Casual - Demo Sessions 12"

Dope Folks (2019)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This weekend I'm going to go see Hieroglyphics play live for the first time.  Though I have seen Del The Funky Homosapien and Souls Of Mischief, I've never seen the whole crew together.  One of the main reasons I want to see this show so badly is to finally be able to see Casual live.  Casual's debut album, Fear Itself, is in my upper echelon of hip hops albums.  I'm always in search of anything that sounds like the early 90s Hieroglyphics sound, often to no avail.  But what better way to find sounds like that than from the people that made them originally.  

Dope Folks put out this EP a few years ago that has six Casual songs that predate Fear Itself.  While EPs are not my favorite way to consume songs (which I know is blasphemy in hip hop, but I just love listening to all length albums), there was no way that I wasn't going to pick this up.  Though like a lot of things I'm writing about lately, it's taken me years to get around to saying something on this site about it.  

Of the six songs, one of them is a remix of the Fear Itself standout, "Me-O-Mi-O."  I do love me an early 90s remix.  To this day I'll contend that the remixed version of Del The Funky Homosapien's "Wrongplace" is superior to the original and it's not the only song I feel that way about.  I don't really think this remix is better than the album version, but that one is an all timer and has been lodged in my head for over 30 years.  The remix is an interesting take on it, but is more of a novelty for me on this release.

The main events are the five previously unreleased tracks.  They vary in quality both from a sound quality standpoint (these are demos after all) and song quality.  Some of the slower tracks like "Fear No Evil" and "Gotta Lotta" don't hit as hard for me.  The production and beats are OK, but they don't really service Casual's flow in the way that much of his classic material does. 

That isn't the case at all with side two of this EP.  "Where They At," Can You Feel It?" and "Rippers" all hit it out of the park.  The beats are more uptempo than what you'll find on the first side and this lets Casual uncork his rapid fire lyrical madness.  He's got an effortless flow that veers from freestyles to battle raps to punchlines, sometimes all in the same bar.  He's one of the most overlooked MCs out there and the fact that he was cranking out songs like this when he was still in high school (which is also when I was in high school) flabbergasts me.

Casual - Demo Sessions 12":

https://soundcloud.com/dope-folks-records/casual-fear-no-evil-demo-sessions-ep-coming-soon?in=dope-folks-records/sets/df0094-casual-demo-sessions-ep#t=0:00

Casual - Meanwhile... 2xLP (/200)

Trumindz (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Casual's debut, Fear Itself, is one of my favorite records in the history of hip hop.  Easy top five, probably top three.  Jive dropped him before he had a chance to release a follow up and it wasn't until 1997 that Casual released Meanwhile.  It was independantly released via Hieroglyphics own label, Hiero Imperium, and only came out on cassette.  I picked that up off the Hiero website in 97 while I was in college.  I liked it well enough, but I remember being a little disappointed with it considering how much I loved his first album.

Truth be told, I wasn't really in a space to appreciate a good hip hop album in 1997.  I wouldn't go so far to say I was against hip hop or anything like that, but I was really sour about how much the sound had changed and the type of music that I had identified with in formative high school years had kind of left me behind to seek fame and riches.  When Dope Folks released a barebones vinyl version of Meanwhile a few years ago, I reevaluated it and found that it had aged so much better than I had remembered it.  Are the beats on par with Fear Itself? Not exactly, but they're still really good.  Especially in comparison to what was being shoveled out by most rappers in 1997.

Up to that point we had a self released tape and a single LP with a generic sleeve for Meanwhile's official releases.  But finally, nearly 30 years later, Trumindz stepped up to the plate of put out a double LP version with full artwork, remastered and with a bonus track.  This is absolutely the definitive version of this album.  It looks great and sounds great, finally elevating this release to something that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the other incredible Hieroglyphics releases of this era.  

I'm so thrilled we finally have this version and can only hope that Trumindz decides to give the same sort of love and attention to The Shamen record that got a barebones CD release on Hiero Imperium in the early 2000s.  To me, that's the last crown jewel of the Hiero catalog that needs the deluxe reissue (though I certainly wouldn't turn down more Hiero Oldies and Hiero B Sides reissues).

Casual - Meanwhile...

https://casual1.bandcamp.com/album/meanwhile

Casual - Fear Itself LP (Black Vinyl, UK Version) & 2xLP (Black & Red Swirl, RSD Version)

 

Jive (1994, UK Pressing)
Get On Down (2024, RSD Pressing)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Wrapping up the fifth and final Record Store Day purchase for 2024 is Casual.  But as an added little bonus, I'm also including the 1994 UK pressing of the album, which until this year was the only version that had a picture sleeve.  I picked up the UK version quite a while ago, maybe close to two years?  But it had remained in the 'to write about' pile as I had already written about the non-picture sleeve US version on this site at the beginning of the Ed Lover Dance Day project.  That made it not as big a priority to get to, but we can add it here for a two for one deal.

The picture sleeve is the only selling point of the 1994 UK version.  As a single LP, the album is crammed onto two sides of vinyl and does the dynamics no favors.  It doesn't sound bad or anything, but it definitely doesn't compare to either of the double LP versions.  I wasn't sure Fear Itself would ever get the proper reissue treatment, but it was important to me to have a copy with artwork.

The new double LP Record Store Day version on colored vinyl looks pretty good and sounds pretty great.  The bass sounds low and full on my stereo, and that's always been one of the real selling points of this record for me.  The colored vinyl matches the art well enough, but the black in it isn't really dark enough.  The inclusion of the obi strip covers up most of Casual's face on the art when everything is in a plastic sleeve, so I wouldn't say that's a bonus, but it is nice to have the bolder spine when it's sitting on the shelf.  I personally would have made the bulk of the obi also be based around that portion of the album art.  I've seen it enough times to know it's a thing and I'm not sure why they didn't go that route.

The album itself is among the very best.  If I'm ranking my favorite hip hop records of all time, this is my number two on the list, only behind Del's No Need For Alarm.  It's a nearly perfect record showcasing everything I love about that era's production.  Casual's rhyming has always been more straightforward that the rest of the Hiero crew, but that doesn't make him a lesser MC.  In fact, because his flow is a bit more straightforward, it sort of forces his to really show his command of rhyming and building complicated, but easy to follow patterns.  He can tell stories when he needs to and battles better than all but the absolute most elite rappers on the planet.

Can't say enough good things about the album and this new Get On Down pressing is the definitive version of it.  Even though it's a Record Store Day release, I still see it readily available on many online stores.  If you like 90s era hip hop and didn't catch this one first time around, I can't recommend adding a record to your collection more strongly than this one

Casual - Fear Itself:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m61K-0X-SVBBfbt_K3FmNlIs8uu6DMgcw

Casual / Souls of Mischief / Extra Prolific - A Low Down Dirty Shame 12"

Jive (1994)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

The last of the Casual singles from the golden era is this three-way split EP that also features fellow Hieroglyphics acts Souls of Mischief and Extra Prolific.  It features songs from the soundtrack of a movie called A Low Down Dirty Shame, which I've never seen despite it starring Keenon Ivory Waynes and me being a huge a huge fan of I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.  Maybe I need to check it out one day.

As far as this single goes, we get two versions of an exclusive Casual song called "Later On."  The LP version features a laid back, storytelling vibe with a a jazzy drum vibe, some keyboards in the hook and some atmospheric chatter in the background.  It's not my favorite Casual song from this era as I prefer Casual when he's hitting a little harder, but lyrically there's good stuff here.  The remix of this is far superior in my opinion.  It has a completely different vocal take and some new lyrics over a beat that is still slower in tempo, but hits much harder than the LP version.

Souls of Mischief contribute "Get The Girl, Grab The Money and Run." The LP version probably isn't as strong as anything on their 93 'Til Infinity album that was released the previous year, but it's still a strong offering.  Hiero was operating at a level so much higher than most at this time, even their lesser tracks can hang with the best of the era.  The Souls remix has a beat that's a bit more minimalistic than the LP version.  It's good, but in this instance I think the one the put on the album was better.

Lastly we have the Extra Prolific track "In Front of the Kids."  Nothing really to see here as this is also on the Like It Should Be full length, so nothing exclusive here.  It's not even one of the better songs on that album.  This EP should be a perfect bridge from writing about Casual singles to writing about Souls of Mischief singles, but those Souls singles are expensive and I don't have them all yet.  Hopefully one day.

Casual - "Later On":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEZjTN-k15M&ab_channel=Casual-Topic

Souls of Mischief - "Get The Girl, Grab The Money and Run":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRzuTjbIqco&ab_channel=SoulsOfMischiefVEVO

 

Casual - Me-O-Mi-O 12"

 Jive (1994)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This was Casual's third single from Fear Itself, but if I was in charge of the release I would have had "Me-O-Mi-O" the lead single.  I think that of all of the incredible songs on the full length, this is the one that would have the most opportunity for mass appeal in 1994.  The rumbling bass along with killer lyrics and an easily digestible sing along hook should have been a smash hit.  Why it wasn't I'll never know, but it's a true highlight on an album that is packed with high points.

We've got a bunch of extra tracks on the 12" version.  We have "Me-O-Mi-O (It'd A Me Thang)," which isn't a remix at all, but a new track with different production and different lyrics.  Aside from sort of referencing the original's hook in its own hook, I'm not sure why the two are connected at all.  The beat is a little sparser and more dark than you'd think for a Hiero cut from this era, but as usual, Casual is on point and turns in some great verses.

There's also an exclusive song called "Rock On" that features Pep Love.  This one is built off a jazzy brass loop with some great scratching and laid back performances from Cas and Pep.  It's a little on the slow side, but really everything these guys touched during this era was pretty flawless.  Lastly, we have the Disseshowedo remix of "That's How It Is."  Since that song is already on the That's How It Is 12", I'm not really sure why it makes another appearance here.

Casual - "Me-O-Mi-O" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAO2CxOHlgA&ab_channel=UPROXXVideo

Casual - "Me-O-Mi-O (It's A Me Thang)" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S79WRo8zUdQ&ab_channel=charlesshmickens

Casual - "Rock On" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QurUOCM2pV4&ab_channel=grantp33

Casual - I Didn't Mean To 12"

Jive (1993)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

As much as I love the Casual album Fear Itself (and I do love it so very much), "I Didn't Mean To" was never one of my favorite songs on it.  It's a really good song, but considering how much of the album is next-level great, it doesn't stand out to me quite as much.  It's particularly weird to me that it was chosen as the second single off of the album with a video and the 12" treatment.

The highlight of the album version of the song is its excellent, slinky beat.  Lyrically, I'm not as into the ladies man vibe, though the storytelling is a unique taker on the subject.  I just enjoy Casual the most when he's unleashing battle raps and self aggrandizing lyrics.  That's where he really shines.

The 12" also comes with a remix of the main track.  It uses the same vocal take, but has a beat that's a little punchier and has a nice baseline.  I don't like it as much as the album version, but it's a fun listen.  In addition to instrumentals of the LP version and the remix, we also have one exclusive track, "That's How It Is Part II."  I'm not sure why it's considered part two, as the beat is new and really it's a brand new song featuring a verse by A-Plus of Souls of Mischief.  It's an awesome track and it is kind of a shame it's relegated to B side status and has been somewhat forgotten as it is as strong as anything on Fear Itself.

Casual - "I Didn't Mean To (Album Version)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMOJ9rqwuKg&ab_channel=489seven

Casual - "I Didn't Mean To (Remix)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8cvB6xVZJY&ab_channel=RAWflava

Casual - "That's How It Is Part II":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odk2qHqu9jQ&ab_channel=boothe

Casual - That's How It Is 12"

Jive (1993)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Fear Itself by Casual is my second favorite hip hop album of all time, only No Need For Alarm by Del has had more spins throughout my life.  Much like I did with Del, I decided that it was time to gather up all of the accompanying Casual singles of that era.  I'm starting off with "That's How It Is," this first single from Fear Itself.

I did always think it was a little odd that this was the first song picked as a single.  Not that it isn't great, because it is, but it seemed a little too intense for a new listener.  Over a deliberate, rumbling bass line, Casual unleashes punishing battle raps with intricate rhyme schemes and bars for days.  It's one of the things Casual is best at, but I can't help but wonder if a song like "Me-O-Mi-O" or "Lose In The End" wouldn't have been just a little more digestible to the average Yo MTV Raps fan.

This single has several extra tracks, but most aren't particularly exciting.  There's the instrumental and an a capella version of "That's How It Is" as well as an appearance by another track from Fear Itself, "Thoughts Of The Thoughtful."  Again, another great track, but it is also on the full LP.  The only real exclusive is the Disseshowedo Mix remix of "That's How It Is."  It's more than a remix as there's a completely different vocal take as well with some new rhyme schemes and a completely different cadence.  It's really great and the beat is pretty incredible.  It's almost like a new song and I'm definitely into it.

Casual - "That's How It Is (LP Version)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV74MHNrUpI

Casual - "That's How It Is (Disseshowedo Mix)":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCc6b1ODww4

Casual & J Rawls - Respect Game or Expect Flames LP

Nature Sounds (2012)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

As I've mentioned several times, Fear Itself by Casual is my second favorite hip hop album of all time. I still listen to it constantly and feel that it really holds up as a true classic of the genre.  Casual's other work has been a bit more hit and miss for me over the years.  While as an MC, Casual is beyond consistent and incredible, but the beats on his album haven't always been as reliably great.  There have been standouts over the years, in particular Truck Driver jumps out as one of the very best, but there have been other albums that fell flatter for me.

Respect Game or Expect Flames immediately jumps up on the list of my all time favorite Casual albums.  While this came out all the way back in 2012, I heard it for the first time within the last year or so.  J Rawls has created a perfect musical canvas for Casual to display his lyrical prowess.  While it doesn't sound like the quintessential 90s Hiero sound, the beats on this album are rooted in boom bap tradition, but work in innovative and jazzy measures.

Two cuts featuring other Hierglyphics members really stand out.  Del The Funky Homosapien checks in on the title track "Respect Game or Expect Flames" with typically excellent results.  The other is "Hier-o-dot" with it's uptempo bass line and guitar riff hooks.  I always feel these faster songs are where the Hiero crew truly excels and with drop ins from Souls of Mischief it's a real standout on the record.Modern hip hop isn't always the most exciting thing to me, but it's nice to know that 90s stalwarts are still out and about, creating and keeping old people like me interested. Even if it takes us eight years to show up to the party.

Casual - "Respect Game of Expect Flames":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i_3YSqV-4k&feature=emb_title

Casual - Meanwhile... LP

Dope Folks (2016, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for 25+ years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

Fear Itself by Casual is one of the greatest hip hop records of all time.  Gun to my head and forced to rank my favorites, I'd probably put it at number two on my all time list.  I've listened to that album so many times over the years and it was a real staple of my junior/senior year of high school in 1994.  I didn't hear from Casual again until I was in college.  In 1997 the Hieroglyphics crew had all been dropped from their respective labels and regrouped on the internet to start self releasing their music.  I bought two cassettes from their website; Del The Funky Homosapien's Future Development and Casual's Meanwhile...

Honestly, both felt like a little bit of a let down at the time.  I had moved on from most hip hop by 1997 and even though I was really excited to finally have new music by two of my favorites, it was pretty obvious to me that hip hop's golden era was over.  Over the years I've come to appreciate these records more than I originally did.  Even though Meanwhile doesn't hit the same highs as Fear Itself, it is still a really strong record showcasing Casual's pretty unmatched battle rap prowess.

In 2016 Dope Folks freed this album from tape only purgatory and finally remastered and rereleased it on vinyl.  I was unaware that this had happened at the time and as a result missed out on the red vinyl version.  Still, I'm happy to finally have this album on vinyl and the remastering really helps out the production as it previously had sounded a little thin to me.  The bass is now fuller and the vocals a little crisper than they had been on the original version.

I hadn't listened to this album in a while before picking up this vinyl version.  I'm really glad it was reissued as I'm listening to it again with a bit more context and more of an open mind than I had in '97.  It's a good record, probably the third best one Casual put out (I also really love an early 2000's record of his called Truck Driver).  I'd still like to add the red vinyl version to the collection if I can find one at a decent price, so we'll see if one turns up.

Casual - Meanwhile:
https://casual1.bandcamp.com/album/meanwhile

Casual - Fear Itself 2xLP

Jive (1994)

Wednesday is Ed Lover Dance Day and this album is the last of the records that were already in my collection that I'm going to write about.  As I start writing about the various golden age hip hop records I've picked up over the last couple of months (finally upgrading the CDs I've had since high school), I wanted to talk about the three most important hip hop albums to me.  I've already written about Del the Funky Homosapien's No Need For Alarm and Souls of Mischief's 93 'Til Infinity, and now we're going to complete the trifecta with Fear Itself, this debut from Casual.

Like Del and Souls, Casual is part of the Hieroglyphics crew.  Fear Itself came out after their records did and was released at the beginning of 1994.  In some ways, it was the last truly mind blowing rap album I ever heard.  To this day, I haven't heard anything that has been released since then that is as good as this.  Though in fairness, it is my second favorite hip hop album of all time, so it's a pretty high bar to try to reach.

Everything about Fear Itself is perfect.  The album slams from start to finish and not only is there not a weak track in the bunch, there isn't really much of anything sub-phenomenal.  I guess "Interlude" might not stack up as high as everything else, but Casual doesn't even rap on that song, so I don't think that counts.  The beats on this record are some of the most consistently incredible I've ever heard.  Innovative sampling that bridges funk, soul, jazz and boom bap.  Whether it's the bounce of "Me-O-Mi-O," the upbeat piano and bass of Hireo posse cut "Who's It On" or the slow dragging bass of "This Is How We Rip Shit" and album closer "Be Thousand," Casual hits it out of the park every single time.  He even manages to put to tape my favorite ever verse from Del The Funky Homosapien on the all too brief "A Little Something,"

It's just a pretty unbelievable album from start to finish, yet I've always felt that Fear Itself didn't get the accolades it has deserved over the years.  I think a lot of folks have either never heard of or have forgotten about this classic album.  It's not super available on vinyl.  I have the old Jive release and that doesn't even have proper artwork.  There is a UK version that does, but the price and shipping costs have kept it just out of arms reach for me over the years. I wish one of those 'Respect The Classics' type of reissue labels would get their hands on this and give it the lavish reissue it so rightly deserves.  When you are talking about the best hip hop albums of the 1990s, they don't get much better than Fear Itself.

Casual - "A Little Something":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdHkZfRSYfM

Casual - "This Is How We Rip Shit":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M44ZLp1tuTw

Casual - "Who's It On":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH5m5ErAOs8

Casual - "Be Thousand":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I81CnjhcyXU

Casual - Casual LP - Clear Vinyl (/100)

Dead Broke / Square Of Opposition (2015)

Back when I was in high school, I listened to a lot of hip hop.  In particular, I loved Del The Funky Homosapien and pretty much everyone in his Hieroglyphics crew. In 1994 there was a rapper from this crew named Casual and he put out what is probably one of my top three favorite hip hop albums of all time, Fear Itself.  While that Casual has been around for quite some time and has put out several other albums, I don't think he was ever truly able to capture that lightning in a bottle perfection of his first album.  I still throw it on from time to time and am just as big a fan of it now as I was twenty one years ago.

Fast forward to 2015 and we have a band, from New Jersey no less, also called Casual.  Right away I'll admit to being concerned as they used a band name that was kind of already being used, albeit, not by an actual band.  I will also admit that I've been pretty tough on bands from my home state over the years and can't say too many have ended up in my collection.  That being said, I trust Dead Broke so I picked this up.  While I can't say I was knocked out of my chair like I was when I hear Casual the rapper for the first time, this Casual has put together a pretty strong album of gritty, but melodic punk.

To me they sort of sound like a cross between the gruff punk of bands like Iron Chic and the kinetic guitar rock of Sundials.  Vocally, they definitely lean closer to Sundials, with yelping vocals that are enhanced with some female backing vocals to produce some nice harmonies that really elevate some of the songs.  I wouldn't plant my flag and proclaim this one of the tip top best albums I've heard this year or anything, but if you like your punk poppy (which I do) and enjoy when a band is bristling with energy and hooks (check) then Casual is absolutely worth giving a whirl.

Casual - Casual LP:

https://deadbrokerekerds.bandcamp.com/album/casual

Wax Packs: Casual / Crybaby - Split 7" - Violet Vinyl (/154)

Wax Packs: Casual / Crybaby - Split 7" - Violet Vinyl (/154), a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Secret Audio Club (2013)

Wax Packs Hobby Box

Wax Packs is one of the more unique things I've come across record collecting.  They're put out by a label attempting to combine their love of record collecting with their love of trading cards.  It's an interesting singles series concept, but instead of getting 1 record every month, all of the singles are released at the same time, the only catch is that you don't know what records you're going to get.  The basic concept of Wax Packs is that they are selling 7"s in generic sleeves that are sealed.  If you go to the store or buy a single record, it's a lot like the vinyl toy blind box phenomenon that's been taking off over the past few years.  Until you buy your record and take it home to open it, the record your buying is a mystery.

The way it becomes a bit more like trading cards is the records are also sold in groups on 5 singles, as a Hobby Box.  The benefit of the Hobby Box is that in addition to having multiple chances to get the record you want, you are guaranteed to get one of the more rare variants of the records.  Let me explain.  For each of the 10 7" releases, there's different variants hidden randomly in these hobby boxes. There's a limited to 150-ish version on colored vinyl, a limited to 50 numbered colored vinyl version and the test pressing for each record is also out there.  So if you buy a box of 5, you get a pretty cool box and a sure shot limited variant. There's also  collectible download trading cards, one for each band randomly distributed in each box.

Box Break

It's one of the cooler ideas for record collecting I've seen and while I don't collect trading cards now, I did as a kid.  I had an awful lot of Star Wars cards if nothing else.  I think if your goal is going to be to collect every variant of every record, you might drive yourself to drinking.  But if you buy a couple of boxes and then try to trade for the other records you're missing, it's kind of fun and opens you up to a collecting community of like minded souls.

That's a lot of describing the concept of this series, but with no talk of the actual music.  As I have 1 Hobby Box, it would be an extremely long review to try to tackle everything in this box.  What I'm going to do is review 1 of the 5 records each day this week, that way I can treat each 7" as its own release and can give the bands on the records a bit more time.  I will also say this.  Of the 19 bands in this series, I had only ever heard of 1 of them going in.  I had no clue what to expect.  Some of the records I liked, some of the records I didn't.  It's the same as every singles series, if you line up 19 bands, no one is going to like all of them, but there's enough interesting diversity in this group that I'm definitely glad I have a box of these.

Casual / Crybaby - Split 7"

On to the record at hand, the Casual / Crybaby split 7".  When I did my "box break" I actually had a heck of a box.  I got 4 records on regular black vinyl.  I also got a test pressing and then this split 7" on colored vinyl, limited to 154 copies.  I had never heard of either band before, so I went into this record blind.

Crybaby turned out to be alright.  They remind me a great deal of the Conor Oberst fronted Desaparecidos.  Pretty decent hooks and quivering vocals.  There's some wacky guitar breakdowns that didn't thrill me and I think the band as a whole could use a bit more oomph, but in general, these songs with ok.

Casual was more my speed.  Though they stray close to being a bit too straight forward rock, they string together 2 good songs with strong vocal melodies.  This sounds similar to some early 2000's bands to me. The first song is poppier, the 2nd has significantly more shouting with a big group singalong chorus.  I prefer them to Crybaby, but for bands I had never heard before, I think both are worth a listen.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next 7" that was in my Hobby Box.

Casual Side:

http://casualnj.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-w-crybaby


Crybaby Side:
http://crybabypa.bandcamp.com/album/split-7-w-casual-2