Scrape and Scatter

Discussing Music

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FRIENDSHIP – UNDERCURRENT

So, for a while, along with how I've been cataloging these, I was also only listening to records in the order that I bought them, a practice I've wisely abandoned. But when that was my process, I was really excited to get to Undercurrent as it's not on Spotify and I probably wore out my bandcamp listens. I was introduced to Friendship by a buddy of mine, Cory, and given his repertoire, I should've been prepared for an onslaught of fierce, technical hardcore, but I wasn't. I picked this record up when adding the previous Erdve posts to my collection and figured I might as well browse the Season of Mist distro to see what else was in there when I dug up this Southern Lord release. Due to its absence from streaming, and the fact that it's an absolute ripper of an album, this is probably the record I drop the needle on the most.

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ERDVE - VAITOJIMAS

So since I was already in the Season of Mist shop picking up the newest Erdve, why not snag the one that go me there? And only 100 copies of this silver Vaitojimas made? How could the rest of the world be so foolish to just let them sit there for three years? Do I have any more rhetorical questions for myself? Apparently.

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ERDVE – SAVIGAILA

I really enjoyed Erdve‘s Vaitojimas, but I kind of forgot about them for a bit. When it finally occurred to me to revisit them, I was welcomed with a new single and the promises of a new record. Pressing play on “Lavondėmės” I immediately thought, “Yup, I’m buying this record.”

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BLOODLET – ENTHEOGEN (again)

I’ll reiterate, I’m posting these in the order I purchased them. I bring it up again, ad nauseam (and surely not the last time), because this is the copy I actually received the first time I ordered Entheogen. I contacted the seller to point out the mistake and when they said they were shipping out the other variant and a return label I just told them, “Don’t bother with the return label. I was considering getting both anyway, so I’ll just pay for the version I already have, too.” You could search this blog for Bloodlet or Entheogen and there are several posts describing what this record means to, or how it shaped me, probably repeating myself several times, so I’ll spare any add-ons here.

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LLNN – UNMAKER

I’m embarrassed to admit it, though LLNN will praise their marketing team, but I pre-ordered Unmaker because of a video snippet of a guy in a welders mask beating a pipe with a mallet. I mean, I was previously a fan of LLNN, The Psyke Project, et al, so I knew it was going to be heavy, but I was impressed with the lengths they were going to for different dense soundscapes. Also looked like they were a modern version of the dudes in The Usual Suspects when they stormed the boat. This is when I sort of went off the deep end collecting so I just had to get the rarest version, even though I would have to pay international shipping rates.

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YAUTJA - THE LURCH

I kind of feel bad saying this because I’m definitely going to tag Yautja, and also, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but I almost didn’t listen to this album because of the cover art. It looks like someone handed a senile Pablo Picasso a pack of crayons after he was forced to watch an Alien and Blade Runner double feature. I guess he’d probably be more likely to paint a nude, cubed Ripley, but you get my gripe. Whatever, shit’s subjective. Anyway, a couple of singles and some peoples’ opinions who I respect later and I’m giving The Lurch a chance. Actually, judging an album by its cover would suffice in this case. The chaos and artistry of the Alien invading a Picasso landscape with a superior AI tasked with keeping shit together, in this instance, let’s say behind the kit, is sort of what this album sounds like.

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IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT - ALPHAVILLE

IT wasn't enough that I found my favorite record of 2020 a year after its release at a local record store. I had to browse discogs for a colored version. What a I found was a comment (I never read the damn comments) under the white copy that said "These are still available at Revolver. You're welcome." or something to that effect. Over a year later, IT would seem there are still some copies for sale. Very shortly after buying this, I read an article about how one record plant believes that white vinyl produces their noisiest records. I vowed to never buy another white vinyl. I think that lasted a couple of days as I'm not nearly as discerning as I hoped to be.

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BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS – NIGHTMARE WITHDRAWALS

…so I decided to pick up both, listen to them right away, and immediately devalue them. At least this was the end of my ordeal with collecting Nightmare Withdrawals by Blindfolded and Led to the Woods. Then Total Dissonance Worship threw another wrench in the monkey, maybe because I made some lame crack about Oregon and Maine, but whatever the case, the story doesn’t end here…

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BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS – NIGHTMARE WITHDRAWALS

After getting (what would become) my favorite album of 2021 shipped all the way from New Zealand, Portland (doesn’t matter which, they’re both closer than NZ) based Total Dissonance Worship decided they were going to repress Nightmare Withdrawals on a couple different variants. Well, I like colored vinyl, so now the decision is which version of the new Blindfolded and Led to the Woods record do I want to add to the original black pressing… ?

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THURSDAY – WAITING

Moving with records is difficult, but I’m back with a new set up. I mentioned more than once, and will say it again in the future I’m sure, that I’m attempting to share these in the order I paid for them. Due to pressing issues, this one should have gone up between SOM and Juggernaut Drunk. Thanks to my inefficiency and being more than a year backlogged on this shit, it’s only a few posts behind.

I’m pretty sure I discovered Thursday through a Victory stream or mp3 of “Cross Out they Eyes” while using the super speedy T1 connection at my friend’s campus apartment to download stuff like Burnt by the Sun off Napster. I think it took me two or 3 years to realize they put out an album before Full Collapse. When I finally got to Waiting, the lo(wer)-fi recordings didn’t bother me as I found the songs to be my favorite material by them. While listening to this album today I still think it’s nearly perfect front to back. If “Cross Out the Eyes” was on this record then I would have all of my favorite Thursday songs neatly packaged on one release.

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BONE DANCE – BONE DANCE

I only found out about Bone Dance because their bass player was filling in on a Gaza tour and his temporary bandmates were singing the praises of their substitute’s full time band. A year or two later, I got to see it for myself, which is probably when I should’ve picked up this record. Instead, I waited nearly 10 years after its release, sifted through some of my past AOTY lists, was reminded about this burly raucous monster, and ordered it from Vertigo Music in Grand Rapids.

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BLOODLET – ENTHEOGEN

I see the phrase “my holy grail” get thrown around a lot in the vinyl collecting community. I wouldn’t exactly call Entheogen that for me, but if I ever did browse used sections before I officially started collecting records, it was definitely because I was trying to find some version of this album. Now I’m just on a very loose journey to grab every variant of this record. I know it’s pretty easily obtainable on discogs, but I’m in no rush.

The funny thing is I hated the CD when I first bought it some 25 or so years ago: the music, the vocals, the artwork, everything. I tried trading it to friends, but nobody wanted it. So I just forced it on myself, and still nothing. Then a drummer friend of mine told me to pay attention to the drums; the off-beat snare, the odd time signatures, etc. I wasn’t fully invested yet, but Bloodlet started to make a little more sense after that suggestion. Then I sat down with the lyrics and instead of insisting on putting a snap together model with glue, I let all the pegs fall into their place and, like I was on my own entheogenic adventure, a whole new world opened up for me. Even the artwork (created by a teenage Aaron Turner) became my favorite cover of all time, and still holds that title. Without Entheogen I may never get into Coalesce, Isis, Botch, Dillinger, Neurosis, and every other band in a subgenre that extends from technical and/or lumbering punk/hardcore/metal. It was definitely a lesson in absorbing art, one I still try to employ today, but it’s so difficult now with the increased options and decreased time.

Another thing I read a lot in the “community” is “everything sounds so much better on vinyl,” and maybe I don’t have the right set up, or maybe I’m just not an audiophile, but I really don’t hear much difference. However, this remastered version released by A389 is the best I’ve ever heard these recordings. It’s a soothing thump to the chest and then bursting waves that flow out to every extremity.

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WANDERER – LIBERATION FROM A BRUTAL EXISTENCE

This purchase was kind of a response to the record store visit in my last post. With no used records post-1990, even though the store specializes in punk and “scary metal,” and carrying all the most common brand-new album and repress variants (probably not their fault), I left a little defeated and disappointed that I didn’t have a new music haven. So after the two-hour drive home, I immediately sat down at the computer and thought, “Who have I been enjoying a lot lately and has something interesting and/or rare on vinyl?”

Wanderer made a fool out of me, though. I listened to Liberation from a Brutal Existence digitally 2-3 times before my copy arrived, but I guess I wasn’t familiar enough with it. The first time I put the needle down, I left the record player on 33 RPM. Since Wanderer occasionally alternates between high screams and low bellows, and switches speeds from fast to faster and back, I didn’t notice the record was supposed to be playing at 45 RPM until about a song and a half in.

I eventually listed this album as number fifteen on my favorites of 2021 list, but, on any given moody day, it could be top ten.

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FUGAZI – IN ON THE KILL TAKER

Right before I moved between seventh and 8th grade, a friendly neighborhood rival became my best friend, and we shared quite a few coming of age adventures in those short months before I took off for a new town. This was also the summer of the second Lollapalooza, so he was aware of, and told me about bands like Rage Against the Machine and Tool. He was also there when I was introduced to Bolt Thrower and Morgoth (he was paying attention to creating a role playing character) and after I left he dubbed me a Sinister tape. Point is, dude was a pivotal person when it came to me discovering new music. One of my last days at the local mall together, he pointed to a Fugazi album and informed me about this “French punk band” I should check out. I saw the Washington Monument on the cover and it didn’t occur to me that he might be wrong, but rather that either a French band used “our” monument for their album cover, or, since the French sent us one of our other most famous monuments, maybe they had a similar phallic monument in their country. The irony is this all occurred while we were in a DC suburb.

After I moved,  in the handful of months before we saw one another gain, as well as unbeknownst to each other, we both got super into skateboarding. I even met a crew of skaters who showed me other Fugazi albums. Anyway, when my buddy came down to visit he was armed with his new deck, a sweet sense of size 40 and XXL style (on a 110 pound, soaking wet, 13-year-old), and, most importantly, a VHS recording of Headbangers Ball. We would throw it on and mosh with each other and the two futon chairs in my TV room. He accidentally left the tape behind and I wore that thing out. We saw each other a few more times, the last being when we were 16, and then we lost touch for about 25 years. When I moved back east not too long ago, we reconnected, both still with skateboards in hand. He has no recollection of introducing me to any of that music, though.

I picked this record up not too far from where my parents relocated that some 25+ years ago. It was a hasty decision as I was being pushed out before closing because the owner “had somewhere to be,” but I’m happy to have this Dischord Records re-issue of a cherished relic in my collection.

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VARIOUS ARTISTS – TOP GUN (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK)

This was an impulse/”I-feel-bad-for-hanging-out-in-your-store-for-so-long” buy. I once found a Top Gun Soundtrack in the used section at a record store in Asheville three years ago and thought to myself, “If I collected records, I would definitely buy this just so I could have a vinyl version of the first tape I ever owned.” About 6 months later, there was a radio station-owned used copy of the pre-censored Appetite for Destruction (my second tape) at a shop literally the day after I saw Guns ‘n Roses for the first time and I still didn’t take it as a sign.

As I’ve mentioned, I moved out to the sticks, so when restrictions began to loosen I visited some new-to-me record stores, but one at a time per trek back to civilization. My first trip was successful when I picked up that Imperial Triumphant album. My second expedition to a record store in my new area, though still 2 hours from my house, was less rewarding. The clerk (perhaps owner) seemed nice, knowledgeable, and genuinely appreciative to have someone in the store: the exact opposite of how record store clerks are portrayed in movies and yelp reviews. However, it was clear this shop was interested in mostly pre-80s rock albums on the hippie cusp. I’m sure it’s a great store and the original 20th century collectors would appreciate the hell out of it, but I just don’t have any of those titles on my want list as I don’t know (like) much about that era beyond Zeppelin, The Doors, The Stones, and Jimi. Anyway, I browsed for a while hoping I might find just one album that spoke to me. I hastily grabbed this soundtrack remembering how many times I relived my faux pas in Asheville with a smirk now that I was getting into collecting. I felt accomplished for having found something amidst all my double-backing through the store thinking I was wasting this guy’s time. So proud of myself for validating my existence in his world that I forgot to inspect the quality. Not that I expect a used copy of 80s Cold War propaganda to be pristine, but there’s kind of a big crease in the cover that I didn’t notice until I got it back to my car. Still, it’s kind of funny to me that I now have what 6 or 7-year-old me considered to be the heaviest song ever written in “Danger Zone” (a  year later, the next devastatingly crushing track I loved was another soundtrack banger, Bob Seger’s “Shakedown”). I did play about half of that first Kenny Loggins song for nostalgia and Archer purposes, but I can’t imagine this record getting a full spin while in my possession.

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JUGGERNAUT DRUNK – POSEIDON MINING CO.

I met Dave waaaaaay back in college, probably my third sophomore or first junior year. His twin brother was one of the few people on campus who had tattoos, so he was easy to pick out. He also ended up taking every significant promo and live photo of my band. Anyway, my roommate became fast friends with the twins, so I got to reap the benefits of their friendship: some of the best house parties I’ve ever been to, but more importantly, getting to regularly hang out with two really great people. They were also into punk music, which is always a bonus. One of Dave’s bands started around the same time mine did. I always hoped to share the stage with them, usually because they got better gigs than us, playing in front of easy-to-please drunken college students at whatever the new premier spot was in the bar scene, while we struggled to find a DIY venue or middle school to house us while the crust punk and screamo kids blankly tolerated us with complete indifference… if we were lucky. Dave eventually moved back to his hometown area after college, but kept playing music. I’m not quite sure how Juggernaut Drunk formed, but when I saw they would be releasing their third album on vinyl I told Dave to keep me in the loop. Their music reminds me of something you might hear on the Clerks soundtrack, which is fitting since they're from the same state, just the opposite end. I’m not including Dave’s note because I agree with him, but because it was so fuckin’ cool of him to send it with the record. So I’m stoked to have another record by a friend who stuck with it and I hope there are more to come.

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SOM – THE FALL

Amidst the excitement of rare records, exclusive colors, etc., I almost forgot why I started collecting in the first place: to support musician friends, or at least artists I kinda know, during their downtime of the pandemic. So I went back to my list… When I took my first residence west of the Mississip, I met Justin at an Adai/City of Ships show. I’d seen him around at other venues, opening for several touring bands, but this was the first time we interacted. I believe we talked about pseudo-grind bands of the early-mid 00s. We kept running into each other as my circle in a new town got a little bigger and kept intersecting with his. Eventually, it got to the point where he busted my balls quite often about my questionable taste in music. Joke’s on him, though, because I really like SOM. I still have yet to see Justin perform with SOM (or even Caspian), but fingers crossed it will be soon. Until then, I still love seeing him at old haunts whenever I’m back in town and catching up on all the projects he’s working on… and getting hazed for my taste.