One day I get a message hinting me the existence of a new Bruges-based label from a collector colleague. Many things need to be said about what followed from that message.

Firstly the collector-colleague is a guy whose older than me and so more experienced in collecting items from the Belgian punk and Hardcore scene. We exchange things we know about the Belgian scene on a regular basis. I also sold an arm and a leg of myself to him. Which means he got some of fancy H8000 and POWERED stuff from my collection. He’s not afraid of collecting all versions of a certain release too. The only difference between me and him is that he focuses on the entire Belgian punk/metal/hardcore scene and that I focus on H8000 and REAPER RECORDS, as you might have noticed…

So one day he tipped me of this fairly new label in the region where I live, BRUGGE in Dutch or BRUGES in English, called LIVE AND LEARN Records. Tjorven is the person who started this label and he has some good releases already. Very inspiring work he does to me. I ordered two tapes of his store. And they got personally delivered by him in my mailbox. I need to say that unfortunately he didn’t ring my bell. I would have met up with him and be able to ask some questions. Because I was at home at the time but didn’t hear a thing probably because as usual my music is up loud!

With this background information we come to the actual releases I just got.

Firstly the tangible format of the GRIM 2012 DEMO I interviewed a bandmember earlier about. It’s a totally cool TAPE or CASSETTE in flashy orange with only the logo of the band on it in white.

Cool to have not only a download but actually a tangible bearer of that promising demo. It’s numbered also and exists on three colors. Blue, Green and this color. Unfortunately there aren’t many left, in fact the only chance you have is going to the Live And Learn store and pick up the orange…

The other release I got is also aesthetically and original looking. Actually something totally new to me. It’s the European release of DIRECT EFFECT “Forget The Rest” ep.7

Totally limited as you can see. It was Get Outta Town Records who released the 7inch version. Remarkably there are only three bandmembers.  Has in my opinion a late 80’s straight-edge sound to it. In vein of Turning Point, Fugazi but also surprisingly a Nirvana sound created by the guitars in the intro’s…

Anway check for yourself on the DIRECT EFFECT Bandcamp Page:

Support DIY made tangible releases of real Hardcore in the aftermath of 2010…