wax and needles

Blurb

Brand new, one of the hardest bands to search both on Google and on eBay, released their first album in 2001. It was titled Your Favorite Weapon and was filled to the brim with power-chords, and pop/rock riffs. Although they stopped playing most of the tracks after their second album for many years due to a rather large change in sound, I am quite the fan of this debut from one of my favorite bands.

To celebrate it’s 10th birthday, this stunning album has been re-released and re-pressed. I was extremely glad to hear news of the re-issue, mainly because the original pressings cost about $150 second hand. Anyway – this new issue has BRAND NEW cover art (ohh god… did I really just do that?), new liner notes, online downloads for remastered album and demo tracks AND the exclusion of the song “… My Nine Rides Shotgun”. All of the previous additions are great except for the song exclusion. I’m not sure why it was excluded, since it was a bonus track for the Japanese version(?) and the vinyl edition. The song itself does have a different sort of a feel to it though I think, which could have been a factor.

The actual vinyl

With new cover art, it looks very cool – and a massive jump further on the awesome scale when you feel the embossed “your favorite weapon” near the bottom of the front cover. It then opens out for a gatefold of one picture then flipped for the other side. You’ll see what I mean in the photos. I’m not sure why they did this with such a wide canvas for them to put anything they like. They could have just as easy put the slide in lyric sheet in the inner gatefold which could be seen as making more sense. Though don’t get me wrong – it’s still not a horrid middle to a gatefold.

As I said there is a lyric sheet insert which has a photo of everyone in the band followed by lyrics and credits. The actual vinyl comes in 4 variants (just for the re-issue), I have the black but there is also supposedly 500 CLEAR, 500 LIGHT BLUE and 1000 WHITE. Before I forget, the middle of each vinyl size just has a photo of Jesse(?) jumping up with a guitar.

Tracklist 

A

1 – The Shower Scene

2 – Jude Law And A Semester Abroad

3 – Sudden Death In Carolina

4 – Mixtape

5 – Failure By Design

6 – Last Chance To Lose your Keys

B

1 – Logan To Government Center

2 – The No Seatbelt Song

3 – Seventy Times 7

4 – Secondary

5 – Magazines

6 – Soco Amaretto Lime

FREE DOWNLOAD EXTRAS

Jude Law and A Semester Abroad (2000 Demo)

Secondary (2000 Demo)

Logan to Government Center (2000 Demo)

The Shower Scene (2000 Demo)

Logan to Government Center (2000 Throwaway Demo)

Last Chance to Lose Your Keys (2000 Throwaway Demo)

Magazines (2000 Throwaway Demo)

$-$$

Really depends where you get it.

Ebay comes up around $40 to $70 for the re-issue. But if you go to shopradiocast they were still selling them for $30 last time I was on there. So just shop around and see what is in your price range. Though it depends if it goes out of print soon – and if it does, then expect the price to jump very high.

Blurb

It was only after forming in 1991 and releasing 5 albums did  AFI manage to finally accumulate much commercial success. This is a little surprising considering the quality of their first few albums. AFI’s music has always jumped around a bit in feel and genre. This has become very apparent after the electronic experimentation that was Sing the Sorrow, the very dark yet slightly more pop December underground and the even slightly poppier(?) Crash Love which was released in 2009.

The Art Of Drowning kicks off with the ‘warm up’ Initiation, then kicks off fast and loud with The Lost Souls. It then sprints through the rest of the vinyl in the special way that fast and loud AFI were well known for. I should also say that included on side A is the vinyl only track Dream Of Waking also makes an appearance as the last track on that side. This isn’t the first time that AFI have had vinyl only tracks. For example a few tracks are left off the CD version of the Reservoir Dogs inspired Answer That and Stay Fashionable.

Although I love this record as a whole, I must say that side 2 really has some gems. Although Days Of The Phoenix is rather over played by certain demographics – the song itself still remains rather great. Then it rolls through Catch a Hot One to Wester, 6 To 8, The Despair Factor and finally maybe one of my favorite AFI songs – Morningstar. 

The actual vinyl 

This is a single sleeve vinyl. The cover is the main album artwork which actually looks awesome in such a large artwork size.  The back side is a continuation of the front image coupled with the track listing divided in half for each side of the vinyl.

Inside is the vinyl slid into a normal paper sleeve. An awesome lyric sheet is included, this sheet has lyrics one side and thank you’s and production credits on the opposite side along with the winged demon seen on many early AFI releases.

As for the actual vinyl, the center sticker has the tracklist and which side on one sticker and the other has previously mentioned winged demon. As for the actual colour of the vinyl – I have the purple marbled. However there are MANY MANY variants. All of which I will try to list. I’ve taken them all from discogs.com, so I’m not sure if they’re all official or if there are more or not. Regardless I’ll list them now:

- Blue Marbled

- Fuchsia Marbled

- Grey Marbled

- Maroon Marbled

- Purple Marbled

- Smoke Grey (which was the limited edition)

- and also possibly just a plain black

Tracklist

A

1 Initiation

2 The Lost Souls

3 The Nephilim

4 Ever And A Day

5 Sacrifice Theory

6 Of Greetings And Goodbyes

7 Smile

8 Story At Three

9 Dream Of Waking (Special vinyl only track)

B

1 The Days of the Pheonix

2 Catch A Hot One

3 Wester

4 6 To 8

5 The Despair Factor

6 Morningstar

$ - $$

I found it for around $25 – 40 on ebay. Just depending on which variant you want. It’s also still in press from what I know so it shouldn’t be too hard to get a hold of it. And it’s definitely worth getting a hold of if you like earlier AFI.

Blurb

La Dispute started in 2004 and by 2008 they released their debut album, Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega And Altair to a rapidly growing number of fans. Fast forward three years and their sophomore album Wildlife was thrown into their fans excitedly shaking hands like an 11 year old unwrapping a nintendo 64.

With a play time of just under an hour it’s an exhilarating ride that throws you from 0 to 100 km/h and back again before you can realise you’ve just drooled all over your fan made t-shirt.  What really surprised me about this album was how many times you could come back to it and keep finding amazing bits you’d missed. May that be from certain tracks you hadn’t quite seen the beauty in, or the abyss like lyrics (saying ‘deep’ lyrics would be pretty cliche’).  From St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues, to the crazily popular King Park, to I See Everything and a Broken Jar – you may really start to wonder what aspect of life is missing from this album. From dilapidated buildings to accidental child murder, to cancer and schizophrenia – all the dark parts of the alleyway you dare not trek down are not only illuminated but thrust at you with crashing drums and haunting lyrics. I dare not rant more about this incredible hour of auditory bliss – but if you haven’t heard of “La Dispute”, I think now may be a good time to give them a listen.

The actual vinyl

This is another fairly straight forward gatefold double LP. Front cover has the album art – without the fancy Wildlife title which is a sticker on the plastic wrapping. The first side of the inner fold has a picture and the credits from the record. The second side has the large symmetrical flower which serves as the icon for La Dispute at the current moment anyway. In the center of the flower has written – To (intentionally scratched out word) for everything. And the back has the back angle of the front artwork followed by the track listing. Each line symbolizes a new side to the record, if you’d like to know which songs are on which record. The vinyl itself comes in plain paper sleeves and has the roman numeral for which side of the vinyl it is. So from I – IV for those a bit over tired. Also included is a card for online download and what I think is the booklet from the CD which contains the lyrics.

As with the first LP – This has MANY variants. I’ll list them below. They may not be 100% – if you have any corrections just let me know. For the “record” (heh), I have the plain black version since I was poor at the time of great importance.

20 Black (Test Pressings)
250 Clear / Clear (Only in Deluxe)
500 Dark Yellow / Clear
500 Dark Red / Clear
750 Dark Green / Clear
1000 Gray / Clear
2000 Black / Black

Tracklist 

1 – A – I

1 – A Departure

2 – Harder Harmonies

3 – St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues

4 – Edit Your Hometown

2 – B – II

1 – A Letter

2 – Safer In The Forest/Love Song For Poor Michigan

3 – The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit

3 – C – III

1 – A Poem

2 – King Park

3 – Edward Benz, 27 Times

4 – I See Everything

4 – D – IV

1 – A Broken Jar

2 – All Our Bruised Bodies And The Whole Heart Shrinks

3 – You And I In Unison

$$ – $$$

This just really depends on when you get it, how lucky you are and which variant you want. It ranges from anywhere between $27 to $200 for the Limited edition Clear vinyl. All I can say is good luck – because it’s definitely worth it.