Paul Baribeau - Paul Baribeau

My discovery of Paul Baribeau was, as all the best musical discoveries are, a complete accident. At Pre-Fest last year we had some time to kill between Lemuria and The Underground Railroad to Candyland so figured we'd head to one of the other venues and see what we could find. The guide made Paul sound like he might be interesting and we strolled over just in time for his set to start.

What we witnessed was excellent - a short set of heartfelt, somehow slightly naive, folky punk-rock songs. The highlight of the set was Never Get to Know which he introduced by saying it was his explanation of why he doesn't drink. As the song gradually unfolded I found myself more and more endeared to him and his music. It was sung with such simple sincerity that the whole audience must have felt the same way as me. If you drew a Venn diagram of the musical qualities of Chuck Ragan, Jeffrey Lewis and Daniel Johnston you'd have Paul Baribeau, which is a pretty cool place to be.

As we were leaving Gainesville on the Monday after Fest we swung by the No Idea record shop, Arrow's Aim. In there they had what was left of the various "Fest Press" records they'd printed for the weekend including, much to my pleasure, some of the Paul Baribeau records so I picked up this copy of his self-titled album. There's not much to the pressing - a maroon-ish vinyl hand-numbered on one side (47/100) and the No Idea stress-face stamped on the other, and a screen-printed cover. No tracklisting, no information. By complete luck, this LP features Never Get to Know and some other excellent songs like Strawberry and The Pier.

I'm certainly very pleased that we accidentally stumbled across Paul at Fest that day. I can't recommend checking him out enough.

Format: 12", screen-printed cover, hand-numbered
Tracks: 14
Cost: £8.40 new
Bought: Arrow's Aim Records, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Maroon
Etching: Side A: "Business! Love PB" Side B: "I could slap the No Idea guy in the bottom"
mp3s: no

Soundgarden - Louder Than Love

When I was 16 or 17 it was announced that Oxfam was going to open a dedicated books and records shop in Winchester. This was pretty exciting news because whilst MVC and HMV were keeping us in new cds we also knew that second-hand and charity shops often contained some bargain gems on both cd and vinyl. When it opened I was, of course, disappointed; most of the stock was from 70's pop bands and a lot of it was quite expensive - they had some supposedly rare Beatles records in the racks for £50 or so, getting gradually more and more knackered (although I did get a copy of Dirty by Sonic Youth on cassette for £1.50 not long after it opened). It wasn't as great as I hoped, but I still regularly checked the stock for any pleasant surprises.

On the 23rd of July 2007, there were two very pleasant surprises in the racks - someone had donated a copy of Louder Than Love by Soundgarden and Apple by Mother Love Bone, both on vinyl in reasonable condition and for less than a fiver each (I assume they were from the same person - it's an easy assumption to make). It was a little grunge-rock treasure trove that day. I wonder if the same person had donated any other records but someone else had got there first. Either way, an excellent find.

That day wasn't the first time I heard Louder Than Love though. My friend Guy had leant me a copy when we were at college and I hadn't enjoyed it that much. I think I had all of Soundgarden's albums at that point except for Louder Than Love and Ultramega Ok (the latter of which, criminally, I still don't own) so it was a bit different to the sound I'd been used to. Superunknown was huge for me back then (and still now) and Badmotorfinger had some massive hits. Louder Than Love wasn't so easily accessible and for years I thought I simply didn't like it. Years later when I found this copy in Oxfam I knew I had to give it a second try and I'm glad I did.

Ugly Truth is a bit of a slow opener but Hands All Over and Gun set the tone for the rest of the album much better. Loud Love is pretty excellent too but the highlight of the album is Big Dumb Sex, which is far more enjoyable and catchy than you might expect from a song with the chorus "I wanna fuck, fuck, fuck you". The reprise of Full on Kevin's Mom caps the album off in excellent style. In fact, there seem to be an awful lot of songs that are probably about sex on this album, something not so obvious on any other Soundgarden album. Perhaps touring left them in a certain frame of mind. That cover is one of my favourites too - I'm a big fan of the energetic-live-picture-album-cover and this is a prime example. Listening to it now, I still see why I wasn't taken by it all those years ago, but I'm glad I gave it a second chance because it's a huge album.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £4.30 second hand
Bought: Oxfam Books and Records, Winchester
When: 23/07/07
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

M. Ward - Transfiguration of Vincent

I discovered a lot of bands and artists during the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year, and M. Ward was one of them. One Tuesday in August there wasn't a great deal in there that I fancied buying that day, but they did have a bunch of M. Ward reissues in. I'd never heard of him, but the info they'd put in with the sleeve made it sound interesting. Plus, I was wanting to find some new music so I decided to chance it on Transfiguration of Vincent.

Initially, I wasn't a huge fan. It was kinda nice, but it wasn't entirely my thing. I've always felt that guitar players appreciate music differently to everyone else and that certain bands appeal more to guitarists. I got that impression here, probably swayed by the instrumentals and song titles like Duet For Guitars #3. However, that was six years ago; in the time that's passed this record has grown on me hugely. Vincent O'Brien and Sad, Sad Song are both incredible songs, as is Fool Says and the cover of Bowie's Let's Dance near the end of the album is just lovely.

I've ended up seeing M. Ward live three times since - once with Monsters of Folk and twice on his own in some very lovely settings (The Union Chapel and Leicester Square Theatre) and he was excellent each time. I've only since bought one other album of his (his second-to-most-recent, Hold Time) but that's mostly because I don't very often see them for sale. I'd certainly like to hear more.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 15
Cost: £11 new
Bought: Spillers Records, Cardiff
When: 12/08/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Dauntless Elite - Graft

I've been putting off writing about this record for quite a while. I distinctly remember planning to write about it back when I first started this blog but deciding not to. The problem was that I couldn't think of much to say about it. Now, that sounds much more negative than it is - Graft is a great record, I just can't think of much to say about it.

The Dauntless Elite are the sort of punk-rock band that I like; catchy songs, hooks, dual gruff vocals, huge choruses - all these things are what I want from punk. They seem like nice guys too and each time I've seen them I've been impressed. I bought this record the second time I saw them when they played with Bangers in The Fighting Cocks in Kingston (the first time had been at the excellent (and missed, by me at least) Punk 'n' Bowl all-dayer in London and year and a half beforehand). Since then it's had a fair amount of plays and enjoyment. Good stuff all round.

Format: 12", gatefold sleeve, insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £5 new
Bought: gig
When: 17/02/12
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

American Steel - Destroy Their Future

I don't have a great deal to say about this record. I used to regularly visit a record shop in Cardiff called Damaged and in 2008 I decided that I'd go there once a month and buy an LP (this was the same year I bought an LP every Tuesday from Spillers). Damaged mostly stocked punk records and I picked up a good supply that year. In 2009 however, my visits became much less frequent because I wasn't forcing myself to go there. However I still popped in occasionally, and on one trip I bought this record.

I don't think I'd consciously heard American Steel at the time I bought Destroy Their Future, but I'd heard plenty about them and for £7 it seemed like a safe gamble. The fact it was on Fat Wreck Chords should have been my first clue that it wasn't going to be entirely my thing, but I didn't have much to lose.

It's not a bad record but, as far as the punk I like goes, American Steel are a little less exciting. The sound is quite clean and they're not doing much here that hasn't been done before. On the other hand, there are more hooks and catchy moments than I can count. Dead and Gone is a particularly great song, Smile on Me is pretty nice and most of them have some redeeming features but overall there's not much to write home about.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £7 new
Bought: Damaged Records, Cardiff
When: 13/06/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Centro-matic - Fort Recovery

I often wish I liked Cento-matic more than I actually do. Will Johnson has an incredible voice and the songs are lovely and interesting. In fact, trying to put my finger on what makes me not like them as much as I should is turning out to be very difficult. On paper, I should adore this band, but instead I just casually and occasionally enjoy them. I just feel that maybe I'm missing something; lot's of people love Centro-matic but I can't quite get there. Maybe it'll come in time.

A series of excellent events ended in me buying a couple of Centro-matic albums (which is how all my favourite "how I got into this band" stories start). It goes back as far as August 2003 when I accidentally discovered one of my all-time favourite bands, The Paper Chase, but really starts 15 months later when I bought the split 7" they did with Will Johnson. I'd never heard of him at this point, but enjoyed his simple guitar-and-harmonica, 6-minute version of I Did a Terrible Thing greatly, so did some research. For a couple of years I thought little more about the name Centro-matic until, in the depths of exam-season of my final year of university, I found a copy of their 2003 album, Love You Just the Same, in the Oxfam Books and Records shop in Lancaster. I can't begin to explain quite how unexpected this was - the Oxfam in Lancaster had yielded very little indeed of any worth over the three years I lived there and yet on this day it had an album by a band I'd meaning to listen to for years for only £4. Centro-matic albums aren't exactly easy to come across at the best of times, so to find one like that in Lancaster (of all places) was quite a shock.

I enjoyed the album and picked up this copy of Fort Recovery on double vinyl in Colorado whilst visiting a friend (and later a promo-copy of Dual Hawks, a split album with Will's other band South San Gabriel). I neglected the album slightly upon getting home having bought far too many record whilst away, and I've never quite got into it as much as I'd have liked. Listening to it now, I'm certainly enjoying it, but still not as much as I feel I ought to.

Format: Double 12"
Tracks: 15
Cost: £8.13 new
Bought: Bart's CD Cellar, Boulder
When: 18/04/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Attack in Black - Years (By One Thousand Fingertips)

Years (By One Thousand Fingertips) was Attack in Black's third and final album. The word "final" is particularly gutting because I had a lot of time for them. I've written about them on here twice before and I hope to again when I one day find a copy of their excellent LP Marriage.

Years, like The Curve of the Earth, is very different to Marriage. There are moments like Liberties and Seeds where you can hear that they are the same band, but on the whole you wouldn't think so; the record is calm, quiet and less angry. The songs are still good, but somehow the word "nice" seems most fitting. If their first EP was them doing hardcore, and Marriage was them doing punk (perfectly), then Years is their album of nice songs.

I picked up this double LP in Canada shortly after it came out. What makes the fact that they broke up even more gutting is that they were touring Canada the same time I was there. The tour never stopped in the same city that I was in at the right time, but there was one night that with a short drive I could have made it to. Of course I didn't know they were going to break up and that would be the last chance I'd ever get to see them. When I saw them the first (and only) time, they were touring Marriage and I saw punk-Attack in Black (which they did incredibly well - I remember standing to the right of the stage in TJ's not expecting much but then almost instantly being blown away by how good they were). I've come to love the "nice" side of the band too and I wish I'd gone to see these songs live - it could have been completely different to how they were in TJ's or exactly the same and I think I would have been glad to see it either way. Five years later I'm certainly upset I never got to find out.

Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, insert
Tracks: 16
Cost: £13.20 new
Bought: Criminal Records, Toronto
When: 13/05/09
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Pulled Apart By Horses - Live at Leeds

I don't listen to Pulled Apart By Horses enough. In fact, it's quite a rare occasion that I play this record, although that's mostly because the plain brown sleeve hides itself in my record collection. That said, every time I do play it, I'm amazed at how well I remember the songs either from the record or from the handful of times I've seen them live. Somehow, despite quite liking the band and this record, I've never got round to buying any of their albums. Shocking apathy on my behalf really.

This live mini-album is their Record Store Day release from 2010, the year before it became a thing for every band ever to release an RSD record. I'd gone to Spillers in Cardiff that year (and only bought regular-release albums) but went to Banquet a couple of weeks later. They had a few copies of this record left over, so I picked one up. The fact it was an RSD release was by-the-by, for £7 it seemed rude not too. I don't think I'd seen the band at this point, but I knew the name (or did I know the name because I'd seen them?).

Anyway, it's a pretty great live recording. Pulled Apart By Horses have some very catchy tunes, often hidden between walls of noise. The opener High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive has a huge chorus, goes mental for a few minutes, then brings it back together just long enough for one more chorus. E=MC Hammer is another great song. Generally, they remind me of how The Computers could have sounded if they'd had a few more chaotic metal-influences and a few less 50's ones. It's a pretty nice package too, including a photocopy of the setlist and a printed photo (which is more amusing than it should be - I like the idea of them getting a couple of hundred prints and sticking them in with each record). Anyway, good stuff. I should play it more often.

Format: 12", a4 insert, photo
Tracks: 8
Cost: £7 new
Bought: Banquet Records
When: 03/05/10
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

My love of Broken Social Scene peaked between 2006 and 2008. That may sound like a very negative sentence, but it's not - the peak was very high and tail following it remains quite substantial. I still have a lot of time for Broken Social Scene. A brief summary of events goes like this - I heard Ibi Dreams of Pavement on a mixtape from a friend, saw BSS play an incredible set at Pukkelpop festival, bought their self titled album and it's predessor, You Forgot It In People, became obsessed with songs like It's All Gonna Break and Anthem For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, saw BSS again at All Tomorrow's Parties and was convinced they were one of the greatest bands about.

That was the peak. Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning released some interesting but not excellent solo albums, I saw them play a couple more shows that could never quite live up to the excellent memories I had of them the first two times and they released Forgiveness Rock Record, an album that never quite hits the heights of the two before it. (A brief note on the gigs, I later received the mp3s of their ATP set and it was as good as I remembered - I hadn't just blown these events out of proportion in my mind.) The decline shouldn't be considered to be too horrendous; they were riding very high and what came after wasn't bad at all, it just couldn't compare.

Forgiveness Rock Record has then become the BSS record I turn to least often. It has it's moments - the opener World Sick is a huge song and the instrumental track, Meet Me in the Basement, is up their among some of my favourite instrument songs - it's brilliantly uplifting in the same way that Rival Schools' Hooligans For Life was. Art House Director and Water in Hell are pretty good too. However, for me, too many of the songs just fade into the background.

They've done a pretty lovely job on the packaging here too - gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves for the record. My main memory of the album, however, is that I bought it on the same day I went to see Boredoms play their 9-drum Boadrum show in The Forum, which was unfathomably mesmerising. I went with my friend Rich, who was also a big fan of BSS (having first seen them at Pukkelpop too). Before the show we were both pretty excited about this LP, but afterwards all we could talk about was Boredoms blowing our minds apart.

Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves
Tracks: 14
Cost: £15 new
Bought: Sister Ray
When: 11/05/10
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code