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Hi Sorry State fam! How’s it going? I’m actually writing and finishing my staff pick on the day I am supposed to be finishing it, which feels pretty good. Generally I’m not a procrastinator when it comes to assignments, but the older I get, it’s feels like life keeps getting in the way of my life. That sounds pretty nonsensical, but I think you know what I mean.
Something I’ve thought about recently is how long it feels since I’ve been to a show. Winter was pretty lame in that respect, but it feels like winter pretty much wrapped up a week or so ago in these parts. We may get one or two weird cold days, but I think we are heading into spring with full force. Anyway, I see a ton of shows are coming up in April/May, so be sure to check our stories on Instagram (we also keep a highlight reel for gig info all over the place), and of course our newsletter is always full of flyers. Lots of spring tours are gearing up to start. Look out for Deletar and Destruct on their US east coast tour. Also, Illiterates hit the PNW and a couple shows in Canada throughout May. Another fun one will be Fugitive Bubble and Woodstock ‘99, which starts the first of April on the west coast. G.U.N. is also touring! And in just a couple weeks, Scarecrow will play with Absolut and Destruct for us Raleigh folks. And this is just some of what’s going on in April and May. Ok, let’s get into the business.
I had two contenders for my staff pick this week and found them both the same day through two separate colleagues. First, I will mention the one I’m not gonna write about today because I haven’t listened to the record in full. It’s a record I admittedly and stupidly pre-judged without listening to it. It’s Brorlab’s Working Out in Heaven. Daniel was playing it last night and it sparked my interest pretty quickly. When he told me who it was, I was surprised. No more judging a book by its cover. I’ve done that a few times and have been proven wrong when the needle hit the wax. Had I known it was a La Vida Es En Mus record, I would have given it a try sooner. Anyway, one side of the record is all brand new songs and the other side are eight tracks that they brought back to life from their elusive and rather obscure debut EP. Given that I haven’t listened to the full album yet, I will just say it certainly has my interest and I can’t wait to listen to the whole thing! For now, I will just say it’s rather abrasive (but not annoying), electronic, fuzzy, gabber style punk, or maybe its punk style gabber. Either way, it’s on deck for my turntable.
On with my official staff pick, introduced to me by Jeff who correctly predicted I may like this band. It’s the single/EP from Melbourne’s Leatherman brought to us by Legless Records. What a coincidence! Last week I wrote about the new Drunk Mums record who are also from Melbourne and also on Legless Records. I guess it’s obvious I have a type. The Leatherman record sounds like a mix between power pop and garage rock, with metal infusion. They rock as hard as they pop and that’s something I’m often attracted to. Leatherman is a five-piece band with a two-guitar format that they put to very good use. Let’s do some band comparisons for reference. It’s kind of like the sound of The Runaways and The Donnas, but with heavier riffs and more guitar. If that sounds appealing to you, get you one of these Leatherman records.
So, let me tell you about the first song called Telephone. It is the poppier of the two songs and it is absolutely infectious. I love the vocals. The singer has a great range and the ability to sing in different styles depending on what the song calls for. The bridge on that track is one of those wow! moments. For me, it is the standout moment on the record. The song is pretty poppy until it’s not. There is a point where the style takes a turn toward heavy metal, and as the riffs get heavier, and the drums come crashing down harder, the vocals get more rock and roll, leading to a killer two-guitar solo and really cool guitar harmonies. Good stuff. It’s fun, it rocks, has depth, and the members really know how to play off of one another to get some great sounds.
The second track is Tryin’ 2 4get. The energy does not slow down at all coming from the first track. In fact, this track dials things up a couple notches on the aggression scale so you still get some great guitar harmonies and vocal melodies, but it sounds just different enough to showcase where else the band can go stylistically. What’s cool is you get to hear more of the singer’s range as she nails some high notes and goes big at the end of the song.
Literally the only thing wrong with this record is that it only has two songs. I struggle to call it an EP. Even three songs would be a stretch. With that, I’m going to side with the traditions and conventions of physical media, and what makes sense to me, and think of it more as a single. Otherwise we would have to come up with a different name for singles, haha. No, but in all seriousness, there is one more thing to mention. For those of you care about the aesthetics of vinyl, this record comes on an opaque mustard yellow vinyl with a few subtle flecks of color that most likely differ from vinyl to vinyl. But the part that caught my eye was the dead wax space. It has this cool, very subtle shimmer to it that’s only in the dead wax. It’s not super noticeable, but it gives it a little pizazz. This is probably not that important to a lot of people, but I’m a sucker for little details.
Ok, time to wrap things up! Thank you so much for reading our newsletter, and for supporting Sorry State in general. We really appreciate it! Until we meet again.
Thanks,
Angela