Modern Life Is More

How many versions of a record of which you already have a lot of copies and which is about to get repressed do you actually need? The answer is: yes. Modern Life Is War released their s.t. 7“ back in 2002, which seems incredible to me. To commemorate the anniversary, Lifeline Records and the band decided to repress the record. Of course that meant there‘d be a lot of different versions, because that‘s part of the game these days. 

Since Modern Life Is War is one of my favourite bands of all-time, I knew I‘d get sucked into it. Here are the five different versions that were released last year. The copies on the left and on the right are the same colour, but they‘re still different (see picture below). The 7“ still rules. The repress is done really, really well. The booklet alone makes the repress worth getting. There‘s a ton of pictures, background information on the band, and for the nerds, there’s even a comprehensive pressing info is provided for this record. 

Gold (Wax Xtatic exclusive) /150
Clear /150
White/Yellow Swirl (Indie Record Store exclusive) /230
Blue /333
Gold /Coretex Exclusive) /100

Believe it or not, THIS is the really nerdy part of this already nerdy post. To make the different versions a little more special or at least distinguishable, there are stickers on some of the different versions. I ordered some of the records directly through Lifeline Records and Joe was kind enough to throw in some extra goodies, which I really appreciate. 

Stuck in the 90s

The great thing about many records from the 90s is that you can pick them up for rather cheap. Of course, there are many records that are more expensive, but once you dig a little deeper you can get a lot of good or even great music for little money. 

I wasn't too familiar with Drift, but a good friend of mine kept telling me how good they were, so when I had the chance to pick up their only 7" for a good price, I didn't hesitate. My friend was right. I didn't expect the vocals to sound somewhat screamo, but it works for me. 

Spawn and Feeding The Fire both play more of what you'd expect from hardcore bands from the 90s. Mid-tempo, very moshy hardcore. I've been flipping this split over and over for the past hour or so and couldn't tell you which side I like better. But maybe that's also a good sign. 

Breaks Down The Walls (Again)

Another Youth Of Today record. I don't have much to say about the music because everyone knows it's a classic and how influential this record was and still is. I really like the color scheme and you can't do much better than having matching labels, cover art and lyric sheet, apart from colored vinyl obviously. But I think the black works pretty well too. 

1st pressing on Revelation Records

Earth Crisis

Earth Crisis is a very controversial band. They were one of the true game changers in hardcore, no matter if you like their music or lyrical content, but they had an impact on hardcore few other bands had. If you are a vegan straight edge kid or just vegan, this can be probably traced back to Earth Crisis. Yes, there were bands that promoted veganism before, but Earth Crisis took it to a new level. I always liked Firestorm as a song, because it is a hit. So simple, but so effective. Again, the lyrical message is very polarising, but not everything said in a two or three minute song should be taken at face value all the time. I mean, it is to be expected that you will receive pushback if you put out extreme lyrical content. This is something I do love about hardcore, because people actually read lyrics and debate them strongly if necessary. The same can be said about some of the content on All Out War, what with the whole pro life debate. Which, much to Earth Crisis' credit, they addressed in a leaflet that comes with the later presses. Musically, I dig the first two 7”s, but after that they lose me because they started leaning way too much into metal for me. But this is still good hardcore. 

Mind Over Matter

Another fun 7“ from the 90s. It still sounds a lot like the 1980s because there is a certain roughness to it, but there are also elements telling that this is not actually from the 90s. I always liked the band name and have been jealous that it has already been taken. 

 

Can’t Get Enough

Doing all of these blog entries way after when I got most of these records can be a pain in the ass. I mean, no one could prove when I got which record, but I decided for myself that I want to be as chronological as possible. And now I’m kind of stuck with that decision. 

Undertow is a band I’ve really come to appreciate over the last few years. I knew of the band, but didn’t own any of their records so I didn’t really listen to them. Then one of my favourite German hardcore bands covered one of their songs and I knew I wanted to find out more about that band. Luckily, Undertow records are rather cheap go get, so when I saw two of their 7”s sold by the same seller at good prices, I knew I just had to buy them. 

Both of the 7"s are really good, but I like the songs on Control just a tad better. 

You Gotta Follow Through

Besides the 7”s I picked up at my friends’ place, I also got one LP. I’d known follow Through only by name up until I bought the record, but I’m really glad I got it! This may be my favourite record of the whole bunch I picked up from my friends. Just one glance at the cover made me want to get the record. It’s not a great cover artistically speaking, but you know exactly what you get and I’m more than fine with that. 

Bunch of 7"s, Part II

This is round two of the 7"s I managed to pick up when we stayed at some friends' of mine place on our way to Paris. More good stuff from the 90s and there is at least one record shown here that is not just plain black! I didn't want to peel off the price tag off the Start Today 7", so you get an idea of the price range. I don't know why someone decided to glue the cover of the Start Today 7" together at one point, because it is clearly a fold over cover. I decided to cut the scotch tape open because I wanted to read the lyrics and see the pictures inside. I was kind of hoping the band name was a reference to Gorilla Biscuits, and it might be, but the sound is nothing like it. The cover of that 7" hints much more at what the band sounds like than the name. But I'm fine with that. 

Bunch of 7"s

Last April, I was lucky enough to play a show in Paris with my band. Since Paris is quite a trip from where we're from, we decided to split the way and crash at some friends of mine who happen to live close to the French border. During dinner we got to talking about records - we're all collectors / nerds - and my friends pointed to two boxes of 7"s and LPs they were selling for a friend. 

They'd already taken what they wanted and they told me the rest was up for grabs. I didn't expect to be record shopping on that trip, but hey, what are you going to do when opportunity comes knocking? I picked some 7"s that I'd been looking for anyway and some that just looked interesting. None of these records are high end collector's items, so I didn't have to spend a ton of money either. Plus, it was a deal among friends. All of the records come on black vinyl, which probably makes most of them the most common variant. I didn't bother to check for all of them to be honest. My apologies to Marcus in advance, because this is an all black vinyl post. 

One Step

I love when friends tell me not to pick up certain records because a) that means they know my taste b) I might be getting a record for free and c) I have good taste in friends. I was talking to a good friend of mine and during the conversation he dropped the not very subtle hint to not pick up the new One Step Closer record, which had just been announced then. Fine by me. I am a very patient person, so I didn't mind waiting to get a copy. Best of all, the record was delivered in person by said friend. Thanks again. 

One Step Closer has been of the better bands of the current wave of melodic hardcore bands. From Me To You, their 2019 release, is still a record I reach for fairly often. Songs For The Willow is also a really good record, but that's as far as they can take the pop sensibilities for my taste. The record sounds a little too polished to my ears. I really liked their style of being a little rough around the edges while also being very melodic. I can still enjoy this record, but I'm a little afraid of the next step they might take sound-wise. 

First press out of 300 copies on this colorway. 

Split It

This is another record I picked up from the same local seller as the two Spit Boy 7"s. I also got a Growing Stronger comp, but that was intended as a present for a friend from the beginning, so I'm not going to post it here. Anyway, I picked up this Burn / Prison split because early Burn rules and it was pretty cheap. I own both songs on different records, but I still kind of wanted the record. The sound quality is not as good as on the comp and the 7", on which both songs appeared originally respectively. No idea when and why or even if they re-recorded this. Might be this is just due to the level of technology back then. I have no idea how Lost And Found would have got the audio to release this split, and I probably don't want to know, haha. The Prison side is alright. It's not Burn, that's for sure, but it's good 90s hardcore. 

Shop local

I really like browsing eBay local listings. I feel like this is the last place where you can actually still find a bargain every once in a while, so I spend much more time browsing there than on regular eBay. A few months ago I was doing exactly that and came across a seller selling a bunch of interesting 7“s from the 90s. Apparently the seller was getting rid of the remains of his record collection and a lot of things were already gone, but I also found a couple of things I thought were interesting. He didn’t want a ton of money either, which is always fine by me. Best of all, the seller lives only 10 minutes away from where I live, so I was able to pick up the records on my way to picking up our son from daycare. 

I wasn‘t familiar with Spitboy before I was browsing the records of said seller, but the covers triggered my interest and I did some research, which made me interested even more. All-female hardcore bands are sadly still a rarity, and were even rarer back then. Musically this is not 100% my taste, but the lyrics are very interesting and provide an interesting look into feminist politics in hardcore in the early 90s. 

Feels Like Heaven

I was tipped off to Feels Like Heaven by a friend. I remember us driving someplace and he wouldn’t stop talking about this new band from Sweden. We listened to it right there and then, modern technology be praised. I liked what I heard and liked even more that they were about to release a demo. I was even more excited when I learned that the demo was going to receive a vinyl treatment. I like tapes, but between vinyl and tapes it’s not really a close contest. This reminds me a lot of Praise, which is always a good thing in my book. I hope there’ll be more material soon. 

100 copies on coloured vinyl with a screen-printed cover. 

Change of Policy

So here I am posting yet another repress, all the while thinking and claiming I luckily didn't get sucked into the repress game. Well, maybe it's time to face the facts... There's always some sort of justification that I find to buy represses after all. In this case it was the booklet. Actually, it't not entirely my fault. Marcus of Endless Quest is the one to really blame (See what I'm doing here?). He ordered a copy from a mailorder in Germany and had it delivered to my place. Obviously I had to check if it was the right version and if everything was okay. While doing exactly that I realized how nice this version looks, especially with the oversized poster that comes with it. So I really had no other choice than get a copy for myself, did I?

13

Another puzzle piece to the LP collection of the greatest band on earth (in their own words). 13 finally received a repress and I was finally able to grab this record for a fair price. For some reason I don’t think about this album all that often and whenever I do, I tend to low-rate it. However, when I do listen to it, I‘m always reminded that there are so many songs on this album that I really like. They went for 2x10“ again, which was also the format of the original lease 25 years ago. I really wish there was an interview with the band explaining why they love the 10“ format for records so much.