - The Revolution Continues

Now this is how you do a discography!
I was really on the fence about picking this up when I first heard that there would be a Manliftingbanner discography. I mean I love and support the band, but honestly, I already own the Myth of Freedom 7", the near impossible to find 10 Inches That Shook The World, plus all the Crucial Response comps that they were on. I figured I was set. Then I heard there would be "new" material on the discography as well. Say what?

I had a couple friends point me in the direction of some of the new 2011 songs online. I checked them out and I was sold. I knew I would pick the album up, but I wasn't going to go as far as pre-order it alone. I figured I would wait until it showed up locally or see if it would pop up on one of the regular distros I check out. A little while later, I saw the album was available from RevHQ and I ordered it along with some of the new Rev color represses.

What I got in the mail a few weeks later was quite the surprise. Judging from the vinyl, packaging and artwork from the band's previous material, I figured this discography would be done along the same lines. You know, political, plenty of reading, but kind of done on the cheap. I wasn't expecting this.

I never checked about any limited color vinyl available because of how long I waited to order. I got good old black vinyl. I have no idea how many are pressed either. What I do know is that with this layout, yellow and orange splatter on clear green would have been a bad idea. I think aesthetically, solid black works best.

What really seals the deal for how awesome this record is, besides the new material, is the full color booklet insert. They went above and beyond.

 

 

 

If that isn't enough writing and artwork for you concerning the struggles of the poor, disenfranchised or oppressed masses, then there is also a large poster thrown in as well. Here's some Occupy Wall Street vibe for your wall. Eat the rich.

 

No matter what your personal political leanings, or whether you agree with the communist message Manliftingbanner throw out there, it's still cool to see that someone cares about something so passionately. I think that is something that is missing in hardcore today and applaud them for it.