Fucked Up - Couple Tracks

There are a lot of songs on here.

2011 was the year David Comes to Life came out and I couldn't get enough of it. I'd got The Chemistry of Common Life a few years before and enjoyed it, but David Comes to Life blew me away so much more than I was expecting. From that point onwards I was a big fan of Fucked Up and decided to up my game and get some more of their records. I picked up Couple Tracks a few months later in 2011 and, on the surface, it seemed like an ideal purchase - compiling songs from their huge back-catalogue of releases, most of which I'd almost certainly never hear otherwise.

That said, after the continuity and grandeur of David Comes to Life, perhaps 25 disparate hardcore songs wasn't what I needed. I certainly remember thinking that at the time. It's a good compilation and has some great songs, but I remember finishing it and thinking I just wanted to listen to David Comes to Life again. I still get that feeling a bit. For obvious reasons, it doesn't flow like their albums do, and does drag a bit in places. Like I said, there are a lot of songs.

The highlight has to be I Hate Summer; I enjoyed that one from the first play, and like how often they seem to play it live. The opener, No Pasaran, sounds like it could be a Black Flag cover, Toronto FC has a lot in common with the later Fucked Up songs that I was more into and I Don't wanna Be Friends With You is just a great, simple hardcore song. I knew the Daytrotter songs from hearing the sessions a few years beforehand, so knew they were messed up (and not necessarily in a good way - I vaguely remember seeing a video of the show they played in a bathroom in Vienna that they mentioned somewhere too - it was on a website where they'd get bands to play in strange places around Austria). The insert has some comments from the band about each song - No Violins has a particularly funny story about Owen Pallett, who would go on to play violins on a bunch of Fucked Up albums.

I bought this record at the No Idea yard sale at Fest. The person cashing up for me had to look up the price for this one and warned me that it was a bit expensive because it was a distro record rather than one of their own - I can't remember the exchange rate at the time, but it worked out at less than £10, which was crazy cheap for a double LP. It's hard to explain to someone that everything seemed cheap because of the exchange rate without sounding like a twat, so I didn't; of course I wouldn't be laughing now. The records say "non-breakable" on them, which is a promise I'm not willing to test.

Format: Double 12", insert
Tracks: 26
Cost: £9.92 new
Bought: Fest
When: 30/10/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: Download code

Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine

This album is one of my all-time favourite records. In fact I'd go so far as to say it's a safe number 2 in such a list (behind In the Aeroplane Over the Sea) and it has been for a good five years now. I'll start at the very beginning.

In 2007 I moved to Cardiff for no reason other than I had no reason why not to. I'd just finished university and had to look for a job somewhere, so I found a house with my friend Hugh and a couple of his friends. I was excited to be living in an interesting city after three years in Lancaster and very keen to start seeing bands more often. Not long after we moved in Hugh suggested going to see Chuck Ragan from Hot Water Music play in Le Pub in Newport. I only had Caution and A Flight and a Crash but enjoyed them, so agreed to it (and for the first time in years I was in debt to Hugh rather than the other way around).

On the 11th of October Hugh and I met up with his friend Jon, Reza, and two others whose names I since forgotten and we all got the train to Newport to see Chuck. The gig was incredible (Hugh claims it was the best concert he'd ever seen, and it's certainly one of my favourites). Gunrack? (a Wayne's World reference) opened up and were excellent (Young Hearts was always a classic) and then Chuck took to the stage. I'd only heard bits of the album briefly on the kitchen hi-fi at this point, so wasn't fully prepared for what happened; he belted out the most heart-felt, brilliant songs and played so passionately and genuinely there can't have been a single person in there not impressed. This was my introduction to the world of acoustic folk/punk and I couldn't have asked for a better way to start.

The Boat was incredible, a song whose meaning I have a lot of time for, but California Burritos was the highlight; about five or six guys near the front all had their arms around each other singing along every word to, what I didn't realise at the time, would become my favourite song. It was quite an incredible few minutes in an already incredible evening. At the end of the show I bought the cd of Feast or Famine, an album I've played more times than I care to imagine. Everything I felt about the live show is captured perfectly on these 12 songs and they've become the bench-mark to which I compare all other acoustic music. I can't recommend it enough. It's What You Will, Between the Lines and Do What You Do are all songs worth mentioning too. I ended up picking up a copy on vinyl at the No Idea Yard Sale because it's nice to have great music on vinyl.

Since most of this has been off-topic (more about that gig than the album itself), I figured it's also worth mentioning where this album has taken me: I spent ages trying to find records that are similar to this and seeing musicians of a similar style. If I hadn't seen Chuck that night I may have never heard music by Austin Lucas, William Elliott Whitmore, Sam, Jimmy and Helen, anyone on the Revival Tour and countless others (not to mention the Daytrotter Sessions). All in all, I'm pretty happy with what this record has led me to.

I used to be in a group on Facebook where each month we'd get paired up at random and make a mixtape for the other person. I put California Burritos on one I made for some girl in America (I've put it on practically every mixtape I've made in the last five years) and she sent me a message back saying how much she loved that song. Hopefully she checked the album out too and got at least somewhere near as much out of it as I did.


Format: 12", 10"x20" insert
Tracks: 12
Cost: £4.96 new
Bought: No Idea Yard Sale
When: 29/10/11
Colour: Marbled grey
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Street Eaters - Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons

Yet another band I got into by going to Fest last year, although I didn't actually end up seeing them that weekend. They clashed with Great Cynics, and whilst I see Great Cynics about once a month, they played one of the best sets I've ever seen them play, so I was pleased I caught them. Street Eaters were one of the bands I discovered in the weeks leading up to Fest on one of the Bandcamp samplers. The song Nation Builder caught my ear and a stream of their album made me a fan. I had every intention of seeing them but clashes are always painful and I felt I had to see Great Cynics abroad. Also the queues for 1982 were often killer.

Despite not seeing them, I picked up Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons at the No Idea yard sale on the Sunday morning. Records are so cheap in the states and by bringing it back myself I didn't have to pay postage! It's an awesome album, but I knew that from Bandcamp. Given that there's just the two of them, they have the fullest sound, and its really unrelenting in its attack. The dual vocals adds so much (just have a listen to Frigid Digits) and their voices complement each other greatly. The bass is perfectly chuggy and the drums are hit hard. Almost makes you wonder why other bands bother with guitarists (a thought I also had after seeing Lightning Bolt). Nation Builder is still a mind-blowing song, and Livid Lizard and Through the Cracks are both highlights.

So I've spent the last year lamenting the fact I didn't see them live, but all that will change in two weeks as they're touring Europe and playing the Black Heart in Camden. Needless to say, I'm definitely going. (I was supposed to join some friends in seeing The Dirty Projectors that night, but I'm not missing Street Eaters again. I like The Dirty Projectors but I can imagine seeing them in the soulless Roundhouse might not be that enjoyable anyway.) Anyway, I have high hopes. It'll be nice to be able to play this record without the guilty feeling of knowing I missed them on one of the (probably) few chances I have to see them.


Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £6.20 new
Bought: No Idea yard sale
When: 30/10/11
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: download

Lemuria - Pebble

Another one I got at the No Idea Yard Sale. I saw Lemuria the day before at Fest, but it was early on a long day and I didn't fancy carrying LPs around with me all day (again). The record came out ages before and I saw them twice in the summer in Kingston, but didn't buy it then either. I'm not sure why I put it off so long. I like their other two records a lot and figured I'd be into this one too. Better late than never I suppose.

It sounds different to the previous records. I guess the normal way to describe it would be "more mature". It still sounds like them, just somehow more relaxed. It works. I like Gravity as an opener; I'm a big fan of an intro song that's not quite a full song itself. I've always enjoyed the dual vocals, in fact I've kinda wished they'd do it more. Bloomer is an odd one lyrically. Actually, a lot of the songs have quite cutting lyrics in different ways. Durian just reminds me of the time I ate durian; it doesn't taste good. There are pretty much no gaps between the songs on here, just straight from one to the next. I read that Hüsker Dü used to do that in live shows so no one had a chance to comment to their friends what they thought of the show. I like it on albums too (side note: makes it a bitch to make mp3s with the usb turntable. The LP came with a download code but it didn't work, so I'm still mp3less on this one). I should listen to this record more often, it got a little bit caught up in the whirlwind of record buying at Fest, and a bit neglected upon my return. I don't know if the tunes are as obvious and noticeable on here (except Chautauqua County - oh oh oh's always get me), but I do like the record as a whole.

Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 10
Cost: £5.58 new
Bought: No Idea yard sale
When: 30/10/11
Colour: black
Etching: no
mp3s: download code

The Murder City Devils - The Murder City Devils

Another day, another American band I never got to see (although they've also reformed now), and another album I love. I had this on cd for a few years, and gradually bought on their albums on one format or another. When I was at the No Idea Yard sale at Fest, they had all their distro stuff and it was all mega cheap due to the exchange rate. Like I said before, I spent a lot of money there that morning. I picked this one up because its one of my favourite albums and I like to have those on vinyl (I suspect cds are dying a slow death, but somehow records will survive; my cd collection will become redundant and my records will stay awesome. Wishful thinking perhaps).

At 22 minutes long, you've barely even started listening before its over again. But at that length you can justify playing it again. From the first time I heard The Murder City Devils I thought they were great. A great punk-rock band in every sense. Get off the Floor might be my favourite, although Broken Glass and Boom Swagger Boom are up there. Tell You Brother is a sobering finisher. They reissued all the albums on red and white vinyl at one point, and I got a copy of In Name and Blood from that lot. I kinda hoped that this would be coloured vinyl too, but I'm not too upset that it isn't, it's just a great album.

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 10
Cost: £6.20 new
Bought: No Idea yard sale
When: 30/10/11
Colour: Black
Etching: Side A: "Rise up you devils..." Side B: "Rise from your graves and avenge us!"
mp3s: download card

Small Brown Bike - Nail Yourself to the Ground

I bought Dead Reckoning years ago on cd and thought it was awesome. Quite why it took me years to get round to buying any other Small Brown Bike records is beyond me. To make matters worse I ended up buying the rest of their back-catalogue (and new album) within a matter of months, meaning none of had really much of a chance to settle in properly. I can't really remember which record is which very well, or tell them apart. This one stands out because its only an EP, but that's about it. And I don't mean that in a bad way, they are all subtly different, I just need to make more of an effort.

I picked this one up at the No Idea Yard Sale at Fest. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to fill in the gaps in my collection. Of course I now have them all on vinyl, except Dead Reckoning which is definitely my favourite. I'll talk more about the morning spent queuing for that record buying experience at a later date, I'm sure. I spent a lot of money and got some great vinyl.

Its a good record, they all are. Not a particularly illuminating review, I know. Sorry. I doubt anyone reading this is expecting me to say anything too grand about it. That said, the opener is pretty massive tune. The pedal steel on So I Fall comes out of nowhere though, bit of an odd one. The final track closes it back in nicely. I do like an EP, short and sweet.

One of the reasons I'm doing this blog is to make an effort to listen to my records better myself. I think it'll work in cases like this, where I haven't properly got into a record yet. I know it better know, and a few more spins and I'll realise it's awesomeness!

Format: 12", insert
Tracks: 5
Cost: £4.96 new
Bought: No Idea yard sale
When: 30/10/11
Colour: Purple?
Etching: Side A: "You and me don't like wars" Side B: "Forget our reckoning, dead own no place"
mp3s: cd