Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

One of the greatest albums of all time has finally been re-issued on vinyl!

Billy Corgan is a busy man these days... Not only is he, as Smashing Pumpkins, releasing his 44 song project "Teargarden By Kaleidoscope", he has also released Smashing Pumpkins' best album in 14 years this year, "Oceania", but he is also re-releasing the back-catalog. Both "Gish" and "Siamese Dreams" has seen really cool releases and now it's time for the band's masterpiece, "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness".

The album is spread out over four vinyls, each housed in a separate sleeve. The box set is completed with two books. One book includes all the lyrics and the other one includes a forword and a very interesting track by track commentary by Billy Corgan on every song on the album, extremely pleasant reading!

Like I said, this is one of my favourite albums ever and this release just makes it even better!

Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind is finally here

Now this little piece of paper, I've been waiting to receive for a very long time! It's an "avi" from the post office, to get my copies of the Converge record All We Love We Leave Behind. I pre-ordered it sometime in August, if I'm not mistaking, and it had a release date early October. 

However the vinyls have been delayed. From what I can understand the Converge records were next in line to be printed after the Beatles vinyls that was released in November and this took more time than expected or something... Strange that The Beatles are prioritized over Converge, huh?

Anyways, tomorrow I'll go to the post office to trade it in, so that I'll finally hold in my hand, the vinyl record containing probably the best collection of music released this year!

Expect a post tomorrow!

My Nasum collection pt. 1.

I've mentioned a couple of times, my Nasum collection. It is the band that I had most intensely collected, to the point that I have a near complete vinyl collection. I still miss a few CDs and such but they are often quite cheap so I'll probably get them as well.

So, in a few posts I'll present to you my collection of the Swedish grindcore band Nasum.

Nasum started 20 years ago, but was forced to call it quits in 2004/2005 as the singer/guitarist/one of the main songwriters Mieszko Talarczyk tragically was one of the many casualties in the tsunami disaster.

They came back this year for a farewell tou which took them around the world and ending in a magical night in Stockholm in October.

Anyways, here's my collection:
I'll start with the 7" singles and EPs:


From top left:
Blind World (Poserslaughter Records) 
split with Agathocles and the first ever release of Nasum.

Smile When You're Dead (Ax/ction Records)
Split with Psycho.

World In Turmoil (Blurred Records)
The first EP without founding member Rickard Alriksson and this is where they started to find "their" sound. One of the coolest releases for me.

The Black Illusions (Yellow Dog Records)
Split with Abstain. Contains the song "No Paradise For The Damned", that was later re-recorded for their last studio album "Shift".

The Nasum Campaign (Relapse Records)
A split with Warhate. A part of Relapse's singles serie. It was released in three different colours, white, black and (as always with Relapse releases) transparent (in 100 copies). This EP contains one of my favourite songs "Losing Faith", it shows the strength and brilliance of Nasum in just 36 seconds!

Untitled (Black Mask Collective/Busted Head Records/Putrid Filth Conspiracy)
Split with Asterisk. This as well contains some of my favourite Nasum tracks. "Krossa" and "Falska Tankar" are both brilliant songs and stand out even when they are featured in the compilation "Grind Finale".

The Bloodbath Is Coming (Sound Of Betrayal)
Nasum had one song on this 2X7" compilation called "A Bloodbath Displayed".

Untitled (No Tolerance Records)
Split with Skitsystem. This was one of the last non-album releases Nasum did. It was limited and numbered to 1 100 copies.



The record in the bottom right corner is a test press of the Skitsystem-split. I got this one directly from the record company that released the split. There was only five copies of this printed.

Sleep - Dopesmoker

Apparently I forgot to post this blog that I wrote a couple of weeks back...

Finally one of the cornerstones in stoner rock/metal has seen a great re-release. It's of course Sleep's "Dopesmoker" I'm talking about.

It has been released under the name "Jerusalem" earlier as well, and then it was divided into six songs, where it's actually just one. One track spanning over 60 minutes, that's just incredible and nothing for the weak minded.

Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day.

This is the documentation of probably the biggest one-off concert in the history of music, the re-union gig of Led Zeppelin.

You probably all know the story. To get hold of one of the 18 000 tickets to this concert you had to enter a "lottery" to be able to win the opportunity to buy tickets to this concert. Rumour has it that there were two million participants...

I was living and studying in High Wycombe, England, at the time and one night I almost fell of my chair opening my e-mail inbox seeing as I've got the e-mail I never thought I would get, congratulating me on winning the opportunity two buy two tickets. I had to read the e-mail through several times before I could actually believe.

Said and done, tickets bought and on the 10th of December 2007 me and my friend Daniel was witness to my, without a doubt, biggest musical experience of my life (I have a hard time anything will ever come close). The guys really delivered the goods.

Five years later the concert has been released on various formats. I've gotten the Blu-ray version, with a bonus DVD and the concert on a double CD. The vinyl will be released in January apparently. Hopefully it will get the same nice treatment as "Mothership" and the re-release of "The Songs Remains The Same" has gotten.

Iron Maiden - Picture disc box set, pt. 2.

I wrote about the picture disc project of Iron Maiden in a previous blog. They will release the eight first releases starting with the self titled debut album and finish with the 1988 album "Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son".

This month they released "The Number Of The Beast" and "Piece Of Mind". Two major milestones in the heavy metal genre (as are all of the seven (eight if you count "Live After Death", which is featured in this box set) first Maiden albums I guess). TNOTB features some of the best-known metal songs ever ("Run To The Hills" and the title track), and POM features some of Maiden's best work, in my opinion ("The Trooper", "Still Life", "Quest For Fire" etc.).

Essential in any collection!

Now we have to wait until January for the next two records...

The gift of music.

Today is Father's day here in Scandinavia. I'm visiting my parents this weekend so I have the opportunity to celebrate it with my dad. My dad who is probably responsible for my big interest in music.

For Father's day I got him the new Aerosmith album. He's been a fan since the 70s and he had every album on vinyl up until Permanent Vacation and he has the ones after that one on CD. So it was time to get albums on vinyl again.

The gift was much appreciated!

My Bloody Valentine to release a new album this year!

It's been over 20 years since MBV released their latest album, the highly influential "Loveless". Now it seems that we'll finally hear some new material from the band.

Yesterday the news were all over the biggest music sites that Kevin Shields had announced that a new MBV album were to be released before we reached 2013, and also an EP of new material to be released on the new year.

I'm stoked about these news! I've been listening to MBV for over ten years now (long after they called it quits, that is) so I never expected to hear any new material from them. And I was actually quite happy with that, seeing the immense quality of the releases they had managed in their relatively short recording career.

A few years back I had the chance to see them at the Way Out West festival in Gothenburg and it was a great show! I had never expected to see them either so that was a great experience.

I'm trying to be mildly excited about the new release as I don't want to be disappointed. Let's hope we won't be!

New My Bloody Valentine album!!!

Awesome news!!!!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/07/my-bloody-valentine-new-album?fb=optOut

Witchcraft - Legend

I think this is the record I've listened to the most the past few weeks. Even though it may not be as good as, for example, the new Swans album, it's more accessible. The Swans album is not an album for every occasion, whereas this Witchcraft album works most of the time.

They have a more modern sound now compared to their earlier records, where they really sounded like a band from the 70s. Now they sound like a band influenced by the 70s with a more modern approach to their influences and this makes "Legend" their strongest material yet.

It's a record filled with great riffs and catchy tunes. It sounded promising already from the first taste we got from the album with the song "Because Of You", which was released some time before the album, and the rest of the album lived up to the expectations.

Iron Maiden - Picture Disc box set.

A couple of days ago I received my copy of the latest box set release from Iron Maiden. I love the box sets from this band. I've got three of them so far.

This box set was printed in only a limited number and I bought my copy through Amazon together with the first two records in the series "Iron Maiden" and "Killers".

Iron Maiden is taking the wrong approach to the vinyl market though. Sure they have some of the coolest cover art ever and the picture discs looks great, but what about the sound quality? What they should do is release their entire catalogue on 180-200g high quality black vinyl, especially the albums from "Brave New World" until today that has only got a picture disc release.

Anyways, I'll be getting these records to complete this box set and hope for an audiophile box set next! 

The front of the box set, still in shrink wrap.

The back with all the covers and track listing. Such an amazing collection of albums. Seven of the greatest heavy metal albums there is and also the "Live After Death" double vinyl.

Together with my two other box sets on the wall in my new record room.

Swans - The Seer

Now here's a record that demands your attention. "The Seer" spans over three records and has a total running time of over 90 minutes. It consists of eleven songs, three of which are over fifteen minutes long and one of them (the title track) is over after 32 minutes and 16 seconds. Impatient people have now been officially forwarned!

Swans are 30 years into their career and still creates brilliant and original music. There is practically no melodies at all on the first two and a half sides on this record on the first half on the D-side you can hear glimpses of it. The last song of the second record though is what is close to a singer/songwriter song (featuring Karen O, of Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs) on lead vocals, a beautiful piece that give you a breather before hell breaks lose!

I have to write a few lines about track listing, and the choice of order. The track listing on the vinyl is different from the one on the CD. I listened to "The Seer" a couple of times on Spotify before I got the vinyl, as it was delayed. On the CD (and on Spotify) probably the greatest piece on the album "Mother Of The World" is the second song on the album. On the vinyl version it is the seventh. I guess they did this because of the lengthy songs and they thought this was the best way to divide them over six sides of vinyl. I also like to think that they had the idea to put "Mother Of The World" and "Avatar" together on side D as this pair of songs form probably the best side on a vinyl record you will see this year!

The record ends with the title track spanning one and a half side and finally "The Seer Returns" ends the whole spectacle. After over 90 minutes with "The Seer" your still left with wanting more and that in itself is proof of the greatness of the album. This is without a doubt the most rewarding album of the year!

If you're a fan of monotone and repetitive music you're in for a real treat! Set some time aside, pour yourself a glass of wine and get lost in the soundscape of Michael Gira's creation!

I ordered my copy from the Young God Records' webstore and got it signed by Mr Swans himself!

A beautiful triple gatefold cover including a poster as well.

Things are starting to fall into place

We've lived at our new house for about a month and a half and we're finally starting to settle into it. The second floor living room (where I'll keep the record collection) is also starting to take shape. I have a few ideas about how I want it to look eventually but I don't have the furniture for it yet.

Here are a couple of pictures from when I was sorting the collection, as I have it in alphabetical order. During the move I randomly put records in moving boxes both for convenience and also on purpose as I love sorting and arrangeing the collection. So it took me a couple of nights to get it sorted but now it's almost done. I still have U through Z still left but there aren't too many records.

I've gotten a lot of interesting stuff during the past couple of months or so where I haven't really had too much time to update the blog so hopefully I can catch up on some of those!

Nasum - The final show.

My ears are ringing, my throat and body are sore. Last night I witnessed the last show ever with the grindcore legends Nasum!

I discovered Nasum when they released the "Helvete" album and I've been a huge fan ever since. Collecting more or less everything the band has released, and I was probably the only one last night wearing the first ever shirt they released, a pink shirt with the "Blind World" artwork on it. It was only released in six copies. Another blog post about my Nasum collection is coming up later.

This year they celebrated 20 years as a band, but what is special is that they haven't played together for eight years as their singer and guitarist Mieszko Talarczyk died in the tsunami disaster in 2004.

They called it quits immediately. Last year though they announced that they would spend 2012 doing a farewewell tour. On this tour they have covered more or less the entire world. From Örebro (where the band originates from) to Thailand to the US...

Last night they played in Stockholm and it was the final date ever! And it was full on from the start to finish. The band wasn't gonna end with a decent show that was for sure. They really gave it everything they had left after two weeks of constant touring.

They covered every record of theirs, but I don't think they played any of their non-album songs? I was able to spot more or less every song from the set-list but there were maybe two or three I can't remember.

Nasum is such a special band and they have something special that makes their grindcore possible to listen to for hours. They play their grindcore with such finesse that you never feel fed up with it, as might be the case with some other grindcore bands. This became evident once more last night.

During the show there was also an emotional undertone as this was the final show and the obvious fact that Mieszko wasn't there in person (but in spirit?). It was really great to see the love between the band members up on the stage with hugs throughout the show. And seeing Jon in tears by the end was really strong. It must have been a really special occasion for him, as well as the other members of course.

I couldn't have wished for a better way to celebrate the career of Nasum and it was the perfect way to end this trip.

Thank you Nasum for all the great music and experiences you haven given us over the years!

Now for some lousy pictures. It's not easy taking picture in the mosh pit, hehe.

They started the show in typical Nasum style with mr. and mrs. Gasmask and their wedding party(?).

Grindcore!

Jesper and Urban rocking.

Farewell!

Move

The record collection is just one big mess at the moment... Can't wait to start sorting and categorizing:-)

Katatonia - Dead End Kings Special edition

This is the new album from Katatonia. It comes in  what is called a special book edition. I came to think about that a lot of records have a special edition version that is exactly that. This is the third one I've got so far this year (both the Baroness and Dead Can Dance albums came in book editions) and I also await a book edition of the Converge album. 

Anyways,  this is a really cool edition with CD, DVD and 2x10" vinyls. It also comes with an autographed certificate! Very cool indeed! As for the actual music it's too early to give a verdict as I've only listened to the album a couple of times but it sounds really promising. It follows the successful recipe of their previous albums.

The autographed certificate.

Neurosis - Honor Found In Decay

Converge is not the only supposedly album to be released in October, it may not even be the best!!

After five years it's finally time for a new Neurosis album! It's titled "Honor Found In Decay" and here's a sneak peak:



I can't think of a more perfect soundtrack to dark fall and winter nights than Neurosis. This will be great!

Both Neurosis and Converge are bands that I collect as well so hopefully I won't get ruined this fall... Neurosis hasn't released any pre-order info or anything yet. Let's hope they don't, until the 20th of September when I get paid!

Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

Not short after the first song was released we were given more information about the album and were also given the option to pre-order the album.

As always when it comes to Converge tons of different versions of the album are available. I settled for a few of them. The special edition CD (comes in a book):

And some vinyls in different colours.

I can't wait to get my hands on this. This may very well be the album of 2012!

Bob Dylan - Tempest

Bob Dylan is worshipped by a lot of people who consider him one of the greatest. I'm not one of them... This is may be because I haven't heard too much of his music as I haven't bothered with a lot of it. This is only my fourth Dylan album, all the others are good though... I just don't get the brilliance, but then again lyrics for me aren't as important as for most people so I think I miss some points.

Anyways... Bob Dylan has released a new album! At the age 71 he's still going strong. This is a good album. Dylan doesn't sound tired or old at all, I think I may have to dig deeper into this man's catlogue...

Converge - Aimless Arrow.

The first song of Converge's forthcoming album "All We Love We Leave Behind" has been released:



The song "Aimless Arrow" sounds incredibly promising. The song has been out for a week or so so I've had the chance to give it quite a few listens and it feels like a blend of the last album's (Axe To Fall) straightforwardness and the darkness of 2004's "You Fail Me", amazing!

Slottsfjell day two.

As stated in previous posts, Friday had a lot more to offer music wise than Thursday. First up was Black Tusk at the stage on top of the hill. The rain was pouring down and there was even some thunder and lightning which made the attendence a quite small one. The lucky ones who were there though got a great show as the band didn't let the weather slow them down.

It's amazing the quality stuff the town of Savannah, GA, has provided over the last few years. Kylesa, Baroness and Black Tusk. Is Savannah the sludge metal capital of the world?

Next up was Tortoise, a highly influentual 90's alternative band. If you haven't heard this band yet you're certain to have heard bands and artists influenced by them during the past decade or so. This is really good rhythmic instrumental post-rock/krautrock/indie/alternative... Call it what you want, it's good music!

Timbuktu and his band Damn! has a great ability to make people dance. That they did today as well. Great versions of some of his classic early 00's songs that I listened to a lot at the time.

After a short food break we were ready for some more punk metal. This time it was served by the canadians in Cancer Bats. They were ok, their sound was a bit too "american" and straight forward for me. They did a cool cover of Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" though.

One of the biggest signings the festival made this year, for me was Wolfmother. I've seen them twice before and they have always been great. This time wasn't that different either. The only small complaint I have with them is that when you have such a great set of tracks you can play from both of your albums (especially the first one) you should really show it. At a festival like this you have limited time (they played for about an hour), so I don't like it when they use lots of time doing jams. "White Unicorn" ended up in a The Doorsy druged out jam. I also wonder what the band had been drinking/smoking before they went on stage? They didn't exactly seem sober at stage. They still manage to deliver the goods so no complaints about it.

Finally we saw a couple of songs by Pure Love, the band of the former Gallows singer. An ok band that may have some potential.

All in all it was a great day and today should be nothing short of that either. Starting with Graveyard early in the afternoon and ending with New Order tonight. Looking forward to it!

See you at Fjellet!

Black Tusk in pouring rain.

The shoes were white before I went to the festival. And they looked even worse when I got home last night.

Tortoise.

Timbuktu & Damn! put on a great show.

Cancer Bats, the highlight being a cool cover of Beastie Boys "Sabotage"

Wolfmother. One of the highlights of the festival so far.

Finally we saw some of the Pure Love set.

Slottsfjell!

Waiting for Tortoise as the sun starts to show it's face! Black Tusk killed!

Slottfjell day one.

The first day of the festival didn't mean a lot of concerts for me actually. I saw some of Bare Egil Band, a little bit more of Rival Sons, a little less of Janelle Monaé, a little bit of Suicidal Tendencies and I caught the entire show of Seigmen.

Instead I had a great time meeting people that I don't see everyday and had a lot of fun conversations with like minded people music wise. A great first day, even though the music wasn't the best.

Now I'm sitting here hoping the rain will stop as I'm about to head to the festival area. It's gonna be a great day music wise today starting with Black Tusk in a 25 minutes!

Se you at Fjellet!

Bare Egil Band is playing at Kongescenen, with hits like "Åsgårdsstrand Blues" and "Om Henning Kranes Understell"

The audience during the Seigmen concert.

Seigmen.

Tuesday night entertainment!

The pile of records that I haven't entered in my databases I use (excel and Discogs) has grown quite a lot so I decided to put some of them in there!

A look ahead to the Slottsfjell festival.

With only two days until this years biggest happening in Tönsberg kicks-off I thought I would do a little "look ahead".

This year marks the 10th year anniversary for the festival so it should be something special. Already their first booking last year showed proof of this when they booked Seigmen, whom I wrote about yesterday. It's been a decent run of bookings since then as well. I'll go ahead and list the shows I plan to catch, day by day. You can find the entire program and everything else on the Slottsfjell festival website.

Thursday:

As this is the first time me and my girlfriend will attend the festival as parents (we missed last years festival as our son had just been born), we get one day where he'll have a sleep over at his grandmothers'. Thursday is this day so this will be the "party day".

Music wise the first day is probably the weakest one with only two "must sees" for me. These two are Rival Sons and Seigmen. That gives more time for socializing though so that's cool! I'll catch parts or the whole shows of a couple of others as well including Bare Egil Band, Janelle Monaé and Suicidal Tendencies. This evening will hopefully end at Total Bar, where an official Seigmen after party is being held. Hopefully we'll get there in time before the place is packed!

Friday:

Friday is probably the strongest day, in good competition with Saturday. I have a couple of more must sees this day. This will also mean a lot more running up and down the hill, as Slottsfjell is held at a hill with stages both at the top of the hill and further down. The most interesting shows are usually held at the top, with the biggest stage situated in the middle of the hill (or can you call it a mountain?). I'll start at the top watching Black Tusk and probably hang around there to have a good spot for Tortoise. This is one of the shows I look forward to the most at the festival. I really hope to hear the song "Djed", from their masterpiece "Millions Now Living Will Never Die". There is one more must see this day and that is Wolfmother. Timubtu & Damn! usually puts on great and fun shows so I'll so most of that as well. And why not end the night dancing to Chase & Status?

Saturday:

Saturday starts quite slow as the first band I want to see starts at 16.45 and that is Graveyard. The Swedish hard rockers should put on a great show and besides the Tortoise concert this is really one to watch. Apart from Graveyard other must sees for me are: Gallows, Red Fang and New Order! I'll catch parts or the whole shows of: Daniel Norgren and Lissie.

What other bands are must sees? I don't know too much about some of the other ones...

See you at Fjellet!

Baroness - Yellow & Green vinyl!

Finally we arrived at the day where we got the new Baroness vinyl in our store! Obviously I had to bring one copy home with me.

I've listened to it a few times on various streaming services, but it's nice to finally have the product in your hands. I'm still waiting for my special edition copy sent from Relapse Records. This version is the standard black vinyl version. As Relapse is one of the worst labels to collect, I'll keep it to these two versions.

I'm really happy with the result on "Yellow & Green". It not be what you would've expected but Baroness makes their music feel fresh and forwardthinking and still bringing in some of their roots. The new album has really made some of their old fans angry about the musical path that Baroness has chosen. You could though already on the "Blue Record" hear some of what was in wait for Baroness fans. Much like Mastodon I wouldn't call Baroness a great metal band anymore, but simply a great rock 'n' roll band!

The record is a double album, clocks in at approx. 75 minutes. It's divided into two parts, simply the Yellow part and the Green part. On some editions of this vinyl the vinyls are yellow and green, which to me is quite cool. The two parts are quite similar, the green part being slightly more mellow perhaps.

All in all a great album so far!

Seigmen - Live at Total

During the 90's, Seigmen from Tønsberg was one of the biggest rock bands in Norway. They played the big stages and venues, until they split up in 1999.

Since then they have done a couple of re-union gigs, most noteably on the Slottfjell-festival six years ago and at the Opera in Oslo four years ago. Both of these shows were of course very well attended, with thousands of people coming to see them.

Last night they played a "secret" gig in their hometown (the town where me and my family lives). To get access to tickets you had to be invited to this special website that was originally linked in an e-mail, sent from the band. Luckily we have connections relatively close to the band so we got that e-mail. So with the tickets in our hands we could only start to look forward to a very special evening.

I should write a few words about the venue as well. Total opened it's doors around christmas in 2010. The venue/bar is run by the people behind the Slottsfjell festival here in Tønsberg so music is a huge part of this place. All over the walls are old concert flyers, posters and stuff. It's named after  one of Seigmen's albums. So it's a special place for the band to play, to say the least...

I don't know if the circumstances were the reason but the show started a bit slow. Both the band and the audience seemed a little hesitant, as if they didn't really know what to expect from each other, mind you that Seigmen hasn't played "at home" for six years. As the evening progressed, band and audience got more comfortable with one another and everyone was able to let lose a little. About halfway in, after a spectacular presentation of Marius Roth's vocal abilities (his an opera singer) the venue kind of explode and the next half hour or so showed me why Seigmen must be mentioned among the big ones in Norwegian rock.

I kind of envied the people in the audience who have grown up with the band, knowing every lyric etc. Norwegian music was never big in Sweden (which is kind of sad as it has a lot to offer), so I had never even heard of Seigmen before I moved here- I've heard a lot about and of them since though. I know the feeling of having this band that has been with you your whole life, in front of you on stage, where you never thought you'd see them again. It's a special feeling! I had no problems appreciating the experience last night though!

This intimate venue was the perfect setting for Seigmen to mark their return, as we got some surprises last night that might lead to something more...? They are now playing a few festival shows this summer, starting at the Slottsfjell festival on Thursday, where they will be performing in front of about 10 000 people (me and "the missus" included) instead of the 2-300 people that were present last night. The festival-goers will not have the same experience as we did last night and I feel privileged that I was there to witness the spectacle!

Vinyl storage.

So, it's time for me and my family to move again. In the blog where I wrote earlier I made a post about vinyl storage and how I would solve it the last time we moved (three years ago). When we moved I could use only the wooden cases but as the collection has grown I had to put them in an IKEA Expedit, which works great. I hope though that I'll be able to get something where I can browse all the records like in those wooden cases.

This is how it looks in the wooden cases

I've placed some gatefold records in gatefold PVC sleeves in the Expedit.

Where we're moving though we'll have two living rooms where one will be devoted to music and the record collection.

I wrote about these in the previous blog as well:

Where we are moving now, I'll probably have enough space for them. They are quite expensive though, and I can't seem to find them in Europe, so shipping from the US is just not an option. What I plan to do now is by some material and try to build a few of these. Can't be that hard, can it?

If someone has any other tips on record storage I'll gladly receive it!