Oblivions

Not yet. But I did get that cool sweater a week or so ago. Curious if that was supposed to be our 2017 sweater or if that chapter is closed and this is our 2018 sweater.

Weekly deal ends tomorrow. List updated.

Yeah. Seems like they've morphed into something quite different during the delay between the EP and this album. I'm interested in hearing the whole thing.

Totally get you here but IMO, for some, the equation can be a little more complex than "make smart financial choice = higher quality of life" or, at least, have other elements that make me less interested in highlighting each poor decision. If someone makes the personal decision that their #1 goal or focus is to achieve a certain level of financial security, above all else, then I definitely think their perspective of eliminating all decisions that lead them away from that goal is right for them. If that isn't someone's main goal, above all else, then I don't know if I can tell them "You should have done X financial decision instead of Y financial decision". I can see how being broke and overdrawn and having some more records is a better life than being less broke and less overdrawn with less records. Not accounting for extremes or outliers, I tend to peace out of moralizing someone's situation and offer my best human-to-human vibes. But, as I said, 100% get you and I do agree with you in many circumstances. To look at it selfishly, in case anyone is thinking I'm pandering or trying to appear selfless or something, part of why I don't indulge the instinct to wade into someone else's financial choices is because I'd simply be wrong. Whatever assessment I made for them, by virtue of me not being them and knowing all the particulars of their life, would most likely be inaccurate. So, "you do you" is also a selfish way to not be wrong.

As someone who has been both dead broke and well off, I have nothing but empathy for people who are broke and no judgment on how they spend their money. That life can suck really bad and you deal with some predatory BS that zaps up whatever excess energy or cash you have, so I'm in no place to tell someone how to get through it. In my own experience, I've found it one million times easier to save money and spend smart when you have excess money coming in. When I was in my 20s and broke, I spent hundreds of dollars a year on overdraft fees (and balance minimum fees!) that I incurred from spending money on food, records, entertainment, gas, school, basically everything. It'd set me back for months and cause more late payments and more late fees. Since I've been well off, I've paid zero dollars on overdraft fees and I've been able to both save and spend smart. Why? Am I suddenly a responsible moral adult? No. It's just that now, when I make a stupid occasional mistake, there are almost zero consequences. I can accidentally spend too much on something and nothing happens. I can forget to pay something and I can easily afford the late fees. It is so so easy to offer advice like "spend less!", so I get when people say that trying to be helpful, but I have to remember to reject that impulse and instead put myself back in that headspace of being broke and offer empathy rather than admonishment. It really is a racket being broke and if people want to buy records or do things that make life suck a little less, even if it costs them more money, I say go for it.

I remember being SO into this album when it came out. I don't think I've listening to it in a good 8-9 years though. Also, wild reminder that I'm 10 years older somehow. This album reminds me of that time of my life pre-wife, pre-current good job, pre-everything stable pretty much. #yourearly20s

I read on Discogs that the new Mark, Mission, Brand, Scar reissue sounds horrendous but I played my copy this week and it sounds average to me. It's very quiet and obviously not a made-for-vinyl master cut or anything but I didn't notice any of the colorfully described issues people had. I'm rocking a U-Turn Orbit, Grado Black 2 cartridge, Magni 2 headphone amp, Art DJ Pre II preamp, and Sennhesier HD-598 headphones, so I'm like upper low level setup. Does this pressing fall apart sound wise if you go lower or higher on the audiophile scale?

Yeah. I got a comment about how they received my warped records back and "didn't notice much warping" but I just ignored it and they sent the replacements quickly, so I'm happy. They can say whatever they want as long as they provide replacements/refunds when needed.

Matador merch email will occasionally give cheeky replies and subtly downplay your issue but they always come through quickly with returns and replacements, at least in my experience. Just resist the temptation to read into their comments.

I gave up after 3-4 minutes of being frustrated by the infinite scroll. If I had spent an hour picking out 10 LPs I only sorta want, only for them to get canceled, I'd have felt like a big old dummy.

Those little green cheeks, they pass the test.

Weekly Deal: DEAL ENDED

SALE ENDED

The cream/tan sounds fine.

I really like the first two tracks and the closer. Still unlocking the middle chunk, which I think I mostly dig outside of an irrational repulsion I have to the faux-jaunty track 3. Plenty of reviews praise that track so I know I'm not necessarily in the majority with that one but I still can't really get into the song.

Is there an actual Joyce Manor backlash? I have their first two records which are fun/good and always thought they were inoffensive/everyone dug them.

That's not to mention that all those bands (and more) are made up of members of the human race, which is the same species that makes up Semisonic. Remember to choose positivity and lift up your brothers and sisters. One love.

98% of lathes I get skip or have gunk in the grooves or are so dangerously shaped and have such a dangerously small lead in area that I wouldn't dare place the needle down on them. 'Bonus 8" die cut lathe' quickly stopped being a preorder perk for me after I almost decapitated my cantilever on a tear drop shaped one.

The short answer is that Mint means everything (audio, surface appearance, etc) is absolutely perfect, so, if everything isn't absolutely perfect, it is not Mint. The longer answer is that Mint means everything (audio, surface appearance, etc) is absolutely perfect, so, if everything isn't absolutely perfect, it is not Mint. All joking aside, no one can really argue whether a record with visible scratches is or isn't Mint, because it's clearly not. What they can do is rope you into a sub-argument about whether it matters, whether it means you only care about looks and aren't an actual music fan, etc etc. IMO, when people use Mint, they are using an unofficial abstraction of the grade that basically means "NEW" or "Hey, this looks practically new, gimme a break over here!" and they do it because they want to sell their record quick and for as much as they can get for it. There are also some sellers who might be genuinely naive to the standard grading definitions or who have developed their own grading system pre-internet and everything above VG is Mint to them, etc. If I'm selling a record, whether it's brand new or only played once or 100 years old, and it plays with no surface noise but has visible scuffing, it is VG+. I'm not a huge bulk seller but I sell a fair amount of records and I've had no trouble moving VG+ graded records that are priced well. I've never had anyone contact me to say I overgraded a VG+ record but I have had people (nicely but incorrectly) tell me the record was way better condition than VG+. Someone left a review once that said "LP was better than Mint!" which seems impossible but was a nice feedback comment.

Very cool! I really dig what you're doing with these.

Added some new records, CDs, and tapes! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D37rhhKfCutDyeVM0o7w8OEJCzTwsvByRr4fgZU0jnA/edit?usp=sharing

I'd recommend the U-Turn Orbit if you're looking for something in the $300 range.

It gets much better. I half watched the first two episodes in chunks and they were OK but episodes 3 and on have been great.

If the seller said "I can refund you $5, since there is an additional cost for packaging and supplies", he'd have covered himself, IMO, as I agree about mailers, tape, and time being worth recouping via S&H. Making something up about insurance being $4 was real dumb.

Whenever I've purchased insurance via a PayPal label, it is included in the postage total that appears on the label. It could be different for buying postage in person or via another service like Stamps.com though. My hunch from what you've provided and my own years of selling and buying records is that the person was trying to avoid losing money on shipping internationally, which can honestly vary wildly in cost depending on where you buy postage, what level of tracking you want, and how heavy the package ends up being, so they chose to charge super high to cover all their bases. Then, when you agreed to pay that much, in their mind, it seemed like the extra $9 was their money/profit now and they decided to be a bit immature and only give you $5 back with a flimsy excuse.