Jason Molina - The Townes Van Zandt Covers

I have two copies of this record, a situation I entered into somewhat willingly. A good number of years ago, a Kickstarter appeared for a project about a carousel (I think) that I normally would have not even given a second thought about (as you can tell by the fact I'm not entirely sure it was even a carousel), except that one of the backer rewards was a Jason Molina record featuring some unreleased songs. My Molina collection was in its infancy, but I was keen to pick up what ever I could, so pledged for that reward. I think it was about £30 in the end, which was a lot; it wasn't clear that the record was only a two-song 7" at the time.

As is so often the case with crowdfunding, the project fell through and the money all sort of disappeared. There'd been a while where I was periodically checking for updates and getting concerned that nothing concrete had appeared - I can't remember how long that period was, but I remember having to dig through emails to figure out when the money first came out. Eventually, it all fell apart and I remember emails blaming various people - things look like they got ugly.

Secretly Canadian, the record label who released most of Jason Molina's music announced two things in 2016 - they'd be releasing those songs as a Record Store Day 7" and that they'd be sending out free copies to anyone who backed the campaign. I thought that was incredibly good of them - I imagine a lot of people lost a lot of money in that project (my £30 would seem negligible) but they had no obligation other than a desire to help the fans who had lost money; it was a great gesture. I had to prove that I had backed the campaign, so I sent off the screenshots.

I can't remember exactly when that was (I could look it up I suppose, but it seems clear I'm not going to - perhaps I'm too worried I'll see exactly how much I paid to that project and get annoyed all over again), but before the record arrived, Record Store Day came around. I think part of me was worried that the record wouldn't actually turn up, or there'd be some material difference between the two, so I decided to buy a copy on RSD anyway (what's another £8 on a day of expensive records!?). Plus, I was eager to hear the songs.

The two songs on the 7" were covers of Townes Van Zandt, a musician I'd never really heard much about, let alone consciously listened to. In the years since, I've always thought I should check out more of his music, but I still haven't; I probably will one day. I'll Be Here in the Morning is a lovely warm, live recording of a song that sounds more Magnolia Electric Co than it does Songs: Ohia, despite consisting of just guitar and voice. It's a nice song. Tower Song is a slower, sweet song. Both tend slightly more towards Americana than Jason normally does, but I guess that's the nature of the songs. Definitely worth a listen.

Anyway, as expected, a second copy appeared in the post a few weeks later. They are identical, except my free copy got damaged in the post and has the slight crease you can see in the top picture. I say "free", I technically paid about £30 for that second copy, but I didn't record it that way - in my mind I lost £30 to a crowdfunding folly and learnt an important lesson; I also got a free record - the two are related, but I drew a line under that £30 and decided not to be annoyed by it. Sometimes you just have to let things go - it makes life easier sometimes. I have no intention of selling either copy - like most RSD releases you can still pick up a copy for not too far from the original asking price (of course, it's hard to know which records will end up being worth much more vs those that are ten-a-penny after RSD). As it is, I have two copies to remind me of the dangers of crowdfunding.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £8 new / free new
Bought: Truck Store Oxford / Secretly Canadian Records
When: 16/04/16 / 19/05/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Jason Molina - The Black Sabbath Covers

Jason Molina released a huge number of records in his lifetime and, evidently, recorded enough for countless more. This is something to pleased about because I've nearly heard everything he released whilst he was alive, and I'm not ready to stop hearing new songs just yet.

When Secretly Canadian announced that they were putting out a 7" of him covering two Black Sabbath songs I ordered one straight away. It's hard to know with his releases whether they're going to be plentiful and readily available everywhere, or super-rare. I've erred on the side of caution recently and it mostly hasn't been necessary. In this case, that caution came at a price; namely the customs due on packages sent from the US (I've never really understood why some parcels do and some don't get charged extra, but it is a constant pain in the arse when buying from the States - between the shitty exchange rate, postage costs and customs charges it really is becoming expensive). I added a couple of other Molina albums to the order (What Comes After the Blues and Molina & Johnson LPs), so in my mind, the cost could be spread across the three. The LPs were still a bargain (I think they were on sale at the time), but this 7" was effectively £13, which is a lot for two songs.

It's even more for two songs when you discover that the songs together total only three-and-a-half minutes. Still, every extra minute we get to hear Jason sing is a minute worth paying for (and had I bought it more locally for £7 it'd still have been expensive and short). Those three-and-a-half minutes are, of course, lovely. Solitude works perfectly - it's slower than Molina’s usual “simple” songs, but with his gravelly voice it is every bit as dark as a Sabbath song should be. His voice struggles a bit on “crying” (which isn't a particularly difficult Ozzy-note in the original) but it's otherwise flawless. The cracks and hisses add to the warmth in true fashion. Snowblind is a bit more upbeat in the guitar-playing and a much more “rock” song for Jason. It is brutally short (a statement true of the song - 1:14, the single - 3:27, and Jason’s life in general).

The idea of Jason covering Black Sabbath excited me greatly - I knew of his early metal-years and wanted to hear how he'd approach songs by one of the first and finest metal bands. I was hoping he'd choose Sabbath songs I knew better (that is, from the first two albums) but these are wonderful and likely better than if he'd covered Iron Man or Paranoid. The b-side is etched with the ram's head from the cover (poorly photographed below) and the artwork is another excellent William Schaff drawing, the masking-tape cross a nice Black Sabbath reference.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £13.45 new
Bought: Secretly Canadian Records
When: 09/12/17
Colour: Black
Etching: Image of a ram's head on b-side
mp3s: no

Manic Street Preachers - Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of Manic Street Preachers

When the Manics released Lipstick Traces in 2003 I rushed out to buy a copy. I remember chatting to the guy in HMV that Monday morning about it - the staff had been listening to it before the store opened. He thought the cover of Last Christmas was unnecessary, but I was too much of a fan to question any of their choices. I quickly changed the topic to how excited I was to hear them take on Nirvana, one of the few bands they covered that I was also a fan of. In reality I was, of course, just desperate to hear all of it. I had a reasonable MSP collection by that point (70 or so releases) but still more gaps than gaps-filled, and hearing old Manics b-sides had become a passion of mine.

I won't bore you with the details again, but that all grew from finding a 7" of Motorcycle Emptiness and hearing Bored Out of My Mind on the b-side. I can't emphasise enough what a significant event in my life finding that record was. I can still remember vividly the amazement of hearing this other side of a band whose albums I'd already played to death - to think of Bored Out of My Mind being written around the same time as Generation Terrorists never fails to confuse and amaze me. They did have a secret history, and I wanted to hear all of it. I still do. (Every now and again I wonder where my life would be had I heard Suicide Alley on the b-side to Little Baby Nothing or the New Art Riot EP first and heard their scrappy beginnings instead of that strange little ballad. Best not to think too much about it).

I my teens I'd read Mick Middles' biography of the band, which dwelled on a particular b-side for so long I knew I had to hear it. I bought a copy of the If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next single a short while before this compilation came out and agreed that Prologue to History was a fascinating song. It opens this compilation in excellent style - racing out of the gate with keyboards blaring and lyrics firmly wedged in the 90's, along with not-so-subtle references to Richey. It dominates your attention so much so I had to stop typing this whilst it was playing. Over the years, it has proven such a hit that "opening the b-sides album" is no longer praise enough - the forthcoming reissue of This is My Truth Tell Me Yours has controversially promoted it to album-track, bumping off Nobody Loved You, a song that was a single in Japan. I'll talk more about this revisionist approach to reissues at a later date, I'm sure, but I'm certainly unsure about it; not just because I'm not sure that's what it means to reissue an album, but because if you're putting Prologue to History on an album you can't just squeeze it in near the end, it practically defines the album and need to be considered amongst those huge singles.

I'm pretty sure every Manics fan would have a different ideal track-listing for this album in terms of what was included and excluded. Had they left off Bored Out of My Mind, I'd have been terrified (which sounds so much nicer on deep 12" grooves than the flimsy 7" I've over-played for years). I think Montana/Autumn/78, the other b-side from If You Tolerate This... could easily have made the album. Black Garden and Black Holes for the Young would have been quite nice too (This is My Truth was quite an era for b-sides). Sculpture of Man was always a favourite and one I'm glad they included - one of their most traditional punk songs, and a style I'd love to have seen them try more (I used to put it on mixtapes as if to say "the Manics aren't the band you think they are"). The closing trio of Close My Eyes, Valley Boy and We Her Majesty's Prisoners is a strong way to close out the album.

The album doesn't remotely hold together as an album, but that all the more emphasises the "secret history" part of it - the b-sides were so varied and showed so many different sides of their song-writing. Most of these wouldn't have worked on the albums they belonged to (in the broadest sense) but at the same time fit neatly into their distinct eras. How would Everything Must Go have felt with the instrument interlude of Horses Under Starlight included (and it would have been fully relegated to "interlude"-status had it been on the album)? Or can you imagine Too Cold Here on The Holy Bible? 4 Ever Delayed straddles eras as you might expect - the guitars sound straight off Know Your Enemy, but has the ferocity of their youth.

The last track of the second LP and the third LP are dedicated to the covers that made their way onto the second cd. They're a strange bunch of songs, some of which I still don't know the originals of - something much more easy to remedy these days than it was back in 2003. A review passed comment on the decision to include a disc of covers on the compilation (deeming it money-grabbing), but they fit the title of a "secret history" almost equally well; where Forever Delayed was the best-of for the masses (with a bonus disc of remixes to appeal to an even wider audience) it's a treat for the fans that the b-sides album goes even more obscure with the covers. If they'd tacked the b-sides onto the best-of, as is sometimes done, they'd have missed the mark entirely.

A lot of the covers I already knew as b-sides, although there were a handful of new ones. We Are All Bourgeois Now is a nice addition since I rarely had the patience to fast-forward to it at the end of Know Your Enemy and it's a great cover; I imagine a lot of people knew that one and Rock 'N' Roll Music as I'm sure every Manics fan had Know Your Enemy and The Masses Against the Classes. It's So Easy is a welcome blast back in time (I'd love to see them cover GNR these days). The Nirvana cover went in a different direction to what I was expecting, but it works (the juxtaposition between that and the spangly Out of Time, however, doesn't). Raindrops and Can't Take My Eyes Off You are another pair very familiar to most Manics fans and Last Christmas works much better than the guy in HMV that morning implied it would.

Around the time it was released, they also announced the album was also coming out on triple vinyl and I ordered one straight away. I think they made 1000 copies. The sleeve is a textured leopard print, made with those classic-era fans firmly in mind. I don't remember it selling out straight away, and I saw copies on eBay for around £45 not long afterwards. It's worth noting that £29 was an awful lot for a new record back then, and I nearly had second thoughts about buying it (something I'm very glad I didn't change my mind on). Of course, in 2018, the idea of getting a triple-LP for £29 (including postage!) is hilarious.

For years I didn't think a great deal about the vinyl other than how nice it looked next to my other Manics records - I had the cd copy I'd bought that morning in HMV so that got most of the plays (for reasons I can't remember, this record turned up about two months after the cd came out). Every now and again I'd see comments about how much people wanted a copy and eventually looked on Discogs where the only copy currently available would set you back £350 (although the highest sold price of £260 seems like a more reasonable benchmark)! This makes my Hum record look very cheap indeed. I've been looking at this record in a very different light ever since then; it is increasingly becoming the most valuable record in my collection.

I suspect for some people, part of that desire would be to hear Prologue to History on vinyl, which will soon be easily available. I imagine the vast majority though are, like me, trying in vain to have a reasonably complete Manics collection. There are gaps in my Manics collection of records I regret not buying, and records I'll almost certainly never have the chance to see let alone buy (unless I win the lottery), but I'm pleased this isn't one of them. Manics b-sides are a huge part of the reason I'm sat in a room surrounded by vinyl, so it's only natural that this LP is here with me.

Format: Triple 12", textured leopard print sleeve
Tracks: 35
Cost: £29 new
Bought: Website
When: 16/09/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Modest Mouse - Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks

In 2004 I made a very long journey from Lancaster, where I was studying at university, to Winchester and then even further south to Portsmouth to see Pitchshifter play in the Pyramids Centre. They were a band that we'd all loved throughout school and college, so it was nice to return to see them in a venue we'd seen them in before (on a date we'd seen them play there too) with some old friends. They were so important to us, that I took a five-hour train ride on a Wednesday after my classes finished, watched the band, stayed at my parents' house (for the last time in the house I'd grown up in - they moved a month later) and got a train back the next morning. I'm not sure I'd be quite so committed again.

Pre-booking the train meant I could travel for very little, but also meant a transfer across London. They always gave you an hour to do this, but I knew it only took about 15 minutes, so I jumped out in the middle and went to Selectadisc in Soho for a very quick shopping trip (my ticket didn't technically allow a break, so I had to plead ignorance with the guards at the gates on the tube). It was rushed, but I found some cool records, including this and Silverchair's excellent Neon Ballroom (for a stupidly cheap £6).

I'd been given the mp3s of The Moon and Antarctica by a guy called Andy in the first year of university and enjoyed them. I think the tracklisting was all twisted and I didn't get an actual copy and hear it in the right order until the Christmas after I bought this. The summer before, however, Float On had come out and I was in love with it (the fact that the 7" had a remix by John Congleton of The Paper Chase had endeared them to me further).

All that means that this record was at the start of peak-Modest Mouse fandom, an era that continued throughout university and a little into the Cardiff days. Their set at ATP was slightly disappointing - Isaac was sick and they played a set heavy in songs I don't care about (before they played I commented on how easily they could play a set of unbelievably huge songs, or they could take the 75% of album tracks that are just ok and be underwhelming; they went for the latter). At the end of The Melvins' set immediately before Modest Mouse, they wheeled out the two Modest Mouse drummers to join the two Melvins drummers for the last song, which blew all our minds - it was going to be a tough act to follow and they couldn't in my mind. That was probably the beginning of the end for me.

I enjoy this record, but it is in no way essential for the casual fan. Night on the Sun is the highlight and the reason the record exists really - it was a way of getting the Japanese-only EP out globally, along with some extra songs. It starts slowly (which makes the slow opener Willful Suspension of Disbelief feel a bit unnecessary) but Isaac's singing and the drums get it moving. There's a great almost-call-and-response moment with Isaac shouting "Well there's one thing you should no about this town" followed by a softer reply. It's a long song, but they squeeze in a lot. There are some filler tracks like the opener and The Air, but You're the Good Things is interesting and speeds up in a great way, and I Came as a Rat (Long Walk Off a Short Dock) is a welcome closer - not sure I could accurately say what the difference between it and the album version is. So Much Beauty in Dirt is a nice little song too, packing a lot of lyrics into a minute-and-a-half.

I played this record a fair amount back in the day, but not so much anymore - if I'm wanting to hear some Modest Mouse I tend to reach for The Moon and Antarctica or The Lonesome Crowded West (or even Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again, the live album which I found in the huge Virgin Megastore January sale in Lyon, France). I periodically think I should fill the gaps in my Modest Mouse collection, but I wonder if the moment has passed.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 8
Cost: £9 new
Bought: Selectadisc, London
When: 06/10/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Cloakroom - Further Out

I saw Cloakroom supporting Russian Circles last March. I'd never heard of them before the show, but we got down early to check them out. When I saw they were supporting, I commented to Sarah that they had a shit name, a comment I stand by.

Over the course of their half-an-hour set I became a fan, despite the name. At first I wasn't sure what to make of the mixture of doom with upbeat riffs and incredibly clean vocals. After a few songs I'd decided that they sounded like a cross between the Smashing Pumpkins and Electric Wizard, two bands I absolutely adore. The more I thought about this, the more I realised that a combination of those two bands was surely the most "me" music there could be. As they started their final song, I realised there was one box left to tick, and they were firmly ticking it by playing Farewell Transmission - a doom metal Pumpkins playing Molina songs - that's the most "me" music. As they playing those opening few notes that I've listened to so many times, I looked around in disbelief that they were about to cover Songs: Ohia to a metal crowd and spent the next six minutes just absorbing how happy that combination made me feel. There were a handful of other people in the room also loving it and had we been stood closer I would have loved to have spoken to them - I suspect we'd have a lot in common.

I didn't buy this album that night though. The weather was foul and I'd have to get a record home in the pissing March rain. On top of that, I was worried that I might not like them on record - I wasn't sure how such a sound would work in the studio. The gig was a Sunday, and the Monday morning the first thing I did when I got into the office was open up their Bandcamp and give the album a play. I think within the first few seconds of Paper Weight I was sold - there's a huge riff hidden in fuzz that clears to some soaring vocals and I love it. I spent the morning telling the small handful of people I knew who liked heavy music (and my two Molina friends) that I'd found a doom-Pumpkins who covered Molina and they should all check them out. I don't know if anyone got into them, but I guess that's always going to be unlikely when a band is so very your niche.

As an aside, I heard someone once describe them as a doom-metal Hum, which I can totally see as well, and is a further reason I think this band is just working with all my favourite influences. I also just noticed that the album was recorded at Earth Analog, Matt from Hum provides extra vocals and guitars and that they have a b-side with Matt singing on it, which is something I need to check out in earnest. The etching on the run-off groove of sides A and D say "Welcome to 1979", which I sincerely hope is a Pumpkins reference.

I quickly went online and ordered a copy from the Run For Cover Records webstore. The opener is huge, and Moon Funeral is pure doom with vocals so slow you wonder if it's meant to be played at 45rpm (except they wouldn't sound that clear if it was). Strangely, Clean Moon follows a few songs later, which is the simple acoustic version of the same song (why not have both versions on the album?). Asymmetrical is great too, and a slower song that builds to a tastefully and appropriately muted peak. Deep Sea Station is brilliant and the drums are crisp and just right in the mix to carry the song. Side D is an unlisted song (Discogs refers to it as the infinity symbol, not to be confused with the EP they released called Infinity, I assume) and is a fairly mesmerising riff that repeats for a good while (and sounds familiar - is it from one of the songs? I should really be able to tell). It ends with a locked groove of the riff, but it's not as well timed as Cntrl-Alt_Delete-U where the length of the locked groove and music match perfectly.

I'm glad I stumbled across this band when I did. I'm not sure they would have crossed my path again in the year-and-a-half that's passed since and I would have been missing out for sure.

Format: Double 12", picture sleeves, die-cut sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £22 new
Bought: Run For Cover website
When: 03/04/17
Colour: Translucent green
Etching: Side A: "Welcome to 1979", Side B: "Get sprayed", Side C: "Through the Sarsen door", Side D: "Welcome to 1979", "X * Y"
mp3s: Download code

William Elliott Whitmore + Esme Patterson - Play Each Other's Songs

I've been mostly keeping up with my William Elliott Whitmore collection, although that is more through coincidence than any actual plan - his records just seem to appear in shops without me having much or any knowledge that they're coming out; as far as I'm aware, there's no social media to keep an eye on for news of releases, so I'll just have to keep relying record shops putting the records in front of my eyes (quite literally, in this case).

This was one such record. I had no idea it was being released and still know very little about it (like who Esme Patterson is, how this split came to be or when it came out). I saw it at the front of the box of 7"s in Truck one day - I don't tend to browse the 7"s much these days because there's not often much I'm after on 7" and they're getting very expensive (also, the box in on the floor at Truck, so I have to get right down to browse it). Had it not been at the front and bright yellow I almost certainly wouldn't have seen it. It was as expensive as I've come to expect 7"s to be (£7), but I bought it anyway.

Will covers Esme's Elysium and makes it sound like it could be one of his own, albeit one of his slower ones. That said, with such a voice I'd like to hear a song he couldn't make sound like one of his own. Esme covers Will's Not Feeling Any Pain which sounds lovely. Her voice adds a different dimension to the song and makes it sound more positive than Will's original. I don't know their respective ages, but as sung by a young-sounding woman instead of an old-sounding man, the song is very hopeful, which is nice. That's the sign of a good cover, one that makes you think of a song in a different light. I'm glad I found this 7" - it very easily could have slipped me by.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £7 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 20/01/17
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Final Fantasy - Many Lives -> 49 MP

On the 20th August 2015, The Record Deck was moored in central Oxford, just a short walk from my flat. I had the day off because we were going to Green Man Festival that afternoon, so went down there in the morning to see what they had for sale. As is often the case with second-hand records, the overlap between the stock and the sort of music I'm into was minimal. The guy who runs it asked me what music I collected, a question I suspect more often gets answered with niche things like "like-70's Americana" than with "punk-rock, post-rock and bits of metal", which is the true answer. I responded with "modern rock" because that felt like the right answer. I think we both knew I wasn't going to find much there.

I searched through all the boxes, because I had the time, and found a total of two interesting records - this one and the first Lupine Howl record, a band I'd never heard of but was drawn in by the Spiritualized connection. I bought both. This Final Fantasy record is exactly the sort of record I'd ignore in a second hand shop, but I was so surprised to see anything I knew of I thought it was worth picking up. At £2 it was a totally acceptable price.

I know Many Lives -> 49 MP from the album He Poos Clouds - it's a fun late-album track that benefits from some shouted backing vocals. Turns out I love gang vocals in any context. The b-side, The Miner Becomes Forgetful, is nice enough - mostly piano with little flourishes of violin. The back of sleeve has the details of the two other b-sides that were on the cd single but not included here, which just feels lazy.

Part of the reason I bought this 7" was that I was going to see Owen Pallett (as Final Fantasy is now known) at Green Man that weekend. I'd seen him in London in the December beforehand and was amazed by how great he was. It'd been a long time since the first time I saw him in Cardiff and the new songs sounded incredible, so I was still on something of a high from that; it was one of the gigs of the year. I was super-excited to see him at Green Man and so it was never really likely to live up to my expectations - it was great, but it's hard to enjoy yourself as much in a muddy field at the end of a long weekend compared to the comfort of a nice seat in Queen Elizabeth Hall. That said, the few of us at the front dancing around to The Riverbed and Internal Fantasy were having a great time. I didn't need to buy this 7" but the timing ties it firmly to those two live experiences, which I like about it.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £2 second hand
Bought: The Record Deck, Oxford
When: 20/08/15
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Slingshot Dakota - Broken

Grudge, the first song here, is ridiculously huge, upbeat and endlessly enjoyable. It's pure pop (although with a hint of doom and foreboding) - there's a brilliant fuzz on the keys in the intro, the drums pound and it explodes perfectly. It was one of my songs of the year last year, which was a very pleasant surprise.

I got this record as part of my Specialist Subject Records subscription in March. I'd heard the name Slingshot Dakota, but never listened to them or had any idea what they sounded like before the needle hit the record. I wasn't expecting it to be so pop, but before long I didn't care. I saw them a few months later at the Deadpunk all-dayer and really enjoyed their live show too. Seeing them play Grudge was a highlight. The b-side Dying Stars starts off calmer but gets going too.

I've been horrendously lazy and not checked out any more of their music since, which is bad. I suspect it's going to be equally great and uplifting and I really have no excuse.

Format: 7", insert
Tracks: 2
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 08/03/17
Colour: Cream
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Pinback - Information Received, Pt. B

I'm not very sure why I bought this. Actually, that's a lie, I bought it because it was £3 down from £7 in a pile of post-RSD reductions in Banquet and I'm a sucker for a bargain.

I have one Pinback album - Summer in Abaddon - a similar bargain in that it cost £3 second hand in Soho, although for a whole album. I knew the name because Rob Crow had been involved with Team Sleep but don't think I'd actually heard any of their music before buying the cd. It's a nice enough album, but I'm not a huge fan. There are bits I like, but I struggle with his voice. The same goes for the songs on this 7" - True North is a really interesting song and the guitars in the break sound great, but I don't like his style of singing. I imagine his style and voice are so fundamental in the band that it's obscene to say such a thing, but with a different singer there's a good chance I'd be all over this. But I'm not. The b-side CLOAD "Q" is a bit more upbeat but, of course, suffers in the same way. There's a third song on a separate groove at the end of the second side, but it's just a high-pitched squeal, unless I'm missing something? Seems like a strange addition.

As is often the case with records on Temporary Residence, the packaging here is lovely, albeit slightly annoying: you have to cut through the sealed brown paper bag to get the 7" (I did a reasonable job of not making a mess), but there's also a fold-out sleeve and lyrics sheet.

Format: 7", sealed brown-paper bag, insert, gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 3
Cost: £3 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 24/05/14
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

The Ex + Fendika - Lale Guma / Addis Hum

This is a nice little 7". I've been listening to The Ex since Shellac had them play at their All Tomorrow's Parties in 2012; they've been going forever and have released so many albums I've barely scratched the surface in my listening. The 30 compilation (celebrating the 30 years they've been together, including a list of every show they've played!) showed many sides of them, and is well worth a listen.

I bought this record on something of a whim - Norman Records had one of their massive online clearance sales and this was amongst the records I decided to pick up. I think it was a Record Store Day release, but I wasn't aware of it at the time. I probably would have bought it for a much higher price had I seen it on the list. I'm never going to have a huge collection of The Ex's records - there are more than I care to count and they're a nightmare to search on eBay - but I buy what I find when I find it. I've drifted away from buying 7" singles in recent years - I never play them enough and when I do it's a bit of a chore, but releases like this one are why they're worth picking up sometimes.

Here, The Ex join forces with an Ethiopian band called Fendika. They've played with a variety of musicians from far-flung parts of the world before, so it's very much in character. The best part of it is that no matter what music they mix their particular style of punk with, it works; given that these songs aren't written by The Ex, they have their very distinctive sound to them ("written" in the traditional sense - I'm sure there's a huge influence in the particular arrangements). Lale Guma is based on an Ethiopian war cry and features an instrument that sounds a bit like violin but almost certainly isn't. The riff is fun. Addis Hum is a bit more chuggy, but the way the vocals mix is perfect.

I'm glad I picked this record up - I doubt it's considered essential amongst fans of the band, but it's nice to hear something a bit different - I strongly suspect there are no other records in my collection (currently) that feature any Ethiopian musicians, let alone a war cry.

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £3.50 new
Bought: Norman Records
When: 29/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: None

Brendan Canning - Something For All of Us

For a good number of years, All Tomorrow's Parties dominated my musical discoveries. 2008 was the start of that - Explosions in the Sky curated a weekend and had one of my favourite bands, The Paper Chase, playing. We saw some excellent bands that weekend, and went to the festival as often as I could for the four years that followed (and beyond, but they ran into actually-holding-the-event issues, which was a shit). That EITS weekend I saw Broken Social Scene for the third time. I'd been introduced to them by the song Ibi Dreams of Pavement on a mix cd I'd been sent from Australian Kate in 2006, and saw them play an incredible set at Pukkelpop that summer.

The ATP performance in 2008 has come to be my main memory of seeing them - they had musicians from so many other bands on stage with them and the set was just perfect. ATP later gave out mp3s of the whole set to anyone who became a "member", a paid-for privilege that I definitely got my money's-worth from - every so often they'd offer free tickets to gigs for members and I was living in London at the time, so went to a lot of shows. They also gave you advance booking, which meant I got to see Mogwai in the tiny Hoxton Bar and Grill. Anyway, all that means I'm very familiar with the set from the recording, but I also have distinct visual memories of seeing Explosions and J Mascis on stage with them, as well as seeing them play Anthems For a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, a song I absolutely love. I've seen them six times now, and they basically alternate between blowing me away and hugely underwhelming me - I think I tend to remember how great the last time was, build my hopes up to unreasonable proportions, get underwhelmed, then go in with very low expectations and get blown away again. The last time I saw them was great though. Broken Social Scene were a prime example of the sort of music my ATP-years involved, and I bought many albums from all the related bands from that Canadian Arts & Crafts scene.

In July 2008, Virgin Megastore was in a dire situation and closing stores all over the place. Loads of cheap stock was getting sent to the Cardiff store before it finally closed, so there were constantly cardboard boxes of random cds appearing. I spent more in those last few weeks than I did at any other time in a Virgin Megastore, which probably says a lot. One find was Kevin Drew's solo album, billed as a "Broken Social Scene Presents" album, which ticked by BSS / Arts & Craft box very nicely. He's clearly the member of the band that wants them to be a rock band, and the album is quite basic rock music, but enjoyable.

In December I found the second in the "Broken Social Scene Presents" series, Brendan Canning's Something For All of Us in Spillers. Brendan is clearly the member of the band that is the opposite of Kevin Drew. The intersection of these two albums is almost BSS in entirety, and the exact reason why they're so good. It seems that Kevin is pulling them in one direction, and Brendan the other and somewhere in the middle they meet and write excellent music.

All of this is a long way of trying to describe this album without actually committing to do so. The reason for that is that I'm struggling to find the words. Being a mathematician, I'm left with

BSS - "rock" = this album,

which is probably the closest I can get. There are songs on the BSS albums where it's just a bit of a soundscape and less of a song; there's a lot of that here. There's a 60's-ish, floaty feel to it all, which doesn't do it for me. I couldn't tell you of any highlights because nothing really stands out. Kevin Drew's album felt like it was made of traditional, simple songs, so it's easier to break it down and feel some sort of connection to it. I don't get that here. (It's worth noting that the Kevin Drew album isn't great by any stretch, but it has many aspects of good music that I'm missing here). This song is okay, Churches Under the Stairs, but I fully acknowledge that it's because it sounds like a perfectly average BSS song, the sort that sits between the good BSS songs that I suspect Kevin Drew had more of an influence on. There are some fun horns on Love is New, but I'd prefer it considerably as an instrumental song.

I hoped, as is often the case, that writing about this album would finally endear it to me more, but that hasn't happened. They can't all be winners.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £9.50 new
Bought: Spiller's Records, Cardiff
When: 09/12/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Nick Cave + Warren Ellis - West of Memphis OST

I like this album, but the story I'm about to tell would readily imply otherwise, and certainly pulls down my enjoyment every time I play it.

At the start of 2015 I decided I was going to replicate my Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year by buying a weekly record in Truck Store in Oxford. Truck is a great shop and I'm very thankful to have a good independent record shop within walking distance of work, albeit a 15 minute march through the many Oxford tourists. The first few weeks were good and I got a mixture of new albums I was keen to hear and some classics they often had in stock. By February I was already scrapping the barrel a bit. I love Truck, but there are times I go in there and there's nothing I want (although I've only left empty-handed once); other times I spend obscene amounts, but the flow is inconsistent. I like a lot of the music they stock, but the intersection between their stock and my music taste could be much larger. Just like Banquet left me wanting music that wasn't punk, Truck makes me want music that isn't indie or relatively safe-bet alternative. Between those two and Norman Records online I'm pretty much sorted.

In February 2015 a few things happened: I was due to visit my friend Matt in Switzerland on flights I'd booked with the air-miles I'd got free with my credit card; also my wife's grandma passed away, so we had a funeral to attend. The funeral was the same day as my flight to Zurich, so I booked another flight for the next day and thought nothing of it - the original was essentially free. I had a nice weekend in Zurich and on the Monday went to check-in at the airport for my flight. However, my ticket had been cancelled by British Airways. Turns out there's a clause in return flights that if you don't fly on the outbound flight, they cancel your ticket for the return leg. This is entirely cynical of the airline who are only doing it to reduce the fact that buying two returns in the opposite direction can sometimes be cheaper than buying the one return you actually want. It also helps with their over-selling policies that frequently get reported. There's really no reason to do it other than because they can, and it helps with profit-margins.

Needless to say, I hadn't heard of this rule and was pretty shocked when I got to the check-in to hear this news. No amount of reasoning would convince them that it was ridiculous and in no other industry would a paying customer have a valid ticket for something that evidently had plenty of space but not be allowed to use their ticket. I was pissed. I went to the tickets desk and very much begrudgingly paid £250 for the pleasure of a seat on the plane that had another seat I was supposed to be sat in. I remember looking around at the empty seats wondering which one was also mine. Upon getting home I discovered that pretty much every airline has such a policy and many countless people all over the internet had been screwed over by amounts far greater than me. I made it my mission to mention this to as many people as I can to avoid them the misfortune I had.

I've always been fairly good at calming myself in situations where I've lost money on stupid or annoying things by justifying the money in some other way; here I'd not actually paid for the original flights and had I gone to Zurich and not stayed on Matt's sofa-bed I'd have spent a great deal more on accommodation. Compared to most weekends in Zurich, mine was still relatively cheap. However, I obviously spent the whole flight kicking myself and thinking I really needed to be better with money.

That's where this record comes into it. Two weeks before I'd been to Truck and the only record I fancied was the new Two Gallants album. I like the band, but their albums never blow me away (across all the ones I have, there is one excellent album-worth of material). £22 for a single LP seemed pricey, but I wanted to give the weekly-record-from-Truck a good go so I went with it knowing I wasn't really that keen. The following week the only record that remotely interested me was this soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. I hadn't started getting into Nick Cave at that point (I've only really begun to scratch the surface now) but knew and respected him as a musician; Grinderman at ATP was quite a spectacle. I've been a fan of the Dirty Three for years and Warren Ellis and his violin are a huge part of that. I'd also been listening to a lot of instrumental music at work and was increasingly discovering that soundtracks by musicians I liked formed a part of that. Also, I knew of the case of the West Memphis 3 from the Black Flag covers album that Henry Rollins put together years ago to help the case.

The music here is nice enough, but it's not a soundtrack I go often, or very much at all. Clint Mansell's soundtracks are prime examples of what I enjoy listening to - essentially post-rock in their structures, but with these central themes that keep repeating throughout and building to something huge; there's something very classical in the structure, but post-rock in the execution. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have made some interesting music here, but it doesn't hang together as an album well; there are no central themes to repeat or even any real progression. It's desolate, as I imagine a lot of Memphis is. There's a lot of sadness and little redemption. I've not seen the film, but I strongly suspect this music is absolutely perfect for it. The feelings I'm getting from it are exactly what I'd expect to feel from watching it (if you don't know the case, it's well worth reading up on). I'd like to watch the film one day, but knowing what I know, I keep putting it off because I know I won't come away feeling better about things.

Anyway, as I sat in my very expensive chair on a very short flight I thought about my weekly trips to Truck and how I wasn't getting the exciting musical discoveries I'd got seven years ago in Spillers - five weeks into my Spillers year I bought In the Aeroplane Over the Sea; six weeks into the Truck year all I had was the feeling that I was going to regret buying a lot of the albums I did. The cost of vinyl had risen hugely over those seven years, so it was becoming harder to take a chance on unknowns. If this album had been incredible, or they'd had something a little different or more exciting in stock that week, I might have continued with the year, but as it was, I decided it was the first thing to go. The combination of feeling bad about money because of the flight, and feeling bad about money when spending half an hour checking every single record they had in stock that week only to go for a record that otherwise has little business in my collection was too much.

But some positives did come from the experience. I realised that I didn't want my collection to consist of random albums I'd spent too much on from bands that I'd otherwise not bother with. I decided I needed to focus my record buying on building up the collection I really desired. I drafted a list of bands for whom I wanted to have all their albums on vinyl, one that I'm still working on today. I also decided it was time to stop ignoring cds, as I'd come to do, and instead embrace them as a cheap way to get into bands and build collections for artists I like, but not enough to buy all the albums on vinyl. As it happens, Nick Cave has become my go-to example for this - I want to have all his albums, but I don't like him enough to spend £20-£25 on each of his many albums on vinyl; I do like him enough to spend £5 to have them on cd, which is exactly what I've been doing. Nearly four years later, I'm still really enjoying the clarity of having such a goal for my record collection has brought me; I like crossing off albums from the list. I still buy albums off the list, but I have more of a purpose now, which I like.

The other final point to make is that I really like Truck Store, but maybe I started my plan at a particularly bad time for new releases / interesting back-catalogue additions. If I was doing such a year now, I reckon I'd have better luck - their stock of vinyl has increased hugely and they do get in some strange things that I quite enjoy. That said, I don't have the time to absorb new music at such a rate anymore. Also, perhaps 23-year-old-me was more open to risking £12 on an average album than 30-year-old-saving-for-a-house-deposit-me was to risking £20. Who knows.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 11
Cost: £17 new
Bought: Truck Store, Oxford
When: 19/02/15
Colour: White
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Milloy - Creating Problems While Practising Solutions

Milloy were an excellent punk rock band from Leeds that I was lucky enough to see once in Le Pub in Newport, along with Bedford Falls, Harbour and Blackbeard. That line up really covers all the bases of the music I was listening to and the bands I was seeing back in 2009. I remember everyone being really excited for that show and I'm pretty sure everyone I knew in Cardiff would have been there that night (a reasonable number on stage).

Milloy pre-dated my getting into punk by a good margin - that meant they were one of the older bands by the time I was getting into things, one that everyone respected and admired. I'm glad I got to see them at least once. We had a copy of Creating Problems While Practising Solutions in the kitchen - I don't know who it belonged to (either Hugh or Nicky) - and it got played a lot. About a month after seeing them, I picked up More Than a Machine in Damaged, which is an incredible album. On this follow-up they stepped it up again - the songs here are ridiculously catchy, the guitars intense and there's enough layered vocals to please anyone.

Propofol opens the album and somehow takes me back to the kitchen in Cardiff every time. Mary Rose and Textbook are a huge pairing, The Math has a brilliant chorus that keeps coming back, Stone Court is a great finisher and the album never relents. I said the same thing about More Than a Machine, but you really couldn't ask for more from a punk rock album.

Periodically between 2009 and 2016 I thought to myself I should get a copy of this album (turns out they also had two mini-albums that I've not heard either) but in my usual, terrible, apathetic way I didn't. Then Boss Tuneage announced a new series of "made to order" records and I knew it was time to rectify that situation. The idea was brilliant, they would press albums from their past that never made it onto vinyl the first time round - the label has been going for so long that they existed before and throughout the time when cd was king and vinyl the old has-been. It's a great idea, and this was the first album they pressed in that series. Of the records they've pressed so far, Milloy is the only one I've been keen to get, but I always keep an eye out for what they're working on next. The idea is that everyone pays up-front, then they press the exact number of albums needed - minimises the risk and means everyone gets something cool. The pressing is nice - the sleeve a half-gatefold and a nice large insert; the record is white label and the paper sleeve is stamped saying "Boss Tuneage Made to Order Series". The only criticism/improvement would have been to number the records so we could see how many they actually pressed - I assume only the people at the label know the exact number. A minor thing though.

As I often say, I'm really pleased to have this in my collection sat alongside More Than a Machine (I don't thank Facebook for much, but it was a promoted post from the Boss Tuneage page that meant I saw this in time). I felt the closest to the UK punk-rock scene when I was living in Cardiff and I have endless fond memories of it; Milloy and this album are deeply wrapped up in that, so I love listening to them and thinking back to those days.

Format: 12", white label, insert, made to order
Tracks: 10
Cost: £18 new
Bought: Boss Tuneage website
When: 10/11/16
Colour: Black
Etching: None
mp3s: None