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La Vida Es Un Mus has two new releases up for pre-order this week, with both of them officially out on August 28. First, we have a new LP from one of our favorites here at Sorry State, the almighty Rat Cage! As usual, we have a few copies of the limited color pressing on “powder rose” vinyl, so be sure to order soon if you want one of those. Here’s the skinny on Not Asking for Much:
It feels like a lifetime ago that the first Rat Cage demo tape was spat into the Hardcore Punk underground. Maybe that’s because for the past 10 years Bry Suddaby has been relentlessly chucking out a slew of pummelling records, arming many Punks worldwide with a soundtrack to survival in the modern age of death and destruction.
Fourteen bloody releases later, the third RAT CAGE LP comes crashing in as the state of global horror reaches a grave pinnacle. In true RAT CAGE fashion, the drums relentlessly hammer away under rollercoaster riffs, while Bry’s viciously cynical bark spills the trials and tribulations of trying to get by in 2026.
For the uninitiated, RAT CAGE pulls influence from 80’s Northern European Punk like MISSBRUKARNA or APPENDIX, contemporary Swedish sweet spot Hardcore like HERÄTYS or FYFAN, ripping USHC ala POISON IDEA or OUT COLD, while naturally adding a classic British injection of GBH or THE VARUKERS.
As always, there’s the constant apprehension that you never quite know what’s around the next bend, and with ‘Not Asking for Much’ Bry has cast the net even further. There’s moments that get as heavy as BASTARD, as melodic as the UK SUBS, and even a title track that gets as rocking as the PINK FAIRIES. All amounting to a distinctive and characterful sound that’s unmistakably RAT CAGE.
With little to be hopeful about as we all suffocate within the authoritarian nightmare, this LP could once again be your beacon of fire. So, light the match and burn alone at maximum volume.
Alongside the new Rat Cage album, we also have a brand new EP from London’s Nekra called Is It Really Living?. While there isn’t a color version for this one, the whole pressing is limited to only 300 copies and not likely to stick around long. Here’s punk lifer Bryony Beynon’s description:
The international pit sisters pull up to their milestone of a decade in the game with the top down and the system blown-out blaring. Nekra is back, clawing in the dirt in search of a new world with press-ons and bared teeth. ‘Is It Really Living?’ explodes with all accumulated force of a band that has maintained maximum steez and minimal regard for men’s feelings. The ferocious howls and whiplash tempo switches is the Nekra you know, but there’s new exploration here in pacing and flow. Across nine minutes of boiled fury which stings like a chemical burn, they give the gender police a powerful shove, saluting Imane Khelif and all those who fight and resist under the sign of woman. They meditate upon the layered and contested meanings of Latinidad, and they chant for universal freedom of movement against the violence of borders. Transcending the vague romance of the hardcore girlgang, these songs have a backbone that sounds a lot like solidarity in practice: what it means to not only show up but stick around. The struggles remain unchanged, the reasons to lose your shit these days? Too many to count. Nekra have given you a timely shake-you-by-the-shoulders cue: assess what’s weighing you down, deep breath in, brace, and bench it. The times are intolerable. The girls? Unbeatable, still. (Bryony Beynon)
ONE TIME PRESS OF 300