mercoledì 21 febbraio 2018

Sistema Para La Violencia

When Discogs surfaced in the record market, I've immediately quit using eBay for buying. I was tired of auctions that ended for way more than the real value of a record, shill bidding and all the other bullshits you had to deal with the infamous auction site. In its early days, Discogs seemed to be a more fair place to buy rare records from. Almost everything was priced honestly and you didn't have to deal with boring bid fights anymore. Like all the good things, it didn't last for too long. Once a record was sold for a high price, the next copies were of course priced way more expansive. It didn't matter if they were in worse conditions or missed something. Prices skyrocked over the last 10 years. And to say fair grading disappered is an understatement. But, overall, it seems like good deals online are still out there if you are patient. Recently a first press of Herpes "medellin" 7" popped up for an extremely good price. It was from a new seller with zero feedback and  it was graded VG/G+ so I was a bit sceptical about the real conditions. But the price was too good not to take a chance. Not only the record took only three days to land in my mailbox but, to my surprise, it was one of those rare cases when a record is not simply conservatively graded, it's totally undergraded! While I was expecting something totally thrashed & partied and a few pops and tons of surface noise were expected at least, it turned out to be in pristine conditions and it plays perfectly. Couldn't ask for more, especially for one of my most sought-after records of the last 10+ years. I've already talked about this EP here, so I won't waste more words about it. I'll just add that it was a real pain in the ass to find a proper plastic sleeve for the stupid oversized cover. Never understood why colombian bands/labels printed such big covers....
At this point I've almost completed my medellin hc/punk collection. I just miss 5 eps. Please get in touch if you can help, I'd love to finish it this year.

mercoledì 14 febbraio 2018

GRIEF interview 2000

Not a huge fan of sludge but I do really enjoy the big names from the 90s. And Grief, along with Corrupted, were the undisputed kings of this sub-genre back then. Taken from #2 of canadian 'zine Infection that came out around 2000.

venerdì 9 febbraio 2018

Ruido Unidad Ideologia

You know, a scene is solid when even an obscure compilation that totally lacks of the classic big names is flawless. V.A. "Ruido Unidad Ideologia" lp, presumably self-released by the bands in 1991, is the perfect example of the aforementioned theory. I've been praising old & modern mexican hardcore for a long time, but this compilation explains it all. Like old italian hc/punk, all the bands from this scene sound unique and with that peculiar urgency that makes a hc band great. Even the most obscure ones. Here are featured four bands with 3 tracks each: Clamor Inexorable, KK Core, Libertad Para Todos & Adictos Al Ruido. Not only this is the only appearance on wax for all of them. It's also their only release ever. I know KK Core put out a killer demo and I've been told that there's an Adictos Al Ruido rehearsal tape flowing around (if you have more infos, please share them!). But this lp is the only official artefact left for the posterity. Yet, all the four bands featured here bloody rule. Not only they rule, they all also have a peculiar sound that don't make them sound like the clone of any other of their contemporary country mates. One of my fave compilation ever, glad I finally scored a copy for a decent price. Not sure about the pressing infos, but I've been told recently that almost all mexican old records were pressed in a quantity of 1000 copies since the pressing plants wouldn't simply press in lesser number. Comes with a nice inserts with all the infos you need.