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What’s up Sorry Staters?
I know I had plenty of extra time on my hands over this past weekend, so why am I always scrambling? Just an indication of my true lunatic-like tendencies. In just a couple days, I’m hopping on a train and hitting the road and the skies with Public Acid. We’re playing a couple shows in NYC and then meeting up with our friends in KOS in Seattle. We’ll be touring down the west coast and ending at Lie Detector Fest in LA. It’s gonna be sick. Hope to see some west coast friends I haven’t seen in a long time on this trip. It’s gonna be a blast, but I always get the pre-travel anxiety jitters a few days before. Feelin’ a little crazy.
Anyway, let’s talk about records. Recently, Sorry State did a big distro order from Nada Nada Discos. It’s so rad to me that the label has expanded beyond solely doing punk reissues. Under the flipped around version of the label, when they use “Discos Nada” instead, they’re doing mostly all Brazilian music but in genres of all kinds—whether it’s jazz, avant-garde, electronic… you name it. And yet, for the purposes of my staff pick, we’re still gonna talk about a punk record. Big surprise.
Inocentes is one of those bands where I’ve definitely heard the name, but I don’t really think I’ve taken the time to sit down and fully digest an entire record by them. I debated writing about this Cólera record, too. I was already familiar with Cólera because of their appearance on the classic SUB compilation. Cólera definitely plays at hardcore-speed tempos, but with anthemic, melodic vocals that maybe even hint at Oi! influence from time to time. With that in mind, I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Inocentes.
This LP we just stocked from Nada Nada Discos is a reissue of Inocentes’ first 12” release, entitled Pânico Em S.P. Originally released in 1986, Pânico Em S.P. is really a 12” EP with only 6 songs on it. This Nada Nada reissue puts the whole studio session on Side A, and then Side B has a 1986 live performance which actually sounds pretty good. Firstly, though, the studio side sounds amazing. Kicking right in with the first track “Rotina”, I already knew this LP was gonna be right up my alley. Inocentes play at a mostly upbeat mid-tempo pace with songs that sound pretty melodic and catchy. That said, rather than the kind of anthemic, Oi!-gang beer-sloggin’ folk melodies that I mentioned with Cólera, I would say Inocentes has way more in common with early punk from Southern California. I hear a huge surf influence. Pounding tom grooves that launch into lightning speed ride cymbal Bill Stevenson-esque double-snare-hit beats. Most notably, when I hear the washy, reverby, but mostly clean swells of guitar and the spidery walking bass lines, these elements lead me to believe the dudes in Inocentes probably had Living In Darkness on heavy rotation. On a track like “Salvem El Salvador,” the singer is barking what I can only assume are intense, politically driven chants over top of a riff that sounds like a blend of the riff from “Abolish Government” by TSOL and a single-note riff lifted from the nastiest sounding Ventures instrumental.
While this other band is from Uruguay, this Inocentes record is scratching a similar itch as that Los Invasores record I loved from several months back. What I think is so cool about records like this Inocentes 12” is that you can hear a clear blend of influences, whether it’s SoCal surf-infused punk, new wave, goth… Still, the result comes out sounding totally unique with the Latino punk influence and maybe some other things in their sound I couldn’t even pinpoint. Man, I even hear a little bit of that signature familiar chord change in a song “Ele Disse Não,” which I directly associate with my young over-indulgence of bands on Epitaph before discovering hardcore. All this is to basically get across the idea that I hear things about Inocentes that grab my ear because they are comfortable and I’m sucker for it, but their take on this sound is so different and well-done that it feels totally fresh and exciting. Nada Nada did a great job with the packaging as well. Super thick, high-quality laminated gatefold sleeve (oh baby, I Iove a laminated sleeve). It also comes with a printed inner sleeve, a poster, and 3 additional leaflet inserts. And it’s on clear vinyl!
Anyway, Inocentes rule. Now I gotta check out some of the band’s other records in greater detail. I know at least early in the day on the day this newsletter comes out, Sorry State still had a few copies of Pânico Em S.P. in stock. If my write-up got your attention at all, definitely try and snag a copy if you’re new to Inocentes like me. Highly recommend.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff