The Draft - The Fest 12 Edition

 

I don't have mp3s of these songs, so they've had a fraction of the number of plays as The Draft's excellent, only album has had. Devil in the Shade is worth digging the 7"s out for alone, and Hard to Be Around It is pretty strong too. I really should play this much more often.

I wasn't aware of what this record was when I bought it - I'd been buying the "Fest Edition" version of any records I was into that weekend and they're all pretty cool. At the end of the weekend I found this in Arrow's Aim, the No Idea record shop in Gainesville and added it to the stack of records I was buying (before we jumped in the car, realised we mis-calculated our timings a bit and had to drive very fast back to Tampa to catch our flight home). I'd seen The Draft for the first (and only) time at Pre-Fest a few days earlier, but not seen the record there. If they'd played the main event too they must have clashed with someone else, otherwise I'd have watched them again.

The strangest thing about this record is that it's a double-7" version of a triple 7" they'd released for a separate tour (which Discogs refers to as "Tour Edition"). That record comprises all three 7"s they released in 2007, the year after In a Million Pieces came out, but this one is only two of those records; I've not heard the other two songs. I should probably check them out one day.

Format: Double 7", Fest edition

Tracks: 4
Cost: £7 new
Bought: Arrow's Aim, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Purple
Etching: Side A: "Mini soccer? Are you kidding me?" Side B: "I like grown up JB even better" Side C: "Draft beer, not me" Side D: "Draft is a fine cleaning product"
mp3s: no

Hot Snakes - Suicide Invoice

There are a handful of records that I started writing about months or even years ago but I just can't find anything interesting to say about (although some might say that hasn't stopped me before). A lot of them are perfectly good records by really great bands that I get a lot of enjoyment from. I think everyone would agree that Hot Snakes are an incredible band who have released four almost equally brilliant albums (three when I started writing this). I've seen them a bunch of times now and always have an excellent time. They're also all in a load of other really good bands and collectively release consistently great music. I've already run out of positive adjectives.

So what else is there to say? If I had to pick a favourite Hot Snakes album I'd probably have to say Audit in Progress, but that's because it was the first one I bought and it had two years extra listening over this one. Also I've never had mp3s of this album, so haven't really been able to give it the time it deserves. That said, if you were to quiz me on which album any given Hot Snake song belonged to (bar a couple of big hitters) I'd really struggle - that's because they've released remarkably consistently good albums; their sound hasn't changed dramatically, and that's a good thing.

There are a few of the aforementioned "big hitters" here - I Hate the Kids, XOX, LAX and the title-track have always been memorable and fun live. I bought this record for a bargain $12 in Arrow's Aim Records in Florida; it still has the sticker on the sleeve. There's not even an interesting reason for keeping it there.

There you have it. This record is much more enjoyable than I can make it sound and I apologise for the bad job I've done convincing you so.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £8.40 new
Bought: Arrow's Aim, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely

Get Lonely was the first Mountain Goats record I heard. I've not been listening to the band for long and only have a few albums so far, but it's been very rewarding getting to know the band's work and I'm excited for the many, many albums I've not heard yet.

I'd never really heard much about the band until I met my friend Aled's friend, Criddle, who was a massive fan. We met at the Jeff Mangum-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival; The Mountain Goats had been due to play but couldn't make the rescheduled dates so had to cancel. Criddle was pissed but still had a great time. A while later he posted a link to a song on Facebook and I listened to it and very much enjoyed it. Right now, I can't remember what the song was, but if I tried I could work it out from what I remember of the video. After that point I decided I should make an effort to get into the band.

The first opportunity I was presented with was in Arrow's Aim, a small record shop in Gainesville that predominantly sold the punk records the town was well-known for. I can't remember if they had any other Mountain Goats LPs, but I added Get Lonely to my stack of purchases and was very eager to hear it on my return to the UK. About a month later I found Transcendental Youth in Banquet (their most recent album at the time) and quickly expanded my collection.

I like Get Lonely, but I have no idea where it stands in the generally-accepted ordering of their albums (or even chronologically, either, for that matter). It didn't blow me away on the first few listens - the first highlights don't really appear until tracks three and four, Half Dead and the title-track. Moon Over Goldsboro, In Hidden Places, Woke Up New and If You See Light are really great too - it seems my favourites come in pairs. Woke Up New is definitely my highlight of the album - lyrically it's as sombre as the rest of the album, but musically it's almost the exact opposite.

However, what was instantly evident was that the songwriting was incredible and that even if I wasn't a fan of every song, it'd be worth getting further into the band for the ones I do like. So far it's been going very well and I imagine there'll be many more posts about The Mountain Goats over the coming years.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 12
Cost: £11.20 new
Bought: Arrow's Aim, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb - Front Seat Solidarity

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb were on that long list of bands I'd heard of but never heard. At Fest a couple of years ago I found a handful of their albums second-hand in the No Idea record shop, Arrow's Aim. I figured for $8 is was worth a go.

I had no idea what to expect of the band when the needle first hit the record. I knew they were on No Idea, which narrows things down a bit. On the surface the music comes across as quite simple upbeat punk - they remind me a lot of The Underground Railroad to Candyland in that respect. However, the lyrics are quite full-on and dark in places; Body Count and Forgotten Not Gone are perfect examples of that contrast between the music and the lyrics. In that respect you could draw comparisons to RVIVR or Bridge and Tunnel.

As far as discoveries go, I enjoy TBIAPB but they're not my new favourite band. The style of music is fun but sometimes jarring not always what I want to be listening to. I think it might pre-date mp3 download codes, so not having the mp3s doesn't help how often it gets played.

Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 14
Cost: £5.60 second-hand
Bought: Arrow's Aim Records, Gainesville
When: 04/11/13
Colour: Gray marble
Etching: Side A: "You look good" Side B: "Indeed"
mp3s: no

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