Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Album #6)

Yeah, probably too expensive, right.

My friend said he heard "Black Me Out" on the radio the other day, and I know others have heard it too.

That would be cool if they'd do that one, but do you think NBC would let them?

It better be Drinking With the Jocks.

It'll either be TDB, TTSR or FML.

I think "True Trans Soul Rebel" (of those you listed) would be the "safest".

As long as they don't bring back Stop! for one night only I'm cool with any cuts from the album. Probably will be True Trans or FML666.

Anything except "Drinking With The Jocks" (too short) or "Two Coffins" (too non-full band) would be alright with me.

I got a shipping notice yesterday!

I love Against Me! and I love that they have their own record label. However, in this day and age, I don't think there is any excuse for the delays in shipping pre-orders that have been purchased for many months. Plus I've heard the digital download is a 160 kbps Vinyl rip. That is straight inexcusable and I really hope it gets sorted out for the next album. Hopefully this is just "growing pains" of starting a record label and not how they're going to conduct business in the future.

The digital download is NOT a 160 vinyl rip. That's insane.

Also, it's not the band's / label's fault when the pressing plant takes longer than they promised.
This happens all the time. It's the plant's fault.

telegraphrocks wrote:

The digital download is NOT a 160 vinyl rip.  That's insane.

Also, it's not the band's / label's fault when the pressing plant takes longer than they promised.
This happens all the time.  It's the plant's fault.

Alright on the digital download I guess I got incorrect information, however, the pressing should have been done by now. And yes it is the plants fault but it's also the labels fault for not getting it done earlier or going with a reliable company to press the record. Maybe I'm being hypercritical but a lot of posters in this thread pre-ordered months ago and should get their order on or before the release date and in the color they ordered (hopefully the mixups were just email mixups rather than shipping mixups).

If this were a isolated case of a couple people not getting it exactly on the release I would be more understanding. However, promising to have it shipped to a person on a certain date, taking their money for said order, and then not delivering on the promise for a large group of people is unprofessional.

Shit happens. Delays occur all the time in preorders. Even the most reliable plants have unexpected delays.

I dislike the concept of the preorder anyways. I get that it helps the label fund the project, but with as common as pressing delays are, dates constantly getting pushed back. For a repress or whatever, fine. But for an album hitting the street for the first time, preorders are sketchy.

pretty much every single LP is delayed at this point. there are only so many plants, and they're all horrifically backed up, ESPECIALLY at the beginning of the year because RSD pressings are starting. i get the impression that TT is just one guy handling all of the orders, and 1000+ records is a lot to ship. its a DIY operation. you'll get your records.

I just read that vinyl sales have gone up like 8000% or some shit in the last 5 years.
Like the individual above said... there are only so many pressing plants to accommodate all these releases.

Same shit just happened for the new Morning Glory album.  Plant's backed up, so instead of shipping just the vinyl copies out late, Fat Wreck Chords actually backed up the official release of the album several weeks (CDs and digital copies included, all because of the vinyl delay).

I guess I have a skewed position on vinyl. I don't order vinyl very much. I own two vinyl records, White Crosses and Black Crosses. I suppose I didn't understand the nature of music pre-orders. I;m more used to video game pre-orders where if you don't get it on the release date, it is a big fucking problem.

"originally envisioned as a concept album about a transgender prostitute." http://www.punknews.org/review/12342/against-me-transgender-dysphoria-blues

Against Me!
Transgender Dysphoria Blues (2014)

Since you are currently reading Punknews.org, you are no doubt familiar with the backstory of Transgender Dysphoria Blues. If, however, you've been living under a rock for the last three or so years, here's the Cliff Notes version: Band leaves major label, drummer leaves band, is replaced by young gun who reinvigorates band's live show, band forms own label, vocalist comes out as transgender, band begins recording album. Drummer leaves band abruptly, band cancels tour with Bad Religion. Album is re-recorded with temporary drummer. Drummer signs on as a permanent member. Bassist leaves. Fat Mike jumps in to help finish things up. Album is re-recorded once more, and that just about brings us up to speed. It's been an excruciatingly long wait for fans since the release of 2010's White Crosses, but the sixth Against Me! record has finally arrived, and it's an interesting one, to be sure.

New drummer Atom Willard makes his presence felt immediately in the title track's intro, which may very well be the most energetic AM! side one, track one since "TSR," if not "Pints of Guinness Make You Strong." The lyrics on this track, as well it's follow-up "True Trans Soul Rebel" deal with Laura Jane Grace's gender transition in a very upfront and honest way, setting the tone for the rest of the album, originally envisioned as a concept album about a transgender prostitute. While this will no doubt be a subject that the vast majority of Against Me!'s fan base cannot directly relate to, Grace has always had a way with words that makes whatever she was going through at a given time translate universally (Most of us have never had to deal with major label drama and we all still love Searching For a Former Clarity, right?).

Transgender Dysphoria Blues is Against Me!'s most stylistically diverse album in quite some time, musically speaking. It's most divisive song will undoubtedly be "Osama Bin Laden as the Crucified Christ" as there is no more accurate way to describe it than as a pure hard rock song; Imagine "Animal" from New Wave tanked up on a case of Red Bull. Grace's screams here represent the harshest, most raw vocals heard on an Against Me! release since Reinventing Axl Rose. It's wonderful. On the other end of the spectrum is "Two Coffins," the band's first full-blown acoustic ballad since 2005. Written for Grace's daughter, it is both haunting and beautiful.

Elsewhere, the band steamrolls through the Replacements-influenced punk rock with an emphasis on rock that they have been giving us since 2007, with the somber yet hummable "Dead Friend" and absolutely stunning "Paralytic States" (the only song the band didn't preview live before the album's release) standing out particularly. Things come to a close with "Black Me Out." Having been a staple of the band's live shows since not long after the release of White Crosses, at this point it's one of their most popular songs, and it's kind of shocking that it's only now receiving a proper release. It might not have the "grand finale" feel of say, "The Ocean" or "Bamboo Bones," but it's a great track and a fine note to close on.

The one unfortunate element of Transgender Dysphoria Blues that holds it back from pure brilliance is its production value. It's tempting to try and convince oneself that the production is simply "raw," and hearkens back to the band's early days. However, when listening to Reinventing Axl Rose, you would never have to spend your time turning the volume up and down several times in a song in an attempt to make it sound level. It's not charmingly low-fi, it's poorly mixed. Perhaps understandably so, as the album was Frankenstein-ingly recorded and re-recorded in several studios, but it shows, and the record is slightly weakened for it. The volume jumps are distracting. Grace did an excellent job in the producer's chair for Cheap Girls' Giant Orange, so it's a bit disappointing.

That aside, Transgender Dysphoria Blues is another excellent album for Against Me! and one they should be proud of, especially after all of the obstacles they had to climb to get here. The production issues aren't anything an anniversary remastered edition can't take care of a few years down the line, and the songs themselves are phenomenal. If you're still yearning for the band's pre-Fat days, you probably always will be, but if you've been on board since Searching For a Former Clarity, you'll find plenty to love about Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
http://www.punknews.org/review/12342/against-me-transgender-dysphoria-blues

Wow, had no idea so many people were havings troubles getting their vinyl. I (luckily) got mine on the exact release date (last tuesday).

cooljayhu wrote:

I love Against Me! and I love that they have their own record label. However, in this day and age, I don't think there is any excuse for the delays in shipping pre-orders that have been purchased for many months. Plus I've heard the digital download is a 160 kbps Vinyl rip. That is straight inexcusable and I really hope it gets sorted out for the next album. Hopefully this is just "growing pains" of starting a record label and not how they're going to conduct business in the future.

When "Eternal Cowboy" came out, there was a hold up with the vinyl. It shipped weeks after the release date. Entitled baby who has no clue what goes in to putting out a record sit down.

Thompson wrote:

cooljayhu wrote:

I love Against Me! and I love that they have their own record label. However, in this day and age, I don't think there is any excuse for the delays in shipping pre-orders that have been purchased for many months. Plus I've heard the digital download is a 160 kbps Vinyl rip. That is straight inexcusable and I really hope it gets sorted out for the next album. Hopefully this is just "growing pains" of starting a record label and not how they're going to conduct business in the future.

When "Eternal Cowboy" came out, there was a hold up with the vinyl. It shipped weeks after the release date. Entitled baby who has no clue what goes in to putting out a record sit down.

I don't think it's entitled to want things to ship on the day they are supposed to if I've paid you money months in advance. Why aren't there "shipping delays" when games or dvds are made? Logistically those markets are just as if not more challenging. When you know about the release date 6 months or so in advance you better motherfucking make sure those records get out in a timely fashion. I'm not entitled, you just have low expectations of professionalism.

I get why you are mad, but EA making millions of copies of a game (that will continually be patched because it wasn't technically ready by release day, mind you) isn't on the same level as a band self releasing their own material on a very small independent label. Preorders and possible delays is very common in the small game record world. It might come as a surprise to you since you stated that you aren't big into collecting, but this is FAR from unusual.

I waited almost TWO YEARS from "release date" to get the Integrity/RIH split 2x7" and was lied to about the status of the record and pressing process several times by the label that released it. Waiting a couple extra weeks is nothing.

Cooljayhu, I definitely get your frustration. Hell, I got my copy one day after release, and was pissed about that.
But comparing the manufacturing of vinyl to that of DVDs and video games isn't the same. DVDS and video games, especially through the 90's, only became more popular. Thus, more plants created.
Vinyl was huge YEARS ago, then nearly went dead. In the last 5-8 years there was a resurgence, and though one would expect another plant or thirty to open up, it's doesn't make sense economically. There's no telling if this is just a huge trend (I think so, for the most part), and people that can afford to open more plants aren't going to take that risk.

So, in conclusion... if something has a release date, it should be available on that date.
But, for vinyl, even though I'd still love it on the date I was promised, I understand the delays. I don't like it, but I understand it.

It's also a lot easier to press discs than vinyl. For one, the test press process isn't even a part of it. They could've easily planned months ahead but if their tests were messed up, it can add weeks to the process. Also, with so few quality pressing plants currently working, its easy for a major label to swoop in and pay extra for their release to get pressed as a priority. Independent releases get bumped. It sucks but its reality.

The funniest part about this that I didn't even order the fucking thing! I just took offense to being called entitled for wanting a company to fulfill a promise, that's it. Otherwise, I had pretty much moved on because in the end it isn't that big of a deal.