Vinyl Reviews Week 7: Can I Still Get Into Heaven If I Kill Myself?

Finally I have my first new alphabetical edition to the collection since I started this reviews column, so this week will start with a pretty good Arkells 7" I picked up from the band in Toledo. Good stuff, right?

Arkells - Whistleblower/Kiss Cam 7" (Dine Alone Records, 2011)

This Arkells 7" single has a great story behind it. Arkells was touring and my friend Will and I caught the show in Toledo, Ohio. They played a great set, and we went back to the merch table to hang out with them while the headliner Lights (a superbabe) was setting up. I asked how much the 7" was without really looking to see if it was an EP or a single or what songs were on it. I bought it, we hung out some more, and then went back in to catch a few songs from Lights before taking off. Lo and behold, the 7" had my least favorite Arkells songs on it: "Whistleblower" and "Kiss Cam," both from their latest album Michigan Left. They're good songs, but not that good compared to Arkells's other work. "Kiss Cam" at least has some great melodies on it. And they get to use my $5 to pay for gas or food or whatever, so it's all cool. Don't worry about it, Arkells. The 7" is standard black vinyl and came with a download card so I can get rad with these songs on my iPod. That deserves some snaps.

Rating: Decent 5



La Dispute - Wildlife (No Sleep Records, 2011)

This, La Dispute's sophomore release, is a definite contender for my favorite album of 2011. Singer and lyricist Jordan Dreyer is one of the greatest poets I've ever read or listened to. The first time I listened to the morose, screaming, destructive recounting of the shooting of an innocent boy in the band's hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan is one of the highlights of my listening experience. Dreyer takes the role of an omnipresent retrospectively wishing narrator who wants to witness the drive-by shooting in Martin Luther King Park in the southeast side of Grand Rapids. The ending refrain of "can I still get into heaven if I kill myself" echoes the supposed last words of the nonfictional shooter holed up and surrounded in a hotel room. Dreyer heavily floats away as the song crescendos then abruptly stops, saying he does not want to know how it ends. This is a perfect example of the theatrically intense and immense post-hardcore that I love so much. The artwork for this album, designed by bassist Adam Vass, is beautiful and, more importantly, looks like how the music sounds. My copy is the second pressing double LP on grey vinyl limited to 1800 copies, and I ordered at the tail end of a deal that ensured me four additional prints of the artwork, each representing the same art piece in different seasons.

Rating: 10

Mike Watt & The Missingmen/The Chuck Dukowski Sextet - Sweet Honey Pie/My War split 7" (ORG Music, 2012)

I picked this 7" up at this years Record Store Day. The Mike Watt side has a live version of the Minutemen bassist's solo song "Sweet Honey Pie" that sounds like a ball of tightly wound energy. Watt, one of the great bassists in hardcore history, has composed another great song, but I've been more or less unaware of most of his post-Minutemen material until picking this up. I bought it for the Chuck Dukowski Sextet's cover of the Black Flag staple "My War," originally sung by the frighteningly charismatic  singer Henry Rollins. The singer for the Sextet is female, so that new dynamic reworks this song into an even more brutally hardcore version than the Black Flag original. ORG releases some of the highest quality recordings on vinyl, but this being a hardcore release, doesn't possess that great of quality. ORG did what they could though. The heavier than usual 7" is on black vinyl and is packaged in a thick and sturdy sleeve with great black and white close ups of both Watt and Dukowski's basses in action. I'm not that huge on hardcore, but this 7", staying true to the genre, kicks some serious ass.

Rating: Strong 7

Misfits - Misfits  (Caroline Records, 1986)

This compilation takes some of the Misfits's early staples and gathers them on one vinyl record. I'm not a huge Misfits fan (Danzig is kind of an embarrassment to the punk, goth, and metal subcultures), but having at least one Misfits release is a sort of rite of passage for fans of punk rock. The horror movie imagery on this release seems trite and theatrical, but back in the early 80s, it was truly frighteningly new music. Naturally, some of my favorite Misfits songs are on this release, like "Where Eagles Dare" and "Teenagers From Mars", but it lacks "Static Age" and more notable "Halloween" which is my end-all, be-all favorite Misfits song. This release is solid,  but I admittedly don't spin it too frequently. The vinyl is a standard weight black LP, and the artwork is iconic, but in 1986 it seems played out. Did I mention that this release doesn't have "Halloween" on it?

Rating: Strong 4