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Hello Fellow Sorry Staters! Here we are after a brief break while some of the Sorry State crew were on tour. We are in the middle of summer here in North Carolina and boy is it HOT. I think this coming weekend we are supposed to have record-breaking high temperatures in the 100s. Phew! I mentioned in my previous pick a week or so ago that I was very excited about what Convulse records was doing. They are definitely on the forefront of releasing some really good music this past year. Which brings me to one release I am super excited about, Pardoner’s Paranoid in Hell 7”.

This album is all over the place in the best way possible. The tempo and style changes from track to track or hell even from verse to chorus. It’s what makes this record so damn fun and interesting to listen to. This record was recorded in one session in one day. I would not have guessed it on my first few listens. They have done a great job on the production of this record from beginning to end. Paranoid in Hell also has great art from Trey Flanigan (guitar/vocals), who also did some art for Gel and Gatecreeper. A couple of my favorite tracks that really jumped out to me are Distant Star and Instrument of Peace. Both tracks have this almost trickery behind them. They start as one style/tempo but end in something that you were not expecting, from fast and fuzzy punk to poppy super catchy chorus with great memorable lyrics to go with it. On your second listen to this record you would have already memorized the lyrics and the catchy choruses that go along with them.

This band is a fresh face in the alt rock scene that seems to have most bands just fade away. You can hear the influences on this record, from the Dils and Pavement to newer bands like Bugg and Big Bite. I cannot recommend this record enough, easily becoming one of my favorite EPs so far this year.

Welcome Sorry Staters! With Memorial day behind us, we are now in the heat of NC summer, and I can't help but find myself spending more time outside. This past weekend was spent at the farmers market with my wife Molly and my pug pup Prudence roaming the various plant stalls. We fixed up our back patio to enjoy with friends, planted some veggies, hung string lights and got the solo stove ready for a fire. Sunday night was spent with good friends around a fire pit with marshmallows and music blasting from our portable speaker. Summer nights are one of my favorite times to listen to ambient music such as Richard D. James' Aphex Twin. I get a little melancholy listening to the song Avril 14th from the 2001 album Drukqs. Sitting outside, the summer breeze, fire going and laughter with good friends, always reminds me of when I was growing up and spending summers skateboarding in the cul-de-sac with my neighborhood friends. That's the perfect combo for a great beginning to the summer. Now lets get into this weeks pick.

Last week I mentioned how much I loved Convulse Records. Well this week is another Convulse Records pick! As I wait for the new Pardoner 7” to arrive to chat about in another week’s pick, I will talk about how much I love the new Gumm album, Slogan Machine. I heard about Gumm through one of my other favorite bands, Soft Kill. Soft Kill recently took Gumm out on tour with them throughout the midwest as support. Slogan machine is mean as hell but melodic and very uptempo. Right out of the gate on the track “No Frontier” the guitar is heavy but melodic and the drums are pounding at full force. This is the main driving force behind this whole album. It’s danceable, it’s tough and it’s everything you ever wanted from a hardcore record. I’ll leave this blurb with one of the lyrics that stood out to me:

“I want to feel like this world is world worth saving”

Hello Fellow Sorry Staters! This week has been another whirlwind of ups and downs, but here I am on the up and up! I haven’t really had time to listen to new stuff, but one record that has been on my radar is American Culture’s Hey Brother, It’s Been Awhile. Before I get into my review of their record I just want to point out how on point Convulse Records has been. They definitely have an ear for some really great music, from Militarie Gun, MsPaint and Gel. Honestly, I could list their whole roster and every band would rip for sure. I will always blind buy a Convulse Records release and will always be happy with it. Now on to my thoughts about the new American Culture record!

The write up on the Convulse records site describes this record as punk psychedelia and I could not agree more. The album is oozing with influences from The Stone Roses and Oasis, while adding this twist of sonically inducing soundscapes in the background and it’s just a perfect record. I like to think of times or places to listen to a record when I am going through my first listen. Do you have a long road trip to go on? Are you walking alone in an empty airport on a layover at 3am? Are you laying in a field with your significant other or a group of friends smoking a joint? This is how I envision listening to this album.

Lyrically this album was written as a true story of the loss of a friend and wondering how they are and what they are doing. In the song “Two Coyotes” Chris Adolf writes, “Hey man, where are you sleeping tonight? Hang man, what you keeping inside?” You can tell that he is worried about his friend and how he is doing while Michael Stein, who went homeless and missing for 3 months, writes in the song “Survive,” “My friends aren’t angry—I just think they got tired—They talk about me in the past tense, but I don’t mind.” In the actual record, there is a full story about what happened and the struggles both faced.

In the end, lyrically this album is heavy and sonically beautiful. You will not regret listening to this record. Pull out the lyric sheet and read along to two friends’ story of homelessness, addiction and missing your friend.

Another week, another pick! I have been out of commission the past couple of newsletters because I was sick, but I am back and ready to go! Who would have thought that a medication you take for one thing can make you even more sick? Being a pharmacy technician in my past life, I should have known this, but I guess it didn’t click in the cold medicine haze I found myself in. One good thing about being home sick: I was able to check out some new music and just live in my collection for a week. This week’s pick is a Finnish synth pop duo called Modem and their new album Megalomania.

I have a thing for danceable synth pop. As a kid, I remember going to Holland to visit my Mom’s side of the family and one of the first groups they showed us was Ace of Base and right after that, Eiffel 65. After that I was hooked on pop synth dance music. After getting older, I have found myself loving not just synth pop but a lot of subgenres such as dark wave and synth driven post punk—bands like Soft Cell, Depeche Mode and New Order.

Megalomania fits into that 80s pop phenomenon that folks craved in that time period. Very bass heavy tones and lead guitar riffs galore. When you hear this record, you would have no idea that it actually came out in 2024. On the track Goodbye Horses 2004, they sample the beginning guitar solo in Prince’s song “When Doves Cry.” This album will have you dancing or at the very least tapping your feet. From start to finish it’s a synth pop dream. At times, the vocals can feel very dark and this shifts with the music as well. It can go very basic thick bass synth that was well known in the 80s to a slowed down very goth type of feel.

Pick this record up and throw it on the turntable, put on a leather jacket, sunglasses and beret and dance the night away.

Another week, another pick! This week’s pick will definitely have to be The Mall’s Time Vehicle Earth. I picked this record up and played it when we got it in based solely on the artwork by Indonesian artist Ibayarifin alone. The art depicts a vast, dystopian future and what looks to be time machines coming from or flying to this planet that one can only imagine from the music is open fields that go on for miles and miles.

At moments, you can close your eyes and imagine you are in a movie set in this futuristic timeline. The Mall’s music is dark, bass heavy and minimalist electronic music. On the title track, “Time Vehicle Earth,” you can tell this album would make for a perfect soundtrack for a dystopian nightmare fueled movie. Just add in some killer fight scenes with aliens or a car chase like in Mad Max and this would track would fit perfectly.

With tracks like “Nostalgia,” you can imagine that you are in a dark and grimy Berlin nightclub. Every one in the club dancing, drenched in sweat and pounding their fist in the air to the beat. This is by far my favorite track in the album. The hard thumping bass is reminiscent of hard techno in Europe and those influences really show through in this track.

My relation and love of dance music comes from when I was first introduced to it in my years living in Greenville at its house show/underground music peak. There was house party or show almost every night of the week. One of my fondest memories of underground dance music would have to be at a very popular show/party house called the 9th Street House. This place had shows often. One in particular was when a guy named OCDJ performed. The dance floor (or if you lived there, the living room) was packed full of people dancing, drinking and having a great time. The floor was bowing in from the sheer amount of people and the constant state of it being wet from beer being spilled.

The music was so loud it felt like your brain was being rattled from the bass. People were just dancing and not giving a shit about anything or anyone around them. This is the freedom I felt through punk music and this was the same feeling I was getting through electronic music. This is when I really opened my mind to what punk really could be, and how expansive it could be.

If you want something different and really good check out this record. You will not be disappointed. Mark Plant’s work on this album is something special. It’s darkwave dance music with a punk rock ethos.

Another week, another record that I think kicks ass. Gel’s Only Constant is a punishing, angry and unforgiving record. The riffs and drumming are simple but effective and vocals are like a screeching car coming at you. I have been listening to this band since their self-titled demo came out. If you want stripped down fast and feisty, this album is for you! Favorite song - Dicey. Hardcore for the fucking freaks!

I love how we associate music to seasons or weather and how everyone’s option of what they listen to when it’s cold or hot really interests me. For me, I associate spring and summer with my teenage days playing in shitty bands with my friends and what we were listening to during that time. We would blast Screeching Weasel’s Boogadaboogadaboogada or whatever Fat Wreck or Epitaph Records band was popular that summer. Fall and winter bring out the more jazz and ambient side of me. I love playing a record like Brian Eno’s Music for Airports in the morning when it’s cold outside.

Thanks again for checking out my little blurb on this newsletter, until next week!

Hello fellow Sorry Staters! Just a quick introduction. My name is Danny and I am the new guy at Sorry State Records. Just a little bit about me: I have lived in eastern North Carolina most of my life and call Raleigh my home. I have a beautiful wife, Molly, two cats (Keeks and Chloe) and a new pug puppy named Prudence. I have played drums in a few bands when I was younger and I am learning guitar and bass. Enough about me, let’s get into what I have been listening to this past week!

I have quickly come to find out that working at a record store puts you in contact with so many bands that you would have otherwise never heard of. I have a few picks that caught my eye my first week at Sorry State. First, we have Canada’s Home Front—Games of Power. This record is a post punk listener’s wet dream. This record combines synth and post punk with some gang vocals, like on the track, “Nation,” which features The Chisel front man, Cal. Currently, you can catch Home Front on tour with the Chisel in the U.S.—Check them out!

Another band that I have started listening to this week is Prison Affair. Egg punk at its finest. This band is fast, catchy and most importantly you can shake your ass to it. I recommend jumping up and down while doing a spazzy robot while listening. Egg punk is a new genre for me and I am starting to consume all that I can in the genre.

Thanks for reading! Go outside and run in circles or play a board game inside! Who cares!