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Hi Sorry State readers! Hope everyone is having a great start to Gemini season. I’m not that into astrology, but I am a Gemini. Fun fact… at Sorry State, each member of the staff has a different zodiac sign, and they are ordered in the same sequence as in the zodiac calendar, one after another. We are only missing the first sign and the last four, but we have Taurus through Scorpio covered, in order, with no repeats. It makes for a good balance of personalities. Or it could all just be a bunch of bullshit. Who knows? All in good fun.
So my staff pick this week is something pretty new to me. It’s by the band Cel Ray, a four-piece post-punk band from Chicago. This is their debut EP, Cellular Raymond. I popped it on and it took all of five seconds to know I was gonna be into it. Totally my vibe. It’s a mix of basement punk, post-punk, egg punk, and punk punk. Each song leaning a little heavier on one of those sub-genres more than the others, which makes for an interesting mix.
It was the second track that got its hooks into me, as parts of it have some old school riot grrrl sass. It reminds me of the Bratmobile song, Cool Schmool. Basically, the shared message is “ew, I hate you. go away.” More specifically, she says, “I don’t want to touch anything you’ve touched. I don’t want to touch it too. Don’t want to touch anything that’s touched you.” Oh, the song is called Clorox Wipes, which is what makes those lines funny. I love the sassy vocals on that one.
That track and the fourth one (Attention) are way more egg punk than the others. I’m a fan of egg punk, so that works for me. One of the last tracks (Sorry Stew) is a really interesting one. It has this really low slung bass riff that plays perfectly with the manic vocals. But then they add in a high-pitched guitar riff that has a country twang. It really gives it a punk hoedown feel. It made me think of square dancing in fourth grade. Talking to other people that had to engage in this activity, it was always in fourth grade. No matter where you lived in whatever part of the country. Like someone decided that was the right age for our first major public humiliation.
I remember they had kids just go down the line and pick a partner. Girls lined up on one side and boys on another. Like we were on the Bachelor. Looking back, that’s a traumatizing event for a 9 or 10-year-old. And they’d spring it on you, so you couldn’t plan to fake sick that day. Dude, I swear, being a kid in the 90s was like playing a ten-year season of Survivor. Brutal.
Pardon my tangent. That riff stirred up some repressed memories. My point is that Sorry Stew is a standout track. What a great name, too.
Love the lead bass line in the last track, Dog War. Another fun, mid-tempo number. This one is really long, clocking in at almost four minutes. But they don’t mess around. They know that four minutes is half of a punk set, and they don’t waste your time. In fact, the last minute of this track (which is the last minute of the whole EP) may be the raddest part of the whole thing. Toward the end, there is a timely pause, and then a standout melodic bass riff. The vocals get tougher, and it’s an explosion of sound. A very cool track.
Oh, I should mention that the cassette is quite eye catching, which is why I grabbed it in the first place. Housed in bright green casing is a clear cassette with a generous amount of green glitter on the inside. I do appreciate the details.
Ok that should do it. Thanks so much for reading, and maybe give Cel Ray a try!
-Angela