Four Minute Mile

I love The Get Up Kids' Something To Write Home About. I know, is there anybody who doesn't, right? But I never really bothered to buy more of their discography on vinyl. Why? I really couldn't say. Well, recently I rectified that. Four Minute Mile is a pretty good record, although it's not nearly as good as their second LP in my opinion. I really like the white and blue splatter Doghouse chose for this repress. According to Discogs, 4000 copies were pressed in 2015, which is a crazy amount of records for the umpteenth repress.

Youth Brigade (DC)

Recently Dischord released the first demo recordings by DC's own Youth Brigade. And it's a good thing they did that. The songs on this 7" are pretty damn good. Simple songs, yes, but they encapsulate the spirit of those early years of hardcore pretty well. I also really like the cover and the label artwork. One day I'll own a copy of the original 7". One day.

Repeater

Another pick up from Bis Aufs Messer. I finally managed to fill another gap in my meagre Fugazi/Dischord collection. Repeater is as good as anything that Ian MacKaye has had his hands in. 

Dark Days Coming

A few weeks ago I went to Berlin to see Miles Away, Touché Amoré, Modern Life Is War and Gorilla Biscuits. All the bands were pretty good live, but MLIW and GB killed it. Despite the fact that it was a huge venue and there were way too many people there for my taste the show turned out to be pretty good. For some bands you just have to make compromises I guess.

Whenever I'm in Berlin I take up the opportunity to go to my favourite record store there, Bis Aufs Messer. If you're ever in Berlin, go there and support a great store. 

The first one of my pick ups is a Dischord classic. Maybe the term semi-classic is better suited for 3's only proper release, because I feel that there aren't that many people talking about that record. But the ones who do absolutely love this record. I'm really glad my buddy Tom told me to check out this LP. And it immediately made click with me. The record had me with the beginning of the second song. Swann Street is such an incredible song. But the rest of this LP is really good too. If you don't know this record, you're missing out on some great music. 

Drug Control

This one slipped my mind somehow. While checking out the Coin Toss online store, the description of the Drug Control 7" triggered my interest, so I ordered a copy along with the Spirits 7"s. It's good sxe hardcore in the vein of SSD or early Youth Of Today. Limited version out of 100 copies.

Sonic Poison

I bought all the Modern Life Is War records from the same person and he was kind enough to throw in another record for free. Thanks again, man. It's hard to see, but the record is actually on dark, blood red vinyl. This is the limited version out of 100. Sonic Poison play hardcore punk, with the stress on the latter word. Not bad, but it won't become a favourite of mine I guess.

Destination Test Or Better Days

This is one of those records I like to refer to as 'cherry on top of the whipped cream of the sundae'. Test press for Modern Life Is War's s.t. 7". There are only 13 copies in existence, which makes it sort of special you could say. But what's more - at least to me - is the fact that these are the first songs that Modern Life Is War ever recorded and these test presses encapsulate the first Modern Life Is War songs that anyone could ever listen to on vinyl. High ranking contender for Collectible Of The Year.

Modern Life Is War on Tour

This variant was made for the Spring Tour 2003, presumably the first tour Modern Life Is War ever did. 150 copies on red vinyl with blank labels. Well, one side is blank and the other one is stamped with 'Modern Life Is War Spring Tour 2003'. And yes, I fucked up, because I took the picture of the wrong side. Oh well.

Modern Life Is War / Kill Your Idols

Time to fill some more holes in the Modern Life Is War collection. This split between Modern Life Is War and Kill Your Idols was originally released in 2005 when both bands performed on WLUW. This particular variant was made for the Lifeline Records Showcase in 2013, as you can read on the cover. There are 150 copies and they're all on red vinyl. I don't know though if all of them come with a nice black splotch like the one you can see on the left side of the record.

Spirits, Spirits, Spirits

I'm really a fan of Instagram. You get to show off your cute pets, the magnificent places you traveled to, the awesome (vegan) good you made, and of course that really, really cool record collection of yours - and then you get the sweet, redeeming feeling of getting likes for it. You also get to see other people's cute pets, the magnificent places they traveled to, the awesome (vegan) food they made, and of course that really, really cool record collection of someone else - and you get to pass out likes, which is basically the good deed a day 2.0. What's not to like? What's more, I have been able to score some really cool records. In this case, the guy running Coin Toss Records hit me up after I had posted a picture of my Spirits collection. He asked me what I still needed, so here we are. Thanks again for helping me out here. I really appreciate that. The best thing is that I could also help out a buddy of mine with his Spirits collection too. So, thanks again Coin Toss Records for helping me out, and thanks Instagram for making all of this possible.


The first 7" I got is a copy on black vinyl with the tour sleeve the band had made for their European tour last year. I already had the green vinyl copy with the tour sleeve, but this makes a nice addition.



The guy running Coin Toss also had a spare copy of the 'wheat field cover', which was used for the pre-order. This also comes with a black vinyl record. Since there are about a million variants out there, there's a chance this cover also comes with a different vinyl colour, but who knows?

Mindset

About a month ago Mindset played their final European shows and I was lucky enough to get to go to the show in Mannheim. This show had cast long shadows and my level of anticipation was pretty high, mainly because I was really looking forward to seeing Mindset again, although sadly for the last time. It was an all straight edge line up, which was very fitting for the occasion I guess. Reflect and Insist from the UK played alongside with German SXE bands Statement X and Domain. True Identity had to cancel their trip to Germany, which was the only bummer about this evening.
I didn't really know anything about the first two bands mentioned, but live they were pretty damn good. I think it was Reflect that opened with a Turning Point cover. More bands should do that. Statement X and Domain both feature buddies of mine, which added even more to my level of anticipation. Domain are a fairly new Youth Crew band from the south of Germany, and goddamn, they put on a great show. Their first song was a cover of Take A Stand by Youth Of Today and the place went nuts. Good for them. I was just listening back to their demo online and it doesn't hold up to their live show at all. I hope they will release something on vinyl at some point soon. I had seen Statement X before and I think I wrote about them on here at some point as well. I do like the band musically, but I'm still not sold on the singer's voice. But the rest of the audience seemed to like them just fine, which was very cool to see.
Then Mindset took the stage and they did not disappoint. Truly one of the best (SXE) bands of the last decade. Not only because of the lyrics and music, but also because they actually had something to say. There's stage banter, and then there's stage banter, if you know what I mean.

Mindset's final legacy is Nothing Less, a 7" released a short while before they came over to Europe. Just as good as everything else they had released before. The pre-order had sold out quickly, which I had missed out on of course, but they had two different variants with them on tour. There was a dark red/brownish variant and the coke bottle clear one you can see here. I bought the latter since I thought it looked nicer. Afterwards I learned that the brown one was more limited, out of 305, whereas the coke bottle clear one is out of 500. Should have bought another one of the brownish ones in hindsight. I did go home with a bunch of these, but all of them were for people who couldn't go to the show. Oh well.

I also picked up a copy of Leave No Doubt on yellow vinyl (2nd press /750), because why not? At 10 bucks a pop I just couldn't say no.

And just for fun, here's a link to a video of the show shot by Hate5Six. I think it's a pretty good indicator for a show being awesome when members of the band - who are not the singer - stagedive at some point during the set.

Mindset - Final German Show @ JUZ Mannheim 02/13/2016

No Devocluión

Final LP by Thursday. Definitely different than the earlier releases, I want to say the sound is more atmospheric, maybe the word epic fits here as well? Be that as it may, I sort of like it.

Endserenading

In the previous post I mentioned that I bought the first Mineral LP based on statements made by people whose musical taste I usually trust. Well, it looks like I may have to rethink a few relationships here. Mineral's 2nd LP hasn't clicked with me at all, just like Mineral's debut. Maybe it'll grow on me, but I sort of doubt it. Recent repress on double LP, which makes matters just worse.

The Power Of Failing

I never really listened to Mineral I have to admit, but I heard a lot of people I usually trust when it comes to musical taste say a lot of good things about this band. I'm a little torn I must say. I like the music alright, but the singer's voice is a little too whiny for my taste. I know we're talking about an emo band here, but still. What's more, I didn't pay attention to the pressing info for this release, so I wasn't aware of the fact that there's also a repress in form of a 2xLP. The seller didn't really state that fact either, so I ended up with this double LP. I'm not a big fan of double LPs because I have to get up every three or four songs to flip the damn things. Now that wouldn't be so bad, but I like listening to calmer music like this while doing home office stuff and getting up that often is kind of unnerving when you want to get shit done. File this last statement under #firstworldrecordcollectorproblems. So what do we have here. On the plus side: LP looks great with the blue and white colour scheme and the music is good. Minuses: singer's voice and it's a double LP. Solid 2:2 draw I'd say.