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VC Secret Santa 2018


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50 minutes ago, daegor said:

*squints* have I not had enough coffee yet?

 

 

Awesome gift there man! Though I have a feeling that it was NOT SWB who put it together, haha.

I ran out of matches so I just gave him himself and told himself not to tell himself

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5 hours ago, Reshiram said:

Welp, US Customs decided to examine my package and before even opening it, I believe @daegor is my secret Santa, lol. I was gonna wait till Christmas but I'm gonna open it up soon just to make sure Customs didn't destroy anything.

Yeah... there may have been some bomb looking like items in there, hahahaha (I swear they aren't, hopefully they didn't confiscate them)

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Alright here we go!

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Craft Beer from Canadaland! Customs examined the Pumpkin ale and miraculously didn't throw it away, thank God cause it looks delicious. I'll probably try these at Christmas with my uncle. Love the aesthetic of this brewery though!

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A gang of CDs. 

O'Brother - Dissolution 

Argyle Park - Misguided 

Showbread - Anorexia

Most Non-Heinous - Weird Science 

Of the 4, the only band I'm familiar with is O'Brother, and I've yet to check them out. I'm most interested in the Argyle Park as that's right up my alley according to your description. I'm definitely gonna check all of these out though, and thank you for the signed swag! Always a nice touch, and a speaking of signed.

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Big Black Delta - RCVR

Of all the records you've sent, this is the only one I've had time to spin and I loved it! I'm actually not familiar with Debbie Gibson (I guess I'm too young) but the song was great! B-side was nice too.

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Toothgrinder - Nocturnal Masquerade

I'm familiar with the band but I've never given them a listen. Excited to spin this once my schedule frees up from the Holiday madness.

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Birds In Row - Collected

I've never heard of this band but I trust France when it comes to music. Again, I'll spin when the holidays end.

 

Seriously @daegor, you went above and beyond! I'm flabbergasted by the generosity of your gifts, and I appreciate them all, thank you! Happy Holidays y'all!!!

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I'm glad everything showed up in good shape, haha!  Yeah let me know what you think of everything, I did my best to find stuff you weren't familiar with but would probably dig.

 

 

Unfortunately some stuff came up the day I was supposed to swing down to the boarder to pick up my package, which means the earliest I'll be able to get it now will be the 31st :(  Might not be able to until Jan 5 if that day doesn't work out, sorry SS!!

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On 12/18/2018 at 6:12 PM, swb said:

This is my first year participating in VC Secret Santa, so I think it's fitting that I am the first poster to share the awesome gifts they received.

 

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My gifts arrived in two installments over the last month. In November, I received two packages from Amazon and, this week, I received a third package (that was somehow postmarked both from Arizona AND Germany and required a weird international receipt signature!).

My first gifts from November:

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Slowdive's self titled LP from 2017! I have slept on Slowdive for 20+ years despite being familiar with the name, so this was a great choice. That upbeat, well-paced shoe-gaze sound is right up my alley.

 

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Low's Double Negative LP from this year! This was one of my favorite records of 2018 but, the one time I went into Amoeba in LA to buy it, they were sold out and I never ended up grabbing a copy. Thanks to my Secret Santa for selecting this off my wishlist!

Now, flash forward to this week's gifts:

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R.E.M.'s import picture disc single for Leaving New York (off Around the Sun), a Black Jesuses flexi, and CDs from Jeniferever and Thee More Shallows!

 

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Nomads' Free My Animal LP from 2014!

 

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Two mix CDs and a thoughtful, super nice handwritten letter! 

A huuuge yuletide thanks to my Secret Santa for crushing their gifts. I've participated in a few vinyl holiday exchanges and this was by far the best selection of stuff I've ever received. I'm excited to dig out my CD drive so I can spin those mixes and CDs and to play that Nomads LP! I have heard of almost none of these bands besides A Perfect Circle and Sigur Ros, which are on the mixes, so it will be a fun dive. I will definitely update this thread with my impressions of all the new music. My Santa did not identify themselves but I'm just gonna guess that it was swb. He seems to be a safe guess so far. :P Seriously. Awesome gifts! Thank you!

Who else got dat Santa gift?

Update: I’m halfway through mixtape #1! It’s been in my car for my rides to work! I don’t listen to this kind of instrumental-focused serious rock much at all but this mid-paced, sorta upbeat side of that sound is super compatible with me. It reminds me of the mid-2000s when pop punk and emo splintered into the screamo genre and then a piece of it went off into the Mars Volta-y guitar nerd stuff. I feel like my brothers who play guitar would be super into the instrumentals on this mixtape. I’m excited to hear the rest and start mix 2.

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Sorry for the double post!

After some research, I’m ready to guess that my Santa is...

@Sasan (by way of @backpackoat?)!

Thanks again for an awesome package. I know you aren’t into the same genres as I am but you did an incredible job choosing items of my want list and recommending Slowdive and Nomads. I am slowly getting through the CDs and mixtapes when I have time in the car and enjoying them. Hope your Secret Santa gift and Christmas and New Year went well!

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2 hours ago, swb said:

Sorry for the double post!

After some research, I’m ready to guess that my Santa is...

@Sasan (by way of @backpackoat?)!

Thanks again for an awesome package. I know you aren’t into the same genres as I am but you did an incredible job choosing items of my want list and recommending Slowdive and Nomads. I am slowly getting through the CDs and mixtapes when I have time in the car and enjoying them. Hope your Secret Santa gift and Christmas and New Year went well!

Hey man, yeah, your guess is right (I‘m probably the only one from Germany participating this year)!

and yes, backpackoat ordered the amazon.com records since I didn’t want you to see my name/address on the package in order to retain the „secret“ flavor of the game :) 

Really happy you enjoy your package, wasn‘t that easy since we dont listen to the same genre. But your wantlist was a huge help! A friend of mine recommended Slowdive and after scrolling through your collection on Discogs I thought you might like them! Happy I wasn’t wrong! 

I hope you had a fantastic christmas and a wonderful start into 2019! Let me know if you liked anything on the mixtapes...really only put bands there that I listen to :) 

 

Two days ago I received a letter from German customs that my package is there and I need to show up with an invoice...wrote them a mail and explained everything. Hopefully I’ll have my package by the end of next week the latest. 

Edited by Sasan
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8D47F00E-2FAA-4ACF-9BBE-777E761E90AB_zps

 

 

First, let me just say how awesome it is to have dorkrock back im my collection! 

 

A mark, a mission... from dashboard is might be the only other album besides swiss army id get so another good call there.

 

Ive never listened to no age but have another album sitting in my to do shelf.

 

ive never heard of why but am curious so will give it a spin at some point soon.

 

Ive heard of the rest of the bands and appreciate everything that was sent!

 

I want to say that reshiram was my ss? 

 

 

 

 

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I ended up waiting until christmas to open my gift. Here it is! It was a gigantic package, and first thing inside was a nice handwritten note. 

 

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Inside were some individually wrapped gifts. I started with the 7" mailer.

 

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Inside were two Pearl Jam singles that I didn't have yet, a signed Menzingers single (!),  a Horror section EP, and a single by Nothington. 

 

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Inside the 12" mailer was a "Jungle Love single by The Time, and album by Sundowner, and a greatest hits album from David Bromberg. 

 

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There was also a boatload of stickers and CDs!

 

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And finally, in the last present was a die cast miniature of a BMW K1300S motorcycle. I'll be taking it tow work to put on my desk with my other miniatures, because I'm just a big child. Haha.

 

My Secret Santa said in the note that the Menzingers are local for him, so that narrows my Santa down to Philadelphia.  My Santa must have been ozfacter! Thanks so much dude, you nailed it! It was a good mix of stuff I love and stuff I haven't listened to yet. I've heard good things about the Menzingers for years, but have never listened to them. I was spinning that single yesterday and loved it. I'll be digging deeper into their discography for sure now. I haven't had a chance to listen to everything else yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Thanks again!

 

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16 hours ago, ozfacter said:

8D47F00E-2FAA-4ACF-9BBE-777E761E90AB_zps

 

 

First, let me just say how awesome it is to have dorkrock back im my collection! 

 

A mark, a mission... from dashboard is might be the only other album besides swiss army id get so another good call there.

 

Ive never listened to no age but have another album sitting in my to do shelf.

 

ive never heard of why but am curious so will give it a spin at some point soon.

 

Ive heard of the rest of the bands and appreciate everything that was sent!

 

I want to say that reshiram was my ss? 

 

 

 

 

It was me! I’m glad you dug the records. And hope the stuff you haven’t heard yet scratches some kind of unexpected itch. I also hope your holiday and new year went well!

Every time I participate in a vinyl Secret Santa, I like to take time to include a dossier/memo (you can see it at the top of ozfacter’s image) and present the package as if it’s evidence for an ongoing case being handled by the Federal Department of Music Investigation.

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Here is the letterhead I use. This was for a previous Secret Santa on a different forum. Like a dummy, I forgot to save the one I made this year! Otherwise, I could attach a copy here.

This year, I addressed the dossier to Forensics Director ozfacter and signed it from Special Ageny Steven Wilsom Botticello (S.W.B.) and the story was that my task force had recovered these stolen records in a raid of a notorious record thief’s warehouse and I was sending this evidence to oz for forensics analysis so we could capture the theif. But my character (lol) was starting to get suspicious that oz specifically requested only the pop punk, emo, and punk rock titles that were recovered in the raid and asked me to send them to his house directly instead of the lab. I hinted that I believed he may be attempting to keep the evidence for himself. Haha. I made it look like some post it notes had accidentally attached to the back of the file with my suspicions scribbled down in them.

In past years, I wrote the dossier so that the Santee was the record thief and the recovered evidence records were meant to be sent to another FDMI department but somehow ended up back in the theif’s hands. I printed out and cut out ‘poloroids’ of screenshots of posts I used to determine their tastes and other research. 

I think this is the last Secret Santa I’ll do, at least with this high concept idea, so I wanted to share it here. I’ve always loved high concept stuff, as well as physical stories that you could hold (like fold folders or keys or other totems) and it’s been fun putting these together for other vinyl collectors. Thanks to @backpackoat for having me in this exchange and to @ozfacter for being my Santee. Thank you again to @sasan for being an awesome Santa too. I’m excited to see more posts and hear what the rest of you received and what bonus/random stuff your Santas threw in. I’ll relinquish the mic and switch to lurking! :)

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20 hours ago, backpackoat said:

Everyone else, please start posting pictures before I am forced to become a mean moderator

I'm sorry! I wasn't able to drive up on the 31st either :(  There are so many records waiting for me, haha.  Saturday I will be driving up, but knowing my luck something else will come up again.....

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2 hours ago, swb said:

It was me! I’m glad you dug the records. And hope the stuff you haven’t heard yet scratches some kind of unexpected itch. I also hope your holiday and new year went well!

 

dude, i read that thing a couple times  i cant believe i didnt figure it out! thanks so much for everything, you did a fantastic job. 

 

@Youinreverse

it was me, im glad you liked everything! dont forget that there is still one more package that should arrive within the next month or two(?) whenever the pre order ships. 

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5 hours ago, swb said:

I think this is the last Secret Santa I’ll do, at least with this high concept idea, so I wanted to share it here.

Dude this is seriously the sickest thing, thanks so much for being part of it this year, especially to such an extent. Happy new year!

Edited by backpackoat
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7 hours ago, ozfacter said:

dude, i read that thing a couple times  i cant believe i didnt figure it out! thanks so much for everything, you did a fantastic job. 

 

@Youinreverse

it was me, im glad you liked everything! dont forget that there is still one more package that should arrive within the next month or two(?) whenever the pre order ships. 

Haha. You said in the not that I'd probably forget about the second package before it showed up, and looks like you were right.

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Sooo, after getting the letter from customs and explaining them the whole idea of VC Secret Santa (they wanted to see a link :lol:), they forwarded everything without me paying any single penny and I received my package today!

 

First things first: I was SHOCKED by the size of the package and the (to that effect) super-high shipping costs my Secret Santa had!

$67 for shipping this beast to Germany! I'm speechless and also sorry that my SS had to pay such a high amount to make me happy...! :-*

Here's the package:

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So, as you can see my Secret Santa is Jared aka @Youinreverse :)

I'm somewhat happy that I didn't have to really find out who my SS was/is, since I'm really bad at guessing and it would only create embarrasing situations :D

After opening the package, I found this letter:

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Although it's already 2019, I have to say that it wasn't Jared's fault that I've received the package "this late"...rather German customs bureaucracy! They wrote the customs letter on December, 24. Which means the package has been there for around a week...they are so slow! But I'm really happy to have received it at all...also happened that they just returned it to the sender after reading one of my mails :D

 

NOW we come to the interesting part!!!

First record: Efrim Menuck's High Gospel!

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As a HUGE Godspeed You! Black Emperor I was already going nuts seeing this! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HE RELEASED SOMETHING UNDER HIS OWN NAME!?!?!?! WTF?! :D Really great start!

 

Second record: 65daysofstatic - The Fall of Math

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It's crazy to say, but I don't own a single 65daysofstatic record at all! Jared was probably wondering what the hell is wrong with me since I have quite a few post-rock records in my collection :D  I do listen to their stuff quite a lot but never thought about buying their records...and can't explain why! I think this is a great start for another great band to enter my record collection and it definitely will not be the last 65dos record!

 

Basically, these two records made me so happy! I didn't expect anything else or more to come...but this was just the start to a sick secret santa package!

 

Third record: The Black Angels - Indigo Meadows

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I have never heard of them before and just googled them to find out they make Psych Rock! FANTASTIC! I'm really into PsychRock for a few years now and always welcome new bands in that genre! Can't wait to give it a listen!!!

 

Fourth Record (didn't I say this was a huge package?):  Holy Sons  - Fall of Man

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Again a band I've never heard of before! Just googled them/him and listened to "The Fact Facer" (first video to show up)! SOUNDS GREAT! Oh man, can't wait to listen to this...has this fantastic mix of singer/songwriter, experimental, indie...so much new music to discover...love it!

 

Fifth record (ridiculous, isn't it?): Subrosa - For this we fought the battle of ages

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Just look at this beauty! This looks fantastic...so basic! I love these kind of artworks! :wub:

Again a band that I've never heard of! Regarding discogs it's something in the region of Sludge, Doom & Post-Rock! Sounds exactly like something I'll immediately enjoy!!!.......ahhh that artwork....

 

Sixth Record (holy hell, so many records...): Efterklang - Piramida

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I've heard of Efterklang before but never listened to their music at all! But their mix of Post-Rock, Folk & Experimental music will probably be candy in my ears! Can't wait!!

 

SEVENTH RECORD (I really can't believe I'm writing this!!!): The Kills - Ash & Ice

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Again something I'm not familiar with! The artwork looks promising! Didn't google them and want to surprise myself... :)

 

WOW, JUST WOW, JARED ( @Youinreverse)!!!!

This package has to be the biggest, most generous and thoughtful Secret Santa package that I've ever received!!! I'm still speechless!

Not in my wildest dreams would I've ever imagined that someone sends me SEVEN LPs across the ocean! Not only seven random records, but thoughtful selected music from bands that surely fit in my collection and taste!!! Many bands that I've never heard anything of and I cannot wait to give ALL those records a spin, find out about these new bands and maybe put them into my list of favorites! Jared, thank you so so much for this fantastic package and all you effort (time & money) in putting this thing together for me and send it around the globe! Your gifts truly exceeded all my expectations & dreams!

I hope you and your family had a fantastic Christmas time with your beloved ones and hope the package you received was only half as nice as the one I got!!!

Thanks! :wub: :wub: :wub:

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Edited by Sasan
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On 1/2/2019 at 10:21 AM, Dunc said:

I'm having a hell of. Time uploading a pic. I suck at the internet.

I personally just upload to imgur--I don't even sign in, just do it anonymously--right click on the picture, click 'copy image address', and just paste the link in my post. The board automatically will make an image out of it for you. You shouldn't have to worry about embedding or HTML or anything.

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Thank you to everyone who as posted so far, just a couple left! This has been so much fun to see and boy there were quite some hauls this year. Extra thanks to Youinreverse for allowing Sasan to be part of this year's exchange by sending overseas... a true MVP of the yearly exchange. 

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8 minutes ago, backpackoat said:

Thank you to everyone who as posted so far, just a couple left! This has been so much fun to see and boy there were quite some hauls this year. Extra thanks to Youinreverse for allowing Sasan to be part of this year's exchange by sending overseas... a true MVP of the yearly exchange. 

Yep! Really deserved!

 

and thank you for organizing this years SS so shortly!

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