Nuclear Addicts

When I visited japan in 2011, one of the main reason for that trip was record shopping to check if all the stories I've heard over the years about japanese record stores were true. And they bloody were! Tons of crates full of hard to find stuff for decent prices. I gave myself a budget and I quickly spent it all in the first two shop I visited in Tokyo (Shibuya & Shinjuku's Disk Union). I was able to cross off so many japanese stuff from my wantlist that I could consider myself satisfied. In my compulsive buying, I also got a couple of amazing used shirts. One of them turned out to be too small for me (the best Judgement shirt I've ever seen) so a few days later I went back to the shop to see if I can change it. Of course I couldn't but no big deal since I knew I could sell it easily for good money back home. While there, I spotted one record that I wanted badly but couldn't find in my early visits. Confuse "nuclear addicts" flexi. In great condition and for a great price too. I was looking for it for a long time but somehow I convinced myself to do not buy it. "It's not that hard to find for this price" I told myself. Of course the price kept increasing so it took me four more years to find another copy for the price I wanted to pay for it. To make it short, the lesson is: fuck money, when you find a record you want badly and the price is alright, just buy it. I don't think this flexi needs more words. If you're reading this blog you already know how awesome it is. Primitive distorted punk/hc with great fuzzy sound and iconic artwork for a legendary band that is the definition (well, at least to me) of what japanese hardcore was in the "pre-Selfish Records" era. This is their best effort and still very influential even if it was released 31 years ago. A genre defining release for sure.

Libero di vivere, libero di morire

You might have noticed that the legendary Chaos Produzioni is back in action, officialy re-releasing almost the entire Wretched catalogue. No, the band hasn't reformed and I don't think it will happen anytime soon. But they instead decided to make all their old material available again, in the same way they did back in the early 80s: totally diy. It's good to see that more than 30 years later they are still loyal to the same attitude of their wild years! Check their facebook page if you need to contact them.

"Libero di vivere, libero di morire" is their first and only proper full lenght and for sure their most well known release. Perhaps the most iconic 80s italian hardcore release thanx to the incredible artwork made by none other than Stiv of TVOR fame. I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with it. I've listen to it for the first time in the mid 90s, when the scene was so PC that it just bored me. Sure the music was good, but the lyrics were just annoying me. Later I've learnt to love their early noisy material and the later gloomier stuff. But this one still remains my least favourite Wretched release. Over the year I've come to the point of seeing it as a transitional record from their early wild days to the more introspective later stuff. A solid effort for sure, it just not always works for me. That being said, I might not shell out the amount of money asked for a first press in these days, but I'm glad to have secured a copy of this official repress for cheap. Perfect reproduction of the original one with the insert printed on the dust sleeve. Comes on transparent vinyl for normal people or urine yellow wax for golden shower crusties.