April 14 2022

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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! This week’s edition was a little tougher to get together because Usman has been out sick all week and I’ve been trying to cover his responsibilities besides my own. I’ve also been training a new team member this week. Angela has joined us as our new mail order fulfillment person and gives us her first staff pick this week, too. Doing mail order at Sorry State is a big job, so please make sure she knows how much you appreciate her work! As far as records, we have the phenomenal debut album from Peace de Résistance, a much anticipated new EP from Neutrals, and plenty of other stuff to tell you about. So let’s do it!

Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records) I actually wrote the “official” blurb for Peace de Résistance’s debut LP so you can consult that for my super objective take on the record. For the Sorry State newsletter, though, I can let my guard down and effuse about how much I love this record. I’ve been listening to Bits and Pieces for months (a perk of helping them with distribution), and with each play, I only love it more. I’d been a fan of Moses’s previous projects and the things I loved about those bands—his lyricism in Institute, the rawness and intensity of Glue—are there in Peace de Résistance’s music, but the framework is totally different. When I say that Bits and Pieces sounds like glam rock I don’t mean the more formulaic bootboy glam that’s been a minor trend in the underground for a few years. Instead, Bits and Pieces reminds me of the more fleshed-out and self-consciously artistic sound of landmark 70s rock records like David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World or Lou Reed’s Transformers. This isn’t someone cracking the code of a particular sound or style and reiterating the formula with minor adjustments; these are songs, and great ones at that. But despite how sophisticated the songwriting is, the record is also raw as fuck, with blistering tones on all the instruments and the same sort of DIY charm that we in the underground need to hear in order to take something seriously. I love Moses’s lyrical approach on Bits and Pieces, which avoids cliches and generalizations, summoning a straightforwardness that the Clash would envy. I’d never guess you could write a great song about a tax form, but “Don’t 1099 Me” proves you can. Oh, Peace de Résistance’s secret weapon might be Moses’s bass playing. Maybe it sticks out more to me because I play bass, but the grooves behind every song are so powerful and infectious. I’m sure he’s a busy guy, but someone should get him in as a ringer on the bass. Maybe I’m crazy and this is just striking some particular chord with me, but I’ve already listened to Bits and Pieces so much that it’ll be inextricably tied to this part of my life. Maybe you’ll like the album that much, or maybe you won’t. If you don’t, I hope you can find something else, because to love an album like this is what it’s all about for me.

Record Store Day 2022 at Sorry State

Yes, it’s that time of year again! Record Store day 2022 is Saturday, April 23, and Sorry State is participating once again. As usual, we’ll have a big smattering of Record Store Day exclusive releases, some of which this newsletter’s readers will care about and a lot more you won’t. You can see a list of everything we ordered here. If you’re in the area, we’d love it if you stopped by, but if you aren’t, we put all our remaining inventory of Record Store Day exclusives online at 8AM on Sunday, April 24.

Straw Man Army: SOS LP Out Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the official release date for Straw Man Army’s second album, SOS, on D4MT Labs! We’ve been shipping the vinyl for a minute now, so the official release date doesn’t mean much to the diehards, but I assume the rest of you will be able to listen to SOS in its entirety starting tomorrow. Enjoy, because this album is a stunner.

Valtatyhjiö Tape Out Soon on Sorry State

We’re not ready to put it up for sale yet, but I thought we’d tease Sorry State’s next release: a US pressing of the Lukko cassette from Finland’s Valtatyhjiö! The original Finnish version sold out and few, if any, copies made it out of the country, so we’re excited to share this release with a wider audience. You can listen to the whole thing on Valtatyhjiö’s Bandcamp site, and you’ll be able to order the tape from Sorry State soon.

LPs from Invalid, Woodstock 99, and Hüstler Coming Soon on Sorry State

Speaking of upcoming Sorry State releases, the vinyl just showed up for Sorry State’s next three LP releases! We’re still waiting for the print so these won’t be for sale for a minute, but look forward to new releases from Invalid, Hüstler, and Woodstock 99! As you can see, we made limited color versions of each and they make a nice set.

LPs from Invalid, Woodstock 99, and Hüstler Coming Soon on Sorry State

Sorry State is proud to distribute Final Doomsday Records’ reissues of both 7”s by 80s Finnish hardcore punk band (T.H.E.) Rutto. Both reissues are in stock now, and they included expanded liner notes and bonus tracks. If you run a store or a distro, note that Sorry State is the main US distributor for this release, so hit us up for copies!

This has to be one of the biggest blowouts in the history of Hardcore Knockouts. It would take a mighty opponent to take out United Mutation’s first EP, but c’mon… this is fucking Pick Your motherfucking King we are talking about here.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is Forward’s 2014 LP, Against Their Insanity. Forward has a lot of records, but you can’t go wrong buying any of them. As the years go on, Forward’s records only get harder and faster, which is something I can get behind. Like a lot of Forward’s records, this one is pretty cheap, so if you don’t have it already, grip it now!

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

LASSO EU TOUR - MA7 12 - 29

MUTANT STRAIN IN BIRMINGHAM - APRIL 28

MUTANT STRAIN IN LEXINGTON - APRIL 30

SCARECROW IN VA BEACH - MAY 20

INVERTEBRATES IN VA BEACH - MAY 26

SCARECROW IN PHILLY - JUNE 16-18

SCALPLE & WOODSTOCK 99 IN NYC - JULY 2

MUTANT STRAIN AND INVERTEBRATES IN ROANOKE - JULY 16

GOLPE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC - JULY 28-31

SCALPLE IN NYC - APRIL 20

MUTANT STRAIN IN CHARLOTTE - APRIL 20

ILLITERATES IN TN - APRIL 23

HUSTLER IN PHILLY APRIL 30

LASSO IN ERICA - MAY 12-14

LASSO IN ANTWERP - MAY 14

ILLITERATES IN PITTSBURGH - JUNE 4

GOLPE IN DENMARK - JUNE 24-26

  1. Straw Man Army: SOS 12” (D4MT Labs)
  2. White Stains: Blood on the Beach 7” (Neon Taste Records)
  3. Rutto: Ilmastoitu Painajainen 7” (Final Doomsday Records)
  4. Rutto: Ei Paluuta 7” (Final Doomsday Records)
  5. Invertebrates: demo cassette (Sorry State Records)
  6. Varaus: Tuomittu Elämään 7” (Larmattacke Records)
  7. Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records)
  8. Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
  9. Erupt: Left to Rot 7” (Static Shock Records)
  10. Peace Decay: Death Is Only… 12” (Beach Impediment Records)

Hardcore punk is the order of the day on Sorry State’s list of best sellers for the past 30 days. Don’t you folks ever get bored with hardcore? Why isn’t there ever an acid folk or flamenco record at the top of these charts? Are you narrow minded or something?

Angela

We’ve been fielding questions about when the new Neutrals 7” on Static Shock Records, Bus Stop Nights, would hit our shelves. Now is the time! Our initial order sadly got cut down, so these aren’t likely to stick around long.

I’m always stoked when a new issue of Maggot Brain arrives, and when Lux and Ivy from the Cramps are on the cover that’s cause for extra celebration. Get your copy now!

The ‘ol fan club brings us a few items of dubious origin this week, including represses of a couple later Ramones albums that are impossible to find on vinyl, a reissue of the Plugz’ great first album, Electrify Me, and a vinyl pressing of Slayer’s covers record Undisputed Attitude, on which they try their hand at several punk and hardcore classics.

We’ve been carrying all the Earthless reissues that have come out, but it seems like people are particularly excited about Sonic Prayer, which is in stock now.


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