Failures' Union + Bedford Falls - Split

This is a nice split, released to support the tour the two bands were going on together. I saw the last night of the tour in Kingston on my first ever trip to The Fighting Cocks, a very fun night. Each band contributes a song of their own and a song by the other band.

The Failures' Union cover of Bedford Falls' Astro City 0.5 is very lovely, but a very good song to start with. As you'd expect, their own song sounds a lot more like them and the harmonica that appears at the end is particularly nice. The piano-led cover of Useless Facts works really well. I think I get a lot more out of covers when I know the original well, and Sinker is a great record. Wilmington finishes it off nicely (I have a faint memory of someone telling me it was about a cat).


Format: 7"
Tracks: 4
Cost: £3 new
Bought: Gig
When: 11/04/10
Colour: Black
Etching: no
mp3s: no

EastStrikeWest - Stumble/Shuffle

A few years ago I went to the Underworld in Camden to see This Will Destroy You. In the afternoon before that I checked out the support bands, one of whom was EastStrikeSest. The singer was in a band called Three Movements, who had a song on a Rock Sound cd years before. I enjoyed the song and bought their ep, which remains on my cds racks now as one I listen to quite often. I therefore quite looked forward to EastStrikeWest.

I liked their show that night, but wasn't blown away by it. I bought the 7" afterwards anyway (had it been much more than £2 and I may not have). The songs are nice enough, but it's a little bit too far on the side of pompous grand rock. It comes across too strongly in the production and his voice. The flyer in the picture was one I was given that night for their album release show "with full string section". I didn't go, but I can imagine it was possibly a little further in the grandiose direction, although I'm sure would've been very interesting to see. I don't go much for the fake-Russian lettering or imagery they've gone for here. All in all, I'm a little on the fence here. I'd watch them again, but I wouldn't go out of my way to do so.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £2 new
Bought: Gig
When: 30/09/10
Colour: Yellow
Etching: no
mp3s: no

Cynics - Stones I've Thrown

I first saw Cynics supporting Against Me! in the Peel a couple of years. I'd never heard of him at that point but there were about five people at the very front singing along every word. It was a very cool experience, it was like they were in the band, because the already-drunken voices added so much to the show (as it happens, a similar thing happened the first time I saw Sam Russo). I went home, listened to this 7" on Bandcamp and eventually bought a copy (also in my Specialist Subject haul). I still don't know all the words, but have seen Cynics (or Great Cynics, or Giles) countless times since and always had a good time. The Great Cynics show at Fest was probably the best because everyone went mad for them, and every time since I've hoped people would be as much into it.

Anyway, this 7" is really good. Parts of the songs made it into songs on their excellent album Don't Need Much (it's nice to see how songs evolve like that). Catchy acoustic punk rock is one of my favourite genres so I knew I'd like it. The Paint It Black cover is particularly fun.


Format: 7", insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: £2.30 new
Bought: Specialist Subject Records
When: 31/08/11
Colour: Black
Etching: no
mp3s: download

Cheap Girls + Above Them - Split

The All In Vinyl series of records is a great idea - two bands per 7", one American, one British, four songs, colour vinyl, limited runs. I like everything about it. They seem to be picking from a pretty awesome pool of bands too. I don't have many of the records yet, but plan on picking up as many as possible. This is the last in the first series.

I first saw Cheap Girls supporting Lemuria last year and enjoyed them a lot. I'd heard good things about them and they lived up to my expectations. More on them when I come to write about their albums I'm sure. Their two songs here are nice examples of their style. As I said before, I'm a big fan of Above Them and they contribute another two great songs here. The Take seems like a nice affirmation of what they're doing. This record is another from the Specialist Subject haul last August.


Format: 7", insert
Tracks: 4
Cost: £2.80 new
Bought: Specialist Subject records
When: 31/08/11
Colour: Red
Etching: no
mp3s: no

The Bouncing Souls + Hot Water Music - Split

If I had to pick my favourite Bouncing Souls song, I'd almost certainly say True Believers and, depending on the day, there's a good chance I'd pick Wayfarer as my favourite HWM song. Those two reasons make this split very exciting: the two bands covering my favourite song of each other's. I missed the first press when Banquet got it in (I didn't have £6 to spend on a 7" at the time), but picked up one of the second press soon after it came out. It really is quite awesome.

Hearing Wayfarer without the gruff vocals is a bit odd at first, but that song is all about the "woah-oh-ohs" and The Bouncing Souls nail it (the first time I saw HWM was when I really discovered how awesome this song was, having foolishly neglected my copy of Caution a bit). I nearly get out of breathe listening to Chuck sing the opening to True Believers but love it almost as much as the original. Everything sounds slightly heavier and it works.

I've since seen both bands play the covers live (Bouncing Souls instore at Banquet, and HWM at Reading) which was also pretty special. The great thing about this split is that I imagine almost all fans of one band are fans of the other, so it's a real treat. The colour is pretty nice too.


Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £6 new
Bought: Banquet
When: 18/03/11
Colour: Black and red splatter
Etching: no
mp3s: no

Billy Talent - Devil in the Midnight Mass

Billy Talent aren't the coolest band (unless you're German, they love 'em) but they had some catchy tunes and this record is quite fun. I found this in the massive Virgin Megastore in Paris whilst killing time and buying way more cds than I expected (their January sale was really quite incredible). It ended up being about £2, which is pretty good for a shaped vinyl. The main bit of this record is about 7"s across, hence why I'm including it today. Shaped records always seem like a throw-back from the 80's, which I guess is why no one does them anymore. I suppose they're expensive to make, but I reckon for the right bands kids will go mad for them (maybe they are still about, but I just don't see many of them these days).

The a-side is alright, their usual high-pitched shouty style. They had a handful of tunes and I bought their first album back in the day, but remember being disappointed by the non-singles. The b-side however, is much more enjoyable; they cover Ever Fallen in Love  by The Buzzcocks, and it works well. A straight-up cover, but his vocal goes quite well with it.

The hole in the center of the record is ever-so-slightly too small, making it a real hard effort to turn over. The moral might be to leave it on the second side and not bother, but then you might as well just listen to The Buzzcocks. A fun record, but rarely listened to and far from essential.


Format: 7" devil's-head-shaped vinyl
Tracks: 2
Cost: £2 new
Bought: Virgin, Paris
When: 10/01/07
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: no
mp3s: no

The Arteries + The Cut Ups - Split

I only got round to buying this one a few weeks ago when The Arteries played El Paso before heading off on another US tour. I'd meant to buy it for a while; I think the fact it was always a fiver put me off a bit, but then it is five songs so you're not exactly getting screwed. I wish I had bought it sooner to be honest.

The Arteries songs both made it onto their second album (another reason I should have bought it sooner), but Mutual Friends is one of my favourites from Dead Sea so I don't mind. They're from a different recording session to the album, but sound pretty similar.

The Cut Ups side is where this record really shines though in my opinion. I'm a big fan of The Cut Ups and this is the only bit of their music I have on vinyl. I became friends with Rez when I was living in Cardiff and the Cut Ups played a bunch of times whilst I was there. Both their albums are incredible and, needless to say, I'm pretty excited for the third. All three of their songs here are great. They often get compared to Billy Bragg, and that comes across on Torches and Sainte Tomass (my favourite of the lot, a really brilliant song). Billy Ocean Blue is a lot more punk-rock and works well too.

The Cut Ups are finally playing London again soon (it has been ages since I last saw them now), so whilst I should've bought this record a while back, it has now whet my appetite for their return even more.


Format: 7", insert
Tracks: 5
Cost: £5 new
Bought: Gig
When: 15/05/12
Colour: Green
Etching: no
mp3s: download