Alternate 1995

Modern Baseball - Don't Miss This Album

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:51:00 +0000

Modern Baseball is sort of like an emo/punk revival type band, with some alt country tossed in there just to confuse you a little. They just released their second full length, this one is on Run For Cover and it's called "You're Gonna Miss It All". Their previous album "Sports", was released by Lame-O, and I think it was a split with RFC, but I'm not completely sure about that. It might just be the second press that's with RFC. The members are fairly young, but they got some skills. This album has definitely been a frequent spinner, since I got it in the mail a couple weeks ago.

This is the 180 gram version, which I believe is the rarest variant. It doesn't look like they have the release on their discography page yet, but I usually always get the rarest variant, and since I'm not a huge fan of black, this must be it. I think that's where I'm at now a days. I want a copy of the album, but I don't need a million versions. Ideally I'd like the one that's the rarest, but when it comes down to it, just give it to me on vinyl, and I'll buy it.

The Hiatus is Over

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 15 Feb 2014 20:37:00 +0000

It's time to bring this baby back to life. Next week I'm going to start posting again. I don't think I'll be doing more than 1 a week, but I do want to get back into it. Mostly newer records, but I might be able to toss in a few oldies. Resurrecting my saved searches and starting to scour tradelists. Let's do this.

Hiatus

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:40:00 +0000

Hey everyone, as you can see I haven't posted in a while. I think I'm going to put this blog on hiatus for a bit. I don't have much I want or need other than Test Presses from Long Island bands and Wreck-age/Exit releases. Obviously if I find and acquire one, I will write about it, but since I own so much stuff already, it's difficult. I'm also planning an extremely long vacation that I'm probably leaving for in April of this year. I'm pretty burnt out. I don't talk a lot about myself on this blog, cause it's really just suppose to be about records, but the last few years have definitely been tough on me. Starting and managing a bunch of companies, all while doing design and architecture, has taken it's toll. Luckily these companies I've built with my brother over the past 4 years have turned out to be successful and are getting bigger every day. And since running them only takes a good internet connection, I've started to realize that I can go and do whatever the hell I want. I'll probably be starting a new blog about travel and life outside the office, and when I do, I'll update this one and let you know. Thanks everyone.

The Ultimate Package - Part 3

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:20:00 +0000

Well here it is. The culmination of nearly a year of conversations with a man on the other side of the planet. This is part 3, and I've saved the best for last.

The year was 1992 and Mind Over Matter was still trying to find their sound. They hadn't moved into that progressive music genre that you'd later hear on Automanipulation. They were still in that melodic hardcore world. They hooked up with a small unknown label called Wreck-age, and they released a 7". Here's two songs from that 7". Note the difference in sound between these 2 songs.

So how many copies of this 7" came out? 200 on gold and 3100 on black. An absurd pressing for a little unknown band out of Long Island. Yet to this day, the gold variation is one of the hardest Wreck-age releases to find. There's 2 other variations of this record. Here's the lesser rare of the two.

Quickly after the ST release, Mind Over Matter released another 7" on Wreck-age called Hectic Thinking. Their sound was evolving. It was a little more chaotic, but they started to turn chaotic into a structure.

So how many copies of this 7" came out? 250 on pink and 2750 on black. And I guess however many were made of this version!

To have these test presses means so much to me. Mind Over Matter was one of the first influential bands from Long Island. In fact, I would call them the most influential Long Island band from the 90s, that influenced the 90s. I think Silent Majority influenced a lot of bands in the 2000s, but Mind Over Matter was the definitive early 90s band. They were loved by so many bands, that I grew up listening to. One of the main reasons was Eddie Reyes. He started MOM with 4 others, but went on to start or play in so many other bands that shaped Long Island like, The Movielife, Clockwise, Taking Back Sunday, Inside, and others. He's probably the most underrated Long Islander in the scene. Most non vocalists never get their due. What's interesting is, MOM had another extremely underrated member as well. Arthur Shephard. You might remember a post I did a while back about meeting up with him at his work to buy some records from him. My girlfriend at the time was like, so who is this guy again? I'm like this is freaking Arthur Shephard god damnit! Are you serious?! Mind Over Matter? Errortype 11? He produced Life of a Spectator? He sang backup vocals on Famous Monsters for christ sakes. Your wifi password is WeAre138. Come on! But there's really nothing I could do to make it click. These are unknowns. In my world though, they shaped what I grew up listening too. Before Hardcore and Punk, I didn't love music. I wasn't really interested in it. I didn't understand it. You know the easiest way to tell if someone doesn't understand music? They buy singles. 2 songs on a tape, that's what I bought back when I was 11 and 12. I didn't buy albums. When you only buy the hits from an album, you don't understand music, and you don't understand how an artist wants you to listen to their music. But when I first heard Green Day Kerplunk, Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit, Quicksand Slip, etc, I just got it. And once I got it, I never looked back. Almost 20 years later and look at me. I built companies to help bands and labels sell independent music. I still listen to the bands I grew up on. I'm still discovering new bands. I'm still buying vinyl. I still get pissed when I don't win an auction. I still get pissed when someone has a record that I want, and they won't trade or sell it to me. I still get excited when I buy a record that I've always wanted. I still love coming on here and writing about them. And I still have that drive to go on searching.

So you all might be wondering why I said that there were 2 other variations of the self titled 7", and the test press was only the second rarest. Well sit back and let me explain how I found out about the rarest Mind Over Matter record of all time.

When I got this box from Pavlos, I was really freaking excited (Obv.). It felt heavy, which made me even more excited (Obv.). When I opened it, the first thing that caught my eye was there were two 12"s and three 7"s. The three 7"s were in the original sleeves, as you can see from the above pictures, and from yesterday's part 2 post. But the 12"s, weren't. The first one I looked at was the Necracedia test, which I recognized right away cause of the matrix inscribed with war-002. Then I started to look at the other 12". It was ridiculously heavy, which confused me at first. I pulled it out of the sleeve and realized it wasn't a test press at all, it was a plate. If you don't know what a plate is, it's a piece of aluminum, dipped in lacquer, which the grooves get cut into. Pressing plants use this to press records. You can watch this 10 minute below to understand the full process.

Now here's where the story gets interesting. When I looked for the matrix, there was none. Then I looked at how the songs were laid out on the plate. It wasn't a full length album. It was an EP. So I immediately thought this was the Die 116 ep plate. But I wasn't sure. And one of the reasons I wasn't sure was because there was a Mind Over Matter sticker on the sleeve. This confused me, but since I was fairly certain it was the Die 116 ep, it really didn't register. So I decided to just make sure, and drop it on the turntable. Something that you really shouldn't do. Lacquer is not meant to be played very often. This is why they make test presses. So when I dropped it on there, I heard that clip from Full Metal Jacket. Tom is like, "That's Full Metal Jacket." I'm like, yeah, which means it's not Die 116. Now remember, my brain is spinning right now. I've literally had this box open for less than 3 minutes. I've had a gigantic smile on my face since I opened the mailbox. My mind is completely frozen and I have no idea what I'm listening to. Then before the clip is even over, I flip to the B side. For the next 30 seconds I'm baffled. Then it hits me. This song is God Hates Me. This is a plate for the Mind Over Matter ST 7". Then I pause and say, "But that got pressed on a 7"." Apparently, it wasn't allows suppose to be a 7", because here's a 12" lacquer of Mind Over Matter's Self Titled ep.

This might be the most amazing record I've ever owned, that isn't even a record. My first lacquer too. This thing is so god damn heavy. Look at the 2 holes. They must have drilled it wrong the first time. Or maybe their machine needed two holes, but I doubt it. They also didn't put the matrix on yet. Pavlos must have called it off before they had a chance. What an incredible piece of Long Island history. This band started it all. This band made all the bands I grew up on want to make music. I have to do something with this. I'm not sure what, but I need to figure something out. Maybe I can get it framed with the 7" test below it. I'll look into it.

So there it is. The final part to the greatest package I've ever received. It was really a tough call on the best package because one time I received tests of Indecision Unorthodox, Indecision Most Precious Blood, Milhouse Obscenity, and Sons of Abraham Termites, in the same box. But I knew it was coming. Plus I paid a freaking fortune for them ahahah. This package was a gift from around the world, and I didn't know what was in it. And because of that, it means so much more to me. To thank Pavlos I sent him back the only unique piece of history I had from Wreck-age, before the plate. Something I figure will mean more to him than me. I gave him the promo sheet from the Gulag release. The one with his hand written note on it. This was the first record he put out, so I hope he enjoys it. Either way Gulag was a Greek punk band that a lot of people still love out there, so that's where it belongs. If you think about, that's what I'm doing with Exit and Wreck-age. I'm doing my best to bring these records back home. Maybe one day I'll be able to show off all my stuff in a LIHC exhibit. That would be a lot of fun.

Ok people, I'm wasted right now. 11 posts in 11 days. Actually 12 days cause I waited a day to post this one. I'm not caught up, but I'm caught up enough to slow down the pace a hair. Till next time.

The Ultimate Package - Part 2

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:36:00 +0000

About a year ago a Neglect - Pull The Plug test press popped up on eBay. I was obviously going to bid on it, because Neglect is a great band, and of course, because it came out on Wreck-age. I did however, email the seller and ask for the matrix. While I was waiting for an email back from the seller, Marcus dropped me an email to double check that I had seen the auction. In this email he asked if I recognized the label, which looked nothing like a US label. He made a good point, it didn't, but I've seen weird labels on Wreck-age tests before. Just look at the label on my Necracedia post from yesterday. So that wasn't a deal breaker for me, but it was something to consider. Then the seller emailed me back with the matrix. Marcus's instincts were correct. This was not a US test press of Pull The Plug. Once that became obvious, I started to doubt that this was even a foreign test of Pull The Plug. I didn't remember an overseas pressing of this record. So the seller and I went back and forth a little bit, and while we did that, the price of this auction kept going up. Marcus and I were also trying to figure out what the record actually was, if it wasn't a Pull The Plug test. He had this weird feeling it was a live 7", but he couldn't remember the name. Then I remembered a Neglect test press auction that was up 2 years earlier. I didn't bid on it, but I did save all the info. Let me explain. Sometimes when I see a record from a band I like, but aren't really interested in buying it, I save all the info just in case I decide I want to track it down in the future. And when I say I save all the info, I mean I save everything. Even the pictures. It's a weird habit that I don't usually talk about on here because it makes me sound a little mental. Annnnyyyywaayyyy, I went through all my stuff and found that auction info, and what do you know, the record looked exactly the same.

What's also cool about this is, I knew the name of the record too. Marcus was right again. This was in fact, the Hang In There live 7" test. So it looked like the seller bought this on eBay 2 years prior, and then decided he didn't want it anymore. Unfortunately though, by the time Marcus and I figured all this shit out, the auction was going for an absurd amount of dough. Needless to say, I was pissed. I didn't like that this seller might have been trying to scam bidders. I also didn't like the fact that I told the seller multiple times, that he needed to change the title or take the auction down, and he didn't. And I especially didn't like that this thing wasn't the Pull The Plug test! I was psyched for this auction. I was absolutely freaking out when I saw it. I wanted this damn thing sooooooooo bad. But it wasn't meant to be. So I decided to contact eBay and get them to take it down. Which they did. About a month later he put it up again. So I contacted eBay again, and they took it down, AGAIN. THHHHEEEENNNN another month went by, and this dude put it up a 3rd time. This time with the right name though. So I let it go and it sold for 20 bucks.

So if the picture above is what a Neglect - Pull The Plug test press, doesn't look like. Then what does an actual Pull The Plug test press look like? Well it just so happens that I have one right here!

HEYO! Pavlos comes through with a monster! That makes 9 Exit/Wreck-age test presses!! Or does it? Dum Dum Duummmmm.

The Ultimate Package - Part 1

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 13:59:00 +0000

No, unfortunately this is not part 1 of a new porn I will be starring in. It is, in fact, part 1 of a 3 part blog post I will be doing in celebration of my new blog layout, and a box that recently came in the mail from one, Pavlos Ioanidis, aka the owner of Wreck-age and Exit records. Here's a little background for you...

A while back I contacted Pavlos in order to beg him for the remaining records I needed to complete my color Wreck-age and Exit collection. We were both busy, so communication was slow at first. During that time, I actually started to pick up a few records that I needed. Then one day, I was done. I was still waiting to hear back from Pavlos about the list, but I figured when I did, I would just let him know that I thought I was good, and the color collection was complete. So about a month went by and I heard back from him. I let him know I found every color release, and I was preparing to put together a full post showing the entire collection off. Then he said that he still had some stuff that he wanted to send me. This stuff was test presses! Exit/Wreck-age records are hard enough to find as it is, but test presses are just impossible. I've been very lucky over the years to collect a whole bunch of them, but I'm not even relatively close to the entire test press collection. Pavlos did get me a few steps closer though. Let's look at one of those steps.

Necracedia was a Pittsburgh punk band from the late 80s to early 90s. Their LP Now I See Clearly was Wreck-age's 2nd release...or 3rd if you want to count Gulag. I obtained the color version of this record in the late 90s I think, so you wouldn't have seen it on my blog. You can read about it on Marcus's blog though. Here's my copy.

And here's my test press!

HEYO! So now I have 002 and 003. 003 being the SFA So What? full length I wrote about a while back. Now if you'll notice, Pavlos went to Aligned for this record as well. I wonder if he did Bad Trip Positively Bad their too.

Part 1 is complete and I'll be doing parts 2 and 3 this week too. It only gets better from here.

P.S. What do we think of the new layout? I wanted to combine it with my personal site cause having 2 blogs was pretty dumb. I still have 2, but now it seems like 1.

Incendiary Split With Xibalba

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Here's a split Incendiary, one of my favorite bands to come out of Long Island in while, did with a band called Xibalba. I had never heard this band before, but they seem alright. I don't exactly know how to say their name though. Which is good and bad, at the same time. Let me explain. There's a lot of bands out there with names that are tough to find on the internet, but are extremely easy to spell and say. For instance, a band that I've loved for a long time "Inside", is impossible to find. But Xibalba is super simple to find. The problem is, it's hard to spell. Now I don't think a band like Xibalba, who has a song named "Fuck You Pelon", is really that concerned with SEO, but to me it's interesting. I've always wondered what's better: A band/label name that's unique and maybe hard to spell, but is easily searched for; or a name that's easily said, but hard to search. Another good example is a band called RVIVR. Said like the word, "Reviver". So when you tell people the name of the band, you say Reviver, but you need a little clause at the end, "And it's spelled RVIVR." Which is something someone could forget. Now I think Xibalba has it a lot better, because that's an actual word, but like I said, I'm not sure how to pronounce the name. So that could throw a wrench in all my theories. Well let's move on, because talking about the search engine optimization of hardcore bands, is not exactly what I would call exciting journalism. OK! The split pics.

I think these are the only 3 colors made for this 7". It seems like they did a Clear and a Black, and this wine swirl color was a biproduct of not cleaning the tank between presses. If so, that's a smart move. Save a couple of bucks, and get another variation.

I'm loving this cover too. That angel statue is definitely cool. Plus I like the matte finish. Not many people go with the matte finish, but it works here, for sure. I also love folded covers. This is another thing people need to go with more. They're cheaper, and cooler in my opinion. Plus, there's no glue, so it's very difficult to rip them. They would have to rip at the fold, and there's not much chance of that. So I think Closed Casket Activities, did a pretty good job on this baby. Gotta check out some more stuff by them.

51st State Lines

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:47:00 +0000

State Lines is a young pop punk band from Long Island and they released a full length a year or so ago called Hoffman Manor. But recently they released a 7" on Tiny Engines. I actually didn't know this band until TE mentioned it on twitter that were putting out this release. Any time I hear of a band from LI, I gotta check them out, and when I did, I was really surprised. They were pretty damn good. So when the record went up for preorder, I grabbed them all.

I wonder where that beach shot was taken. I assume it's on LI, but I don't know where. I'll ask someone and update this when I can. You can stream the 7" below on SoundCloud.

The Days of Gloom and Doom

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:23:00 +0000

Here's probably my favorite release of the year so far. Daytrader's Twelve Years out on Rise Records. These guy released a 7" a while back that I included in my An Accumulation of Great Records post. Rise has really become a powerhouse label, with a whole bunch of bands I'm into. So I was super happy when I heard they gobbled up Daytrader as well.

Here's what they did with this release. Single LP in a gatefold across 2 colors, which they sold as a package, or separate. One is the Black 180g version out of 1200, which can be seen below:

The other version they did was on, what they call, Swamp and it's out of 300. The weird thing is, when I opened the record, I didn't think I got the Swamp version. It seemed like I got one half of, what I'd call, the Gloom and Doom color package. Doom being the black 180g, and the record below, being Gloom.

Sort of looks like the black version, right? Here's the record in the light

And this is what they show in their store. Strange right? I thought so at least. So I decided to crack open my brother's copy(shhh don't tell him), and see what he got. Gloom again. I also checked the weight on each, thinking maybe this was just a weird variant of the 180g version, but it wasn't. So I guess there might have been a mix up at the plant, or maybe in the artwork for the store.

I'm really hitting the Long Island bands lately.

Fuck Off All Nerds

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:50:00 +0000

A lot of people might not know what this is, or who it benefits. This is a compilation of live songs recorded at the final show of a band named My Heart To Joy. It's not just songs from this band though. They have other bands on the comp like Hostage Calm and Into It. Over It. The compilation was released by Topshelf Records, and it benefits the family of Mitch Dubey who played in a band called Swear Jar(and others). He was killed a little more than a year ago, by a home intruder. Pretty fucked up stuff. All the money made from this release goes to his family. Great job by Topshelf on the production quality of this release. They don't screw around. Take a look at this thing.

One thing I don't know about this release is, does that cool artwork come with it, or did the nice guys at Topshelf, toss that in because they love me? I suspect it came with it, but I hope they love me too.

Cave In - Until I Finally Get This Record

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:57:00 +0000

This is a record I've been meaning to pick up for a long time, but never got around to it. Plus, they can be hard to find. Plus I wanted the color version, not the black version. PLUS I wanted the multi color version, not the double clear. The album is Cave In's Until Your Heart Stops. An album that I think was so far ahead of it's time when it came out in 1998. I can't name one album that had the feel of this one in the late 90s. Maybe Vision of Disorder's Imprint, which was another album that was completely different than what everyone else was doing at the time. Interestingly enough, both albums were released in 1998. Another interesting connection between these two releases, is the album they released right afterwards, sounded like a totally different band. It's almost like they tried to do something so different, that they burnt themselves out.

I'm really happy with this pick up. One of the few that's lived up to my own internal hype. Colors and quality of the jacket are top notch. Which is to be expected from a company like Hydra Head. They've always made beautiful records. Even back in the late 90s, they were on top of their game.

The damn labels look great too. This release would cost a fortune to make now. I'd love to know what this sold for new. Maybe 20 bucks plus shipping? This would be a $30 record now probably. Maybe I can find out from the Hydra Head dudes.

Operation Represses

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:07:00 +0000

Here's another repress that I picked up from Hot Topic a while back. Wait, are these represses? I know Energy came out on a 12", but wasn't Hectic on a 7"? Well either way, I never wrote about these cause I was just eh about them. I'm glad I have the albums, cause they're obviously awesome, but they're kinda bland to look at. Not sure why they didn't mix up the colors. I guess they were trying to keep the costs low. I'm pretty sure I got these for a good deal though. Maybe half off cause they were running some sort of a buy 1 get 1 free sale. I think I paid 20 or so plus shipping. They came with a download card. Which could be a better quality version. I have to download it and see.

I'm going to cut this one short cause these things are bumming me out.

In My Eyes Represses

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Here's something I thought I'd see on Marcus's blog, way before mine. Maybe it was on there and I missed it. Not positive though. Well anyway, here's a repress of both The Difference Between and Nothing To Hide. They were sold exclusively through Interpunk a while back. This definitely surprised me, and if it wasn't for the Stuck in the Past Twitter account, I would have totally missed it.

Thanks a lot guys, I appreciate it. So here are the 2 copies. The post office did a pretty good mangle job on the corners, but no big deal I guess.

I can't remember which versions of these albums I have. I'm pretty sure I have color of both originals, but I'm not quiet sure.

UPDATE: Marcus says they weren't sold exclusively through Interpunk. Could have sworn they were. Weird.

Polar Bear Club of 4

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 15:23:00 +0000

The first time I heard about Polar Bear Club was on the Silent Majority Myspace page. I'm pretty sure they had them in their top 8 or something. I went to their page, and I thought they were ok, but I wasn't completely captivated by them. That was a long time ago though. Now I think they're incredible. Especially the albums you see below.

So you might be all wondering how I acquired these test presses. Well about a month ago I was searching "Test" on eBay, and I came across all 4 of these auctions up from one dude. Now like I said, I've started to really love this band over the last year or two, so I thought it would be really nice to have them in my collection. My only issues were total price, and the chance that I could win them all. Now everyone knows that when you sell things separately, they can cost a lot more than if you sold them as a bundle. But it's even more so with test presses, because people have their favorite album, and this is usually the rarest version of that album. Which, needless to say, makes people go a little bonkers. So I decided to do something, that lately, I've been doing more and more of. I contacted the seller and asked if I could make him an offer to take them all down for one price. We haggled a little, and finally we agreed on $200 shipped. Normally I don't like to talk about price, but this time I will. I might even start talking more about price. I think it helps make the story more interesting. If you don't know how much I paid, then you really don't know the ending of the story. Am I afraid that people will think I got ripped off? Eh, I don't know if I care too much about that. Anyway, I think I paid a decent price for these 4 tests. $50 each, and I got them all at once. Getting all 4 at once is worth a bunch of cash to me, because I have a limited amount of time that I can spend searching, now a days. As you can see, I have updated this blog in 2 freaking months! But that's about to change cause I finally got my service Limited Run out of beta and launched. It's a great weight off my shoulders and it's time to pay more attention to this blog.

Misfits - RSD

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:15:00 +0000

I went out early on record store day to a pretty popular store on Long Island called Looney Tunes. I rarely get out there cause they're more than an hour away, but I thought it was worth the trip this time. I was looking for the Misfits repress of Walk Among Us. Unfortunately, they sold out before I got there. The dude even snickered a little when asked him if they still had copies. They said they had 10, but were gone within 5 minutes. One thing I didn't realize was that they opened an hour early for "VIP"s. To be a "VIP" you paid them $25 a year. To be honest, that's a little shady. I hate to speak ill of my fellow Long Islanders, especially when they've been around for so long, and so many people love them, but I don't know...paying to be important? Well anyway, when I got there the line was wrapped around the store. There were probably 50 people in line with vinyl in their hands. It was impressive. But as impressive as it was, I was still SOL on my Misfits endeavors. Luckily, a buddy of mine on twitter, Sean Powers, said he might have a line on a copy. He tweeted me a little while later and said he had a copy on hold for me. HEYO! Couldn't believe it. He grabbed it, shipped it out a few days later, and it arrived packaged beautifully in a nice sturdy box, with not just one stiffener, but two! Always nice to see a dude shipping things out with class and compassion. So let's take a look at it.

So I received 3 surprises concerning this record. One was the record size. I actually was confused about how this was being pressed until the time I opened the box that Sean shipped me. On the Record Store Day site, they said this thing was a 7". Obviously I thought that was a mistake, but then Susannah's boyfriend Ben mentioned that maybe it was a triple 7". That made sense to me cause it was being pressed on 3 colors, and I never saw the pressing info. Turns out it was a standard LP. The next surprise was that it came with a really cool poster.

I'm down with that. Strange that it came with a Samhain poster, when the release is Misfits. I wonder if this is just something Sean had, and just included cause he had no need for it. It's in great shape, so I assume it came with it. I didn't measure it but it looks like 18x24.

The final surprise was the pressing info. Turns out this clear version is stupid rare. I didn't realize that. This thing is out of 500 and goes for dumb money on eBay. I definitely got lucky on this one. I owe Sean big time.

UPDATE: Sean says those posters were there at the store and he just grabbed one figuring I'd like it. What a nice dude.

Card Included

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:16:00 +0000

Thought I'd do a quick post about a new company that I just started with my brother Tom. It's called Card Included, and it's a self-serve download card service.

There's a ton of places to get download cards these days, but none are self-serve. Card Included lets you build a text or logo card with a simple creator.

The other thing we do is let you build a custom landing page that your customers/fans will see when they go to redeem their code. On that page you can put a large background photo, as well as link to your homepage, twitter, facebook, or tumblr. Here's an example:

Then when you're done, you checkout and we immediately email you a link to download your cards. It's a really easy to use service that I'm pretty proud of. If you have any questions, you know where to get a hold me.

Movielife - 40 Hour Train

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:16:00 +0000

There's an interesting story to this record. A story that I think I should wait to tell till I have more information. Let's just call this part 1, I guess. Part 2 will hopefully be told soon. Let us begin about 3 weeks ago. I was sitting at my desk and my friend Brian sent me an email telling me about a whole bunch of test presses being auctioned on ebay. 2 of which were of Movielife releases. Movielife is one of my most favorite bands. There's not many bands out there that can release 2 demo tapes that I love, then proceed to release 3 full lengths and an a couple EPs that I love as well. The 2 tests were 40 Hour Train Ride Back to Penn and Has a Gambling Problem. Now here's some background info. 40 Hour was released on 2 colors. Green marble and white marble. Green marble goes for about 30 bucks or so. Sometimes as much as 45. But the white is extremely rare. I believe it's out of 100, and I've only seen one for sale in my lifetime and I bought it. It cost me $99 and it was a buy it now. As soon as it went up I bought it. Maybe within 6 hours. I think it was worth more than $99. I probably would have paid $150. So when I saw this test I thought for sure it would hit $250. Has a Gambling Problem on the other hand was released on numbered clear vinyl out of 1000. No cover, just an insert in a clear sleeve. This goes for a bit more than the green 40 Hour now a days because it's rarer. Maybe 40-60. But I didn't think the test was worth more than the 40 Hour test because I had paid 100 for the white marble. Logic dictates that the test is usually worth more than the rarest color.

So let me set the scene for you. Both these auctions had about 2 days in between them and 40 Hour was ending first. There was about 5 hours left and 40 Hour was at about 50 bucks with a couple of bids I think. Gambling Problem started at 59.99 and had 1 bid. I decided well before the ending of the 40 Hour test that I wasn't going to win this, but I would bid on it. Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows that I always bid, even if I don't think I can win. I've won so many great records on the cheap because I didn't give up without bidding. Now for my max bid. I don't mind saying it because it actually matters to the full story. I bid $155. But let me remind you, I had thought this record would go for $250. The interesting thing? I won it for $100. This is why I always say bid, even if you believe you can't win. The reason is because no one does that. They think they can't win, and decide not to waste their time. Or they forget about the auction cause they're not excited enough to win it, because they don't think they can win. It's strange, I know, but it's true. I think that's what happened here. There were only 6 bidders, and only 8 bids! One of them being me. Think about that. Only 8 bids. Movielife vinyl is crazy collectable. People gave up on this one. There's just no doubt in my mind.

So I won that one, and I was damn happy about it. This was the one I was most excited about cause it's my favorite album. Plus I have the Green and white, so this completes the set. Now what about Has a Gambling Problem. Well once again I was not setting out to win this record. Even less so then I was for the 40 Hour test. But I had to bid. This time I put in a bid of 135 and lost by 2.50. So one bid beat me. There were 7 bidders and 10 bids, including mine. The story doesn't end there, but I think I'm going to stop. This is Part 1 and Part 2 is still developing. It will end with me looking like a jackass or a genius. I hope genius! But either way, I think it will end interesting.

Milhouse - Modern Solutions

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 23:30:00 +0000

It didn't take too long! Right after my last post my buddy Dan said he'd part with his copy if I traded him an Inside shirt I had. It was a good deal I think. I've never seen anyone else with that shirt, but I couldn't really wear it cause it was kinda small for me. I'm all about shirts I can wear. Plus Dan asked about that shirt a lot. 12 years of searching for that 7" and it took less than a day after the last blog post. The internet is beautiful. Even Marcus was contemplating trading me his. I wouldn't have taken it though. He's the second closest collector to getting the whole collection and this 7" is ridiculously rare. I only know 3 people who own it. Marcus, Justin Unrestrained, and now me.

So now the question is, do I have them all? I think I do. This week I'm going to go through everything I have and make sure. I'll take pictures and do a nice post on it. I'd like to thank Dan for quickly coming to my rescue. He just started using his blog My Ressurrection. He's a big Indecision collector like me and always finds great stuff. Still needs to spruce up his page though. Probably get a text message as soon as he reads that.

Irony of Lightfoot - Ibex on Blue

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:28:00 +0000

I'm soooooooooooooo close to having every single Wreck-age and Exit release on color. I'm only missing one now I think. Milhouse - Modern Problems on green. I need to look over my list but I'm pretty sure that's all I need. Here's one I've been searching forever for.

This came out in 97 and became one half of the CD release called the same name. Incredible band that had a completely different sound than anything I had heard up till that point. Even when I listen to them now, I have a hard time understanding where they got their influence from.

I doubt anyone will mind me posting a link to download their discography. Which you can do here. Thanks to New West Crew for the upload.

An Accumulation of Great Records

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:17:00 +0000

I've had a pile of stuff I've wanted to post about sitting on my desk for like ever. I think it's time we bundle this shit up into a nice quick post. Let's begin.

This is the record show pressing of Capital - Givers Takers on Underground Comminique. Not sure how many were pressed of this.

This is Spraynard, which is Ex Get Bent from Westchester NY I believe. Great record released last year on Runner Up.

Runner Up also sent me this Dave Hause record because there was some shipping confusion. Always appreciated.

This is a good record that I have yet to listen to on vinyl. Direct Hit! who I think is from Milwaukee. I also think they self released this one. You can listen to the album here.

Here's a great band from Ohio that I've been getting into lately called Mixtapes. Try googling that! I think this LP is a combination of 2 releases, one called Maps and the other called Companions, which was an EP. It was released by Animal Style Records, which if I remember correctly uses Limited Pressing for their store. Smart move :).

Finally this is the latest Daytrader 7". These guys self released this 7" and they're currently working on a full length with Rise Records.

I got more stuff I need to get up here. Bunch of Long Island test presses I was excited to pick up. Hopefully I can get to that soon. Later.

Unorthodox Repress

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Here's the repress of indecision's Unorthodox. This one is mastered. I know the jacket says "Remastered", but for it to have been "Remastered" it would have to have been mastered in the first place. Which it was not. The story goes that when they recorded the album the guy who did the recording asked them if they wanted it mastered. It was a couple hundred bucks, so they decided not to. What's funny is the guy probably assumed that they were getting it mastered by someone else. But the dudes from Indecision probably thought he meant you could do it, but you don't have to. Pretty ridiculous if you think about it.

Not really sure of the pressing info on these. I could probably dig it up, but I'm too tired.

This is the 180gram pressing that came with a silk screened sleeve. The back is stamped and numbered. I got 22/150.

He used the old Merciless sleeve to silk screen them. Good idea I think. Cheap and it keeps it within the scope of the band. Overall the pressing was good. The quality was pretty nice. The jackets weren't glossy like the original which I kind of like cause it's different.

I didn't get the test press on this one. I guess I could have contacted the label and asked to buy one, but it didn't seem necessary. To be honest, since I have the only test press from the original pressing, it doesn't seem right to get one from the repress, when there's probably a million people out there who would love to have it. I have too many Indecision/MPB tests anyway. It's out of control.

Gulag - Greece not Soviet Union

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:09:00 +0000

This post is going to surprise a great many of people. Most have never heard of this band. For a long time I wasn't even sure what this record was. I've seen it around, and I've done a lot of research, but it's rare and the label release designation can be confusing unless you're a really dedicated collector of Wreck-age.

The name of this band is Gulag. They're an 80s Greek punk/hardcore band. You can't really find much information about them written in english, but from what I can gather they were one of only a handful of talented bands in the Greek music scene. They were also the first band ever released on Wreck-age records. That's correct. Even before Bad Trip's Positively Bad from 1990. Gulag's Big Talk was released in 1989 and has a release designation of WAR-001. The same designation as Bad Trip's 7". The question is why? Well I don't have the answer to that, but I can speculate. Let's take a look at the record first though.

It was only released on clear and Wreck-age put out 1000 copies. That's a lot for a greek punk band. The jacket is made of thin paper, that I'm surprised has lasted 20+ years. Here's where it gets interesting. I've seen this 7" before, and I've seen the insert pictured many times. But never in my life have I ever seen this promo sheet for the record.

In fact, I've never seen a promo sheet for any Wreck-age release. This one happened to be inside the 7" that I bought. I didn't even know it would be in there. Definitely a great surprise. The promo sheet gives a great english description of the band. It even points out that they released a full length in 1987, which I couldn't find information on anywhere. This is also where I got the pressing info. Originally I thought there was only 500 copies pressed.

It gets better though. When I turned the promo sheet over, I found this...

A 20 year old note written by Pavlos and Amber telling a zine the price of the record and that their new full length "Showyard" would be released soon. You can't get much cooler than that. What's really interesting is Gulag's full length from 1990 was not called "Showyard", it was called "In The Showyard". Small mistake, but not for the label set to release the record.

So back to it, why does this release have a 001 designation and Bad Trip's Positively Bad also have a 001 designation? Well here's my thought, I think Pavlos decided in 1990 to focus on NY releases, and I believe more specifically, english releases. The hand written note says their new full length would be out soon. But Wreck-Age didn't release that full length. It was released by Lazy Dog Records in Greece. I think Wreck-age intended to release that full length, but decided to start the label over and release only US bands. If you look at the releases from Wreck-age there's a pattern. The band releases an ep and then a full length. Yuppicide, Bad Trip, Mind Over Matter, SFA, Milhouse, etc, all did this. This is what Gulag was going to do, but either they said no, and Pavlos decided to reboot the label for US bands, or Pavlos said no because he wanted to reboot the label for US bands. Either way though, the Gulag 7" is the long lost Wreck-age release. One that's going to screw up a lot of collections.

Sorry Marcus :)

Britney's 18th Birthday

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

One of the few variations I didn't have from Indecision was the Britney Spears 18th birthday cover #ed out of, what else, 18. Luckily my friend Dan had an extra and traded me for a Quicksand Slip t-shirt. I had not even seen one of these before the other day.

All it is really is a standard jacket with an 11x17 color print out glued to it and numbered. Now I see why I've never seen one before. Jeff Jawk never sold these cause they're really just a gimmick variation he made from left over jackets. Still pretty funny. And since he numbered them, they're collectable. I got number 10. Never asked what Dan has. I assume he gave me the higher one, so he has a single digit. Not bad.

This locks up the To Live and Die in NYC collection. There's actually one more gimmick type variation Jeff made which is a punched metal cover. Yes metal. I think he made 2 of them. One for him, and one for the metal worker who actually did the bending and punching. I think I offered him 100 bucks or something for his copy. Nothing doing though.

Hope Came Through!

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 16:59:00 +0000

You might remember about 2 months I wrote about Marcus and how he rebooted his label to release Doug's (We Will Bury You) band Hope Defeated's demo on vinyl. Well Marcus and I traded some favors and next thing you know, I got copies!

I love the folded cover. Lot of people are doing these covers now a days. Not only do they save you some cash, but they look better. Plus I hate inserts, and this completes negates the need for an insert.

Here's the white version. Mine is more like a pink though. Marcus will probably explain this in the comments but I assume most whites are like this.

This is the reason for the pink version, the red /60 blog press variation. This one is pretty cool cause the label is stamped with both Doug's blog and Marcus's blog. And of course it has the custom cover.

Last but not least the big man hooked me up with a test. He also did a nice custom cover for it. Simple, straight forward, but custom and that's what counts. I really get annoyed when a label doesn't put any effort into a test and then gives them out. All Marcus did with this cover is take some black stock, reduce the standard cover down, print it out on some heavy stock, glue it to the black stock, then write with a silver paint marker on the back. But it's super clean and neat. I wonder if he wrote that himself. If he did Marcus has some skills. Either way, that little bit of work makes this a really desirable variation. I discussed this in Part 3 of my Vinyl Bailout series on my other blog. Just put the effort in and people will reward you with a desire to collect your releases.

If you haven't bought a copy of this record yet I suggest you hit up Marcus's store and buy a bunch.

You're Not Man Enough To Open This Cage

nmango@gmail.com (Nick Mango) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:02:00 +0000

I thought I'd post the Kinghorse ST record I picked up a few weeks ago. It's not super rare or anything, but it does have something cool that you never really see. A little background on this record if you've never heard of it. Kinghorse is a thrash metal band from the late 80s early 90s. This is their first full length which was released in 1990 and was produced by Glenn Danzig. This record really has Glenn written all over it to be honest. It was released by Caroline, and the artwork is by Pushead. The artwork is actually the interesting part I wanted to talk about.

Take a look at the cover. You see how the horse and the spears are cut off on the left hand side? Kind of strange considering the name of the band is Kinghorse. Why in the world would Pushead do that? An artist like Pushead has integrity and I highly doubt he would have allowed Caroline to just chop his drawing up to suit a 12x12 format. Not only this, but Pushead does artwork for a specific purpose. He doesn't just do art and someone takes that art and uses it for something. Meaning, if someone wants an album cover, he will do an album cover. When I put that together I remembered that this record is stamped for promotional use only on the back. Vinyl was not the originally intended format for this record. And since 1990 was too early for CDs to be the #1 format, their left only one other way to listen to music. Cassette. So I dug around looking for a picture of the cassette artwork and found this...

The artwork was specifically designed to fit a cassette. Never in my life have I seen something like this done. There was probably only a small window in music history where this was possible. 1990 fits right into that window. It's right when vinyl was dying, cassette was at it's peak because of the portable player war of the very late 80s. This is when Sony released the WM-DD9, which is considered to be the best portable tape player ever. Used ones still sell for $100 to $500 because of the sound quality. A lot of people forget that cassettes were analog, just like vinyl. And this walkman could play the full 20-20,000 range. I assume Caroline thought cassette was the future, and CDs would probably never take off. Maybe their sales dictated a decision like that. Pretty crazy if you think about it. They basically said this album will probably never exist of any physical format that's square. They thought CDs would never take off, and vinyl would die completely. Unfortunately for them, the complete opposite happened. Cassettes died, vinyl never seems to die, and CDs took over the world. Now the great art of Pushead is chopped off like a shitty photoshop job.

P.S. I wonder if this decision by Caroline to go heavy on cassettes affected the sales and place in history of this record.