The Saddest Landscape

Our label, Panic Records, just launched a free download of tracks from all of the recent and upcoming Panic releases. There’s a free song from us and a bunch of excellent bands on the label, so do check it out and support these bands! Also, for the vinyl lovers, Panic is doing a contest where if you share the digital sampler, you get entered to win a free record player. Not too shabby. Got a package of records of all the new Panic releases coming in the mail soon so we’ll be sure to highlight them on here when we get ‘em.

You can download the sampler and find out all the details about the record player right here.

Van Johnson was a band from Ottawa, Canada. Van Johnson did a lot of touring, released a split 7” with Kaospilot on Level-Plane, a 7” on Fire Walk With Me, and an LP on Intimate Space. This is a solid contribution and an awesome record. Unfortunately Van Johnson broke up in 2005. RIYL: Raein, Daitro, Off Minor

The first batch made have hand stenciled covers and backs. When Intimate space gets around to making more covers they’ll probably be screened.

The disc is actually a dark maroon, but the smoke is nice and I wanted to show it. My good friend Ryan put this out so if you want to get a copy you can email him: ryanstatler@gmail.com

Unfortunately this is the only Van Johnson video I could find. The audio quality isn’t great, but you’ll get the picture.

Eric

Burnt by the Sun is a band that I saw many times back in the day, but never came to fully appreciate until recently when a good buddy started a band with the bassist. Peaked my curiosity and I dove back into this album. Found it over the weekend for a really good price and couldn’t resist. If you don’t like heavy music, this one might not be up your ally, but hey, never know! RIYL: Discordance Axis, Candiria, Coalesce. Check out a track below.

-Aaron

The nice peeps at Indiependent Music asked Andy & Aaron to send over their favorite albums of ‘10.

You can check out the lists right here.

Agree? Disagree? What were some of your favorites this year? 

Hey all, super quick update about merch. To get in the holiday spirit, we just launched a sale in our merch store. If you order any LP from the store, you get a free TSL shirt. If you order a CD, you get another CD free. More info here.

This one really caught me off guard. Daughters have always been a great band, but as my tastes have changed over the years, they kind of slipped off of my radar. Until now. The funny thing is, I have a hard time pinpointing exactly why I love this album so much. It’s -for lack of a more intelligent phrase- completely fucked. Like, really fucked. Like bad acid trip while being trapped at a circus show fucked. Yet, I couldn’t put it down this year. It’s intelligent, it’s dirty, it’s super catchy, I’d even go so far as to throw the word brilliant out there. I think it’s that good. I know Fang Island is blowing up and making it less and less possible for a Daughters reunion, but here’s hoping for just once chance to see them play this start to finish in 2011. As for the record, the one I got came with a bonus 7” w/ a “Diarrrhainbow” colored LP (Daughters speak for diarrhea rainbow I presume). You can pick up the LP from Hydra Head’s store right here

-Aaron

Really excited (and flattered) to discover that our new record You Will Not Survive got some love from AbsolutePunk.net’s Best of 2010 staff list. Click on Chuck’s face to check it out.

Next Tuesday night, Dec. 28th, @ 10pm EST, we’re going to be doing a live video interview on the interwebs. You’ll be able to type questions at us as well, which we will attempt to answer. Technology. The Google. Magic.

More info here

this post is a little special for me, as most record collectors can attest, we all have that “white whale” record, that one you have been searching for and hoped to own for awhile but it has been eluding you, no matter how many shitty(and awesome) record stores you go to, countless hours logged on the electronic bay, you simply can not find it.

for me that record, or in this case records, has been the white stripes inchophone record player with 7 x 3” record set. and i am happy to say with the help  of a. wilson from TN (thanks again) that record set is now mine.

here it is in all its glory:

so there is the player itself (aaron is saddened that i described it as adorable), it runs on 4 AA batteries and plays 3” records (about the size of a center label of a 7”), and a set of 7 white stripes records, including the “top special” single exclusive to this set. and as a bonus i got a japanese anime theme song colored vinyl 3”. 

sound quality isn’t perfect, compared to the deluxe 180g remastered treatment some of these songs just received, but no matter it all seems cool as fuck to me. 

dead weather triple decker. i am looking at you kid.

andy

Back in 2007 Street Smart Cyclist recorded an awesome demo and Our Neighbor Records put it out. First time I saw them was when one of my older bands played with them in a garage in New Jersey on their first tour with Storm The Bastille. They showed up after the show ended and somehow we managed to get everyone to come back and catch their set. This is one of my favorite 7”s and is always a pick me up when I’m feeling blue. They’re a really fun band and really nice dudes. I’m stoked they’re getting back together for a couple reunion shows. The first one is sold out, but you can buy tickets for the second night here: http://bit.ly/fiOaCw

-Eric

When we started this blog a few weeks back, we wanted to open it up so that people reading it could submit their own records that they’re excited about. Not much rhyme or reason to the selection, to be fair we’re just gonna go through all the submissions periodically and pick a few at random to publish. Here’s one that came in for a band called midi & the modern dance- who I’ve admittedly not listened to yet but keep hearing great things about them. Album artwork looks great:

Midi & the Modern Dance - Make It Easy On Yourself 

Limited to 300 hand screened / handcut chipboard sleeves. 

100 - black vinyl

100 - clear 

100 - white

After much searching, finally got my hands on Kvelertak’s s/t full length on wax- one of my favorite album of 2010 and the 1st metal album to get me excited in quite a long time. Awesome eclectic metal from Norway. Thrashy at times, huge dirty 70’s rock sleaze riffs at others, black metal tendencies beneath it all. Sounds weird I know but highly recommended. Artwork was done by John Baizley of Baroness fame, so not surprisingly, it looks pretty stellar.

If you’ve ever been a fan of metal- past or present- I urge you to check this one out. Lucked out and found a last copy relatively cheaply from an Amazon vendor in the UK so not sure where to link to purchase. But, I do know this band is causing some buzz and a US label is going to be re-releasing it in the States in the not so distant future so I’m sure it will be available here shortly.

-Aaron

Have to thank Chad from Pianos for turning me onto this record via his blog stokingtheroots.com. I’ve heard the Daitro name for years but never actually checked them out until Y. Such an excellent album all the way through. So much so in fact that it’s one of the albums I’ve listened to the most this year. I’ll probably butcher it if I try to describe what it sounds like, but that’s what the sound clip below is for, right? One other thing I will say though, is that this drummer fucking smokes. So creative and has a style all to his own. Dude doesn’t get enough credit! Anyways, pics below along with some audio from Y. 

You can order a copy from Pure Pain Sugar Records here

Quick band-related post for those asking: we now have You Will Not Survive CD’s back in stock in our store. We have the new Panic press as well as a few remaining CD’s from the 1st Cover Your Heart press. If you pre-ordered the CD from Panic, they have all now been shipped.

On the LP front, we have a few copies left of the 1st press of the You Will Not Survive LP left from what we found recently. VERY soon, these will be gone and the 2nd press via Panic Records will officially be out and in stores everywhere.  

You can check it all out right here

Hit up the NYC Punk + Underground Record Fair yesterday in Brooklyn and picked up a few things. It was rad being able to shop from two of my favorite stores (Red Scroll & Double Decker) from the comfort of my own city for once - both stores had distros set up at the fair! Here’s what I snagged:

1) Hope Conspiracy: Death Knows Your Name LP

Been looking for the 1st press of this one for a while now. Such a great hardcore album that came out around the time of Modern Life is War’s Witness and hit me in much the same way. They slowed it down and focused more on atmosphere and building tension on this one. One of my favorite hardcore albums of the past few years. You can purchase the 2nd press here from Deathwish

2) NOFX: So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes LP

Not much to say on this one. It’s NOFX. Probably my favorite NOFX album. Been meaning to get it for a while now but the price was finally right. You can order a copy from Epitaph right here.

3) Energy: Walk into the Fire 7” EP

Such an underrated band in my opinion. Loved their full length and so far, loving this EP even more. Sonically and aesthetically, they’ve always been heavily influenced by AFI. But, this EP is a great example of a band taking risks, switching up their sound, and still nailing it in the process. This one’s a lot less fast melodic punk/hc and more brooding mid-paced rock with a heavy edge. Love it. Order one from Bridge 9.

4) Tragedy: Vengeance LP

Also not much to say on this one. Pretty classic album that had a good price tag so I couldn’t resist. 

-Aaron

Andy gave 5 tips on pressing vinyl for DYI artists over at AbsolutePunk, along with a few of our combined top 5 vinyl releases from 2010: http://bit.ly/fNBW08