Sverige Skivor!

Anyone can talk about Minor Threat, Gauze or Olho Seco (wait, very few people can!) but punk greatness is all about those records that most people don't care about for reasons that are beyond me. The PUKE "Back to the 30's" 7" is a great example. It's not rare or expensive, it pops up quite often and you can even find it on some 2nd hand lists (which I did). Released in 1985 on the defunct Arne Moller label, it's a 5 songs rager. It doesn't explode the same way Anti-Cimex "Raped Ass" does or the way MOB 47 "Kärnvapen Attack" 7" rocks. PUKE is more melodic (in the good sense) with a crazy singer that must have known little about melody, an interesting mix for sure. The music is really good, the record has some quiet parts ( mainly the 3rd song), an iron maiden, heavy-metalesque intro (last song) and some uber-aggressive moments (4th song) and the singer just doesn't let up. I wonder how they must have been live, it must have been a real chaos out there (and it should be!) I have yet to hear their LP but if it's anything like the 7", I'll add a note to this post. Meanwhile do yourself a favor and grab this record, the $30 you'll pay for will be worth it.

Vinyl Solution

RECORDS COLLECTING RULES aka advice to new comers

#1 : You will never own everything, know everything, much less hear everything and as time will pass by, remember everything...

#2 : Patience is the collector's best friend. Wait for the hype to die to get the records without giving up too much. A good collection can't be built overnight, it takes years and it will be much more interesting...

#3 : Learn to recognize an opportunity when you see one. Better buy that record at $15 now than spending 10 years to try to find it for $8 and ending up buying it for $50...

#4 : Stay away from the hype, collect what you really like NOT what a certain intelligentsia think is cool. Today's cool record to have/display is tommorow's crap.

#5 : Better have 200 raging records than 1500 bad ones, quality > quantity...

#6 : Know what you're talking about. Learn all about the stuff you want to collect. Dig up obscure bands/records. Believe me there's nothing worse than holding a record and not knowing if it's rare or if it's an original copy or a bootleg.

#7 : Ebay should be the last resort. Check with your friends and see what you can trade with each other. Develop your own connections through trades, messageboards or emails. Let people know what you need/have and you might be able to get your stuff at a low cost.

#8 : Don't rip people off. Word gets around quickly and once you're know as a sketchy dude, it's over. Again, let people know about your good and bad experiences. Look out for each other.

#9 : Package your records the way you'd want to receive them. You should rather wait 1 week to get a good mailer than ship the record asap in a pizza box, taking an extra 5 minutes to package a record can prevent lotsa problems.

#10 : Become a true professional collector by grading your records accordingly. Again, by providing a good grading, you'll earn a good reputation and people would be more inclined to trade with you.

#11 : We have a duty to keep the records (especially the rare ones) in the best shape possible for the next collector to enjoy them. Store your records the right way. Absolutely no damage should happen to them while they're yours.

#12 : The rules #2, #3, #4 and #6 are meant for people with limited budgets, if you use original Misfits records to play darts, please disregard them...

Am I punk yet?

I don't dress punk. While I totally appreciate the leather jacket with tons of stuff written or patches approach à la anti-cimex look or the long-sleeve band shirt, baseball cap with camo pants approach, that is simply not me. Except band shirts, you'd have more chance to see a gerbil drive a truck than see me with charged hair and tight pants. Punk is something that should be inside you and not simply something you wear because let's face it, a lot of the punk-looking dudes have close to zero knowledge when it comes to punk music. No one will ever know everything (hell, I have trouble to keep with hardcore/punk music alone!) but I can't simply understand liking a music and unable to speak about it with various references. I met spiked-hair crusties that could talk about Gorilla Biscuits or the Fix, mohawked punks that displayed the same enthusiasm as mine for NOTA or GAUZE but that is far from being the norm.

(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸o¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)

The Iran thing is crazy. I simply don't understand why everyone is so upset about them getting the nuclear bomb. Sure, I'd rather see countries working on making the world a better place but since countries like North Korea and China have the bomb and we don't seem very preoccupied by them why the hate? The big question it seems is about Iran possibly bombing Israel, wait, does anyone think this would really happen? The Iran leaders know that doing so would launch a radical answer. I believe that Iran sees what happened with Iraq (aka a country invading another one without any reasons other than oil and ego) and simply wants to prevent that. I'm not taking any side in this matter, Iran is still a country where there is close to no freedom but that doesn't mean we should bomb them (see China example...)

Vaffanculo!

Finally scored one of my personal holy grails. To say that I'm happy is clearly an understatement. How can we get so much satisfaction from such little things? Mind you, dildos seem to be just fine for that but that's besides the point. Since ebay has hit the collecting world with the delicacy of a neutron bomb, some records prices are close to third world countries gross national products. I was after that record for some times now and its going price often depressed me. Thanks to a fellow italian collector, I finally got it for way less than its "market value". WRETCHED are nothing less than gods to me, their "chaos non-musica" motto is well-known among hardcore/punk freaks. An incredibly raw sound with a wall of sound consisting of buzzsaw guitars and a pummelling drumming covered by vocals that spit anger. Indigesti ain't no feeble bastards either delivering harsh and brutal hardcore music.



The WRETCHED//INDIGESTI-split 7" EP ("Disco Autoprodutto", no label, no matrix number. Italy, 1982) is a work of art and maybe the best example of DIY ethics pulled to the max. No sleeves were ever issued, it simply comes with a stamped paper inner sleeve that most UK 7"'s seem to lack so much (hence their shitty condition), a simple sleeve that seem to remind us that the most important thing is the music. Three inserts were originally issued but mine simply has two of them (fair enough), inserts with lyrics that would probably mean jail in today's Berlusconi's Italy.

____________________________________


So HAMAS won the elections. It's funny to see people claiming they're democrats but backing down when their awaited winner loses. We'll see how they handle power, will they act as thugs? Will they do better? No one can be sure. Like the brits say "wait and see"...

Freedom? There ain't no fuckin' freedom!


Fettah

GAME ONE

Need a bit of practice and everything should be alright soon.

Peace