TA Catch up

Obviously, there's going to be a TA catch up post every now and then. Nothing too exciting, both very new and very accessible. Pressed in pretty high numbers, and delivered with love from Dog Knights Productions. 

Touche Amore - ...To The Beat Of A Dead Horse - 6131/Collect Records - 8th Press - Clear Red - /1000 (180 Gram)

I'm not sure if I posted the few represses between the early days of this blog and now. Either way, there are a few nifty (well, to me) differences between then and now. 

Back Cover // B-Side 

In the mix of this record, there are a few chunks of solid black in there as well as a smoky kind of effect. I've not really seen that in a record too often before now but it looks cool so I'm all for it. 

You can see some of the smaller solid black chunks in here when it's in the light. 

The mix in this is pretty mental; it looks fairly well distributed on a flat surface, but up to the light you can see the swirls and the clear poking through it all. Either way I'm a big fan. 

Stickered Sleeve

This is something that disappeared after the second press and has been absent up until now. Maybe to mark the 180 gram transition? Either way, this now means that all 3 full lengths have had the 180 repress; but I hope a deluxe book version of this LP one day surfaces. Also, whilst this was stickered, it was stickered to shrink and there's no way of peeling it off without destroying it, so I cut around it and it's tucked away in the sleeve. I know I have a problem, let's move past it. 

Both labels on the back sleeve have had a makeover. The Collect one more so as it's a totally new logo, but I believe the 6131 looks a little different too. I could be wrong... 

Thankfully, inside the gatefold has remained pretty much the same from what I can tell. I've not compared thank you's or whatever, but I'm sure it's all pretty much as it always was? 

The one thing I forgot to mention earlier was the inclusion of the 6131 logo on both centre labels now. That's completely new to this pressing if memory serves. Also, I seem to believe that nowadays all 6131 releases have a house style centre label; but it's not the case for this record (and maybe some other earlier releases) just yet. 

Whilst we're here right? 

Touche Amore // Title Fight - Crescent-Shaped Depression // FaceGhost - Secret Voice - 3rd Press - Opaque Purple - /? 

Back Cover // B-Side 

I'm not sure if I ever posted about this record before; but I have some cool variants with this one. Basically, there are 3 pressings: one through Sssealegs and two out of Secret Voice (Jeremy Bolm's label). Sadly for the two Secret Voice presses, I can't find any pressing info. 

As a cool collaborative effort, John Slaby did some painting for this record (John Slaby has done all the Title Fight art so far) and Nick from Touche Amore handled the design and direction. Instead of an insert, there's a postcard that's come with all pressings of this so far. 

Credits and a neat little mixup of the TA/TF logos.

Finally, a little group shot. I love this band, and I just got a shipping notification of the TA/CL split so expect a new post on this band pretty soon!

I am Marching to the Beat... Catch up.

Okay this is going to be super quick, and then i'll get on to stuff I don't already own too many times. 

To the Beat of a Dead Horse. I've made my opinions on this LP abundantly clear. I love it, more than most. If you're not aware, trail through the 2013 posts (there's not many of 'em) and you'll see. I left off at the 5th press, and since then two more colours have surfaced.

6th press, 180 gram (I believe) /1000. Same jackets that 6131/ Collect have been using since the 3rd press. It's a really neat variant and sounds incredible. 

7th press, again I believe 180 gram and this time on pink marble /1000. Again, same jackets and again it sounds perfect. I probably won't post every variant as I get it, but every couple of presses i'll update. There we go. 

Marched

Damn this last post took some gearing up to do. I feel so lazy, hopefully over the winter I'll make a good effort here. There's some great stuff i've picked up, Touche Amore related and otherwise. Anyway, on to the good stuff!
Here' i'm going through the special presses of this album. There's three available, all through different pressing. All of them have cool stuff going on, all of them pressed in different amounts, all of them a hassle to find. Let's go:
From the first press is the Sound and Fury '09 press of To the Beat of a Dead Horse. These were made for Sound and Fury fest a while back, the year before that they had a tape version of their demo available (don't have it, really want it!). Either way, this fest is often the product of some awesome exclusives. I'm sure Doug over at We Will Bury You has some awesome stuff you could learn from, starting here: http://doug-wewillburyyou.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/have-heart-songs-to-scream-at-sun-sound.html. Enough digressing, on to the vinyl:

Two things to note here at first. Number 1. The most horrifically awful shade of yellow is what this variant comes on (looking closer, there's some brown and white mixed in there too), and the 'theme' of this one is aptly titled 'Sun'. Number 2. The cover is a tad different. No clouds of rain, no child biking. Here we have a menacing chap on a camel and a sun complete with shades and tasche. You can also see the arrow to Sound and Fury '09 too, nice touch. I'm not sure who did the art here if i'm honest, either way it's great. Nothing better than a fest press with a new cover... These were numbered out of 100, and from the first press that makes the numbers up to 1000 (100-yellow/200-black/300-brown/400-grey). I ended up with number 74: 

For those of you with sharp eyes, you'll see that the new cover is a kind of insert; with a quarter fold under cover, holding the LP inside the original jacket under the new cover. Two covers, one LP, winner. There was also a cd included in my copy, although no one needs to see that I assume. There's not really more that needs to be said I suppose. This was great for collectors and everything you want from a fest press. New cover, exclusive variant, hand numbering. Solid effort. On to the next one. 

From the second press came the very elusive and sought after Spring Tour variant: 

I honestly had so much trouble finding this one. I managed to find it eventually last year when a guy was parting with some stuff for christmas cash. This makes up the pressing numbers as such: (500-blue/420-clear green/ 80- seafoam green). That's right, 80. I believe this makes it the rarest pressing of this LP, aside from transitional presses (they don't count, lets be honest). The main selling point here is the great looking hand-numbered obi strip, and another exclusive variant just makes everything really appealing. I'm not that up on my knowledge about this one; for example, I don't know if all of them had the dashes of black in them that mine has. I don't even know who was on the line-up on this tour. I do know that it wasn't in England though! All in all it was a great find and i'm more than happy to have it in my collection. I ended up with number 61/80: 

Finally, from the third press and possibly the most intriguing of all; the Record Store Day press. From what I know, these were made with the intention of being an indie store exclusive for RSD 2011. However, they were not made in time and ended up being sold online instead through the 6131 store. Either way, I got mine from a super nice guy called Petter. 

And here we are! The numbers are made up (750-white 180gram/250- white 180gram). These look incredible. The 'blind' or letter-pressed cover is really effective and suits the variant perfectly. This variant doesn't have an insert, no gatefold (in fact it has a book style sleeve that opens) and the cover is all indented; the tracklisting and even the spine are all letter-pressed to have an embossed cover. Not only is this aesthetically different, but it kind of makes a statement; allowing the music speak for itself. Even the labels on the record are blank (unlike the 750 in standard covers). 

Complete with Record Store Day stickers and an alternative clear sticker (unlike the standard white stickers with black writing found with the first two presses - no numbering on this exclusive press though!); this variant is everything that represents why more independent labels should have the opportunity to take place in RSD. Honestly, did you Back to Black Rainbow LP have this much time and dedication involved? 

And that's it folks. Five posts and we're finally there. Well, that's a lie. In this time To the Beat has had it's 6th press. A rather cool looking Orange 180gram/1000 as all pressings are to follow I assume. And yes I do have it, and you will see it at some point i'm sure; but for now I'm going to have a look through my collection and see what I really want to write about. Some stuff has a great story to tell, others are off the 'never in my life will I ever afford this' list. Some stuff you could probably pick up easy enough. Either way, it's going to be fun. Thanks for reading! 

I am marching to the beat... Part Holy Roar

Sometime in late 2010 (November maybe?), Touche Amore hit the UK and Europe in support of ...To the Beat of a Dead Horse. This occasion was celebrated with a one time UK pressing of To the Beat on Holy Roar records. Alex over at Holy Roar went all out on this, and it really paid off well, as it looks fantastic. There are tons of cool extras added in here, but more about that after we've had a look at the records!

As a one time pressing of 500, the colours we're split to 100 and 400. So here we go: 100 black/white split.

Next up is black/400. Out of the two I stumbled upon this copy first, completely by accident with a cheap Buy It Now deal on eBay.

That was kind of short and sweet right? Now on to the fun stuff! This pressing stands out because so much actually changed here, making it a really desirable variant for anyone interested in this band. First off, although a little hard to notice on a photo, this particular pressing was a 10'' as opposed to a 12''. It also contained 4 bonus live tracks from their hometown venue Chain Reaction, placing 15 tracks onto a 10''. For you audiophile nerds out there, at best those 4 tracks add at best 6 minutes to an album that clocks in at under 20 minutes, so the pressing wasn't affected in any way and still sounds great. But hopefully you begin to see what I mean by going all out on this one!

Now, on to the design changes. As mentioned in my previous post, the album cover has been re-drawn a few times over the various pressings/issues of the album to accommodate the amount of space Nick had to play with. I caught up with him after one of their shows last year and asked him about it. He said that the original had two much detail in the rain, and on a 10'' cover as opposed to a 12'', the rain merged and look messy so it was re-drawn.

Here are some close up's of the two covers to show some comparisons. Here's the 10''

And here's the 12'' . The rain is the most notable difference here, but pay close attention to the cloud shape, the figure on the bike; there are quite a few big changes here. There's something that really gets me about the cover being re-drawn; again it really makes it worth it for anyone with a 12'' copy for closer comparison. And the extra tracks are great too. Really capturing the live sound of this band, and how mental a hometown audience can get!

There are another couple of differences here that I completely forgot to take pictures of. For example, the massively oversized sticker on the 10'' cover... The 12'' copies in the first two presses also had these stickered sleeves, but the sticker were a lot smaller. There's probably some inside joke about the smaller record needing a bigger sticker or something. By the 3rd press however the gatefolds were too thick and so didn't come in a poly sleeve, so the sticker was dropped.

Also, from the first two photos, you can see that the lyrics and thanks are printed on the inner sleeve as opposed to an insert. This looks really great as both sides are absolutely plastered with information. With both records only being in black or black/white, this also provides a cool continuity with the colour theme. It just works, and it looks awesome. I've probably missed another thing or two I forgot to photograph, like the inclusion of the Holy Roar logo on the back cover along with the 6131/ Collect logos. And the oversized outer sleeve, but how many photos can a guy take?

Either way, this variant is definitely worth hunting down if you're a fan of this LP, it makes a great comparison to the 12'' and the bonus tracks are killer. I'm still missing the t-shirt that came with this pre-order. If anyone has one and wants to hook a guy up, let me know!

One more post on this one, and then we can move on to some other cool other stuff!
Thanks for reading! Kane

I am marching to the beat... Part 3

In this entry I'm going to run through the 3rd, 4th and 5th pressings. From the 3rd press onwards, the design of the sleeve has stayed consistent, but there are quite a few changes between these presses and the two before them.

But first lets have a look at the vinyl shall we?

The 3rd press consists of one colour, solid white /750. From the 3rd press onwards too, the record is pressed on 180gram as opposed to the 150 gram vinyl of previous pressings. However as a downside, there is no longer any 'element' tie-in to the colour scheme of the records, ruined my fun.

The 4th press is remarkably similar to the 3rd press. It comes in cream /1000.

Yes, believe it or not these two are completely different pressings. You have to see them in person to really see any real difference, but it's cool I guess. I think the label had caught on to the similarity of the two and so added a IV to the centre label of the 4th press.

Next up is the 5th press, clear/ 1000. I was a little worried about this one, as I heard some stories about this press skipping loads and having cracks or splits in the record. Mine took a little longer to arrive this side of the pond, but I have no complaints about it, it arrived looking fine and plays perfectly. As a bonus, it looks really nice too!

The HUGE design change here, is that the record is now housed in a gatefold sleeve as opposed to the standard sleeves of previous pressings.

The gatefold is great though. The huge two sided poster was dropped in favour of a printed inner gatefold, housing all the lyrics and thank you's etc. making it a lot more convenient for first time listeners who want to follow the lyrics. I love the poster that came with earlier pressings, but it's never a bad idea to shake things up design wise to keep things interesting for people that own multiple copies. Again, everything was designed by Nick Steinhardt.

Another quirky little detail is that the cd sleeve follows this pattern. I know most people don't give a damn about cd's but I think anything Touche related is worth buying. Plus, the cover of the album was actually re-drawn for the cd. In fact, to my knowledge, the cover has been re-drawn 3 times to fit three different issues of the album. But more on that later!

Thanks for reading! Kane

I am marching to the beat... Part 2

Okay so by now we should all know how I feel about this album. Here's when things can get a little more interesting. The second press had a couple of small but significant design changes. Let's have a look!


 First up is 2nd press clear green (herb) /420; nothing too spectacular to see here, but it's a great colour and continues the 'elements' theme through the pressings.

Next up is 2nd press of light blue (rain) /500. This one gathers a bit of interest. Due to the varying amounts of white splatter in the mix; I've seen copies that are practically solid blue and others that contain heavy amounts of white. I think mine is a nice mid ground; that isn't to say I would say no to a drastically different variation! This could probably be my favourite variant of this record. I managed to score both of these from friend and cool collector named Dan Flanagan, who's since taken tons of my money. The guy has a complete Full of Hell collection that is pretty damn impressive, have a look at fleshin2gear.tumblr.com

Now to the possibly more interesting bits, the design changes between the two pressings! I get real into nerdy stuff like this, not even a little ashamed.

The printed dust sleeve here came with the first press. I thought this was super cool at the time because it was the first time I had seen a heavily printed sleeve. It just looked great alongside the black and white art and looked very DIY, I still get taken back whenever I look at it. Whilst spinning this LP I still look at it, digesting all the information and marvelling at that great live shot.

However, by the second press, stuff got changed up a little! The printed dust sleeves were scrapped in favour of this insert. Again, this interested me as the insert has been cut down to an odd size. The layout of the text and photos is a bit of a weird one too. But what gets me more is the amendment of the information across the two inserts:

 One thing that immediately stuck out in the first press insert was the fact that no drummer was listed with the band members, although it does credit Jeremy Zsupnik under 'drum tracking'. Jeremy performed drums on the demo 7'' and To the Beat... but by the time the LP came to press he was no longer with the band. However, by the second press insert, Elliot Babin was added with the rest of the band members and a full time member of TA. Jeremy Zsupnik is still credited under 'drum tracking' through all of the pressings. There is also some editing in the thank you's; the inclusion of Pianos Become the Teeth on the second press insert is one I remember off the top of my head

Another weird little extra is the cd's that came free with the first two pressings of the LP. Some are white, some are clear, but they seem randomly mixed in. Both pressings contain both colours of the cd and I'm kind of stumped about it, so if anyone has any answers let me know! And yes, that is a heartagram tattoo you see. Moving swiftly on... 

In the first two pressings, there was also a huge two-sided poster included with every copy of the LP (as far as I'm aware). The only copy I own that doesn't include a poster is the brown/300 1st press. Presumably the seller kept it. I can't complain. I have at least 6 of them all in the sleeves that most likely will never get used because I'm far too precious about stuff like this. Maybe one day I'll hang one in a nice frame to go with my Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me (TA's second LP) print.

Front

Back

I apologise that these pictures are a little off centre. It's hard taking a photo of a 24'' by 36'' poster when you're a short dude armed with only an iPhone. It's a shame that these are just tucked away in sleeves, they look incredible. I love the artwork, and the lyrics printed on the back is a great addition (although a little awkward to try and read due to the size of the poster). Again, all of the design work here was done by guitarist and design guy Nick Steinhardt under the company name of 23in. The dude comes up with some pretty incredible design work. You'll see plenty of it in this blog over time!

Anyway, that about covers the second pressing and comparisons. Don't worry herbs I haven't forgot about the tour versions of the first two pressings, I'm doing a post on all the tour/special editions and linking it all in (in my head it seems organised but we will see!). My next post will tackle out the third, fourth and fifth pressing of this LP as they're all single colour pressings. And yes I'll get nerdy and weird over the packaging. It will be real fun though I promise. Only another three posts on this album and I'll be done! Maybe I'll take a little break from TA posting then (not for long of course), I've bought some super cool records lately that I can't keep hidden away for much longer...

Thanks for reading! Kane

I am marching to the beat... Part 1

Well this one has been a long time coming; barely started this whole blog thing and I am already slacking.

Touché Amoré's debut full length "... To the Beat of a Dead Horse" is a record firmly placed in my top 5 favourite records of all time. It came to me at the perfect time. I believe I stumbled across this record in late 2010, and after hearing the track 'History Reshits Itself' featuring Thursday frontman Geoff Rickley (who co released the record through his label Collect Records). I was hooked. In fact I was beyond hooked, more full on obsessed. For close to a full year I played this record around 5 times a day; even now it gets near enough daily spins. 11 tracks coming in at around 20 minutes. This record could not be more brilliant. I suck at describing music, but if you're into the more emotional vein of hardcore and/or record collecting, there is a fairly good chance you have heard this record, or at least of the band. If you have not, I strongly urge you to hear this record, it's one of the very few records I can describe as life changing.

Any way, on to the vinyl. I was determined to have a complete collection of this, and I'm only missing test presses. Being perfectly honest, I'm more than happy with what I have. So on to the records!

Although this was in no way the order I got them in, it's easier to post them in order of pressing. With that in mind:

1st press: black/200 (also termed as night). The colours of the record parallel an element or something, very deep and mysterious, i'm into it.

1st press: brown/300 (dirt). This came out as a super ugly brown mix, I like it though, it was the second copy of the record I got and also my first variant of the 1st press.

Completing the standard colours of the first press is grey/400 (cloud). People get the most fussy with this variant as apparently there were a few transitional presses, each with a fair amount of black in. Being honest they do look super nice, but i'm not going to waste too much thought on it. I wouldn't say no to one at all, but it doesn't make my collection any more or less complete to me.

 I say that now...

This is going to be the first of a few entries on this LP, next I will go through the second press, along with some quirky design changes and comparisons from the first press. Already working on it though!