Nice. I bought this picture disc of theirs for 99p in HMV back when it came out. Not enough bands have shaped picture discs of their logos!

Musically it reminded me of this album (which I adore) portaltothegoddamnblooddimension.bandcamp.com/album/rotten... Maybe that crossed with the last Uniform album (which I also adore!)

Wow, that was pretty special! Thanks for the recommendation, wouldn't have heard of them otherwise

Sabbra Cadabra

Two more great finds today - both on the "actually wanted" list

I'm no expert, but I know sometimes these things vary based on who has the rights to the digital distribution - the physical CD might ship from the same place (with VAT on that physical item accordingly), but if one has digital distribution in another country then all hell breaks loose

That rings a bell - vaguely remember it being sold out, so we went record shopping in Soho instead then got the train home.

A couple of years later we moved to Cardiff, partly for the music scene - it felt like our own little Seattle at the time.

Ha ha, amazing. Yeah, somehow the premise of us running to find where the band was playing didn't come across at all. We had a great time though, so can't complain too much!

Nice, classic South Wales line-up. A few months after that a friend and I skipped the afternoon off college to be in their video for This Year's Most Open Heartbreak (although the version used in the end cut out all the extras!)

I've not given it a huge amount of thought (yet), but better than anything else post-Machina. Probably behind Adore, but some days I like that album more than others. It was partly just refreshing to not be disappointed!

Finally, 10 from other years that I first heard this year
10) Helmet
9) Afghan Whigs
8) Damian Rice
7) Centro-matic
6) Cat on Form
5) Mark Lanegan
4) Green River
3) Neil Young
2) The Ex + Tom Cora
1) 90 Day Men

3) Thou
2) @uniform-nyc.bsky.social
1) Nick Cave + The Bad Seeds

At some point I might revive the blog and write something about why these records were so great. 2024 was an incredible year for new music - this could have been a top 20

6) Blood Incantation
5) Les Savy Fav
4) Dirty Three

Motorcycle Emptiness 7" by Manic Street Preachers theselps.blogspot.com/2012/10/mani...

364 Days by The Murder City Devils is a classic. Also, I might have just not clocked it on that list, but the Frightened Rabbit Christmas song is lovely

I know they sometimes like to open with an odd choice of song but opening a show with Enola Alone feels particularly niche, even for back then.

Bring it on home