#buymorerecords Giveaway Results

Thanks to all those who Tweeted me the choice secret shames and hidden gems from their record collections.  Some people nominated embarrassing records which I actually own, so I don't know what that says about me...

But anyway, here is the result and a couple of honourable mentions:

My favourite embarrassing record has to be from Joe Maples with his Never Ending Story record with the words cut out from Smash Hits magazine and sellotaped on the back.  I think the personal touch just gives it the edge.  Well done Joe, I'll get a shirt sent off to you.

Other contributions worth mentioning are Beefy with a seemingly endless cursed-treasure trove of ska-punk, and John Tarbet Walker with a Wombles record which was the first record he purchased, coincidentally also the first record I ever bought.

Thanks guys, that was fun!

Shirts are now available on the AoC Shop, and I'll be sending out 7" records with the first 10 orders.

Buy More Records

Following quickly on from my previous record related post, I have a new shirt design available featuring my friend and yours, Mr. Recordshop. He misses people and would like to see them a little more often...

See the full gallery on Posterous

These were printed by the lovely people at Awesome Merchandise, who you may recall teamed up with myself and the other Poster Roast artists to design some rather fetching tshirt-garments.

BUY: 

This shirt will be available to buy from the AoC Shop on Monday 23rd Jan at 10am GMT.

The first 10 orders will be sent with a random 7" vinyl record from my collection!

WIN:

I am giving away one shirt & random 7" before they go on sale - in order to win all you have to do is:

1. follow me on Twitter: @armyofcats

2. send me a tweet telling me the most embarrassing record in your record collection and including the hashtag #buymorerecords

3. the record owner I take the most pity on will win a free shirt and I'll announce the winner on Monday morning when the shirts go on sale

PS (Include a picture of your embarrassing record and you are far more likely to snag a shirt)

Thanks for looking and I will speak to you soon my Internet comrades. x

Goodbye Lookout Records

As regular readers are aware, much of the work I do is connected in some way to music. The vast majority of my friends were met through a shared love of music and I could not live without it - either listening to it or making and playing it.

One of my first musical loves was the output of an independent record label from Berkeley, California -- Lookout Records.  They specialised in pop-punk and are perhaps most widely known for putting out the first few records by Green Day, before they moved on to major label success.

Strangely, even though Lookout largely documented the bands of the Berkeley scene, thousands of miles away from me, it gave me a taste for music that inspired the listener to get involved, where anyone could be in a band, start a zine, or start a label.

As well as the actual music, there was a very specific visual aesthetic that accompanied the label - it was very much a hand-drawn, cut & paste endeavour, and all the more characterful for it.

Without a doubt, Lookout Records nudged me onto the path that got me involved not only with punk & DIY music, but with producing art for music, and I remain ever fond of them for that.

Sadly, after a rocky few years Lookout have had to shut down permanently. The reasons are varied, and far from black and white, so not something I feel I want to focus on...

For now I'll just say, thanks and farewell.