The Doublecross - Keep Bleeding [Test Press]

Test Presses are a fascinating novelty. The idea of them being an essential part of a record collection is laughable - for most bands these things simply never see the light of day, and even if they do your chances of having a "complete" set of test presses are so slim it's next to pointless. It'd be very frustrating to have a complete vinyl collection for a band, but be missing a few test presses that you may never, ever see or have a chance to buy. It's a level I have no (current) plans of getting involved with.

However, they are interesting things, and whenever record labels are selling them off I always have a look. Usually they're priced for collectors only but every now and again the label is just trying to make space. That is certainly the case for Boss Tuneage, who have had a couple of test press sales now. In the most recent one, I picked up this test pressing of Jon's third album. I'm not entirely sure what made me buy it - I had the album on vinyl already - but here it is in my collection. One factor was that it was only £1 (before postage), which in fact explains two reasons - I can't turn down cheap vinyl, but there was also something sad about seeing it there for so little; a pity purchase, in part. There's also the fact I do like the album, as covered in this last post about the album itself. Finally, I was also buying the test press of the last Bedford Falls album, so I couldn't not add this to the basket as well.

Jon's first album was only released on cd, and his second was on another label, so I've never seen the test pressings for sale; this isn't the beginning of a super-thorough Doublecross collection - it's just an interesting curio to have on the shelves.

Format: 12", test pressing
Tracks: 12
Cost: £3.75 new
Bought: Boss Tuneage
When: 04/01/19
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: none

Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain / Shit Luck

On Saturday I went to the Independent Label Market in Spitalfields and ended the longest period of not buying records since I started buying records - a whole two months. My job search was taking way longer than I expected and, sadly, record shopping wasn't a priority. For a while I still picked up the occasional record here and there, but that eventually dried up. However, I now have a job, so I can begin buying vinyl in earnest to make up for the past six months. I plan to head to Banquet very soon to stock up on all of 2013's new releases.

So, on Saturday, to celebrate finally being able to blow money on music again, I went out and blew a lot of money on new music. I'd not been to the Independent Label Market before and only really heard of it from last year when I distinctly remember wanting to go, but not being bothered in the end; East London often seems so very far away. The short summary is that a lot of independent record labels set up stalls in Old Spitalfields Market, and it turns out it's very nice to meet the people who run the labels. It's like going to the individual label's websites and doing an online shop, but instead of crazy-expensive postage, you get to have a nice chat. I like it. I also ended up with a stack of free promo cds and pin-badges of bands I've never heard of. The other LPs and singles I'll write about on here in the coming weeks and months (or years, at the pace I've been going lately).

Finally getting round to this record, one of the first stalls I properly looked at was the Matador stall. They had a box of 7"s at £4 each or three for a tenner and I found a couple I liked in there. At the very back was this Modest Mouse test pressing, only identifiable by the post-it note stuck to the front. I'm a fan of Modest Mouse and, like most, consider The Lonesome Crowded West to be one of their finest albums. I bought the cd years ago and Heart Cooks Brain was certainly one of the better songs. I always adored Shit Luck too for how heavy and different it was to all their other songs. It was like a punk Black Sabbath song, and that appealed to me. So, to have those two songs on a 7" seemed like a winner. If I had the album on vinyl, I might not have bothered, but I don't (yet).

Of course, the most notable thing about this record is that it's a test pressing. I've never really been one to dabble in buying test pressings - it's like the next level of record collecting and there are still LPs I want to hear and bands I want to get into before I can start putting all that time and effort into finding test pressings. Also, I always thought it would be impossible to complete a collection if you include test pressings, since they can be pretty hard to come by. However, since I've started this blog I've spent a lot of time reading other people's similar blogs and I'm very impressed by some of the test pressings some people have in their collections. I'm not such a big Modest Mouse fan that I'll seek out all their other test pressings, but I do enjoy having this one. Maybe this will be the first of many posts on here that I tag with "test pressing"...

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £3.33 new
Bought: Independent Label Market
When: 13/07/13
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no