Minor At Heart

I'm using this opportunity for some shameless self-promotion. I've been working on this project of mine for quite some time. I'm a little ashamed to say how long exactly. Let it suffice to say that most bands don't exist anymore.
Anyway, you get 54 pages of a cut'n'paste style fanzine. I did interviews with Punch, Good Clean Fun, Pessimistic Lines, Grave Mistake Records, Pim Arts of Some Will Never Know Fanzine / Said And Done, and Dangers. There's also some personal stuff. If you're (still) into DIY fanzines, this might be something for you.

For the moment I'm trying to do this without a webshop, but you can shoot me an e-mail: minoratheart[at]email.de 

The damage is 3,50€ plus shipping. Shipping is 1,45€ in Germany and 3,70€ for the rest of the world (I can ship two copies at that price). It's 54 pages, DIN A4 (little bit bigger than letter format for my American friends), printed on eco-friendly, quite heavy paper.

It will also be available through German mailorders XSentientX and Per Koro soon. Grave Mistake will get copies for the US, so if you're from the States, this might be the way to go. Dangerous Goods from Singapore will also get a few copies. While you're at it, pick up some records from these labels/mailorders.

Fell free to share this on the internet or tell your friends in real life about it.

Here's a sneak peek. Sorry about the small size.

Spirits Meet Tomar Control

And another release by my new favorite band. It's really hard to keep up with them, but you gotta do what you gotta do. This time they teamed up with Tomar Control from Peru. I was a little underwhelmed by the Spirits songs at first, probably because I absolutely love their LP, but with every spin I gave the split they've been growing on me. 

I'd never heard of Tomar Control before (Peruvian hardcore hasn't been on my radar at all) but I really like the songs on their side of the split. 

Both pink and blue are out of 125 copies and since Speedowax had a few tests for sale in their webstore for a really good price I picked up one of those as well. 

Pessimistic Lines ...Are Fucking Dead

Two weeks ago one of my favourite bands from Germany played their farewell weekender. For this occasion they decided to make a special variant, which was only available at those final three shows. I got #3/25. Good, but also very sad times.

R.I.P.

Miles Away

Miles Away were one of the bands my wife and I wanted to see when we traveled to Berlin a few weeks back, and they didn't disappoint. Although there was only a handful of people at that show who'd probably agree. Anyway. Miles Away were the only band that had tour versions with them, so we gladly picked up a few variants. This was mainly my wife's doing, but I gladly obliged.

On a sidenote, is it just me or do not many bands nowadays not do tour variants anymore?

There were 125 copies with the black tour sleeve. This is #96.

There were also 125 copies with the white tour sleeve. Here you can see #42.

Last but not least we also bought a copy of the 7" that Miles Away (self-)released last year. One song is also on the Tides LP, the other one is exclusive to this 7" as far as I know.

HXF

This is one of those records I really want to find good. I like the cover, I like the name of the LP, I like the vinyl colour, I like the lyrics, I like the humour, but unfortunately I'm having a really hard time getting behind the music. As you might have guessed from the bands on the jackets on the cover or judging by the band's name itself, Henry Fonda like power violence / fastcore. Which I also like, but there are also some grindcore, metal and even doom influences noticeable in these songs - and I'm not a fan of that. I kind of hope that this record grows on me, but I'm not that optimistic right now. This is the third press on clear pink vinyl out of 300. And how the fuck did this one already come out three years ago?

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?