Getting Lossed

As 2014 draws to a close, I have a last look around the usual haunts for anything interesting I may have missed; and it turns out that I did. Run For Cover released a few 7''s that I completely missed the boat on, and so they went on the Christmas list. 

First up we have: 

Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) // Joie De Vivre - Split - Run For Cover Records - 1st Press - Maple /494 

This is kind of a funny one as it technically was a Christmas present, but I managed to sneak it before Christmas. The Mrs, went a bit overboard and so I managed to sneak this one early by buying it from her (along with a Seahaven book that I forgot to photograph). It kind of gave away the whole bunch as I knew she had ordered from RFC in order to grab this, but it's all cool. 

Back Cover // B-Side

This record doesn't really photograph well; it kind of looks orange in this photo and that's really not the case at all as it looks maple in person. Not to worry too much though. 

Errol Hoffman handled all the art for the split, and has recently done a series of artwork that follow a similar theme. Everything that he does from artwork to photography to typography is always worth a look. Although not typical art for this kind of musical coupling, it works a treat. 

On to possibly the coolest design aspect of this record. 

As opposed to a single sheet insert, a booklet is provided where E!E! (IWALE) take up the inside pages and Joie De Vivre take the inside spread. 

After the lyrics, the band discuss the titles and themes of the songs a little. Both songs are references to obscure SNES and NES games respectively. Then there is a little on the recording process, and finally thanks and credits. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of this couple where they are not smiling which is super sweet; particularly when you consider the often sombre tones of their music. 

Joie De Vivre's side of the insert. 

There's a bit less going on this side; after the lyrics there is: band personnel, recording and mastering credits. Then thanks. However, the tracks on this side of the split are up there with some of the best Joie De Vivre songs I have heard. Both bands are completely on top of their game here. 

There's a few to get through in this post, so on to the 'what I actually got for Christmas' section...

Adventures // Pity Sex - Split - Run For Cover Records - 1st Press - Red W/ Blue Colour in Colour /1000

At least that's what I'm assuming it is? Red A-Side, Blue B-Side /500 could be another possibility? None of the specified colours have this murky brown blob listed anywhere. I guess it's not too important either way but it would have been cool to know. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

From the track-listing here you get to see that each band pulls an original song out the bag, and a cover. Adventures cover Behind This Wall by Turning Point and Pity Sex cover Gigantic by Pixies; both very different songs and both covered incredibly well. 

Adventures Insert. 

This is a single sheet two-sided insert. Although both bands get a side each, all thanks and personnel are on this side of the insert. Strangely, the lyrics to the covers are included here as opposed to just writing credits. 

Pity Sex Insert. 

I don't normally call stuff like this, but for me Pity Sex definitely delivered it on this split. Acid Reflex is probably the coolest song by this band, and the artwork suits this song perfectly. 

Speaking of the artwork, Kimi Hanauer from Adventures and Brennan Greaves from Pity Sex teamed up for the art and layout on this one. And to top it all of Will Yip recorded it! 

And finally:

Cloakroom - Lossed Over - Run For Cover - 1st Press - Blue // Yellow /319 

I've been looking forward to something new from Cloakroom for a while and this really did not disappoint. The variant matches the artwork well, and gives a real teaser of what is to come from this band with their new LP 'Further Out' that's up for pre-order through RFC now. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Lossed Over will appear on the LP, but B-Side Dream Warden is the real reason for grabbing this. Matt Talbot of Hum fame handles all the vocal duties on this track, and to add to it all, this 7'' and the forthcoming LP were recorded and engineered by Matt Talbot at Earth Analog studios. I'm sure I have posted at least one Hum record here, and this strange collaboration is just about as perfect as you can get. 

As this record didn't come with an insert, this is where we end for today! 

Thanks for reading.

The Distance Between Bodies Can't Be Measured In Miles

I'm back! Hope you all had a good Christmas. Over the next few days I'll be posting some records I got for Christmas, and maybe if I have time I'll do a quick top 5 LP's and EP's of the year before the new year is out. I got some great records for Christmas, so I'll try and move through posts at a semi decent pace. 

The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Between Bodies - Black Lake Records - 1st Press - Mystery Splatter /200 

This is an interesting one, and a true Marmite kind of deal for Wr fans. This is an EP from TWIABP featuring Chris Zizzamia who is known for spoken word performances, and that's exactly what is offered on this record. Although David F. Bello is handling all the vocal duties on recording, they are intertwined with these spoken word pieces from Chris that flow in and out of the songs. For an idea of what I'm getting at here, either find a stream of this or check out the Audiotree session the band did with Chris; I'm pretty sure it's on YouTube. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Fairly sparse black and white layout that really gives way to how cool the variant itself is. As these came in as a mystery splatter, anything could happen colour wise. Most that I have seen follow this kind of colour scheme, which is a red/ blue and yellow splatter. This is probably the nicest splatter record I own, and the only one I have seen that is cooler is the rainbow splatter variant of I Bet On Sky by Dinosaur Jr. That is an incredible looking record. 

As with all TWIABP releases, they have the same pattern for the centre label. The only thing that changes is the speed setting and label designation. Nothing too important I guess, but I do like sticking to a particular style on these things. 

Instead of an insert, with Between Bodies there is an A2 poster designed by Ben Sears. Ben has done some incredible work for just about every great US label out there now, and has worked with a ton of amazing bands. The Swellers, Touche Amore, Title Fight and Lemuria are just a select few from a long list. This design kind of carries on the theme of the cover and retains the black and white of the sleeve art. If you like the design but the band aren't your deal; you can grab this poster from Black Lake for cheap too. 

Close up of the credits on the poster. All in all there were 10 musicians on this record. That's more musicians than there are songs. I'm sure 10 people played on the last TWIABP LP too. After that there is recording and mastering credits; artwork credits and a dedication to Carly Thomsen. 

'We Came From The Salt, We Shall Return To The Salt'

Black Lake handled the UK/ Euro Press of this record, Broken World handled the US Press. Both had some amazing colourways available and it sounds pretty incredible too. 

As a quick parting note. I saw a CD copy of this in a HMV in Sheffield. It's pretty cool to think that a band like this are getting that kind of exposure. It's a real shame it was under 'B' for Between Bodies instead of the band name. I'm sure the employee just couldn't do with the hassle of trying to fit 'The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die' on one of those little header boards. 

S/T 2008 Demo

This release gets called a lot of things. Sometimes it's S/T, sometimes it's Demo, sometimes it's 2008. To me, it's just about as complete as it is going to get and I love this release pretty hard. Probably the most aggressive of Touche Amore's material, and has a great capacity to get weird with collectors. We'll start from the 1st Press and work our way up I guess? Some have some stories to tell, some others probably do not. But that's okay. Let's begin.

Oh, and before you get any funny ideas; it's another long one. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - Clear /100

First things first. You can tell a 1st Press aside from any further pressings by one thing: the T and A labels. The labels change after this pressing, so there's a big giveaway. Another thing is the sleeve, but this gets a bit more complicated and we'll get to that later. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

I'm not sure who the face is on the back cover. Some people assume it is Fred Phelps, but I'm not too sure. I do like the large T and A labels here though. This copy has some light black streaks running through it (just about the A in this photo). I picked this up on eBay and was probably the most I have paid for a copy of this particular release. I have only bought one other variant since this, and we'll get on that a little later. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - Red /300

This copy I picked up from a UK seller, and after a little bit of negotiation this turned out to be my first 1st press copy of this 7''. In retrospect I got a pretty good deal on this one. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

On all vinyl versions of this release, 'Huckleberry' and 'Hipsterectomy' are only available as a digital bonus. Due to the time constraints of a 7'' (at a guess), these two tracks were omitted. Six songs on a 7'' is plenty though, and these extra songs still get a lot of play for me digitally too. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - White /600 

This copy was sold to me by a mate when grabbing a few TA things in one go.

Back Cover // B-Side

This particular copy is really clean for a White record, normally there is a bunch of bleed of other colours. Particularly when you think that this was done back in the day when No Sleep were a smaller label than they are today. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 1st Press - White /600 (West Coast Tour Variant - 3/24 Seattle - /5) 

Long story short. These were from the first Touche Amore tour, and these covers were made up by Nick Steinhardt. The covers together form a silk-screened map of the West Coast, covering the tour route. There were 5 on sale each night, 4 on White and 1 on Red vinyl. One date was cancelled and the band kept those. The old guitarist sold a copy of this date, and so only one copy of that date is in circulation. I have only one copy of this variant, and I'm happy with that but I would definitely nab another if it came up at the right price. This particular date just falls into a solid part of the map. Nick provided me with a bunch of information on this release, and I'm incredibly thankful for that. 

Back Cover // B-Side

This particular copy has a bunch of bleed in it, up close it's a black/ brown swirl that's quite noticeable on this side. If you needed a reason to keep both White variants, there you go (well, I'd keep them anyway...) 

As the cover changes up a little after this press (well, nearly. You'll get it) I thought I'd go through the 1st press cover. 

Designed by Nick Steinhardt. I'd like to see the full cover image, and I tried getting some mock ups of this and the TA/LD covers (there are hand made constructed prototypes of both covers I think, I offered up money for unused prototypes, but I think they're staying where they belong for now). Another thing about this particular sleeve is the paper sleeve as opposed to card. I'm sure it's paper as it's so thin. Not a bad thing, it gives it a more DIY feel to it which is what every demo should have I reckon! 

Back cover

I think the gaps in the track-listing are to represent where the other tracks fall into the original running order. The barcode stays the same throughout all the pressings. At the bottom of the sleeve are various No Sleep identifiers (web address, logo etc.). 

The sleeve opens up with a left spine, and as opposed to an insert all information is printed along the inside of the sleeve. The 1st panel is taken up by lyrics. 

This panel contains the lyrics to Honest Sleep. After that is thanks, band personnel, recording credits, layout and photography credits. 

The band has changed up a little from here. Jeremy Zsupnik was originally on drums, and was replaced by Elliot Babin who is still in the band today. Tyson White also used to play guitar (I am assuming it's this dude who sold the West Coast demo), and Nick Steinhardt originally played bass. Since then Tyler Kirby moved in on bass, Nick now plays guitar alongside Clayton. Jeremy has been on vocals the whole time. No swoop fringe from Thriller followed though. Ryan Aylsworth handled all band photos here, and I think he also worked on the Is Survived By photography. It goes to show how far this band carries a friendship right? 

The 1st Press also came in an oversized poly-sleeve with a little information sticker attached. 

The download code also changes between pressings. It's going to be a long haul either way, so why not add an extra photo or two? 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2010 Box Set Press - Clear - 175/200 

This is a bit of a funny one. This press uses 1st press jackets, yet has A/B labels that indicate a 2nd pressing. Therefore, it seems perfect to pop it here between the two. This variant, much like the 1st press clear has a black streak kicking through it too. 

Front Cover // B-Side

Would you look at that, I've been an idiot and not turned the cover over before photographing it. It's not too big a deal I guess, giving that it's been photographed a few times already. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2nd Press - Coke Bottle Blue /245 

This kicks off the 2nd press. There's always a little bit of confusion between this variant and the 2nd press clear. On to that a bit later though. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

I bought this and another 2nd press copy of the demo from a buddy named Dan along with two copies of TTBOADH. Those were the first TA items I bought from him, and from there I bought a bunch more, funny how things work out I guess.

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2nd Press - Clear /310

See where the confusion lies? This could pass for Clear or Coke Bottle Blue on a good day. Thankfully this came with a sticker saying 'Clear' on the sleeve to save confusion. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

I believe this was the other copy bought from Dan actually.

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 2nd Press - Clear Gold /500 

This copy has very faint traces of black running through it, but they're barely noticeable. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

Cheap eBay dig if I remember rightly? I could be wrong, and I guess it's not too important either way at this point, it took a long time to pull all of this together so a few details are blurry by now. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - Sound And Fury Press - Clear - 56/75 

These were put together for Sound and Fury, along with the Make Do and Mend // La Dispute splits in 2010. This and the La Dispute split came in this Arigato sleeve with a screened cover. I've already covered LD, so on to this one. The vinyl itself is from the Clear /310 2nd Press. I know I bought this from someone who had a double of the S+F press, who that person was escapes me though! As you've already seen the B-Side of this variant, and the back of the sleeve is just a fold I thought it best to not photograph it. This copy also came with a regular sleeve tucked in the poly-sleeve too. 

As the sleeve changed up a little again, let's have a quick look at that. 

The colour scheme is darkened a little, although the layout stays pretty identical. Another thing to notice is that the sleeve is a little thicker from this pressing onward.

Back cover. 

As you can see, aside from the colour scheme not much changes. The same goes for the inside of the sleeve. I'm not adding them in here for now, but if you want to see them just shoot comment and I'll pop them in. 

Stickered sleeve and added download card. 

The new sticker notes this copy as a second pressing, and acknowledges the bonus tracks available on the download. 

The download card is printed up especially for this press, and on the other side is the code. Both the sticker and download card were removed for the final press of this record. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 3rd Press - Black /1000

This copy was advertised as the 'Final Press' by No Sleep, and so far they have kept their word on that. All on black, and this went up for pre-order at the same time as the La Dispute split 2nd Press. If you look back through my posts there's a bit of a story on that. This copy was bought direct from the label, and was my first copy of this 7''. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

No stickered sleeve or download card. However, the centre labels and jackets remain the same as the 2nd press. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - 3rd Press - Black - 3/35 (Subscription Cover) 

This was bought from Chris at No Sleep directly. You can see here on the sleeve that it was indicated as the final pressing. I have bought some stuff from Chris privately a few times, and he's always been a great guy about it. This cover is on a strange corrugated card and looks really cool. The vinyl was from the 3rd press /1000 and I kept both copies (despite the sub cover coming with a regular sleeve too). I can make an excuse as to why I kept both, but the simple fact of the matter is I just really wanted to. 

Touche Amore - S/T - No Sleep Records - Test Press (Re-Press) - Black /4 

Also bought privately from Chris at No Sleep. 

This is my final vinyl copy for now. I don't have a 1st Press test, and you can tell the difference by: 

• The test presses from the 1st press come with blank (hand-written) centre labels. The re-press test comes with Erika labels. 
• The 1st Press test comes with a regular sleeve and a photocopies 'test press' sleeve that is numbered out of 20. The re-press test only comes in a dust sleeve. 

I would LOVE a 1st press test, but one test is better than none. I assume this came at the 2nd press with the centre label change. I'm not sure why only 4 were made; but on a numbers game this is one of the rarest Touche Amore items out there. Sadly, this is my only Touche Amore test and I really hope I change that now I have all the standard variants and limited covers taken care of.

Finally 

The demo CD's and Cassette. 

For all the information on these, and the West Coast demo (it's also featured) please read an older entry here: 

http://23rotations.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/missing-pieces.html

Here I go through pressing numbers, take you through the sleeves and all that fun stuff you love. Plus, there is the whole 'how complete is complete' argument in this post. I'm still having that argument, but I'll save the repetition. 

This is a pretty complete collection I'd say. A small piece of me will always long for those other West Coast Tour covers and 1st Press test though. I'll never quit this band.

Again, this has been a long read so thank you for sticking with me on this one. This will be my last post before Christmas so have a good one! I'll try and get a few more posts in before 2015 hits. 

Cheers!

Hell Yes!

A trio of Trio posts? Why not! Thankfully, this one is a short one, and probably the last Trio post in a little while. This is probably the penultimate post for this side of Christmas too, the next one is a long one though. Without much more rambling though, on we go: 

Alkaline Trio - Hell Yes - Lookout! Records - 1st Press - Black /? 

I can safely assume at least a few thousand of these were pressed. I chose to write about this, as this is probably my favourite Alkaline Trio cover art. Another reason is this is probably the last 'indie' single that came out before From Here to Infirmary exploded; it's a neat little snapshot into a band that were about to transition. Not in terms of sound, but a wider audience. 

The centre label art with the Heartskull on the coffin is super neat, and the general art and layout is really nice here. The colours are super vivid, and almost clash. In my mind, this art and layout sticks out as a classic single, and I think my collection would feel a lot less complete without it. It's the essential Alk3 7'' (I'm most likely only saying that as I don't yet own Sundials or For Your Lungs Only). 

Back Cover // B-Side

Classic Lookout! logo in the bottom left, Heartskull in the bottom right. Two Heartskull coffins on the centre label. One song sang by Matt, one song by Dan. Both absolutely incredible songs, and both a little different from one another. There's not a lot you can say about this record that you can't already see here for yourself and that's probably a large reason for being so into it. No barcode and a label address. Just the way it should be. 

Finally, one last look at this artwork. 

My copy has some ring wear and a few scuffs, but I love it all the same. I think the art was used as a backdrop for the Goddamnit Redux tour. The whole cemetery theme going on here, and the lyrical content is what encapsulates my love for this band. I wish I could extract the feeling I get from this cover art, and let someone have that feeling for just a minute; this post might make a little more sense that way.

On the upside too I assume that you can still pick this up reasonably cheap?

My Shame Is Pink and Blue

I said something about doing more Alkaline Trio posts. Some people seemed keen. Here's another Alkaline Trio post. Sometimes it's that easy!

Do you still get that feeling when one of your favourite bands slips in a pre-order without much warning? That last minute rush to get to a computer and refresh to death in the vague hopes of scoring something on the more limited end of things? Just that satisfaction of getting in and out, then watching the chaos ensue. Although not the worst checkout experience I've had, this definitely got a little tense! 

Alkaline Trio - My Shame Is True - Epitaph Records // Heart & Skull - 1st Press - Pink /1000 (Pre-order exclusive) 

From what I remember this went fairly quick, and on the physical release date there was a bunch of people putting the feelers out for trading or buying a copy. I mean, this wasn't even the most limited colour. That privilege went to a Dark Green /500 that was part of a pre-order only box set that looked super cool (it came with exclusive colourways, a flag, a t-shirt, a Ouija Board, the usual...) but was a killer with shipping. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

I like the matching text to the variant. Also, the artwork on this one is a little more removed from the norm of Alkaline Trio stuff, but it definitely suits the theme of the album. For anyone who doesn't know, Matt Skiba's ex-girlfriend graces the cover on this one and most of his contributions to this one are about their breakup. It's actually a fairly upbeat offering all things considered! 

Printed Inner Sleeve

Again with the colour matching on the heartskull, I'm a fan. 

Since 'This Addiction' came out I have noticed Skiba getting on more of a thing with Motorbikes. Here is no exception, singing about bikes, bikes on the cover, bikes on the inner sleeve. I guess it comes with a girl in leather too so that's something maybe? On a less weird note, the photography on this LP is great and lends itself to this classic black and white look. 

Other Side

The other side of this printed inner is all lyrics and thanks. Sadly there is a bunch of 'em and the font isn't particularly forgiving on a camera lens, but I'm sure you get the idea. 

As I nabbed this at pre-order, I also got this pretty neat poster of the cover art slipped inside the mailer. Three guesses where this poster is right now? 

The bonus of grabbing this album at when I did was the option to add the PO exclusive EP to your cart. 

Alkaline Trio - Broken Wing - Epitaph Records // Heart & Skull - 1st Press - Light Blue /1500

This is a vinyl exclusive EP that coincided with the release of My Shame Is True to showcase some songs that didn't make the album, but still needed to be heard. This is a bit of an unusual turn for Alkaline Trio nowadays, as the norm is a bonus // special edition CD to accommodate these tracks. I guess the whole vinyl resurgence thing is paying off well for Epitaph. Here's why: 

• Crimson had a deluxe CD edition with a whole album of demos and the like. 
• Agony and Irony had a deluxe CD edition with bonus tracks and acoustic bits and bobs. 
• This Addiction had a deluxe CD edition with bonus tracks and a live DVD. 

Now, most of these bonus tracks are 'Dan' songs, and on This Addiction I was super happy to have these songs on CD, as they were great (definitely better than some album cuts!) and I could have them on my iPod. Now, this is a cool vinyl only thing. But I have no download of it, and these songs fall into the same deal as This Addiction. Some of these songs are better than the LP tracks. But I'm getting carried away...

Back Cover

As these two came as a package, I do like that the layouts and general feel of the records is fairly similar; and since when did Blue and Pink not match well? Again, there was a /500 (Tan) variant for the box set. But this still limits this release to 2000. For most bands, that's probably enough nowadays. However, I'm sure there are Trio fans still trying to hunt this one down... 

Printed Inner Sleeve

More bikes, more Heartskulls. I do like the slight colour scheme change though; kind of different but kind of the same. 

Finally, the other side of the printed inner. Sticking to the same kind of layout as MSIT, and it's again not particularly easy on the eyes. Not to worry though, if anyone really wants a read of what is going on, I'm more than happy to send photos over. 

As I was writing this, I had the S/T LP on in the background. Although both releases are worlds away from one another, I could hang with any section of this band's discography any day. 

Cheers!