Putter Along

Man, am I ever slow. This zine should be out soon. I mostly just need to finish assemblement, which everyday I just contemplate what would be the best way. In related news, I have the Germ Attak 7"s, they've been stamped and numbered, and are just awaiting the zine. Great.

Recently Ottawa hosted its second annual Record Convention, separate from the usual convention that comes to town. It seemed like a huge success, with a lot of vendors, a crazy amount of shoppers, and thankfully room to move unlike last time. There also seemed to be a lot more punk/metal bins, or at least I was able to access more.

I was conservative with my spending, so I jsut picked up Venom - Hell At Hammersmith. It proudly boasts that it's only limited to 10, 000 copies in the UK. In today's Youth Attack underground scene that would be certified Diamond. I also contemplated some Dead Kennedys and Motorhead, but passed.

Road Trippin'!

Yeah so I was thinking about my Record shopping guide to glorious Winnipeg, MB, and thought it would be fun to write another. Note: I wasn't planning on this, and these photos were taken just to the sheer ridiculousness, so they're simply sneaky cell phone photos.

This time I hit up Kingston, ON. This trip was not made to go digging, because driving an equal two hours in the opposite direction would yield much more magnificent results, in Montreal. I went with my pal/band mate Eric to buy a bass cab, and record shopping is an obvious time killer (read: obsessive necessity?).

The first shop we're directed to is Brian's Record Option. I'm gonna get this out of the way, and make this perfectly clear. This graveyard should never be an option for record shopping. If you're in the area, pop in quickly to be amazed that anyone could allow their shop, what they rely on for their income, and where they spend the better part of their week, to degenerate to such an extent. This place looks like WWII bombarded France, where the flooring is not hardwood or carpet, but shattered records and ripped sleeves. The (assumingly) once organized bins are now impossible to slip through,  because not only are they jam packed beyond capacity, but theyre are not even in single file (view photo).

This is the Metal section. No, the Thin Lizzy record was not worth buying. Brian also told us it is apparently alphabetized.

Genres are split haphazardly, and are advertised through means of sharpie on the particle board shelving, or just a decrepit piece of cardboard. Any of the fun or joy one would normally gain through flipping is completely diminished when Brian tells you the new arrival section is the 50 LPs cascading across the floor, like I said, there is no room left in the bins.

I know it's hard to read but this is the "Woman Artist" section... or something.

And what's the point in flipping anyway? Sure there's a record you enjoy here and there, but they're destroyed, a product of their environment. On top of that, they're priced as if they are mint copies. I found a copy of Iron Maiden - Powerslave that looked like someone had used sandpaper to clean it. Devo's Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! had a large crusty stain on the back. Maybe he had used it as a plate during his lunch?

Bingo! The Punk section... oh.. wait. It sucks. And the Picture Disc section appears to only contain one picture disc. WHAT IS GOING ON?

Brian's sanity may be called into question, but I have a feeling this all stems from living in Kingston too long. Anyone I've ever spoken to in Kingston, and the locals I encounter on my sparse visits leaves me with the conclusion that Kingston simply breeds some of the strangest people I've ever had to meet. Use this photo of the "singles" section as an analogy for the typical Kingston mentality.

Where singles come to die. :(

I did noy leave empty handed though. He has loads of tapes, and evolution has graced tapes with a strong plastic exo skeleton that is impervious to the gulag like environment of the record shop, so it was in relatively good condition. It was a Henry Rollins spoken word tape, Big Ugly Mouth, that I got for Finner, who had bought it for me on vinyl years earlier.

The next shop we went to was Zap Records. It was diametrically opposed to Brian's shop, neat tidy and a great atmosphere. The guy working was completely cool to talk to, but unfortunately no records that interested me there. Anyway, everything was alright in the end because less than a week later I went to Montreal to see Fucked Up and got tons of great records at some of my favourite shops. Maybe I'll do a proper guide for Montreal next.

My Montreal finds plus three Fucked Up 7"s I bought off VLV user Doody (The top right 3). Oh wait, and I got Celtic Frost from Eric. But I also got the Morrissey "Suedehead" 12" single as a gift for Ross, so that took its place.

I also found this youtube documentary about Brian, but it does not showcase the ultimate disarray of his shop. It reminds me of that single dude (who am I kidding they're all single) from that documentary Vinyl who stacks all his records vertically.

Week Off

EDIT: Check out the potential cover of the zine on the side panel. Photo Cred to my brother.

About to put in the rest of the work necessary to get this out in Zine form, with the new Germ Attak 7", Death To Cops. Proof as found below. I've been getting lots of records in the mail, many of which tie into previous themes. I got a copy of Regulations - Electric Guitar with a pink cover (Euro Press) and a poster, among many other great finds. I'm going to make up for my online shopping by crate digging in Kingston tomorrow, which hasn't been fruitful in the past, but maybe this time will be different.

Oh yeah, Pretentious Assholes isn't really a label, but when it does release things, releases will be serialized as such: PASS№XXX (Xs are variables, not straight edge in this case.)

Crisis Of Conformity

Hilarious SNL homage to hardcore with a song that evokes a strong Dead Kennedys and Suicidal Tendencies vibe.



Norton-Cadena wedding must be referencing Dez of course, and potentially a member of Husker Du? He also calls up Greg (Ginn), Steve (Zing? Blush? etc), and Lyle (Preslar). Their band is called Crisis (Corrosion) of Conformity, which is actually a really great name.

"When Ronald Reagan comes around, he brings all the fascists to the town."

Downer/Upper Punk (My Mix)

Finner has a project called No Revolution which works in mysterious ways. By day it is a label, by night he hosts mix tapes made by pretentious assholes, who also explain all their choices. I just made a mix, and struggled coming up with a necessary theme, but I figured that out. After many thwarted attempts, I settled on two opposed side to the digital "tape". The A side would be downer punk. Punk songs that create a sense that goes beyond usual passionate anger. Sometimes this passion devolves to apathetic macabre, and I used that as a template to pick songs. Side B is the opposite, upper punk, essentially just upbeat catchy songs that make you wanna move rather than stab yourself in someone else's basement. These songs can still have dark lyrical themes, creating an interesting paradox within the songs structure.

Interestingly, there are also links between the two sides. "Love and Dying in High Society" has male/female vocal interaction that matches that of "Death Valley 69." Anti police jams by the Dicks on Side A and Cockney Rejects on side B, and, well, a lot of Crass.

Please check it out here, and note that the artwork included is meant to be a J Card, turn it into a real cassette!

A Forked Path - The Two Worlds of Collecting Fucked Up

As I mentioned just a few hours ago, I got in a few records today. From Free Cake I got the Virgin Witch 7" I pre-ordered, along with Pulling Teeth - Paranoid Delusions | Paradise Illusions. The Virgin Witch 7" is pretty cool; it's limited to 666 copies (evil!), with a screened cover and B side (the band logo). The first 100 copies had a different colour cover, and a different screen on the B Side (the leviathan style pentagram). Both songs are pretty good, they'll certainly get some rotation over the coming weeks, so not much to say yet, although right off the bat the two songs are very different, and would have worked well serving opposite sides of the record. The first song is very slow, with a long buildup, where as the second song kicks off at a frenetic pace and has a blitz of a solo near the end.

I moreso just had to mention those as a formality, as this post is more concerned with the second package, the new singles compilation from Fucked Up, Couple Tracks. This one was also pre-ordered a few months ago. Thinking back on the process of initially hearing about this record, to actually heaing it today was really an archetypal example of why I love records.I have been following Fucked Up for a few years now, albeit not as long as others, right before Hidden World came out. In my mind, they are not the type of band for the casual listener, and to truly appreciate them, you have to dive right in and explore all their material. It is no secret that they have built a reputation for a constant slew of odd, rare releases spanning many genres of the alternative type. So as it so happens, I became a big fan, and any big fan will attempt to acquire all their releases, as they would with any band.

Fucked Up however, are different than any band, and they truly epitomize the joys of record collecting for me. Part of this lies in fortunate timing, as I am glad I discovered them mid-way through their career, as they began experimenting and evolving from the simple punk/hardcore formula. Being able to say you were there from the start is just some boring elitist sentiment, and makes it seem like you're only still here because it caught on. In my case, with Fucked Up I was able to enjoy the two worlds of record collecting as I see it divided; discovering the old vanguard classics, and following the current evolution of music. You see, finding one of the many, many old Fucked Up 7"s, released before their first LP, is on par with finding some classic Dischord record. Sure Fucked Up are still around, but not strictly in that format, and songs such as "Circling the Drain", "Police" and "Generation" have cemented themselves as classics of this generation, and I get a similar excitement from these songs as punk classics from other times. With their back catalogue so thick, its as unlikely that you'll complete a Fucked Up collection as fulfilling all your classic punk wants.

Meanwhile, following this plethora of golden hits, they're still an extremely active band, in fact amongst the most active of punk bands, as they continue to release material and tour incessantly. At this point the band fulfills my other favorite side of record collecting, and that is keeping up with a band you love, and not only getting what they put out, but watching them evolve, and wondering what they will do next, a question that is constantly asked with a band such as Fucked Up. And with releases coming so often, the excitement sticks around, and doesn't die with some tortuous two year wait time between albums.

I will admit that the one record collecting quality Fucked Up does not fulfill, through no fault of their own, is that following either side of their career is one that must be done online. Surely you can find represses of the classic 7"s in record shops, but the gems are hoarded for eBay, and new records are best to be pre-ordered if you want first dibs, which you surely do. This was the case for the new double LP singles collection, Couple Tracks (Quick hint: Matador seems to always have some coupon, whether its some holiday season, or just because it's a pre-order, so sniff one out before ordering from them!). I ordered it as soon as I saw it, in late October, and knew there would be a couple months  long wait time before I got it, but no worries. Over this time, there were many updates as to what was going on with it, which just added to the excitement of getting the record. Normally I totally forget I pre-ordered something and it's just a welcome surprise when it comes, so this created a different welcomed anxiety.

I first got an e-mail from Matador a month after ordering, explaining that there was now a very limited 7", with the same name and cover as the collection (those tricksters!), that would be sold, as a bundle with the collection, and that because I ordered so early, it would be included gratis. Ideally they probably would have included it as a surprise, but knowing the chaos fans would raise for thinking they missed out on a record, they had to send out an email. As time went on, the Fucked Up blog was posting about both records, with pretty hilarious explanations. Finally I received in the mail today, six days before it's official release date. I listened to the 7" first, excited about  new material. The A side, fittingly, is about record collecting, while the B Side is a positively proud song about the birth of Pink Eyes' son. Listening to it I noticed that the labels were backwards, and finding these sort of oddities about records on your own really rather than reading about them is thrilling as a record collector.

Finally, the compilation of singles and rarities only helps other newcomers to the band understand and appreciate the band, while the faithful fans read the liner notes and laugh at the appropriately unflattering photo on the back of the jacket.

Bachelordom

After recently becoming single for the first time in years, my records became even more important in my life, as priorities were shifted around. On top of that, there is no better way to brood than some slow drudgy record with the lights off. That being said, B9 threads such as List reasons why records are better than women. make me wonder if maybe I should just stick with my record collection instead. Best reason posted:

My parents don't have a problem with me bringing a black record home.

In other news I got some records in the mail today, so I'll probably post about those later tonight.

Final Cursed 7" Availible Now!

Released posthumously on Colohan's own High Anxiety records, which is handily distro'd by No Idea. It contains 5 tracks spanning their 3 LPs, but rerecorded from the floor as they would play them. These recordings came from some sort of BBC session. 1000 copies, 100 Black mix, 250 Purple mix, and 650 Gray Salmon.

In other Cursed related new, the single off the new Burning Love LP has had its art revealed. Available soon on Deranged.

Progress Report

The following things are happening:

• I got a really long stapler for Xmas to enable the binding of the zine
• Essentially finished my interview with Pink Eyes
• Confirmation that I will be releasing copies of the new Germ Attak 7", Death to Cops, with the zine.

So yes, as I have been mentioning for the past 3 posts, blog activity has been scarce, but the zine is still thriving. I wanted to do a post about Christmas punk, not sure if its too late.

In my personal record life, I got a copy of Iron Maiden - Powerslave and Sleep - Dopesmoker for Xmas, along with a couple other records I already owned (I suck at keeping lists organized apparently). I have a bunch of records coming in the mail (from Forcefield, Free Cake, 1234 Go), and the anticipation/anxiety will be the death of me.

From the Pink Eyes interview:

Q: Are there any records that scared you somehow the first time you heard them or perhaps you just found them strange or intolerable, but are now an essential part of your collection?

A: Oh yeah! I hated Integrity the first time I heard them and now they are one of my favorite bands. I remember going over to this dude in Toronto house to buy the Turning Point 7" and seeing a poster of Poison Idea on the wall and laughing at the fact that they had a guy called Pig in the band. I used to just ignore any record with a synth on it when I was digging for obscure records and now I kick myself for doing that.  G.I.S.M. was another band I didn't get at first.

A Quick Update

Posts have been sparse, mostly because this is the worst time of the year for school work. Anyway, update on the zine portion. I was aiming at having this out in  January. This is still totally doable, but I'm  going to push it back to sometime in February, because this zine will be released with a 7", and it just takes a while to get those in.

In the mean time, rather than reading my ramblings about records, check out the new post on Looking For Gold about Fucked Up's new singles collection, Couple Tracks. It's pretty entertaining. You'll see in the photo below the sleeves for the singles included, but some of these don't actually exist... it's all explained in the post.