Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight

I don't make a habit of buying music by bands that I've not listened to before, but I do find myself doing so on occasions. This record was bought on one such occasion.

I'd heard of the band in the way that you do but have no reason why you have. They were a name I was aware of but that was it. I'd not long started back at uni and one lunchtime flicked through the university paper for the first time. It was mostly shit, but somebody had written a piece about this album which I read still with no idea what the band sounded like. I can't remember what he said about it, but I think it was a positive review. It probably was. Anyway, a short time later I was in London on a Saturday afternoon looking to blow some money on new music and found myself on Berwick Street. Outpriced by Sister Ray, I was in the second hand shop by the market (the same place I picked up that Gowns EP - that shop has done me pretty well in record of bands I hadn't listened to!) They had a mint copy of The Midnight Organ Fight for £9, which is a bargain for an LP in there, so I picked it up. I'd only bought cds that day and knew I had to cycle back from the station in the rain, so I was worried slightly that I'd destroy the sleeve on my journey home, but it survived somehow.

I pretty much instantly loved the album. Musically its just the right side of epic and the vocals work perfectly. The thing that really got me though was the lyrics. I have never heard someone more pissed off and literal about it. He is a man upset and not afraid to tell everyone. The Midnight Organ Fight is definitely my favourite break-up album (Domestica, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space and You're a Woman, I'm a Machine are all good ones too). It peaks with Keep Yourself Warm as the height of bitterness. All the songs are fantastic though - The Modern Leper, Head Rolls Off, Poke and Floating in the Forth are all highlights.

I remember thinking afterwards that my old housemate Nicky would be really into them (he had previously got me into The Twilight Sad) so I recommended them to him. Not only did he already know them but he was convinced he'd made me listen to them in the kitchen of our old house. I still have no recollection of this whatsoever, but I guess somewhere in the back of my mind I'd stored some enjoyment of this band that only came out due to the one time I read the university newspaper and that store in Soho having a cheap copy on vinyl. I probably would have come across them in time, but its a nice series of coincidences that made me buy it. A few months later their third album came out and I enjoy that one nearly as much.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 14
Cost: £9 second hand
Bought: Soho
When: 28/11/09
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Against Me! - Against Me! is Reinventing Axl Rose

This album pretty much went straight into my favourite albums ever when I bought it. Not top 10, but top 50 probably. I'd known the name for years because a friend had been into them from the start but I'd never checked them out. When he passed his driving test I finally had the pleasure of hearing some Against Me! in his car and I was amazed. I'd written it off and very wrongfully. At some point that summer I picked up their new single (White People for Peace) but heard the first two albums were where it was at. A month or so later I was at the end of a holiday in Europe that had ended up in Prague and I had a few hours to myself so I went off in search of a record shop. Somehow I found this incredible shop that I'd certainly never be able to find again (shortly after some guy saw my record bag and asked where the shop was. I couldn't tell him, but did assure him it was awesome and if he found it he was in for a treat). They had some awesome records but I was low on cash and confused by the exchange rate, so I only picked up this one. I could've spent a fortune in there (the plastic sleeve still has the price on - 329 Czech-whatevers. About £8.50).

I couldn't listen to it until a few days later but couldn't get enough of it then, and still can't now. The opener is incredible with a perfect beat and Tom's screaming vocals. We Laugh at Danger and Break All the Rules is my favourite (I'm a sucker for group vocals). The whole first half is unrelenting, and that carries over onto side two. Baby I'm an Anarchist and 8 Full Hours of Sleep then stand out, but are still great. A bit of variety is good.

I picked up other Against Me! albums but none please me as much as this one. I've seen them live a bunch of times since and everytime they play something from this record I can't stop myself from going crazy down the front. At ten songs and half an hour long, its pretty much a perfect punk record (as far as I'm concerned). The moral of this one is that if a friend is raving about a band, it might be worth checking them out (depending on the friend's music taste I guess). I could've been listening to this album for many years more already.


Format: 12", poster inner
Tracks: 10
Cost: £8.50 new
Bought: Prague
When: 21/08/07
Colour: Gray splatter
Etching: Side A: "You can make the border smaller, but you cannot take away my nipple" Side B: "If you can read this, take a bath"
mp3s: no

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

A free record! What a treat. A friend I used to work with bought a house and in the attic found a hold-all full of old vinyl. Knowing my obsessive love of vinyl, he brought the bag into work for me to have a browse and take whatever caught my fancy. There was probably 50 LPs in there, but the majority weren't to my taste. And a lot were just shit. Still, I managed to pull five decent records out of there, this being one of them (the first good one I found too, if memory serves me correctly). Given that they were stored in a hold-all in an attic, the sleeves were all a bit beaten, but the vinyl was largely very clean. This one still has the £4.49 price sticker on the front - it amuses me to think of the original owner going record shopping back in the 70's and getting this. That said, I just checked the internet and it reckons £4.49 then is the equivalent of about £25 now, so maybe it wasn't the 70's.

I'd never given much thought to Springsteen until I was living in Cardiff and everyone I knew seemed to rave about him. I still only have two albums, this one and Nebraska (on CD). I like the music, I'm probably going to pick up a Best Of and be done with it though. His back-catalogue is pretty lengthy and I just don't have that much time. Tunes-a-plenty on this one though. Strong starters on both side 1 and 2 (it's not often you get that - all the hits on Side 1 doesn't give me much incentive to turn over, although maybe I shouldn't need incentive). A good High Fidelity style list would be albums with great starters on both sides. Backstreets is a great song, in fact, there aren't any songs I don't like on it. Maybe there is space in my collection for more than two Springsteen LPs.

Format: 12", gatefold
Tracks: 8
Cost: free second hand
Bought: Gunnar's attic
When: 25/03/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Rocket From the Crypt - Paint as a Fragrance

I bought this record from Hugh. I imagine it was one of those many times when he was selling off half his record collection to pay a bill (not that this is a place to discuss his finances). All I can really remember was that it was while we were living in Cardiff. I think he'd bought it not that long before, possibly from Kai, possibly with a whole bunch of other records. Anyway, there's no particularly exciting story to go with it. I'd got the live album R.I.P. for Christmas and the song Velvet Touch caught my ear. I think that's probably why I ended up buying it from Hugh.

The record isn't in great condition, but I imagine its had at least four owners, possibly even more since its been knocking around since 1991. The sleeve is looking fairly healthy all considering. If it ever had an insert, in doesn't anymore. The first side pops and crackles in that way that people love, but actually kinda makes them wish the record had been taken better care of.

Musically, its got some tunes (French Guy, Velvet Touch, Stinker). If it was a cd I'd skip Basturds pretty much everytime. That song does nothing for me. And it is very different to their later albums. I don't know Circa Now except for a couple of songs, but Hot Charity and Scream Dracula Scream are certainly a change (although awesome in their own way - I remember when On a Rope came out. I was only 10 at the time and my sister wanted to buy the single but didn't in the end because it was only on cd and we couldn't play those in the car. I still love that song. A couple of years back they played it a silent disco I was at to the great joy of my friends and I. I should probably stop ranting about On a Rope, but I don't have any other RFTC vinyl, so this is my only chance to do so. Massive tune).

It's another short record. In fact they all have been so far. At some point I'm going to have to make some time to sit down with some of the double and triple (and the one quadruple and one quintuple) LPs I have. Not this week though. I don't have the time. Unfortunately.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £7 second hand
Bought: Hugh
When: 01/04/09
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Slint - Spiderland

There's not much to be said about this record that hasn't already been said elsewhere. I think we'll all agree its a classic. I often forget how much I like it and end up not listening to it for ages, then remembering and playing it loads. Good Morning, Captain is my favourite (Washer is good too). I think that's why I want to listen to it again when I've just finished - it leaves me thinking how awesome it is. There's a lot to be said for a strong closer on an album.

I bought this during the Tuesday Record From Spillers year (a year in which I went to Spillers every Tuesday to buy a record). What often happened was I'd see a record there a couple of weeks in a row and read about it when I got back to work. I'd certainly discovered Pitchfork by then (something which I think happened that year) so I'd read about it on various lists of great albums. I'm pretty sure Aled who I worked with had probably raved about it by then too. Somehow it wasn't on my list of records to buy immediately. The stock would vary each week and if there was something I really wanted or looked particularly exciting I'd get that. I must have flicked by this record loads of times but found nothing else I was after the week I bought it. I'm glad I did. It's quite a slow-burner, but I like it.

Format: 12"

Tracks: 6

Cost: £9 new

Bought: Spillers

When: 14/10/08

Colour: black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Taint - All Bees to the Sea

Taint were possibly my favourite of the South-Wales bands we saw while I was living there. I think we ended up watching so many punk and hardcore bands it was so nice to see some balls-out, heavy riffs.

I remember the first time I saw them play the title track of this EP. They hadn't played for a short while and it was possibly a benefit gig. It was certainly upstairs in Clwb. First song of the set, Jimbob had a loop pedal at his feet and looked like he was really enjoying creating the intro. It was possibly the greatest build-up/start to a show I've ever seen; it went on for ages. Then the song just broke ("Skyward! All bees to the sea!") and stayed awesome for the best part of quarter of an hour. Despite the shorter intro, the version on this record is as pleasing.

They eventually put the EP out a while later and I got a copy when we saw them in TJ's in Newport. They were supporting Orange Goblin, who I remember being not as good as I hoped for. Probably because they had to follow Taint. I think half the crowd left with a copy of this under their arms. There was four of us on the train and we all had a copy at least.

It's a lovely little package (although given that it was £9 you feel you deserve it). Four massive songs, one so big it barely even fits on the record. Awesome artwork, lovely yellow vinyl. Amusingly, the first three songs are on "Side Bee" and the title track on "Side Sea". The label on the record then just has a bee on one side and the sea on the other. I like little touches like that. In theory, the record also contained a download card for the four songs and a live show from Roadburn in 2008. However, I drew a short straw and got one that mysteriously had no download inside. A friend later gave me the mp3s and they are pretty good. (At a gig recently I saw the guitarist of a band give out a download code from one of the LPs to someone and put the record back in the middle of the pile. I suspect that's what happened to me.)

Unfortunately for absolutely everyone, Taint decided to call it quits not long later. They played a final show in Swansea which, despite nearly dying trying to drive there in the snow, was incredible and an awesome send off. The first two times I saw them they had their two LPs for sale and I regret not buying them. The cds are fairly easy to come by, but I'm keeping an eye out for the vinyl. I've got lots of time for Taint.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: £9 new
Bought: gig
When: 17/10/09
Colour: yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: yes

Fugazi - Fugazi

Man, that bass line at the start of Waiting Room never fails to please me. The whole song is perfect. I once saw a band cover it and it made me want to learn an instrument so that I could have as much fun as they were having playing it. I'm struggling to write this because all I want to do is drum along on my laptop.

My records are currently (lamentably) spread across two locations because I move too often to drag them all around. The ones I have here are generally the ones that I've bought in the last two years and the ones at my parents' house are the older ones that I mostly have mp3s of (not that mp3s are any sort of consolation). Anyway, this is one that was at my parents' but I brought back with me because it's just too good not to play all the time. I think I'd been having cravings for it so picked it up the next time I went back. It's probably the oldest one I have with me at the moment so it's going to be a good test of my memory to see if I can remember the details of when I bought it!

I bought it in a record shop in Manchester, although I have no idea if I could find that store again. I'd been at uni a few months and my friend Hugh had come up to visit. I'd given him the task of bringing up my record player that I thought I wouldn't miss whilst at uni. I was wrong, but he forgot so I went the entire first term without a turntable. Needless to say that didn't stop me buying vinyl. On the Saturday afternoon we decided we should explore the record shops of Manchester, only an hour away by train (no time by northern standards). After the Friday night out, we made a fairly late start to our record shopping, but found a street with a few places on. I reckon if I was in Manchester again I could find that road, but looking at it from above on Google, I have no idea. I think it was a second hand place, but my copy is mint (I say that based on the other record I bought that day, and the fact this one only cost me £4.50, less than the usual Dischord asking price). And what a classic sleeve it is. I do enjoy an excited live shot on a record sleeve.

I'd been wanting to get some Fugazi for a while. I'd known Minor Threat for a while; I think you absorb a lot of music knowledge without realising and there are some bands who I feel like I've always known about somehow - there was no point when I suddenly learnt about them. Minor Threat, and to a lesser extent, Fugazi were bands like that. I had a cover of "Minor Threat" by Silverchair and eventually bought a cd of the First Demo Tape. I knew what to expect from Fugazi a little because of this, but knew there was more going on musically. By the time I actually got round to listening to the record, I'm not sure what I was expecting. It was a grower, which amazes me given how immediately exciting it is as a record now. Maybe I just wasn't quite ready for it. I still struggle with some of the later Fugazi records. I guess it doesn't really matter that I didn't get it at first. This one and Repeater are among my all-time favourite records and I think that's what matters.

Musically there's little I can say that hasn't been said before. Fugazi is a stunning record. Short and to the point. How about this: in the time it's taken me to write this the record has finished and I want to listen to it all over again. That doesn't often happen. Once again "Waiting Room" has put a grin on my face.

Format: 12", picture inner sleeve
Tracks: 7
Cost: £4.50 second hand
Bought: Manchester
When: 15/11/03
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Chuck Ragan + Sam Russo + Jimmy Islip + Helen Chambers - Split

This is a lovely record. When Chuck toured over here a few years ago he had these guys supporting, none of whom I heard of before the show. They played the Windmill the day after my birthday and I'd missed out on getting tickets. Luckily a friend bought two and gave me the spare and it ended up being one of the best gigs of the year. Chuck's solo stuff had been some of my favourite music for years (more on this another time) so I knew it would be good.

We turned up early and watched all the bands and enjoyed them all. I especially enjoyed Sam Russo's set and sung pretty much every word to Chuck's (much to the annoyance of people around me I'm sure). It went on late and I missed the last train home so had to get a taxi from Staines. It was worth it. It was nice to see Chuck get Helen and Jimmy up on stage for a couple of songs too.

Anyway, some time later Specialist Subject announced they were putting out a split record from the four artists playing on that tour and I immediately preordered it. I also bought a whole bunch of other records from them at the same time. It was a pretty nice day when that bundle of vinyl arrived! The artwork is lovely (very distinctively Jamie from The Arteries) and the first run were on a nice white vinyl.

We get three covers from Chuck: Helen Chambers, Darren Gibson and Leatherface. Helen's and Darren's songs both work well. Darren is an Australian musician who I know nothing about, but that he has written at least one song that I quite like a cover of. Maybe I'll do some more research. I once saw the singer from Leatherface punch a fan in the face at a gig, and that put me off them a little. Chuck's cover is nice. I know HWM were fans of Leatherface so the cover doesn't surprise me, nor does Chris Wollard's appearance on the song. I wonder if it was intentional for Chuck to only put covers on.

I went into this most looking forward to Sam's songs. After the gig I downloaded his EPs on bandcamp and loved them. He does beery-sing-a-long-punk-rock so well. These songs are great and I'm glad they were finally pressed into vinyl somewhere. He's writing an album at the moment (or so I hear) so I look forward to that greatly.

After getting the record it turned out that Jimmy's song were actually my favourites on the record. 1990 is instantly catchy and the other two are great too. I'm not sure why that surprised me. He was good live, but I think I just spent so long afterwards listening to Sam Russo that I kind of forgot. I've been to see him play a couple of times since and its always been great.

Helen's songs close the record nicely. After nine songs of gruff male vocals her voice sounds even better. The final acappella song Speak Your Name always sends a chill down my spine.

Almost exactly a year later I went to The Revival Tour in Shepherd's Bush and it was really awesome to see everyone back on stage together, only this time playing to a crowd so much bigger I can't even think of a way to describe it.


Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Specialist Subject records
When: 31/08/11
Colour: white
Etching: none
mp3s: download

2 Many DJs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2

Well, it's Record Store Day. I woke up at 4.30, made it to the Banquet queue at 5.20 (kinda slow in the morning), store opened at 8 and I was in and out by 9. They didn't have all the records I was after, but I got a handful of good ones, and didn't break the bank quite as much as I expected.

Ordinarily I wouldn't write about an album on the day I bought it, but this one is a reissue of an album I know very well and I thought it nice to write about RSD today. I can't remember when I first heard Radio Soulwax Part 2 but it was definitely back when I was at college. I particularly remember hearing it on a road trip to Brighton and on another to Cornwall. It's probably safe to say that those two experiences are both contributing factors to why I consider this album a classic, and why I paid £14 to buy the vinyl today when I already own the cd (a note worth making is that it was actually £19 but I used two Banquet vouchers and applied the discount evenly across all my purchases). Not an essential RSD buy, but a luxury one.

Musically its great, but I knew that before hand. There are highlights the whole way through, and bits that I'd forgotten about that I always enjoy ("It's 10am, do you know where your children are?"). It also works split across 4 sides. The gaps seem natural despite not really being there on the cd. It looks pretty good as a gatefold and the artwork on the cover is glossy. Of course having the tracklisting broken up by timing is pretty redundant on vinyl, especially since its cumulative. Still, there are lines on the record if you wanted to hear a particular bit.

My only problem with it is this: as far as I can tell, the awesome Kylie remix that was hidden at the start of the cd is missing. It was one of the highlights of the album, and my favourite ever rewind-the-cd-at-the-start hidden tracks (although there was a pretty good one on Altered States of America by Agoraphobic Nosebleed - the longest song on there by a mile). There are ways of hiding songs on an LP (Opiate by Tool comes to mind), but I guess they're not desirable. I'd have even been happy if it was just tacked on the end, although ending on "stop button" is pretty cool. A bonus 7 inch would've made for a lovely surprise. The song is still listed on the tracklisting inside.

When they put out these RSD reissues I always feel like they haven't gone to a brilliant amount of effort to make them extra lovely. I ranted a bit yesterday about this subject. Somehow including that hidden track would definitely have made this a particularly special release, but as it is, it's just a reissue. Still, I'm happy enough with it. I shouldn't keep moaning about RSD because I do love it and there are some great records and it's fun to go spend loads in Banquet on a Saturday morning. I had fun this morning, and I look forward to a similar outing next year, not to mention the countless trips to record stores between now and then (although at more reasonable hours).

Format: double 12", gatefold
Tracks: 30 (or 45, depending how you count them)
Cost: £13.86 new
Bought: Banquet
When: 21/4/12
Colour: black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Deftones - Covers

This is the first of last year's Record Store Day haul, appropriately timed since tomorrow is Record Store Day! Much like last year, I've spend the last few weeks lusting over the list of over-priced re-releases and occasional interesting records. That's pretty much what happened last year with this one, amongst others. Needless to say I was outside Banquet before 7, sat in the queue much further back than I expected (number 57 I think), cold, reading a shitty book, waiting to go in. The guys around me were chatty enough, so it was far from terrible. I like Record Store Day, despite it basically being the record companies abusing the fact that I love spending money on limited edition vinyl and going to stupid lengths to do so. It takes a lot to get me out of bed and sat on a road in Kingston before sunrise. I think I love it because I love Banquet Records, and I loved Spillers Records, and the first year I heard of RSD when I happened to be visiting Colorado, I loved Bart's CD Cellar and Albums on the Hill. I just like record shopping, if there's a day of the year when its considered acceptable to spend hundreds on vinyl on a Saturday morning then I'm all for it.

All that said, I do wish the records were better.

Some of the vinyl that appears on that expensive morning each April is genuinely awesome. Others however are just the record company breaking my balls. This is basically one of them. I doubt the Deftones even know this record came out (which is neither a comment on the amount of weed they smoke nor the coma Chi is recovering from). The cover of "Drive" is, to my best knowledge, new. The others have all appeared in various forms before. I can't be doing with iTunes, so it's nice to have the songs that were bonus tracks to Diamond Eyes (especially the Drive Like Jehu cover). Otherwise, the release seems distinctly half-hearted. This record cost me £20, which places it firmly in the more expensive end of my record collection. It has no insert, gatefold sleeve, artwork isn't very inspiring, coloured vinyl or mp3s (I'm finally making a digital copy as I write this, although they always sound a bit shit). They've really made no effort to make me buy it at all, other than only pressing 5,000 copies worldwide, which is quite a lot really. Of course there was never any doubt I was going to buy it.

Musically its great. Of course it is. I've grown up listening to the Deftones and to say that most of the bands I listened to when I was 15 are, in hindsight, shit is quite the understatement. Deftones have always been there to remind me that 15-year-old me had some sense. I've always imagined them to have a pretty eclectic record collection, and the choice of songs here back that up. I could live without The Smiths cover, they do nothing for me. Between the Deftones and Jonah Matranga covers of Jawbox, I eventually picked up their album a few years back (but that should be credited to the B-Sides and Rarities cd rather than this record). All in all, not much new, but an enjoyable record to play.

All these rants aside, I will be outside Banquet even earlier this year (each year the queue gets longer, so I have to be there sooner). Luckily its now only a short walk from my house. Still, not looking forward to setting my alarm for 4am.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 11
Cost: £20 new
Bought: Banquet
When: 16/04/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Gowns - Broken Bones

This one is a nice tale of how record shopping should work. Kind of; it has a modern twist. I guess I'd been working during the day but got fed up but for some reason didn't want to go home straight away. Maybe I was going out afterwards. Anyway, I had some time to kill so went to hang out in the record shops of Berwick Street. In Sister Ray (which in my mind is still Selectadisc) they put on an album whilst I was flicking through the new release LPs that caught my ear. The first song was incredible and had this woman singing bitterly about LA. In the past I've often wondered up to the counter to ask what was playing (on three separate occasions in was Nick Cave). I'm not sure why I didn't that day. Perhaps I was just feeling lazy. So I googled the lyrics (the "modern twist"!) and found out it was by E.M.A. who I'd never heard of. I look at Pitchfork everyday (rarely read it) and she'd got a lot of attention but it had passed me by. So I read about her (still in store) and found out she used to be in a noise/drone/folk duo called Gowns. Took this information in but thought nothing more of it for the moment. I didn't buy anything because I rarely can afford records in there and strolled down to the second hand store by the market.

Here, by some strange coincidence, I found the Latitudes session by the band I'd just been reading about. Their live show and this record had rave reviews and here was a limited edition record, second hand but in mint condition and on green vinyl, which I'd learnt there were only 300 copies of. So despite having never heard the band, just one song by half of them, I decided to buy it. I was getting some cheap as CDs anyway, and once my wallet is open I get quite spend happy. I'm glad I did. The first two songs are monster, growing, fuzzy noise pop. The first song on side 2, Marked,  is possibly my favourite, more immediate, catchy. A brief spoken word tune follows, and another grower to finish, a killer with crazy wailing vocals.

I had one other Latitudes sessions record before this (William Elliot Whitmore) so knew they did some pretty cool stuff. The list of bands they've recorded is pretty impressive and given the chance I'd buy plenty of others too. The artwork on the LP sleeves is the same across all of them, but absolutely lovely. The labels are then all different and poke through the die cut sleeve. I like it.

Months have now passed and I've not looked into getting any more of their records. I really should. I knew when I bought it they'd broken up and I'd missed the boat entirely. You can tell by the record that they'd have been mind-blowing to watch live. Still, I'm glad I at least stumbled across this one.

Format: 12", die cut sleeve, cd-sized inner
Tracks: 5
Cost: £10 second hand
Bought: Soho
When: 10/11/11
Colour: Transparent green
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Restorations - Restorations

The first of the Fest finds. I'm pretty sure we spent half our time there watching bands we'd never heard of in the hope of finding our new favourite band, or a record that would change our lives. There were a lot of bands to choose from, and we knew they'd all be pretty good. When they put out the Fest samplers on bandcamp in the weeks before the festival, I made a list on my phone of the songs that really stood out. I found some pretty cool bands that way and made sure I checked them out. However, some bands I just wrote down the name of and forgot about.

I think the last band of the whole weekend that we properly watched was Restorations in Looseys'. There'd been some decent bands beforehand and I was too tired to bother going anywhere else. I'm glad I stayed, Restorations blew me away. Like I said, we'd seen a lot of good bands that weekend, but not so many I couldn't still be impressed (thankfully). I'd already spent a small fortune on merch that day (the No Idea yard sale combined with a weak dollar made for excessive purchases) but I figured another record wouldn't hurt. I bought the LP on a disappointingly black vinyl while Sarah bought a split or an EP, I can't remember. Hers was cheaper, mine was $15 (a whole $5 more than most of the records I bought that weekend!). The first time I saw Sarah after coming back she commented on how unimpressed she was with her Restorations record, while I really liked mine. I think we'd both come back and listened to the records by our "new" bands first, hoping they' be the discovery we were after. I guess hers wasn't.

However, the important thing is, mine was and is awesome. I think the difference must be that I really like The Constantines, and they sound a lot like them. I heard that The Constantines live are like a totally different band to record (something the Daytrotter session confirms for me). To an extent the same can be said for Restorations - the live show was immense, and the record misses that a little. But that's fine. Sarah was expecting the blistering punk-rock we saw, I quite like things that are a little indie. (I realise that all these comparisons between mine and Sarah's enjoyment could be that they're simply very different records. I've not listened to the one she bought, and vice versa. I'm going to go with it anyway. I can see how they are different on record, but I like it.)

So what's to say about the record? Track two is incredible. There's this keyboard part in the background when he sings "sometimes nothing happens" that never fails to out a smile on my face. Sideways House is another massive tune. Lovely "oh oh ohhh"s on the closer. The whole thing is pretty awesome. Nice gatefold sleeve and the lyrics, black vinyl as I said (upon getting back to the hotel on the Sunday night we were admiring our purchases from the day - Sarah had got some awesome colour vinyl, while a large number of mine were black. Not that its a big thing, but some crazy coloured vinyl does please me greatly). No mp3s so at some point I'm going to have to make a digital version. Its quite a short record, but I do like putting it on quite often.

There's a few bands we got records by who are clearly tiny bands over there and have no plans to tour the UK, or would love to but its just something that'll never happen. It's a shame, but then it makes me glad we got to see them. When I got home I rediscovered the list I made on my phone and saw that I'd written down Restorations but forgotten make a point of checking them out. By some brilliant coincidence I ended up watching them anyway, and I'm very glad I did.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve

Tracks: 8

Cost: £9.80 new

Bought: Fest

When: 30/10/11

Colour: black

Etching: none

mp3s: no

Failures' Union - In What Way

I've been meaning to start this for ages, so I'm going to start here with the record that's already on my turntable. I hadn't listened to it for ages, not for any particular reason. I bought it the first time I saw them (in the Fighting Cocks in Kingston), so there's no exciting story of browsing through a record shop here. I also picked up the split they did with Bedford Falls that night.

I went to see them mostly because a few people I know raved about them, and also because I'd seen Bedford Falls before and knew they were cool. Anyway, before the show I downloaded the sampler FU had on their website and the standout track on there was The Fall Man. I'm a sucker for female backing vocals. I eventually bought the other record they had out at the time, but I think I prefer this one. The songs are nice, short opener setting the scene, tune after tune afterwards, slow+moody finisher. The Fall Man is still my favourite. I regret a little listening to the sampler so much because those songs stand out in front of the others. Although it might be their fault for not giving me a download card with the record - pretty sure this would have got heavy rotation on the mp3 player/office hifi.

As for the record itself, it was the first (and currently only) record I bought that was a two-colour split. For some unknown reason they chose black and grey, which given the possibilities seems a bit dull. Then again the sleeve is all black and white (with some glossy windows inside) so maybe it's intentional. Also, I'm colour-blind so the grey could be any colour really. You can kinda see it in the picture. Nice gatefold sleeve with lyrics.

So it's a good record. I saw them play live again about a year and a half later. I wish I'd made more of an effort to learn some words. Oh well.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 12
Cost: £8 new
Bought: gig
When: 11/04/10
Colour: black and grey split
Etching: none
mp3s: no