today must've been package day, because i got two packages today, both of which i knew would come eventually but neither of which i thought had actually shipped yet.

first i got a package from my lovely girlfriend, which included a copy of v/vm's relax cd, which apparently got v/vm into a lot of trouble (to the point that they won't even mention it by name anymore). also inside was some bizarre xtian junk mail, which includes a "prayer rug" and other strangeness. i haven't really gotten to check it out yet, but i suspect she was correct to think it could be used for collage work.

perhaps a bigger surprise was that my plates & labels arrived! yes, my metal plates from the record (as previously mentioned, these are made from the original lacquers cut by the mastering engineer, and they're used to create the mothers, which are then used to create the stampers that pound my music onto blank vinyl) arrived; and as a bonus, there were 3 extra test pressings in between the plates (for protection i guess, but what a bonus!) i think i should get some of those "LP frames" so i can hang them on my wall... i should also hang some of my lovely hand-painted bobby vomit records.

since you have to order 1000 labels no matter how few records you're pressing, there were 800 labels from each side left over, & now i have those. oddly, they already had the holes punched & some twine was threaded through the holes, then tied. sort of like a huge bracelet. i was expecting the labels to be in a folder or something, not on a ring.

unfortunately the labels are not adhesive as you might suspect; they're a special kind of paper & they are actually pressed into the vinyl while it's still a hot of goo. if they were self-adhesive i'd give them out as stickers. instead i'll have to come up with some creative use for them, probably in a collage of some sort.