Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! I had a long day yesterday. We got a call about a collection in eastern Virginia so I hauled ass out there only to find that it was a bust, then drove all the way from Suffolk, Virginia to Chapel Hill, North Carolina without stopping, arriving at the Cat’s Cradle less than 10 minutes before Sweeping Promises started their set. What a band! We’ve been jamming their Hunger for a Way Out LP since it came out, and it was great to see them play. They were charming people, and their performance was stupid tight… if these musicians had a time machine, they could go back and make bank as session musicians. I can’t recall the last time I heard a band’s live set sound so much like the record. I hadn’t been to the venerable Cat’s Cradle in several years, but it looks like I’ll be back there again on Monday to see Public Acid. See you there? I also heard Cube is playing with some sick locals (including Floor Model and Permanent, the latter of which is Mimi from Cochonne) at Nightlight on Saturday, so maybe I’ll make it out to Chapel Hill three times in one week. Aside from all the traveling, I’ve found plenty of time to blast this Unidad Ideológica LP, which fucking rules, as well as the other treats we have for you in the newsletter. Speaking of which…

Unidad Ideológica: S/T 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) Bogotá, Colombia’s Unidad Ideológica is the latest band to emerge from the hardcore hotbed that brought us Muro, Uzi, and Systema. Like those bands, Unidad Ideológica has a magical talent for capturing energy on record, with these eight tracks leaping from the speakers like they’re breaking loose from a high-pressure container. While the sound is visceral and immediate, it’s also layered and dynamic, encompassing everything from black metal-style melodic tremolo picking (“Metadata”), Broken Bones-esque metallic d-beat “Tercer Hito Del Desarollo” and full-on Discharge worship (the “A Look at Tomorrow”-ish “Vidas Controlidas”). Unidad Ideológica’s ability to work these elements into such a seamless and distinctive style reminds me of those people who look stylish no matter what they’re wearing, whether it’s a sweatsuit or head-to-toe lycra. With eight tracks in only 14 minutes, there isn’t room for anything that doesn’t pierce straight to the heart, and by the end my heart is pounding and I’m itching to hear it again. A certified ripper.

We just got word the physical version of Hüstler’s new tape is on its way to us! It took a longer than we expected (and longer than the duplicator quoted us, TBH), but the wait is nearly over. These sold out in preorder, so unfortunately we have no more for sale, but as we noted last week, an LP collecting both of Hüstler’s sold out tapes has been sent off to the plant. You can expect that whenever the global supply chain magically repairs itself.

We just got in a brand new batch of Sorry State t-shirts! This season we’re revisiting the awesome design Thomas Sara made for us a while back, this time with red discharge ink on black shirts. This will probably be the last run of this shirt design, so grab one now if you want one, because when they’re gone, they’re gone! Also, I forgot to mention it, but a while back we also restocked our black canvas tote bags featuring the same design, so grab one of those too while you’re at it!

This week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts probably caused some drooling when record collectors first saw it. I was drooling too, since these are Usman’s records. Which one is better is a close call, and while an Instagram glitch seems to be preventing us from viewing the final poll results, at last check the vote was split right down the middle.

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 this CD copy of Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life. Lust for Life is a great album that’s always been a hard pull on vinyl, and if you do find a copy, you’re gonna pay for the privilege of owning it. This CD though? A measly seven bucks! Wot a bargain!

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

NOVEMBER 6
CUBE IN CHAPEL HILL

NOVEMBER 12
SCARECROW IN PHILLY

NOVEMBER 19
MUTANT STRAIN IN CHARLOTTE

NOVEMBER 19
SCARECROW IN CARRBORO

NOVEMBER 20
MUTANT STRAIN IN CHARLOTTE

DECEMBER 4
TETANUS IN CHARLOTTE

1. Quarantine: Agony 12” (Damaged United)
2. Hologram: No Longer Human 12” (Iron Lung)
3. Scalple: Skillful Butchers 12” (Sorry State)
4. Cochonne: S/T 12” (Sorry State)
5. Sistema En Decadencia: Nuetro Legado 12” (Hardcore Victim)
6. Straw Man Army: Age of Exile 12" (D4MT Labs)
7. White Stains: Make Me Sick 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
8. Algara: Absortos En El Tedio Eterno 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
9. Lasso: S/T 7” (Sorry State)
10. Languid: A Paranoid Wretch in Society’s Games 12” (D-takt & Rapunk)

As usual, this week’s charts at Sorry State are filled mostly with great hardcore, though after a month the recent Sorry State releases are getting displaced by favorites from the distro.

Click here to see what the SSR Crew is into this week!

Hot tip: the Quarantine LP is back in stock! These are likely the last copies we will get for a while, so if you have heretofore slept on this killer record, this is your final warning!

If you’re looking for some new reading material this week, we have some cool import zines for you, including the latest issue of Europe’s My War zine and brand new issues of Australian zines Distort and Life Stinks I Like the Kinks.

Feel It Records has dropped yet another slab on us, this time from Iowa’s Why Bother? As with the last several Feel It releases, we also have a few copies on limited color vinyl!

The great state of Georgia brings us two new items this week: a demo cassette from Athens’ Foodeater and a full-length from Atlanta’s Blammo.

We’ve raved about Canada’s New Vogue when we wrote about both of their cassette releases (seriously, check this band out… they’re so good!). When I wrote about their last tape, I lamented that it wasn’t on vinyl, and thankfully my wish has come true! Grab it from us now!

Poland’s Refuse Records bring us a bunch of cool reissues of Polish punk, including two releases from the almighty Siekiera, plus retrospectives from Apatia and Deuter. The Apatia release also comes with a beautiful book / zine anthologizing the Polish fanzine Greencore.

If you’re looking for Trouble, we’ve got you covered! Hammerheart’s reissue campaign for this classic doom metal band continues with their classic album The Skull and the hard to find later EP Manic Frustration.

Finally, we added a TON of new and restocked punk reissues this week. We have a bunch of Japanese punk reissues on F.O.A.D. records, restocks of some classic Finnish hardcore and punk, and a bunch of cool, official reissues of lesser-known material by Vice Squad, Chaotic Dischord, and the Lewd.