Jonah Matranga – Psongs

Jonah Matranga’s latest solo album, Psongs, is under his own name. It’s yet another release in his long career, and it seems he’s found his stride with self releasing music. He’s churned out a lot of great music, and makes almost everything he writes and records available to his fans in one form or another. Lately he’s released a lot of his material on vinyl, and for whatever reason he loves picture discs.

Psongs is limited to 500 copies, only available as a picture disc. It comes in a picture disc sleeve, with every copy being hand numbered and autographed on the sleeve. Also included is what I’m calling a booklet, which Jonah titled Psongs Zine. It’s not a zine in the truest sense as it’s printed on glossy card stock. Old school zines from the 80s and early 90s were typically printed on news print and were often times scaled to comic book size. This booklet is square in size and is the typical size for booklets that accompany LPs, maybe even slightly smaller. Quite honestly I’m not going to pull out a tape measure and give the actual dimensions of it. The booklet/zine is also autographed by Jonah.

One of my other complaints about this release, on top of it being a picture disc (and a rather bland one at that), is the price; $30 before shipping. But at least all of the money goes directly to Jonah. Since everything is out of pocket for him in terms of recording, mastering, and physical production, it’s incredibly likely that the $30 is close to a breakeven point for him, and maybe he can make a little money from the project. I’ll always support Jonah and buy whatever he releases on vinyl. And it never hurts when the albums are as good as Psongs.

The only place to buy this album on vinyl was directly from Jonah. I say was, because as of posting this the record is OOP. I’m guessing I bought one of the last few copies, but it was number 212. Maybe he’s saving some for his Ideas community members, which is a similar endeavor to Patreon, but Jonah smartly cut out the middle man and is running his membership  site himself. After ordering from Jonah’s web store, which he affectionately calls the yard sale, you’re allowed to download the album in whatever file format you like, and I was able to download it twice, opting for WAV files and 320 kbps MP3s. The record was also briefly available on his Bandcamp page, but even the digital files were taken down.

Psongs is not just an acoustic album, which is a slight departure for Jonah. It’s full band, and he has lots of guest musicians join him, most notable being Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever fame and Jimmy Eat World drummer Zach Lind.

Jonah Matranga – 2020 7″

Jonah Matranga has thought of creative ways to engage with his fans. During the pandemic this creativity came in handy, as it allowed him to continue making music, which brightens lots of lives (including his), as well as earn some income by having new material to sell digitally and via physical media. But this does create some dilemmas for the cost conscious fans.

I love Jonah, and will always buy whatever he puts out on vinyl. But for me, and I can only assume (something I don’t like to do) there are others out there in the same boat, his price structures raise eyebrows. This 7” cost $15 before shipping, which he charges on an order by order basis so he doesn’t overcharge. I think most people can agree that $15 for a two song 7” is a bit too high. But all the money goes directly to Jonah; he also self releases most if not all of his music now, at least the new material, so all the production costs are out of pocket for him. Charging this much likely helps him recoup a lot of his expenses, and maybe make a slight profit. Not a terrible place to pay for something that is going directly into the artist’s bank account, and such a genuine guy.

Pressing info for this 7” has surprisingly never been officially announced considering all copies are hand numbered out of 500. All copies also come on grey vinyl. There is no physical download card/code, but since the only place to buy this is online direct from Jonah via one of his two online marketplaces (Bandcamp and his personal web site/store), you will receive a digital download either via e-mail or on your order receipt. I was sent WAV files after buying directly from Jonah’s personal store, which he affectionately calls the Yard Sale.

The two songs featured on the record are exclusive to it, though one of them, “Hell of Year” is featured on Jonah’s most recent full length album, but it’s a slightly tweaked, alternate version. The a-side has “Departure” with the b-side having “Hell Of A Year (Sacto Style).”

V/A – Everyone Wants Somewhere: A Tribute To Fugazi

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Jonah Matranga continues to be one of the busiest musicians around. I don’t think the guy has taken a break since his career started in the early 90s. He’s contributed many songs to compilations over those years, having a song on the Fugazi tribute album titled Everyone Wants Somewhere: A Tribute To Fugazi.

Released in 2017 by Sell The Heart Records, the comp was pressed on two variants; bronze and bone a-side/b-side vinyl limited to 100 copies and coke bottle limited to 200 copies. The comp has a physical and digital version, which is broken down into Volume I and Volume II. Volume I features the first 13 tracks, which is what is featured on the record. Volume II features all the tracks found on Volume I plus the remaining eight tracks that were left off the record/Volume I.

All copies come with an insert, which has the liner notes printed on it. If you buy this from the label’s Bandcamp page you will get immediate access to MP3 files in the quality of your choice. There is no download card/code with physical copies. Retail price on this is $10, which has been the sale price for quite a while now (as of posting this). I don’t remember what the original price on this was, but I’m pretty sure it was not more than $15. It might have haven been $12. Which given the inexcusable skyrocketing prices on vinyl (the pandemic is not a reason, it’s an excuse) the past few years, is a steal.

This is also a charity release, which has benefitted two separate charities located in the bay area. The first charity, Taking It To The Streets, which helped homeless youth in the Haight/Ashbury district of San Francisco, received just over $2,200 from sales of this comp. They ceased operations in 2018. Since then donations from sales of this comp have benefitted Punks With Lunch, a non-profit organization based in Oakland, CA that provides meals to Bay Area homeless.

Jonah Matranga – SUPERFUN FLEXIDISC #1

Over time Jonah Matranga has released more and more of his stuff on vinyl. Taking it upon himself to self release things, and do things a bit more carefully in the process to make sure things go right and also come out a bit more special. Jonah is one of the most genuine people in the music game, so I love it when he releases stuff on vinyl. I’ve bought stuff directly from him many times, both through his Yard Sale on his web site, and after contacting him directly asking for old, hard to find and OOP Far vinyl releases. His latest dive into vinyl is a 7” flexi disc entitled SUPERFUN FLEXIDISC #1.

If that grammatical nightmare is bothering anyone, you’re not alone. But that is how Jonah titled this thing. This flexi has one song on it, which is not unusual for a flexi. It’s single sided, which, again, is the norm with a flexi. The song found on it is a new song of sorts, an alternate version of the Onelinedrawing tune “Livin’ Small” off the album The Volunteers. The version found on this flexi is titled “Livin’ Small (Feat. Simon Strings). The differences are actually fairly minute between the two versions.

Pressing info was not released for this flexi, but all copies for this run were pressed on gold transparent, which is simply transparent yellow. It’s only available via Jonah’s Yard Sale, and cost $9 before shipping. A nice thing Jonah is doing is not including shipping in the initial bill; waiting until the order is placed to calculate shipping to determine actual cost, rather than use a flat rate or shipping calculator that may not be accurate. I can say, after ordering this, his system works great. I bought three items (two single LPs and this 7” flexi) and he charged me $5 for media mail with tracking, going west coast to east coast. So he sends you an email to pay the shipping through Paypal or Venmo.

I mentioned earlier how Jonah tends to add some nice touches with his releases. And this flexi is no different. Most of the times flexis don’t come with any sort of packaging. No sleeves or jackets, no insert; nothing but the disc itself. They were often included with magazines and newsletters back in the day, typically as promotional items. They’re starting to make a comeback, because they’re relatively cheap to make and can fit anywhere. Jonah made a half fold insert/sleeve for his flexi, which is on blue paper. Because of insert/sleeve, the flexi looks almost green when it’s in the protective poly sleeve. But when you slide the flexi out its true color becomes apparent.

Some copies came autographed by Jonah, which I’m sure he could have done on request if a customer was so inclined. Some copies also come with a small note from Jonah as well as the signature. Don’t worry, the writing is not done on the flexi itself. It’s done on the insert/sleeve. I always cringe when I see photos posted online or on social media where some idiot had a band sign the actual record instead of the jacket. And quite honestly, I lose a good deal of respect for any musician who actually signs a record. It’s one thing to meet a fan’s request; it’s another thing to accommodate an idiot.

Gratitude – s/t (1st Press)

This was a weird pre-order. I’ve seen a lot of weird, shady and squirrelly things when it comes to mail-ordering records, especially with online ordering and pre-orders becoming a more prevalent thing. To kick things off, this release came completely out of left field. What didn’t help was that it was done by a tiny German “label,” Thirty Something Records. Lots of times with foreign labels and distros, things get lost in translation. That was never an issue with this label. What was odd was how the pre-order was handled.

This was only available via Germany. Either from the label itself or through one of two options, German distros Greenhell and Flight 13. It was never distributed outside of Germany. Not even to other European countries. That is not the weird part. The weird part comes in when the label itself launched pre-orders, doing so through two different stores; their official web store and their Bandcamp page. This record was only available from their official web store during the pre-order phase, they inexplicably took down the item from the store after the release started shipping. Yet it was still available via their Bandcamp page.

For U.S. customers it was a cheaper option to buy from the label’s webstore as opposed to their Bandcamp page for whatever reason(s). Shipping was the killer here. The record itself cost the same; shipping was far more on Bandcamp than the label’s official web store. And I’m talking nearly twice as much. Which is one of the reasons, once I discovered this, I held off on buying this record altogether. I never planned on pre-ordering because I never heard of this label before, and the fact they’re based overseas is another red flag in my book.

At some point well after the records started shipping, and I assume the label took care of fulfilling their orders, Jonah Matranga, lead singer of Gratitude, finally got his hands on some copies of this record to sell himself. But it was not cheap. For whatever reason(s) Jonah was selling copies of this for $30 before shipping. Shipping was determined on an order by order basis, so it was not the same for every customer. Which is nice to see; someone or a company not being greedy with shipping and charging close to what it actually costs.

Jonah was trying to get his hands on copies, and discussed it on social media, which is what I was waiting for in order to buy a copy. But after seeing the price he was charging, I putzed around long enough that the Far Water & Solutions record that was released at the same time sold out. It kinda left a sour taste in my mouth to be honest. Considering I could import these directly from Germany for the same price in the end. The fact the Far record sold out rather quickly from Jonah was the ultimate deciding factor.

Now with all that out of the way, on to the finer details of this record. It’s a nice release, pressed on 180 gram vinyl spread across four variants. All copies also come with a bonus 7” flexi disc featuring an “unreleased” song. With that “unreleased” song being “Until When (Always Waiting).” If you didn’t notice the quotations around “unreleased,” they’re there because this song is not actually unreleased. It was just never released on any U.S. physical format. It was found on the UK CD release. Not the end of the world. Just a fact that needs to be pointed out.

This Gratitude self-titled record saw a run of 500 total copies, with 100 copies on clear/red transparent, 100 copies on orange/black, 100 copies on yellow/black and 200 copies on black. All copies of the flexi, which is limited to 500 copies, are on transparent orange. Each variant has a hype sticker that denotes the color of the record. I haven’t seen the stickers for the orange/black or yellow/black variants, but the ones that come with my copy on clear/red has a red hype sticker and the black copies have a black hype sticker.

All copies of the record come with an enlarged booklet. It’s not exactly full size because it’s not scaled up to be LP size, but it is larger than a CD booklet. Which I’m assuming the booklet included with this record is taken from. The booklet is 10 pages long and has the lyrics to every song found on the album. The center of the booklet is a promo shot of the band. No download card/code is included with this record, which is not surprising since it’s a licensed release.

I mentioned the price point of this record earlier. But didn’t delve deeply into it. The label was charging more for (one Euro more) for all the colored variants, so 15 Euros instead of the 14 they were charging for the black variant. With the exchange rate (which fluctuates slightly each and every day) the 14 Euro variant cost between $15-16 and the 15 Euro variants cost between $16-17. The label’s web store was charging 12 Euros shipping for one LP, and if you were like me, and wanted one additional record, say the Far record, they were charging 17 Euros shipping. Had you bought these via the label’s Bandcamp page, shipping would be 12 Euros per item.

When Jonah imported these and sold them in the Yard Sale section of his web site, he tried to describe the variants rather than just list them as what the hype sticker on each of them says. Which made it kinda confusing if you wanted a certain variant. But if you were after the rarest one(s), all you had to do was buy any of the colored ones (he got copies of all variants).

As of posting this the label is sold out of all the colored variants, with the black only being available via their Bandcamp page. If you’re so inclined, you also buy a black copy from German distros Greenhell or Flight 13. Jonah on the other hand, has copies of all variants left for sale. For $30 plus shipping. So you may have to weigh your options if you’re concerned about cost.

Jonah’s Onelinedrawing – Me And You Are Two

Jonah Matranga released another album this year, Me And You Are Two, under a new but slightly familiar moniker; Jonah’s Onelinedrawing. Once again he used crowd funding to get the project off the ground, offering plenty of awesome rewards for pledgers that he actually fulfilled in a timely manner let along at all. I’m not saying Jonah never comes through, he always does, I’m just comparing him to countless other people/bands who use crowd funding and scam people by never delivering on all the rewards they offer. It turns out that after the record was finished it would be released in a joint effort with Thunderbeard Records.

Me And You Are Two has two wildly different variants, with each being exclusive to certain outlets. Jonah has his own variant, which can only be bought directly from him minus a few copies Thunderbeard sold in bundle deals with their variant. Jonah’s variant comes in a white sleeve with black ink, which includes a copy of the record on “random split” colored vinyl, which is most likely all half brown/half grey. It seems most people assumed/speculated/thought that every copy would be different or unique based on the “random split” name choice. What I think was meant is that random colors were ordered from the plant so nobody involved in the release knew what would be received. The color of ink on the covers for Jonah’s variant was also described as unique, but I think what was meant by that was Jonah use a multi-color crayon to color in some copies for the people who pledged through Kickstarter. Every copy I’ve seen so far of Jonah’s variant looks exactly the same. Thunderbeard has their own variant, which comes in a black sleeve with silver ink, which includes of a copy of the record on blue vinyl. Inside the sleeve of Thunderbeard’s variant the ink is blue though.

Jonah’s variant (half/half split vinyl with white jacket) is limited to 250 copies andThunderbeard’s variant (blue vinyl with black jacket) is limited to 250 copies. Every copy is hand numbered, with the numbering done /500 rather than /250 for each of the variants. Jonah’s variant is the first 250 (1-250) with the Thunderbeard jacket being the second half of the 500 (251-500). The jackets are a half fold style printed on a decent thickness card stock. The lyrics and liner notes are printed on the inside of the sleeves, with the track listed printed on the back of the folded portion.

V/A – Friends Comp (“1st Press”)

In late 2013 Enjoy The Ride Records announced one their releases, which was a joint effort with Fadeaway Records, a not defunct, but dormant label. It was a compilation on a grand scale. It wound up being a triple LP featuring unreleased songs from many popular indie scene bands. Profits from the comp went towards cancer research. Some of the bands on this comp included Brand New, Saves The Day, Motion City Soundtrack, Hot Rod Circuit, Nightmare Of You, Far , Fred Mascherino of Taking Back Sunday and Terrible Things fame, The Honorary Title, Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife and I Am The Avalanche fame, Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra fame, Matt Pryor, Reggie And The Full Effect, Head Automatica, Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance fame, and Kevin Devine. It was comprised mostly of bands producer and head of Fadeaway Records, Michael Dubin, worked with or had some connection to over the years. The comp was simply entitled Friends.

The record is housed in a triple panel gatefold jacket and comes with an insert to boot. Each copy is also hand numbered out of the variant total, not the total amount of copies pressed. All copies were also pressed on colored vinyl, some sort of splatter was used for the several variants this comp has. There were some, what I feel were shady goings-on with the variants.

There is a “1st press” and a “2nd press” of this record. I use the quotes because they really are one combined pressing. The “1st press” sold out, rather slower than expected, and right on the heels of it selling out, before the “1st press” even shipped, a “2nd” pressing was announced and put up for pre-order. Anyone with common sense would say how can there be a second pressing when the records from the first pressing were not even done and pressed yet.

The nonsense with the variants continued even after all the “pressings” were announced, as the “1st press” had a friends press, limited to 100 copies. When the comp was first announced there was no mention that there would be a friends press, only that the comp would be limited to 500 copies. Since it took so long to sell out the actual 400 copies of the pressing that were available to the public didn’t matter. It continued still with the“2nd^” pressing, as it had a friends press of sorts, which was called an “extra special variant.” I’m not making that up for giggles, the two labels responsible for this comp actually called it that; “extra special variant.” This “extra special variant” was split into two groups; 50 copies were randomly given out in orders for the “2nd pressing” and 50 copies could only be pre-ordered at the compilations’ record release show. Yes, a compilation album comprised of unreleased songs had a release show, where I should point out none of the bands featured on the comp played.

So the pressing info for this comp is as follows: “1st press” – 400 copies on red/white/black splatter and 100 copies on red/clear/white splatter (friends press). “2nd press” – 500 copies on milky clear/red/blue/yellow splatter and 100 copies on black/blue/white splatter (“extra special variant”). Again, a triple panel gatefold jacket houses the records. An insert is also include.

The biggest issue I have with this comp is the price gouging and downright ripping off of people. The comp cost $40 before shipping, a bit outrageous but since it was a triple LP and came in a nice jacket with an insert it became a bit easier to swallow. My justifiable pricing, a price which I consider acceptable for multi-disc releases is $10 per LP. So in that train of thought this should be closer to $30 than $40. Again, the finer points of the release somewhat justify the price tag. After hearing how much it cost to produce this comp, which was stated publicly by the head of Fadeaway Records on a public message board (and which I took a screen shot of for posterity), each copy cost at most $20 to produce. I understand the business model of doubling your money or don’t bother, but in this case that markup is a bit drastic.

The shipping charges are where I have a major problem; I find them unacceptable. Fadeaway Records charged $9 for shipping, and they wound up shipping it media mail, which as well all known is the cheapest shipping method available for records. The actual cost on my mailer said $3.65; factor in material costs (guy who runs the labels packaged orders himself so no employee costs) and shipping shouldn’t have been more than $6, and that’s being generous.Fadeaway Records justified the price points as, direct quote; “The proceeds are going to charity. Any overages on shipping will be donated to charity.”

I have no problems with charitable donations, but customers, anyone really, shouldn’t be forced to pay more money so someone else can make a bigger donation to charity. If I wanted to donate more of my money to charity I would donate the money directly to the charity of my choosing myself. That decision shouldn’t be made by someone else and it definitely shouldn’t be made by a bias third party.

Far – Water & Solutions [1st & 3rd (German w/ flexi) Pressings]

Far’s classic album, Water & Solutions was pressed on vinyl by Sh!t Radio Cast’s ($RC) “label” srcvinyl and released at the same time of Far’s earlier album Tin Cans With Strings To You. Unlike a lot of vinyl releases these days, the album was re-mastered for vinyl using the original master analog tape rather than using a digital master. This vinyl mastering was down by Stan Ricker, who works on many Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases. That fact is a giant step in the right direction, but, unfortunately, since $RC was involved with releasing this, there were some problems.

Before delving into the problems, here are some more details about the release. It comes in a glossy finish jacket with a fold out insert. Each copy comes in its own out poly sleeve with a silver sticker on it that reads “SRC HiFi Audiophile mastering.” The record was pressed on three colors, with only two apparently being limited. There are 500 copies on clear with blue smoke and 500 copies on coke bottle clear. The clear with blue smoke copies were exclusive to $RC and the coke bottle clear copies were “retail” exclusive. The “retail” exclusive is a bit of a lie as $RC sold a good chunk of the copies rather than sending them out to, you know… retail. An unlimited 180 gram black variant is also available.

The same controversy that surrounds Tin Cans With Strings To You also swirls around Water & Solutions. All copies were supposed to be pressed on 180 gram vinyl, but once the records started shipping out to people who pre-ordered them, it became quite evident that the records were not pressed on 180 gram vinyl. I should note though that my copy on coke bottle clear is on 180 gram, even though there were some people complaining that their copy was not on 180 gram. Given the complaints I used my postal scale to weigh my copies of these two Far records, finding out that my copy of Water & Solutions is on 176 gram vinyl while Tin Cans With Strings To You I didn’t even bother weighing because it was quite obvious it’s not on 180 gram vinyl. This marked the first time that I ever weighed any of my records, or even felt compelled to do so. I know there is at least one person out there so anal about things that he weighs every single one of his records and takes note of it somewhere.

$RC played dumb about it until someone brought it up on a message board they run, and in typical $RC fashion they passed the blame on to the plant. They claimed they didn’t know about the records not being on 180 gram vinyl and upon going back to inspect some copies they still had on hand discovered it to be true. They went on to claim the plant screwed them and it’s entirely their fault. While partly true, $RC could have refused the shipment since it wasn’t what they ordered and paid for. Rather than go that route, $RC opted to just send out records that weren’t as advertised without so much as a word; until someone publicly complained about it. I’m actually surprised the complaint wasn’t brushed under the rug since it was posted on a message board they have complete ownership and operation of. They censor their Facebook page anytime anyone posts anything negative by deleting comments and blocking the people who leave said comments from leaving future comments. They went as far as to remove the capability of posting on their wall all together as they removed the wall feature from their page. For whatever it means, $RC changed their pressing info to reflect that the two colored vinyl variants are not on 180 gram vinyl.

There of course is another school of thought on the matter if you don’t prescribe to the “it was a mistake and not our fault” reasoning. You could call it the conspiracy side of it, but given $RC’s track record of shadiness, it’s a likely scenario. This could have all been an intentional move by $RC, as they make more money in the end by charging for 180 gram vinyl and only ordering standard weight vinyl. $RC charged $22 before shipping for Water & Solutions, a single LP. An outrageous price, but not unexpected because $RC loves to overcharge for all their releases. They overcharge to the point where they have to put some of their releases on clearance for $5 long after they are released, and even at that price they still can’t sell out of them.

There was also an issue when $RC first received the clear with blue smoke batch of records from the plant, as they were the wrong color. $RC did not mention how badly the color was off from what they ordered, but far enough off that they rejected them. Really makes me wonder why they didn’t do the same with the “purple” variant for Tin Cans With Strings To You. Or reject the records because they weren’t pressed on 180 gram vinyl, you know, because they already rejected a batch of records for this album. The mastering is also off as well despite it being mastered specifically for vinyl. A few seconds of the first song, “Bury White” are missing. The opening chords are cut off. How that got past $RC is beyond me. They claim they didn’t notice any of these major/subtle (depending on how you value things) errors, but I’m willing to bet with already having a delay caused by initially receiving the wrong color for one variant, $RC no longer cared and just wanted to get the records out the door and off their books.

In 2019 another pressing of Water & Solutions was released, this one on top of the one Jonah himself did in 2018. So what is written about below would be the third overall pressing.

This was a weird pre-order. I’ve seen a lot of weird, shady and squirrelly things when it comes to mail-ordering records, especially with online ordering and pre-orders becoming a thing. To kick things off, this release came completely out of left field. What didn’t help was that it was done by a tiny German “label,” Thirty Something Records. Lots of times with foreign labels and distros, things get lost in translation. That was never an issue with this label. What was odd was how the pre-order was handled.

This was only available via Germany. Either from the label itself through one of two options, or German distros Greenhell and Flight 13. It was never distributed outside of Germany. Not even to other European countries. That is not the weird part. The weird part comes in when the label itself launched pre-orders, doing so through two different stores; their official web store and their Bandcamp page. This record was only available from their official web store during the pre-order phase, they inexplicably took down the item from the store after the release started shipping. Yet it was still available via their Bandcamp page.

For U.S. customers it was a cheaper option to buy from the label’s webstore as opposed to their Bandcamp page for whatever reason(s). Shipping was the killer here. The record itself cost the same; shipping was far more on Bandcamp than the label’s official web store. And I’m talking nearly twice as much. Which is one of the reasons, once I discovered this, I held off on buying this record altogether. I never planned on pre-ordering because I never heard of this label before, and the fact they’re based overseas is another red flag in my book.

At some point well after records started shipping, and I assume the label took care of fulfilling their orders. Jonah Matranga, lead singer of Far, finally got his hands on some copies of this record to sell himself. But it was not cheap. For whatever reason(s) Jonah was selling copies of this for $30 before shipping. Shipping was determined on an order by order basis, so it was not the same for every customer. Which is nice to see. Someone or a company not being greedy with shipping and charging close to what it actually costs.

Jonah was trying to get his hands on copies, and discussed it on social media, which is what I was waiting for in order to buy a copy. But after seeing the price he was charging, I putzed around long enough that this Far record sold out. It kinda left a sour taste in my mouth to be honest. Considering I could import these directly from Germany for the same price in the end. The fact the Far record sold out rather quickly from Jonah was the ultimate deciding factor.

Now with all that out of the way, on to the finer details of this record. It’s a nice release, pressed on 180 gram vinyl spread across three variants. All copies also come with a bonus 7” flexi disc featuring an “unreleased” song. With that unreleased song being “Mother Mary (Jonah Home Demo 1996).” .

This pressing of Water & Solutions saw a run of 500 total copies, with 100 copies on clear/blue, 200 copies o white/blue and 200 copies on black. All copies of the flexi, which is limited to 500 copies, are on transparent blue. Each variant has a hype sticker that denotes the color of the record. They’re color coded, so the two blue variants have a blue sticker (with the text saying what the variant actually is), and the black variant has a black sticker. Just so everyone reading is aware, what is featured in the gallery below is the white/blue variant, which is a baby blue with white marble and a few bits of darker blue marbling. The clear/blue is a baby blue, or ice blue, transparent with some hints of marbling.

All copies come with alternate artwork, which is different than any other pressing of Water & Solutions done to date. You can see the differences in the gallery below.  An insert is included, which has the lyrics printed on one side with an alternate take of the cover art on the reverse side (simply minus the text). No download card/code is included with this record, which is not surprising since it’s a licensed release.

I mentioned the price point of this record earlier. But didn’t delve deeply into it. The label was charging more for (one Euro more) for all the colored variants, so 15 Euros instead of the 14 they were charging for the black variant. With the exchange rate (which fluctuates slightly each and every day) the 14 Euro variant cost between $15-16 and the 15 Euro variants cost between $16-17. The label’s web store was charging 12 Euros shipping for one LP, and if you were like me, and wanted one additional record, say the Far record, they were charging 17 Euros shipping. Had you bought these via the label’s Bandcamp page, shipping would be 12 Euros per item.

When Jonah imported these and sold them in the Yard Sale section of his web site, he tried to describe the variants rather than just list them as what the hype sticker on each of them says. Which made it kinda confusing if you wanted a certain variant. But if you were after the rarest one(s), all you had to do was buy any of the colored ones (he got copies of all variants).

As of posting this the label is sold out of all the colored variants, with the black only being available via their Bandcamp page. If you’re so inclined, you also buy a black copy from German distros Greenhell or Flight 13. Jonah on the other hand, has copies of all variants left for sale. For $30 plus shipping. So you may have to weigh your options if you’re concerned about cost.

Far – Tin Cans With Strings To You (1st Press)

Far’s third album, Tin Cans With String To You, was pressed on vinyl by Sh!t Radio Cast’s ($RC) “label” srcvinyl and was released at the same time as Far’s fourth album Water & Solutions. Unlike a lot of vinyl releases these days, the album was re-mastered for vinyl using the original master analog tape rather than using a digital master. This vinyl mastering was done by Stan Ricker, who works on many Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MOFI) releases. That fact is a giant step in the right direction, but, unfortunately, since $RC was involved with releasing this, there were some problems.

Before delving into the problems, here are some more details about the release. The first pressing comes in a matte finish jacket with a fold out insert. Each copy comes in an poly sleeve with a silver sticker on it that reads “SRC HiFi Audiophile mastering.” The record was pressed on three colors, with only two apparently being limited. There are 500 copies on yellow and 500 copies on purple. The yellow copies were exclusive to $RC and the purple was “retail” exclusive. The “retail” exclusive is a bit of a lie as $RC sold a good chunk of the copies rather than sending them out to, you know… retail. An unlimited 180 gram black variant is also available.

The same controversy that surrounds Water & Solutions also swirls around Tin Cans With String To You. All copies were supposed to be pressed on 180 gram vinyl, but once the records started shipping out to people who pre-ordered them, it became quite evident that the records were not pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Given the complaints I used my postal scale to weigh my copies of these two Far records, finding out that my copy of Water & Solutions is on 176 gram vinyl while Tin Cans With Strings To You I didn’t even bother weighing because it was quite obvious it’s not on 180 gram vinyl. This marked the first time that I ever weighed any of my records, or even felt compelled to do so. I know there is at least one person out there so anal about things that he weighs every single one of his records and takes note of it somewhere.

The colors for Tin Cans With String To You are also way off from what was advertised. The “yellow” copies came out orange and the “purple” copies come out maroon and brown/orange/puke, as you can see by the photos of my copy below. The first disc is maroon and the second disc is brown/orange/puke, and both have marbling in them, something else that was not described or mentioned from $RC.

$RC played dumb about it until someone brought it up on a message board they run, and in typical $RC fashion they passed the blame on to someone else, this time the plant. They claimed they didn’t know about the records not being on 180 gram vinyl and upon going back to inspect some copies they still had on hand discovered it to be true. They went on to claim the plant screwed them and it’s entirely their fault. While partly true, $RC could have refused the shipment since it wasn’t what they ordered and paid for. Rather than go that route, $RC opted to just send out records that weren’t as advertised without so much as a word; until someone publicly complained about it. I’m actually surprised the complaint wasn’t brushed under the rug since it was posted on a message board they have complete ownership and operation of. They censor their Facebook page anytime anyone posts anything negative by deleting comments and blocking the people who leave said comments from leaving future comments. They went as far as to remove the capability of posting on their wall all together as they removed the wall feature from their page. For whatever it means, $RC changed their pressing info to reflect that the two colored vinyl variants are not on 180 gram vinyl.

There of course is another school of thought on the matter if you don’t prescribe to the “it was a mistake and not our fault” reasoning. You could call it the conspiracy side of it, but given $RC’s track record of shadiness, it’s a likely scenario. This could have all been an intentional move by $RC, as they make more money in the end by charging for 180 gram vinyl and only ordering standard weight vinyl.

There was also an issue when $RC first received some copies of Water & Solutions where they did not meet the expectations color wise from the plant, as they were the wrong color. $RC did not mention how badly the color was off from what they ordered, but far enough off that they rejected them. Really makes me wonder why they didn’t do the same with the “purple” and “yellow” variants for Tin Cans With Strings To You. Or reject the records because they weren’t pressed on 180 gram vinyl, you know, because they already rejected a batch of records for this album.

In December 2023 a re-press was announced, marking the second pressing of Tin Cans With Strings To You. It will be released by Thirty Something Records, a German indie label, in January 2024

Far/Sea Pigs – Split 7″

This is an early Far release. It’s a split with another band from the Sacramento California scene, Sea Pigs. Far contributes one song; “Far Does Madonna.” No idea how many were pressed, but this is one of if not the rarest Far releases. I bought this directly from Jonah Matranga a few weeks ago. He is going through all his music related things ranging from stickers, shirts, hats, belts, rare CD’s, cassettes and vinyl, and is selling everything in one of his yard sales. The merch ranges from everything Jonah has been involved in, from Far, Gratitude, Onelinedrawing and his solo under  his own name Link for his yard sale can be found here: http://jonahmatranga.com/supahsale.