Another July Has Passed...

...which means one more month until summer's end. I've been doing this thing where I keep track of what I accumulate through the month, and then culminate it with a monthly photo. I hadn't posted any here, but I suppose I'll start doing that starting now with the month of July.

I spent much less on records in July because my summer was basically over. I was no longer travelling to Montreal or Toronto every week, my vacation had already been spent on a trip to LA, and I mentally switched from vacation mode to workfulltimeandpayforschool mode. Regardless still found a couple decent things.

The bottom of this picture is the four 7"s that came with the BEGN of the new Fucked Up album. I love that band, and I think the album is decent, but I think they went overkill with all these releases. Ideally I would have trimmed down the 2XLP in length a bit, and avoided these redundant 7"s. There is nothing about them that makes me want to jam them. This is especially true of the middle ones, but it's just pictures of people or things, and nothing really attention grabbing. What made the slew of the Fucked Up releases in their earlier period exciting was the fact that tons of different (and much smaller) labels were putting them out, meaning each 7" had its own unique vibe. All 7"s released since signing to Matador however come in the exact same packaging and format, rendering their run of releases somewhat stagnant if I were to speak boldly. The constant white bar and text that has been there since "Police" is great because it creates a subliminal bond with their whole catalogue while securing an aesthetic, but all other format opportunities have been somewhat lost in recent times. Long story short: shake things up!

Other notable finds in this lot: A French Cure bootleg (whose picture disc properties are excused by the fact that it features a picture of Robert Smith with Santa), The Cure Happily Ever After (a double LP compiling Faith and Seventeen Seconds for American audiences, Billy Bragg Peel Sessions, some New Order and Depeche Mode, and finally the gayest record I now own: the "Disappointed" 12" single featuring Neil Tennant by Electronic (the music duo of Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr). In conclusion, not enough punk this month.

Shoutouts to: Ross P., AK, Erin Power, Krista, Beatnik Records, Aux 33 Tours, and Vertigo Records.

Finally, I figure I would post the past couple of months here, because they are no longer posted anywhere else. April, May, June:

 

Epilogue

So obviously I have been inactive with this thing, but should anyone really take a blog seriously?

Lately my main man Finner has been working on Blank Stare with Sterling, a label that had a running start having already released several tapes from hardcore bands in Ottawa, Toronto and even NY. The latest release was a Canadian version of the RazorXFade LP, something people will surely be seeking out in the years to come. I just wanna quickly mention that I love when a record has geographic variations.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post: Variations. The last line of Issue I of the zine said something to the effect of "Coloured vinyl doesn't matter." I expand on my frustration for this mostly arbitrary variation in a short article I wrote for the inaugural issue of the Blank Stare zine which will be forthcoming in the following weeks. I'll probably be contributing some other stuff too, so look out for that before I really work on Issue II.