This series is meant to be a guide for vinyl collectors who want to build 

a collection of an specific artist / band. In about 3 parts and steps I will show

the best ways and tools to build a specific collection while saving money, effort and time.

Introduction

So what is this meant to be? In short term it is just a guide on how to collect records of an specific artist or band with help of the internet. You may now say "Why would a need a guide for this?" and I can see that it may seem unnecessary on the first sight. The reason why I'm doing this and why I don't find it unnecessary is my personal experience. When I started my first collection of a band it was quite a mess and I didn't know very much about it. So many records, so many variants, represses and so on. Beside that I didn't know which record was worth quite a lot and which wasn't. This guide may help you if you're thinking about starting a collection and hopefully prevent you from spending too much money, time and nerves on that. Collecting is a hobby and a hobby should be fun. So lets start.

Choices

Before you even think of buying or trading something you should of course decide whose artist or whose bands records you want to collect. Your favorite band is always a good one to start with but if this doesn't work out for any reason (no vinyl releases or something like that) you may find another one that you think is worth collecting. This should really be the easiest part of it.

After you decided what to collect you should think about the probable scale of the collecting. This means that there are different ways of collecting. Let me try to put them together:

• Variant Collecting: You really collect everything that has been released so far (on vinyl). Every LP, EP, Split and so on. You don't want just one piece of every record, you want all variants, editions etc. that have existed. This is the most expensive and probably most time consuming way of doing it but probably also the most satisfying one. 

• One-Of-Each:  This is probably the most "common" one and is a good option if you want to start a second / additional collection besides another big collection. You get one record of every record the artist released so far. You're free to choose if you want certain variants (if there are different ones) or if you don't care about such things. Depending on the size of the discography this may be a easy thing to accomplish but collecting a certain variant of every record can add quite a twist if there are some more rare records.

• Just-The-Essentials: This is a collection "light". You only acquire the essential records by the artist. You still may want a special variant of the records you want to acquire but in fact this is only about getting the most important records of this artist.

Of course it is completely up to you what you choose to do. You can also mix up these "styles" of collecting, e.g. by just collecting the 7"s by variants and getting only one copy of the LPs. This is your decision although you should decide before you seriously start collecting because you will try to keep an eye out for the items you'll want to collect. So if you don't know if you really need something you may miss some rare items because you formerly didn't want to collect that item. There are still some additional options that you might also consider. If you say you want EVERYTHING, what does that really mean? The following things should also be thought through:

• Do I collect compilations? Some artists have songs on compilations that were released on vinyl. Do these count for your collection? If you do variant collecting, do you also have to collect all variants of those too? Do you only want to collect compilations that have unreleased / additional songs on it?

• Do I collect associated artists? Some artists or band members have sideprojects or former bands. Do you want to collect all the stuff by those as well? Again, do you want to collect variants for those too?

The following step will help you to decide if your decision depends on factors like money and time. Although I recommend to take it easy. Of course you may want to hurry in some cases (e.g. Preorders) but you shouldn't spend money you don't have or make this a marathon for you. You should try to feel happy about every single record with which you come close to completion. And to point it out once: These aren't the only ways of doing it but if you want to do it "seriously" and want to have a complete collection then this might be the best ways.

Preparation

At this point you already got an idea of what you might want to do and what you don't want to do. This step is the linking piece between the choices and the beginning of the actual core part of the collection - the collecting.
As I already pointed out before there are quite often several variants of one record on different colors or with different artwork. No matter if you already chose to just collect one of each of if you already know that you want to do the full thing - this step helps to get an overall look over the discography and all the stuff you may want or don't want to collect.

1. Discography Overview: The first reasonable step is to take a look at the discography in its entire size. You may want to check this out on Wikipedia or a special Bandwiki but these informations are often unprecise or not complete at all. I recommend that you take a look at the bands / artists official website and maybe the website of the label that the artist is signed on. If you want to keep the the view you can transcript the list of releases into a spreadsheet or a textdocument where you can later also add the variants and other usefull informations. Note that this is not necessary to keep track of your collection. I will show you ways to do this in another part of this series. 
2. Variant Overview / Pressing information: Now that you know which records exist you still maybe have no idea which of these releases are even out on vinyl nor you know if there are multiple variants, editions or reissues. For this step we will use the first tool that you should definitely bookmark in your browser: Discogs ! Go there and type in the name of your band / artist. If your artist / band hasn't just started their career a week ago and if they a record out on any label, Discogs should know. The first thing to do now is comparing your discography that you looked up with the listing on Discogs. Is there something missing or does Discogs maybe even seem know more thant the bands / artists website? Anyway most information on Discogs is reliable and useful which I can say from experience. Often there are bootlegs or similar unofficial releases which won't be listed on any official website. Discogs will most probably know them. As you probably already have seen, Discogs also knows most variants. To be clear: Those informations are sometimes not complete and rarely also wrong but if you see a mistake you can correct it as soon as you have up signed up, which you should definitely do! The best part of Discogs isn't the pressinginformation. It's the ability to buy or sell every listed record which will make collecting quite comfortable but this is also something for another part of this series.
   As already noted, the pressing information on Discogs are not always correct or complete. So for this step we will need some more reliable information that you may copy into your spreadsheet.
   A simple Googlesearch will help you out there. Type in the album name and maybe also the artists name and add "pressing info". What you now get depends on the prominence of the artist but also on the label. The label is the place where you want to go now. Most indipendent labels provide you with the pressing info of the records they put out. Every label handels it their own way but you will eventually find the info pretty fast on their website. If the label doesn't provide any information, doens't have a website or something else you may only look at your other searchresults. Often you will find threads in boards where other recordcollectors asked the same question we do know. You will keep the name of these boards in mind as you will most probably read about them again in the next part.
   If you finally found the info then copy it into your spreadsheet or set a bookmark so you can access the information again later.

Variants on Discogs

Pressing Info provided by a Label

Now that you have an idea of what you're about to do you should decide which way you want to choose. If you realized that six albums with twelve variants each are just too much to collect you can still choose the variant you like the most, acquire it and go the way of each-of-one. Although you should decide this right now as the next part will already go a lot deeper and you will begin to buy / trade and actively search for the items.

See you for the next part!

Everything the avid vinyl collector should keep an eye on in April! Note that this gets sometimes updated when I forgot something or something gets announced pretty shortly.

LPs / 12"

4/1   Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else (Carpark / Preorders)
4/1   Manchester Orchestra - Cope (Sony / Preorder)
4/1   The Used - Imaginary Enemy (Hopeless / Preorders US | EU/UK)
4/3   Anne - Pulling Chain (Run For Cover / Preorder)
4/14 More Than Life - What's Left Of Me (Holy Roar / Preorder) (NOTE: Act fast on this!!!)
4/15 Cult Leader - Nothing For Us Here (Deathwish / Preorder)
4/19 Makthaverskan - II (Run For Cover / Preorder)
4/22 The Menzingers - Rented World (Epitaph / Preorder)

7"s

4/15  Battle Lines - Colonies (No Sleep / Preorders US | EU/UK)

Every week I visit my local recordstore to pick exactly one record. I try to buy stuff by bands and artists of whom I don't already own something or which I neglected in my vinylcollection to that point. I have some extramoney put aside for this "project". The goal is to support the record store, make my collection a bit more versatile and to discover new and great music. I will feature this every week constantly but I may take some days for me to finish the entry. Support your recordstore, too!

The Choice

 

For this first time I wanted something "special" and I already had some ideas of what I may want but as this isn't a webshop you don't always have everything available and this is why you have to dig through the crates which I personally enjoy very much. A few weeks ago I saw a copy of Comeback Kids "Turn It Around" and as I always wanted this record I choose to look after that one but unfortunately it was already gone. I can't blame the buyer as this record is essential I guess. Throughout the digging I pulled out a copy of Modern Life Is War's "My Love, My Way", which is the only album missing by MLIW in my collection. I also put aside a copy of Handsome's selftitled debut (the 6131 version) and the also selftitled debut album by The Tidal Sleep. I was about to take the MLIW when I saw the sign with the words Small Brown Bike on it. Beside some other bands that I wanted to look out for, this was my absolute favourite on my wantlist for this project.

I don't know Small Brown Bike for such a long time but when I was recommended to check them out I was totally blown away by their first three albums. Especially "Our Own Wars" hit me hard and so it was clear that I would take this first. As they had every other album except "The River Bed" plus the split with The Casket Lottery I was really tempted to buy more but as I only had money for one I had to choose. I guess I won't be able to resist buying more of these in the next weeks. 

The Record

Well, as I already said this is a record that I'm not that familiar with meaning that I don't have any stories to tell about what that album means to me or something. I received a recommendation for this band, checked them out, was totally amazed and decided to listen more carefully to their material. So I did. It became clear pretty fast that "Our Own Wars" would definitely become my favorite album by this band although I enjoy every other album as well. "Fell & Found" is the only album for me that falls out of their typical sound but even though it is slightly different I think that it is still really enjoyable.  I already said to much about other albums by Small Brown Bike.
To me it seems that this band didn't catch that much attention like other bands of their time and genre do. Maybe this has something to do with the new Emo / 90s Indie hype that is happening right now but I don't really know. In fact it doesn't really matter. When you listen to this album in particular and you're familiar with most bands that are around right now in genres like Post-Hardcore or Post-Grunge you won't be able to neglect that many bands seem to draw certain influences from this band. I instantly thought of the earlier Make Do And Mend. This whole record to me sounds like the roots of every recent band I currently dig and it always makes me happy to discover more of these roots.
Besides the music itself this is of course also about the vinyl and I guess I had luck with that. Not only that the record is in prestine condition, it also isn't the most recent press but one of the two variants from the 5th press. To be more precise it turned out to be the purple mix (/160). The colour is really beautiful and fits the artwork quite nice. I'm really happy No Idea still presses all the material by Small Brown Bike and also puts some effort into the execution instead of just releasing an unnumbered pressing of black records.

Till next week!

Introduction

When this release was announced by No Sleep Records I was happy for more than one reason. First of all I was really looking forward to new material by Daisyhead who had a pretty convincing awesome debut last year with their EP "I Couldn't Face You".  Although I was even happier that No Sleep put out that split as this already indicated that there is a lot more to come from these dudes. Last but not least I was really happy that the other band on that split is Have Mercy. They already have a LP out and gained a lot of attention, especially last year. So how did it actually came out?

The Music

Yes, I have been praising Daisyhead a lot in the introduction and to state my point I say that "Dishonest" is the strongest and catchiest track on that split. The track is a proof that there is even more potential than you could already hear on the debut. Their second track "Wonder" neither disappoints but comparing it to the EP and the first track it is rather different.
Despite all the praising and compliments towards Daisyhead I must admit that the tracks by Have Mercy also caught me, although I wasn't really into this band before. "Pete Rose and Babe Ruth" has a really powerful chorus that impressed me (I'm definitely getting their latest LP now!). I can't really compare them but when I heard that song I had to think of Jimmy Eat World although it may inly be a similar vibe. "Pawn Takes Rook" keeps things quiet in the beginning but builds up to a very powerful bridge in the middle. If anyone lovesick would ask me for a good band to check out I'd reply with Have Mercy only because of that song. Most songs of that sort are either really cheesy or just too whiny but this one caught me.

The Vinyl

When you thought that newcomers like Daisyhead and not so much known artists like Have Mercy (in comparison to some other bands on No Sleep) would receive a smaller release with small pressing numbers and pretty plain colors for the vinyl you are definitely wrong with this one. With a total pressing number of 1100 pressed records (+125 from the No Sleep Subscription) and a screened B-Side, this became an awesome release. I received my copy on clear (/300) and the screenprint looks gorgeous on it. I honestly think about getting the other colors as well on this one! No Sleep did a great job on this release in every way.

The Verdict

I think that I already stated my point. For most people this will be a suprisingly good release as they maybe didn't know Daisyhead yet. Although this was one of the best releases for 2014 yet and I can't wait to hear new material from both bands. If you have a few bucks left, get this!!

Get this release HERE.

9/10

Introduction

As a huge boysetsfire-fan I was beyond stoked when I heard that this album would get a proper reissue on vinyl. Actually it was the album with which I got to know boysetsfire as it was released in 2006 just before I first heard about them (I was about 14 I guess) and they introduced me properly to Post-Hardcore. This isn't a classical review since I already know this album for 8 years and listened to it constantly since. Although it may be interesting to take a look at this album from the end of the first existence of boysetsfire, especially in comparison with their latest album.

The Music

As I already said, I can probably even recite all the speechsamples and spoken words on this album, so the focus in this part is more on the album in the context of boysetsfires discography. To sum it up it was the last album they did before they split up in 2007. In the time before this album boysetsfire had a pretty rough time as a band since their experience with the major label Wind Up (a label that is connected to Sony BMG) was horrible for them. You can already feel that throughout the album as it is a lot angrier and chaotic then its predecessor "Tomorrow Come Today". We will come back to this point later in the part where I take a closer look at the execution of this release.
Anyway, this album in retrospective reminds me on what boysetsfire were when they released "After The Eulogy" which is, in the opinion of most fans, probably their best album. Where "Tomorrow Comes Today" got softer and even more melodic than everything they did before, "The Misery Index.." hits with unexpected hardness and chaos. Of course it is still a boysetsfire album and so we still can enjoy Nathans clean vocals, especially on songs like "Empire" or "Deja Coup". Speaking of the last named song, this album is not only one that goes back to the roots but also tries something new at the same time. In "Deja Coup" you can hear a trumpet pretty clearly. This is quite unusual for an album of this genre but as "Deja Coup" is one of my favorites from this album I'd say it worked out very well. "Final Communiqué" is a song that you could title as payback. Take a closer look at the lyrics and you will definitely know who is meant when it is said "we'll bite off the fingers that feed us your shit / prepare for judgment in black masks with hearts of fire": Wind Up and all the people involved in their commercialization. For me this is the same power that you already felt while listening to "After The Eulogy".
One thing that is probably good to point out at this time is that I personally enjoy "Tomorrow Come Today" a lot and that I enjoy every single boysetsfire record despite the fact that I maybe displayed this album as the weakest that they did but that is not my intention. You can hear the forces beyond the label in this album and many people disliked it and the band wasn't satisfied with it either but they still brought an overall good album with some killer tracks on it. But this is another topic and will have to wait for a later time in 2014..

The Vinyl

The reissue was done by End Hits Records which is label based in Germany and led by Nathan Gray and a good friend of his. You should already know this label if you are in boysetsfire or Funeral For A Friend as they did releases for both of them before.
This release came in the first pressing with an edition of /300 on gold vinyl (exclusive at Greenhell.de) and an edition of /700 on blue vinyl. The gold one sold out pretty fast and the blue one is also almost gone, so hurry up if you still want one of those on coloured vinyl. I'm pretty sure that there will be a second pressing but as far as I know End Hits Records it won't be on colored vinyl. Despite the colors this is pressed on nice and solid 180g.
So far it is a solid and well executed release but there is still a difference to the original release which I, as a big fan of boysetsfire, enjoy very much. The foldable insert contains linernotes from the band as well as some from people that stand close to the band. It is very interesting to read those and gives an insight on the production time and the horrible times with the major label.
I'm completely happy with this even though I had in mind that they may could have done a remastered edition on 45rpm for this one but for this album this is not absolutely necessary.

The Verdict

This album means a lot to me and I kind of grew up with it so I may not be able to critize the music itself anymore but I think I caught a common sense when I said that it was quite outstanding after the predecessor and that it reminds me of "After The Eulogy" in some ways. The execution of the release is nicely done. The vinyl is beautiful and the sound quality doesn't lack anything other than maybe a 45rpm treatment but as already noted, this isn't really necessary for this album.

9/10

Introduction

One year after the first LP and an additional EP the band around boysetsfire vocalist Nathan Gray comes with a brand new and quite big LP which contains 18 songs. The LP also comes with a CD which has three additional tracks in store.
When this band formed and announced the first LP I wasn't really interested as the only thing I wanted to hear from Mr. Gray was a new boysetsfire LP. Now I regret this ignorance. After some time I decided to give it try as I heard someone saying that I'd probably like it when I liked the early boysetsfire and yeah - I like the early boysetsfire a lot! I was not disapointed. Even though I will from now on avoid any comparison of these two bands as I think their only real thing in common is their vocalist. I bought the first selftitled LP and listened further. I started to really love this band. They manage to create a dark but yet subtile feeling and combine it with rhytmical riffs which tend to be somewhere between Hardcore and Metal. The lyrics all have a strong atheist notion (which I personally enjoy a lot) and the themes are mostly occult. This is something very common in genres like Black Metal or similar but not in (Post-)Hardcore or any genre that is close to it.
The first two releases were managed by End Hits Records (in Europe) which I personally like very much although they are still a smaller label that has a fanbase that might be rooted and connected with boysetsfire so it may have been a good step to sign a bigger and more general label for their new release. If this has been a good step in all points might turn out after the review.


The Music

The only referencepoint for this release is their previous LP and the four-song EP that also came out in 2013. I loved both of them and if you did too I may warn you as Thy Will is pretty different in some ways.
All in all it got a bit heavier and darker but I liked that as it contributed a lot to their musical and genre indipendence. The whole album is parted into two chapters called "Aleph" and "Tav" (these are also the names for each side on the LP). Aleph is the first letter in the hebrew alphabet and Tav (normally written Taw) marks the last letter in that alphabet. Beginning with this, the album follows various mythical and religious themes and myths while always keeping an atheist notion. You may already see that this album offers a lot of interesting songs only because of its lyrics but I can assure you, the instrumental part always fits the sometimes heavenly sung and sometimes infernal screamed lyrics of Nathan Gray. Songs like "March Of The Black Earth" and "Year Zero In The Temple Of Fire" show you how an apocalypse may sound - but in a good way! One song might sound familiar to you if you already own the first album. "Seven Wolves And The Daughters Of Apocalypse" was already on the first album but way recorded a second time for this album. I don't know a reason for that decision but as it the lyrics content fit the overall theme of this album the band may decided to include it in this album again. Musically this is an exceptional piece of art and a very promising follow up album. I really hope that this doesn't end up as another sideproject after all and that the band will keep making music indepent from all other bands they may play in.

The Vinyl

As I already noted this one was not released by End Hits Records who did the first LP and EP. And regarding the vinyl release you see that. Although we have a nice black 180gram record with a foldable insert containing the lyrics and some smaller artwork this could have been better executed regarding optical factors by a smaller but yet more sensible label like End Hits Records. I don't complain as I received a well pressed record with an additional CD (which contains 3 more songs) but the "designer" always tends to do some more about artwork and the color of the vinyl. A black and cream haze would haved fit the artwork perfectly for example.

The Verdict

This is the first really anticipated release for me this year and I Am Heresy didn't disapoint me. They play a very intense and special mix of hardcore music that I really enjoy and I honestly hope that this won't be the last entry in their discography. The label didn't affect their style or their music at all in my opinion. The vinyl fan that likes extended artwork and coloured vinyl may be a bit (but only a bit as many also prefer 180gram over style aspects like these) disapointed but all in all this is a great album that received a good and solid release.

Overall a solid 8/10.