The Ratchets – “Essentials” (“First Light,” “Glory Bound,” “Heart of Town,” “Odds & Ends”)
More amazing packaging and colored vinyl on this week’s RECORD OF THE WEEK Blog!!!
Over a decade after releasing their debut LP “Glory Bound” on PIRATES PRESS RECORDS, New Jersey rockers THE RATCHETS have delivered their brand new record “First Light”, a sharp and provocative record that showcases that The Ratchets haven’t lost a step since stepping away from the spotlight but have in fact gained an incredible sense of awareness and musical prowess. To celebrate this special record, they dusted off their catalog and unearthed some previously unreleased tracks to create THE RATCHETS Essentials set, a career-spanning collection featuring “First Light”, “Glory Bound”, “Heart of Town” EP, and “Odds & Ends”. Like previous Essentials sets (Rancid, Cock Sparrer, Reducers SF), these records are housed in a special box to commemorate an extremely vital piece to PIRATES PRESS RECORDS’ history. But in true PIRATES PRESS fashion, they’ve taken it to the next level by also making each record individually on respective “TWIST” vinyl, including a silkscreened B-side for “Heart of Town”, and each jacket features an insanely cool brushed chrome foil laminated stock! Get these from PIRATES PRESS RECORDS now!
BAND NAME: The Ratchets (Website / Store / Bandcamp / Facebook / Instagram)
LABEL NAME: Pirates Press Records (Website / Store / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram)
———————————— Honorable Mentions ———————————————
Merging unparalleled musical bravery, prodigious musicianship, flawless execution and an angular landscape of forward thinking ideas, DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN reinvent the rock ‘n roll idiom while pleasing their harshest critics: themselves. “Miss Machine’s” modernist clang proves once and for all why DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN is a paradigm to be followed, a yardstick by which other bands are measured. You can once again pick up this classic from RELAPSE RECORDS!
BAND NAME: The Dillinger Escape Plan
LABEL NAME: Relapse Records
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THE HAZYTONES is a group of stoner rock founded in 2015 in Montreal. The trio stuns the audience with his stage presence and intensity. Riff after riff, the group is known for his fat sound and heavy destructive saturation. The house of heavy, RIPPLE RECORDS, just released “Hazytones II; Monarchs Of Oblivion”. Fresh of a EU tour, it’s occult garage rock at its finest!
BAND NAME: The Hazytones
LABEL NAME: Ripple Music
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RELAPSE RECORDS dug deep to pull out DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN’s full length debut, “Calculating Infinity” for a special repress! A colossal cacophony of soul-searing vocals, pile-driving riffs, unorthodox percussive punishment, and scattershot speed. “Calculating Infinity” has since been lauded as a landmark release for the band and the genre. Even Rolling Stone ranked it the 56th greatest metal album of all-time in a 2017 feature!
BAND NAME: The Dillinger Escape Plan
LABEL NAME: Relapse Records
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VOCAL FEW was founded in 2011 in Seattle, WA, the husband and wife duo have produced 5 EP’s and have toured the US and Canada primarily in living rooms, coffee shops & colleges. “Grand Pre” was written and recorded in an 1830’s-era house in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, Canada – where Matt & Kristie lived for the last half of 2017 and the first half of 2018, before touring back to the Seattle area this past summer around the release of the album.VOCAL FEW are currently out on the BC Roadshow tour through the eastern US right now!
BAND NAME: Vocal Few
LABEL NAME: BC Music
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DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN’s “Ire Works” was released to critical acclaim. The album is described as mathcore and metalcore, incorporating a wide variety of influences including electronic music. This album features guest vocals by band’s former vocalist Dimitri Minakakis and Mastodon’s Brent Hinds. The seemingly meaningless colored blocks found in the cover booklet can be deciphered with either the input box at or the colored blocks on the back cover, which are arranged as the alphabet – once deciphered, the code reveals a message! It was ranked number 3, in Decibel’s Top 40 Albums of 2007 – and you can once again pick it up from RELAPSE RECORDS!
BAND NAME: The Dillinger Escape Plan
LABEL NAME: Relapse Records
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We’ve got exciting things from now until the new year, keep tuned!