hmmmm whoops I missed a month there LOL.
Behind the scenes, I'm having trouble keeping my head above water, with the ever-increasing volume of orders combined with my help no longer helping (all good, I know they got better things to do with their time than fiddle about with records). I know lately orders have been getting lost in the mix here and there, and I had to take a week or two off along the way to focus on something else. Sometimes it feels like the gears are not grinding correctly. Sorry about that.
I'm trying my best over here lol, but please continue to be so patient and understanding, it is appreciated. And even if I'm stretched thin over here, I'm into it LOL, keep it coming, I like to feel busy.
Along similar lines, I am still updating Twitter, but nobody's touched the Instagram in forever....but I haven't yet decided to be done with it....I just don't have enough time in the day to handle that too. But maybe that'll change in the future.
And, you know, there was no February mass e-mail cause I was too busy filling out orders to really weave that into the workflow too. So we got another MASSIVE two-month update now. Hope you're ready!
-Dan
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FEBRUARY + MARCH NEW ARRIVALS
The biggest winner these last two months has been....Scandinavian power-pop LOL.
Plastic Tones LP has done something I find particularly amazing: it has united the BiP group chat. It is the first thing other than Sockeye that all three of us agree on. It could stand as my favorite record of 2023. It's one hell of a powerful pop record, and several steps ahead of all their previous works. Blondie and Sheer Mag got mentioned amongst us, and the label also namedrops Ramones and Thin Lizzy, so maybe that gives you an idea of the finely tuned balance of ideas going on in this record.
Sekunderna LP is also totally smashing, a terrific record that recalls early Masshysteri but with the edge of Marked Men. I know I ride hard for shitty noisecore and ramshackle d-beat, but in reality, this is the sort of record I am always listening to LOL.
Next on the list, we return with another batch of Alchemy Records reissues. Alchemy Records is the legendary Osaka label headed by Jojo Hiroshige (of Hijokaidan fame). And while they are best known for being a harsh noise/experimental-type operation, Alchemy Records has a HUGE discography that's incredibly diverse.
Even in this batch, we go back in time to the one of the earliest Jojo Hiroshige bands, Ultra Bide LP, an undisputed classic of Japanese no-wave and experimental rock (and something I hadn't heard since college so it was fun to revisit), then swing over to the ethereal experimental folk sounds of Che-Shizu LP, then swing back to the charming and fun girls' rock PUNK of Sekiri LP, a band I'd never spent time with before but am a fan of now cause I dig their simple and direct style. A lot of ground covered!
Oh, and we restocked the Angel'in Heavy Syrup LP, in case you missed it the first time.
It's cool we got that weird shit in, but we're a punk distro right?? And man, we got so much punk and hardcore from around the world.
If you dig old reissues like obscure Finnish sounds of Dachau EP or the formerly lost recordings of Bannlyst EP, we got you. But if you're looking for the latest and greatest from around the world, from Split Tongue EP in Malaysia to Barricaded Suspects LP right here in the USA, we got those too.
If you want to hear the newest bands, of course the Ignorantes new LP is essential, and I'm loving the new band of Endless Chaos guys, MV-11 EP. Or maybe you only got faith in the tried and true: we got the new releases from Active Minds, you already know they're one of the best punk bands ever, and we got a new LP by Rovsvett, who I didn't know were still a band but they don't seem to have slowed down one bit. Or maybe you need old guys in a new band....the best singer of Slowmotions returns with his new project, 133AndSpex EP.
If you need a tape, we got No Power tapes. If you need a CD, Estado di Sitio CD is a great brutal Peruvian listen, and if you've been tracking the recent gold mine of northern Japan reissues, Gnats Sucker discography CD is your next step. And obviously we got vinyl, whether it's an instantly sold out hype machine like Gaizin EP, or something new and under the radar like Pig Sweat LP.
It's a great time to be about that Crust As Fuck Existence. There's been a lot of discussion about Terminal Filth LP in the Discord, and I agree, this is the tr00 crust pulverizer of the year. And I already had expectations for Ulcer/Disturd split CD, two bands I've been tracking for a long time now.
But the more interesting ones to me were bands I'd never heard before. Cimiterium debut EP made a big impression on me with its Bolt Thrower-via-Hellshock crust brutality. And Warkrusher tape is a lovely stench ripper.
I was also really blown away by the return of Disaffect. A personal favorite! These new records sparked a double-take and a lot of discussion at Up Against the Wall practice when I got them in. Happy to report, Disaffect is still good!!!
A bit light on the grind this time around. We got a whole slew of new Pharmacist records in, everybody's favorite Carcass worship band. But I am more of a Cripple Bastards noisecore-era kinda guy.
And finally, METAL. From the heavy strut and attitude of the kinda-hyped Warhawk LP to the blistering speed thrash of Mayhem 2xLP (ex-Poison Idea!), the ever-popular modern Japanese metalpunk infusion of Doraid collection CD to the glory years of grind/death Disharmonic Orchestra discography 2xLP, there's plenty to choose from this time around.
But my personal favorite is this Haemorrhage demo 10" LOL. I had no idea Haemorrhage started as this neanderthal shit-fi goregrind mess. This is my kind of shit!
Oh two final final things I forgot to mention.
One, this Sapporo City Hardcore DVD, featuring super-early Slang footage and several cool bands that have had high-profile reissues in the last few years: Acute, FUP, etc. In my opinion, this is a must-have for nerd collectors, as these sorts of archival video footages can be so difficult to come by. It's also what I now always put on in the background when I'm hosting my little dinner parties LOL.
And I just wanted to share this comical anecdote about Tolshock discography 2xLP from Up Against the Wall practice the other day. We always joke about crappy media formats and when I mentioned getting this in stock, Johnny brought up, "ah Tolshock...I've had that 3" CD since the late 90s...but I've never heard it, never been able to play it....finally I can hear what's on that fucking CD" LOLLLL dunno, I just thought that was so funny.
For more commentary on this stuff and more, please scope our Instagram page, where we review choice new arrivals as they come. If it sounds cool when we talk about it, it'll sound even cooler when you hear it streaming on the online store, and even cooler still when you buy the record and slap it on your turntable.
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on the way for April:
new Order record wtffff
more Dezerter records, I can't get enough!
big boxes of Euro and South American d-beat, hardcore, punk, oi
that recent Abscess collection 12" out of Iowa
big box of Japanese grindcore
more More MORE
Thanks and talk more later.
-Dan