Hot Topic Isn't Really Aimed At Me

I nipped over to the States at the weekend to scour round a few of the dead malls with only a few stores still open, ghost towns which are a shadow of their former selves now that there is a Walmart superstore on the next block that has everything the average loser needs under one roof.  One of these flea bitten decrepit joints had a Hot Topic in them, I've never been inside one of these and only heard about it when bands put out exclusive vinyl colours only available at Hot Topic which means I'll never own.  For anyone who hasn't been in one, it's the place you buy those long gloves with the one finger hole on them and neon hot pants that you see tweens wearing in the summer, it's also a place where you can pick up the latest Bring Me The Horizon shirt complete with a design that looks like a gorilla ate a complete paint set and then threw it up on a shirt.  Apparently you can't work there unless you have a mullet/sweep fringe combo and ears stretched so big that you can fit your hand through them.

Anyway, my curiosity was sated enough for me to leave until I noticed a couple of boxes of LP's hidden away at the back, naturally I had a flick through and came across the first Head Automatica record, for anyone who doesn't know who these are it's Daryl from Glassjaw and Josh from American Nightmare (going under the britpop moniker of Jarvis) playing a kind of funk dance punk thing, sounds shite on paper but it's dead catchy.  This is the first time it's been pressed into vinyl after coming out in 2006 and  Hot Topic had 1500 on green/blue split, the rest of the press was only available on black.  I read about this reissue in a magazine last September and didn't think anything of it because of the Hot Topic thing so it's cool that I found one in a shitty old mall.

This next one I was debating purchasing, I didn't enjoy the record in the slightest on the first time round, haven't been able to get into it in the years since but for ten bucks I couldn't really leave it in that crummy store.  This is one of the clear pink records that come with a super big poster insert with the background music cover on the back, I'm assuming that reissue has the same poster inside too.  It's a shame they didn't have Bakcground Music in stock as I haven't picked up any of these reissues from Deathwish and I like that record much more than We're Down Til We're Underground.  Not bad for ten bucks eh?

 I don't own a copy of the original pressing of this record, did it come with a gatefold cover?  I know Background Music didn't on the first pressing, not sure on this though.

Ancient VVisdom - A Godlike Inferno [Magic Bullet]

This record came out in 2011 and marked the first time in my life that I have legitimately downloaded a record on MP3.  I really hate to admit it but there was no vinyl release announced at the time and I'd rather just have the songs on my iPod than own another wate of space that is a CD, even if the package looked more like a gatefold LP.  I'd also like to note that for me it was the record of the year, I listened to it non stop last summer and even the missus enjoyed it which is a rarity.  

Fast forward to now and it's finally got the vinyl treatment via Magic Bullet Records, we have here a bevvy of colour choices out of a total of 500.  The artwork is expanded from the CD release which was just a plain cover with the fire from the colums in the middle and the band name/album name.  I'm pleased they went with a different cover actually, makes the wait for it a little bit more worth it.

The four different colours have names like Wasteland and THC, I'm fucked if I can remember what record they correspond to and all I care about is that I have all 4 of them.  I missed out on a test press as they sold out about 3 shows before I caught them back in January in Toronto, maybe I'll catch up with one of those in the future.

 Black record sleeves too, it just makes it a little bit different.

If you've not heard Ancient VVisdom before, they're kind of a satanic folk band that sound like Danzig playing the Manson Family jams, it's the kind of stuff that makes you want to build a fire by a great lake, drop some acid and wait for the star constellations to come to life.  That shit aint for me though, I'll have a root beer and toast some marshmallows while everyone else sees the great bear take a shit in the plough in the sky.

 One thing I'd like to mention about the way these were sent to me that I feel is very important and often gets overlooked, the record sleeves themselves weren't inside the covers, just loose in the pastic outer sleeve.  This is the CORRECT way to mail a record.  If they're left inside the main cover then the record gets thrown around inside the mailer in transit and often splits through the cover leaving a tear of at least an inch and a ruined purchase.  If you're mailing a record to someone please take the extra ten seconds to take the record out, you only look like a dick at the other end and it saves on any disputes that undoubtedly will arise.  A lot of labels and collectors mail the correct way, just don't be the wanker who forgets, kids.

So ends my record mailing rant.