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Hello, hello Sorry Staters. How’s it going? Good to be back with some words about stuff for the newsletter. I was a bit under the weather last week and couldn’t get it together in time to include a recommendation for you. My apologies. Not that there isn’t ever something cool in the store to talk about and I probably have one or two records lying around my apartment that I could tell you are good. I enjoy talking about records and nerding out over shit with friends and customers in the store and spinning them out at gigs but have always struggled to put thoughts on to paper. I really admire my colleagues here at Sorry State for their ability to write interesting pieces. I try. I watch Jeff here just tap tapping away at the keyboard and five minutes later he’s written a killer review on something and meanwhile I am staring at a white screen. LoL.
This week my listening has been all over the place. We had some big orders delivered recently packed full of interesting and cool records. Third Man Records continue to release good stuff for instance. We got some cool Jazz and Soul titles that they have and some new things too. I’m currently getting into Hotline TNT whose latest album, Cartwheel, they have released. I’m way late for this party so y’all are probably up on them already, but if you aren’t and 90s Shoegaze is your thing, then you might want to check ‘em out. They don’t hide the influences at all and go as far as referencing Teenage Fanclub on the record’s hype sticker. Yep, this is exactly what the record sounds like. Early Fannies mixed with other Creation Records bands, particularly My Bloody Valentine. Normally I stay away from newer bands when they are so obviously ripping a certain sound. I’m not into cosplay and civil war re-enactment either. However, I do have a soft spot for this genre and absolutely adore Teenage Fanclub, so Cartwheel hit the right notes for me. Certainly not reinventing the cartwheel, but there are some good tunes on the record.
What I really want to highlight this week though are a series of killer mixtapes that we got in from World Gone Mad. On actual tape. Very cool. Some of the titles I believe we stocked before, but there are a couple of new ones. I’ve stated many times before how much I love compilations, and a carefully curated mixtape is the best thing going for any music lover. These are all collections comprising rare and underground punk, darkwave, post punk and other alternative sounds from singles released mostly in the 1980s. Each one concentrates on a different part of the world and country. If you are hungry for music that you probably haven’t heard before or own on other compilations or as original singles, these tapes are for you my friend. Tons of great obscure tracks that outside of their own countries and within collector circles have rarely been heard.
So far I have listened to the Polish, Yugoslavian, South American, Japanese and Finnish ones. There’s one from Russia, Greece and Columbia that I still need to check out at the time of writing this. The Japanese one is a double tape and has a lot of great stuff on it. Its scope is the entirety of the 1980s and stops in 1991. I recognized a few names like OXZ and Inu, but most of the records were new to me. Working here with Usman has several perks, but one of them is that he knows his Finnish and Scandinavian punk better than anyone and so has hooked me up with some killer tapes himself. I’ll need to compare the World Gone Mad one with his.
So far I would say the Polish one has been my favorite overall, but there’s so much cool music spread across all of these that the Internationalists like me out there will probably want all of them.
There’s something very pleasing for me hearing somewhat familiar musical styles sung in a language I don’t speak. Often lyrics can get in the way of the emotion of a song, so when you don’t understand the words your brain can just concentrate on the music. Usually, you’ll be feeling the song in the way the artist intended, but sometimes you’ll make up your own meaning to the lyrics and interpret the song in a different way and individual to yourself. Or something like that. I guess the point is, don’t be afraid of stuff you don’t understand and know. There’s more to the world than just Los Angeles, New York or London. Obviously. As cool music lovers with refined tastes, you all knew that and don’t need me telling you, but if you fancy a trip around the planet without getting your passport out, these tapes are the perfect way to do it.
I’ll need to compare the track listings with other compilations like the Bloodstains series to see whether there is any overlap, but even if there is, these are mixtapes and not just straight forward compilations. Aaron at World Gone Mad, who I believe compiled all of these, has put a lot of effort into the track flow and sound quality. Just stick ‘em in the deck and press play. Old school. I wish I still had a tape player in my car to blast these on my commute.
My apologies for not giving you a deeper dive into all the tracks and telling you cool factoids about the artists. I’d be lying if I told you I knew much anyway. Like I said, almost all these tracks are new to me and are obscure even for much more seasoned collectors than myself. But don’t worry about it, take a chance. I’d say perhaps start with the Japanese one, the Polish one, and the Finnish one first and then if you are needing more go for the Yugo and South American next. We’ve got the Greek one running right now and it has some good stuff so far.
Gonna leave you there and make sure I don’t miss the deadline this week. Thanks for reading and as always, thanks for your support.
Cheers - Dom