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Hey there everyone! Thanks for clicking on our newsletter and taking a read. We hope you are doing well and are getting excited about all the cool stuff going on in the world of music and particularly here at SSR. We have so many brilliant things to share with you. New releases, re-releases and, of course, the Sorry State Festival coming up next month. That will be upon us before we know it and will be a weekend to remember. Check all the details elsewhere here in the newsletter and get your tickets and travel plans sorted.
Talking about travel plans, I am on the verge of leaving for my trip back to the UK and I am a mix of anxious nerves and excitement. It’s been ten years since I was home, and in the meantime I have barely left Raleigh or NC, let alone the country. My head is spinning. I’ll be back for SSR Fest, though. While away, I’ll miss the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and the Bluegrass Festival here in town but was fortunate to be here for this past weekend’s Hopscotch Festival, which was an absolute blast. Kudos to all involved in making this little fest such a success. As with any festival, you don’t always get to see everyone you want to, but you often end up seeing something that you weren’t familiar with that blows you away. On the latter point, I was so glad that I caught spiritual free jazz group Irreversible Entanglements. They were amazing and we should be stocking their new record very soon.
I had to man the fort here at the shop whilst ESG played, but Daniel went along to represent Sorry State and reported back how good they were. The classic hip-hop element was very strong this year with Digable Planets, Kool Keith, Denzel Curry and Prince Paul all performing. On the country music side of things, I caught a little of Margo Price’s set. She’s one of the fewer new country artists that I have followed, and it was cool seeing her live. Tight, pro band backing her too. However, for me, the highlight of the weekend was having my wig blown off by the sheer volume and power of Dinosaur Jr. They were magnificent, and I loved every second of their killer set. Next to My Bloody Valentine, the loudest group I have witnessed. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen them a few times over the years, as well as some of the J. Mascis solo projects and collaborations, and although I won’t front and say I am a super fan, I will say that Dinosaur Jr. were one of the new breed of American bands that I got into when I began spending more time this side of the pond in the late 80s. Them and Fugazi were door openers to a whole new world to me at the time. The UK scene was a little flat around that time, with shoegaze just beginning and Britpop a few years away. Everything coming out of the US, rock and hip-hop, seemed much more interesting. To my ears anyway.
Dinosaur Jr. don’t require any deep dive from me here as I am sure you are fans or at least familiar with them, but I will say that it was beyond dope seeing them again and they played a lot of the “hits,” including finishing their set with their version of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven, one of my favorite covers even with the sudden ending. A tough record to DJ if you aren’t ready. I still have my 12” of that song, which was a hit back in the UK when released, and it came with a cool etched B-side. Worth noting about the show was the equipment set up. Gear heads will know more about it than I do, but I believe J was playing through four Marshall stacks with vintage heads and was even using a twin reverb at ear level for a monitor. It was loud, but in an awesome way. For the exact set up, I’ll refer you to Jeff or our good friend Mike, who were both there and know all about this type of stuff. It was impressive, that’s all I can say.
All told, a fun but busy and hectic weekend, which also included a little bit of festival magic for me. I ran into friends I hadn’t seen in years, and we got to hang out and that really capped the weekend off. Good times.
Not exactly a “staff pick” this week, but I hope that you’ll forgive me. My mind is overflowing with way too much stuff right now. If nothing else, maybe I’ll inspire one of you to pull out an old Dinosaur Jr. record and give it a blast.
Cheers everyone – Dom