Old Punks Never Die!

All of the music that I've uploaded is ripped from my own collection (unless otherwise stated) and, with the exception of the sample tracks, is deleted, hard (if not impossible) to find online elsewhere, and generally expensive to buy second-hand if you can track it down. I'm making them available for free because I think that these bands are an important part of radical musical and political culture and history (although on occasion it may just be because I think they make a good noise). They're also fuckin' great to drink, dance and revolt to.

If you want something and the link's disappeared, just leave a comment or email me - I can usually upload it again pretty quickly for you. And if you have any problems with downloading or playing the files, just let me know where you're getting stuck and I'll see if I can help out.

If you're the copyright owner and want me to take your tracks down, just let me know and I'll happily do it. Please don't sue me. It's not punk and I've got fuck all anyway. I've spent it all on your music.

The technical shit

If I rip from vinyl, I use a Sony RCD-W100 recordable CD player and Pro-Ject Debut III turntable. All the vinyl is pre-cleaned with a KAB EV-1 (although there are good DIY alternatives for the more technically competent) and L'Art Du Son solution. That doesn't get rid of the scratches on some of 'em from years of hard party abuse when I was young, but that just adds to the character eh?

Whether I've ripped the vinyl to CD or I'm using an original CD recording, I extract the files using the free Exact Audio Copy (EAC) software, which is also great for burning by the way. Original CDs are extracted straight to .mp3 using the LAME codec set to V0 variable bit rate (VBR). Vinyl rips gets extracted as a .wav file for cutting into individual tracks using Audacity, an open source audio editor (which you can also use for cleaning up or processing the audio some more if you want). After editing, they're resaved as .mp3s using Audacity with the same LAME codec and settings as EAC. Any additional tagging is done with Foobar2000 (open source audio player, file tagger and format converter).

Before the files are uploaded, they're zipped into a folder using 7-Zip (open source file compressor and extractor). You can use the same program to unzip them again once you've downloaded them to your machine.

Did you notice that all of the above software is free? Good news for thrifty punks everywhere (although a donation where asked for is a nice gesture).

All of this sounds a lot more complicated than it is in practice, and the end results certainly justify the slight learning curve. Even an old git like me managed to follow the various guides available to get it all set up and working together. If you wanna try these programs but can't quite figure it all out, give me a shout and I'll try and point you in the right direction.

And finally…

Ripping and editing the music, creating the images, uploading it all, then researching and writing about the releases takes a good couple of hours for each one. If you grab anything I've put up please don't forget that a 'thanks' costs nothing, makes everyone feel good, and is PUNK AS FUCK!

Happy listening.