News

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone has been having a nice week. The weather has felt great here in Raleigh recently, so it’s nice to catch this little window of nice weather before it gets real hot this summer. Speaking of hot, this week I’m writing about this Enemic Interior S/T 7”. The other day Dom and I were going thru and listening to some of the new 7”s we had gotten in over the last couple weeks and I threw this one on. I was immediately pulled in by the catchy guitar riff on the first track. Every song on here rips. I lack the proper music knowledge and vocabulary to tell you why it’s so good, but I just love the way this whole thing sounds. Vocals are always a big factor for me and can make or break a record, especially with music like this, but I really dig em on this. I realize I’m a little late to the party for these Barcelona madmen, as this EP was originally released on cassette last year, but better late than never. In fact, they just released their second EP a couple months ago, but we sold out of it pretty quick here at Sorry State, so here I am bumping this one. Give this one a listen if you haven’t yet and if you like it, we still got a few copies left, so snag one on this sweet red vinyl while you can!

Hi Sorry State readers! Hope everyone is having a great start to Gemini season. I’m not that into astrology, but I am a Gemini. Fun fact… at Sorry State, each member of the staff has a different zodiac sign, and they are ordered in the same sequence as in the zodiac calendar, one after another. We are only missing the first sign and the last four, but we have Taurus through Scorpio covered, in order, with no repeats. It makes for a good balance of personalities. Or it could all just be a bunch of bullshit. Who knows? All in good fun.

So my staff pick this week is something pretty new to me. It’s by the band Cel Ray, a four-piece post-punk band from Chicago. This is their debut EP, Cellular Raymond. I popped it on and it took all of five seconds to know I was gonna be into it. Totally my vibe. It’s a mix of basement punk, post-punk, egg punk, and punk punk. Each song leaning a little heavier on one of those sub-genres more than the others, which makes for an interesting mix.

It was the second track that got its hooks into me, as parts of it have some old school riot grrrl sass. It reminds me of the Bratmobile song, Cool Schmool. Basically, the shared message is “ew, I hate you. go away.” More specifically, she says, “I don’t want to touch anything you’ve touched. I don’t want to touch it too. Don’t want to touch anything that’s touched you.” Oh, the song is called Clorox Wipes, which is what makes those lines funny. I love the sassy vocals on that one.

That track and the fourth one (Attention) are way more egg punk than the others. I’m a fan of egg punk, so that works for me. One of the last tracks (Sorry Stew) is a really interesting one. It has this really low slung bass riff that plays perfectly with the manic vocals. But then they add in a high-pitched guitar riff that has a country twang. It really gives it a punk hoedown feel. It made me think of square dancing in fourth grade. Talking to other people that had to engage in this activity, it was always in fourth grade. No matter where you lived in whatever part of the country. Like someone decided that was the right age for our first major public humiliation.

I remember they had kids just go down the line and pick a partner. Girls lined up on one side and boys on another. Like we were on the Bachelor. Looking back, that’s a traumatizing event for a 9 or 10-year-old. And they’d spring it on you, so you couldn’t plan to fake sick that day. Dude, I swear, being a kid in the 90s was like playing a ten-year season of Survivor. Brutal.

Pardon my tangent. That riff stirred up some repressed memories. My point is that Sorry Stew is a standout track. What a great name, too.

Love the lead bass line in the last track, Dog War. Another fun, mid-tempo number. This one is really long, clocking in at almost four minutes. But they don’t mess around. They know that four minutes is half of a punk set, and they don’t waste your time. In fact, the last minute of this track (which is the last minute of the whole EP) may be the raddest part of the whole thing. Toward the end, there is a timely pause, and then a standout melodic bass riff. The vocals get tougher, and it’s an explosion of sound. A very cool track.

Oh, I should mention that the cassette is quite eye catching, which is why I grabbed it in the first place. Housed in bright green casing is a clear cassette with a generous amount of green glitter on the inside. I do appreciate the details.

Ok that should do it. Thanks so much for reading, and maybe give Cel Ray a try!

-Angela

Hello and thanks for reading. While I am here today to talk about AIVOPROTEESI, I wanted to mention some other stuff first. I’m sure I will talk about it more some other time, but the debut FAIRYTALE LP is just so damn good. I’ve been following the band since they came down and played the house just a few months before Covid-19 hit the States. They had a flexi out only at the time, and it did not really give testament to the band’s raw intensity. Live they were so unbelievably good, and this LP is without a doubt my favorite release so far. Also, I wanted to mention this LP from D.T.A.L. I was really excited for this one, cos the EPs from the ‘80s are so sick, especially the first one,”Time to Die." I always thought it was interesting their second EP “A Beautiful Day” was much harder to find, especially cos it’s not as crazy and raw sounding as their debut EP. Eventually I attributed its allure to it being pressed on blue vinyl, haha. The “Dark Dimensions of War” LP comes with an insert explaining the history of the band and its ever-changing line-up. I’m guessing “A Beautiful Day” was poorly distributed (if at all), since the band was not technically a band when this EP was released. It was a new line-up with a new metallic direction that went on to do “Dark Dimensions of War” years later. They explain this record was planned to be released on CBR Records in 1990, who released ANTI-CIMEX that same year. Apparently, the plans for the D.T.A.L. 12" faded into nothing after CBR was dealing with lawsuits due to the title of “Absolut Country of Sweden.” Recently the original tapes were found, restored, and the release picked up right where it left off - thanks to De:Nihil Records. I was happy to get this record, and read the history of the band especially. Check it out, but be warned this is not raw hardcore like the way they originally played.

Alright, so AIVOPROTEESI. I just found this video made by the band with studio tracks and live footage, collaged together with images of war and propaganda. The timing of it looks like this was released when the LP came out. It is kind of cheesy, but I think it’s super cool still. They give us a brief history of the band, which is also cool. I was hoping this compilation LP would come with an insert of some sort, but unfortunately it does not. The record is housed in a nice gatefold jacket that is loaded will full-color photos of the band. I don’t think the cover itself is very appealing (I think it’s the color scheme?), and it has tons of labels listed on the back. Most of the time when you see that, it’s a sign of a whack ass record... haha. There is a US label on the back of this record, but I worried we would never get copies since it has been available in Europe for nearly a year. Eventually I said fuck it and mail-ordered a copy from Germany. Finally though, we can all enjoy copies of this hot slab in USA. AIVOPROTEESI unfortunately never had a proper record until this one. They appeared on the legendary Yalta Hi-Life compilation, and that was their only real appearance (aside from a handful of obscure 80s compilation tapes and a couple bootleg LPs that came much later). Maybe it’s easy for some to overlook AIVOPROTEESI on this compilation cos they appear next to super popular bands like TERVEET KÄDET, KAAOS, or VARAUS. But their tracks on this compilation are just as killer and they are easily of the same caliber as those legendary bands. On this compilation they released eight songs, although ten were recorded in the session. Those tracks were pretty much lost to time until the Finnish Hardcore label reissued them on a super limited lathe in 2020. It was definitely cool to hear these missing tracks, but nothing beats being able to hear the full session in all its glory. I think that alone makes this compilation LP worth it, but they’ve loaded it up with a handful of different recording sessions and some live tracks - totaling in 31 tracks, killer. Alright I think that about does it for today. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone for the support. Cheers!

Hello guys, we hope we find you well as we close out another week here with the ol’ Sorry State Newsletter. As always, thank you for reading and hopefully you come away with some good steers towards cool and fun shit. As music lovers, we come to you again with heavy hearts saddened by more passings in the world of music. This week we lost Astrud Gilberto and Tony McPhee, the former the world’s forever girl from Ipanema and the latter the UK blues guitar hero who gave Peter Green a run for his money. I hate turning the newsletter into an obituary and quite honestly there are far more eloquent tributes being made than I could ever come up with, but damn it sucks losing more great artists and makes you feel old and think about your own mortality. Certainly, in this old geezer’s case.

Astrud Gilberto helped bring the sound of bossa nova to the world and was key to my entry into the music of Brazil. A friend of ours here at Sorry State posted on his social media a story of his introduction to Astrud via the exchanging of mixtapes with an old girlfriend and how hearing her voice and music changed his life and had such a profound effect on him. That’s the power of music. Gilberto cut a slew of fun, bright, romantic and groovy records throughout the 1960s and into the 70s. Mostly sticking to the jazzy bossa format, but adding in some interesting songs and sounds along the way. She always had top writers, arrangers, producers and musicians contributing to her records, making each one different and desirable. I dig them all, but really like the ones she cut at the end of the sixties most. Namely, I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do from 1969, which sports a close-up shot of Astrud with a tear in her eye and from the following year, September 17, 1969. These were both produced and arranged by Brooks Arthur, whose New York City-based studio Century Sound would see everyone from Neil Diamond to Van Morrison record there. Arthur was a huge talent. He could write quality songs, sing them and record them in equal measure, and often did all three at once. In the 1970s he would have hits with singer Janis Ian and then later went on to have success with recording comedy albums, notably with Robin Williams. He sadly passed away last year.

On these two Gilberto albums, the sound is a little more “mature” in nature with elements of melancholy in particular on I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do. There are also some top tunes. The song Beginnings from September 17, 1969 is a banger and a great start to the record. Her record on Perception from a couple of years later called Now is a good one too, and she is credited as producer. The opener on that one called Zigy Zigy Za is a fun tune and makes me smile. Again, she is assisted by a who's who of talented musicians too long to list here. Check these records out if you dig her and need more than The Girl From Ipanema.

Tony McPhee might not be known to as many around the world as Astrud Gilberto, but his contribution to music is massive. His group The Groundhogs were active across five decades, although he was the only constant member. A killer guitarist who alongside others like Peter Green brought fresh life into blues music and was instrumental in the blues boom of the sixties. His group backed John Lee Hooker and Champion Jack Dupree on their tours. Whilst recording a single with Dupree, McPhee was given the nickname T.S. which stood for “Tough Shit” by producer Mike Vernon and at his suggestion added the initials to his name to make him sound more blues like. If you like the early Fleetwood Mac records, then you’ll enjoy the early Groundhogs albums too. The album that most people know by them is Split, featuring the song Cherry Red. That is a good album and recommended. As too are the albums proceeding it. Thank Christ For The Bomb is a good one and so is Who Will Save The World? The Mighty Groundhogs which came out the year after Split. McPhee maintained an everyman’s approach to music and life, never playing overly complicated parts or acting and looking flash. It’s no wonder that the likes of Mark E. Smith and Peter Hook admired him. Over the years, it seems more and more artists have claimed McPhee and The Groundhogs as inspiration and influence for their own music. Although his solo records and later group works might not have reached critical and commercial highs, those from the sixties and early seventies are all close to essential listening, in my opinion, and you are highly encouraged to dive in and explore.

Lastly, before I go, I would like to steer you all towards a cool reissue that we recently stocked from the good folks at Iron Lung Records. It’s the 1981 single Living Underground from an Australian group called The Vacant Lot. I dig it. Four very distinct tracks that straddle the Punk, Post Punk divide. Check out the story and our take here. John Scott was spinning it the other day and at first I thought he was changing the record between songs as the sound varies so much. The last song, Multinationals, I recognized but couldn’t place. Turns out it was on the compilation Bloodstains Across Australia. I love the keyboard on this song. Those into KBD type stuff are probably already hip to this one, but if you aren’t, go check it. Being an obscure release, naturally originals go for three figures, so a big thank you to Iron Lung for this affordable reissue. Any plans to do a stateside issue of the group’s recent album?

Okay, that’s all I got for you. Back to work. Thanks for reading and supporting us and loving your music as much as we do. See you next time.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Man, what a 3-day weekend I just had. Here we are on Thursday afternoon, and I think I’m still recuperating. I just had the best time in Minneapolis. Maybe it’s just a midwestern thing, but whether it was punks that we met or just random people on the street, everybody in that city was so friendly. Like, genuinely. Will from Desolate Records and his partner Bretton were the top-tier, greatest hosts. They put us up in their beautiful house full of elderly cats for several nights and hung out hard with us every single day. They rule.

The Vans skate event at Familia skate shop was so killer. I honestly wish we’d made it over to the skate park earlier, because I think people had already been skating for a while it seemed like. Ronnie Sandoval was totally shredding for a while, going for huge ass tricks, but then he took a pretty gnarly slam. The demo kinda fizzled out after that. Elijah Berle was ripping it too. I got to briefly meet Tony Trujillo. All the rest of our crew was getting photos with him and stuff, but I was too nervous haha. He was mad cool though. It was kinda cool just to see all these more behind the scenes dudes either filming or taking photos that I recognized from watching King of The Road. The afterparty gig we played was rad too. It was in this weird big open event space that kinda felt like a huge wedding venue, but it was still cool. It was also rad just kickin’ it and goofing off with the Electric Chair dudes—visiting sex shops where everyone could ride a giant mechanical dick. You know, that kinda thing. Then we all went to this late-night swimming spot where I realized that everyone was just super comfortable with being nekkid. Just bodies of all shapes and sizes jumping into the lake. Totally non-sexual… just free, queer, accepting and comfortable. It was a beautiful thing. I, for one, stayed fully clothed and drank beer.

Public Acid all flew back on Sunday afternoon. Then I drove back to Raleigh from Richmond and arrived home at around 4am. THEN, I went to work on Monday morning, and John Scott came and bailed me out so Scarecrow could go play a rad gig with the Subhumans that night. Pretty killer weekend, if you ask me. More mellow this coming weekend, but there’s more fun times on the horizon. I’m stoked.

Anyway, that’s enough gushing about me. Now let’s talk about records you readers need to buy. Usually, Usman is the ambassador of all things Finnish hardcore. But this week, I’ll take a stab at a little write-up about some Finnish stuff that I personally think is killer. You’ll often hear people talk about Kaaos or Riistetyt or whichever band, but I don’t often hear people reference Aivoproteesi. In all fairness, the band never released a proper EP or album during their existence in the early/mid-80s. Aivoproteesi’s most notable contribution to the legacy of Finnish punk is their appearance on the classic Yalta Hi-Life compilation from 1984. Upon first hearing this comp back in the day, the Aivoproteesi songs always stood out to me. As much as love Terveet Kadet and Varaus’s tracks on this comp, for years you could always catch me saying, “Oh, the Aivoproteesi songs are the best thing on that comp.”

Sometimes I’m frustrated when I think bands from the 80s are so killer, but there’s nothing besides a compilation that I can get my hands on. I would’ve loved if Aivoproteesi put out a 7” or something. But nope. My fascination with these comp tracks got me always wondering if this band ever recorded anything else besides the session that appears on the compilation. I tracked down the BCT tape that had all Barabbas Records bands on it, but alas, it was just the Yalta Hi-Life songs. But after years, eureka! In 2020, an EP was released with unreleased Aivoproteesi songs. I managed to get my hands on one, finding out later it was limited to like 80 copies or something crazy. I was bummed when I found out it was a lathe cut, but it actually sounded alright. Now FINALLY, in our lord’s year 2023, a comprehensive compilation LP of Aivoproteesi recordings is now available. The LP is a split release between several labels, including the ever-reliable Hohnie Records, and also Final Doomsday here in the US. The record contains 10 songs from a studio session (including the songs used for Yalta Hi-Life), 4-track demos, and some miscellaneous live recordings. Your classic “throw everything on there” style compilation. I ain’t complaining. It’s not my favorite packaging I’ve ever seen, but the cover art looks kinda cool. It’s a thick gatefold sleeve, and the inside gatefold has a widespread collage of nice looking full-color photos that I’ve never seen before. I kinda wish there was a booklet included instead so all the photos were larger… But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

If you love all things Finnish punk and are unfamiliar with this Aivoproteesi, I highly recommend you dig into this missing piece of your puzzle. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Cluster: Grosses Wasser LP (1979, Sky Records)

It’s been a week of ups and downs for me. On Monday, Scarecrow played with Subhumans, which was awesome. It was my third time seeing Subhumans (the first was way back in 1998), and they were great as always. They’ve always been a huge band for me as their music is so powerful and unique, and it’s really special that they still do such great gigs and they bring them around to all corners of the world. Very cool. Unfortunately, though, it was a rough night for me physically. I’ve mentioned my recent skateboarding injury in the newsletter; I was grinding a parking block two weeks ago and fell hard right onto the block, taking it directly to my ribcage. I felt like it was getting better, but Monday was a long day with a full day’s work, playing a set, standing around a lot at the gig, and moving more equipment than I should have (though Jeff and Usman kindly handled all the speaker cabinets). By the end, I was in a lot of pain, so on Tuesday I broke down and went to the doctor. I’d avoided that because I read they couldn’t do much about a rib injury, but I got x-rays confirming I didn’t fracture any ribs, and they prescribed me some kind of medication. I’m not sure what the medication was, but two days later I’m feeling way, way better. Maybe it’s a coincidence or a placebo effect, or maybe I should have just gone to the doctor two weeks ago. Either way, it’s nice to feel like there’s some positive movement.

Between the gig, doctor’s appointments, and driving around my wife, whose car broke down on the way back from the Subhumans gig, I have had little time for listening to records. I got in a good listening session Tuesday night, when I spun the Die Letzten Ecken LP (this week’s Record of the Week!) a few more times and got to soak in the new Fairytale LP, which is phenomenal. I’ll write about those for other sections of the newsletter, so what to write about for my staff pick? I scanned my pile of recent acquisitions and landed on this 1979 album from Germany’s Cluster, which I took home a month or so ago. I was at the store one day and it was sitting at the front of a bin, unclaimed after a few weeks in the stacks. I commented that I hadn’t heard it and was interested, and Jeff was like, “you should just take it.” So I did!

Grosses Wasser is the seventh album by Cluster… well, the seventh if you don’t count the two albums they recorded as Kluster before Conrad Schnitzler left the group and they changed the “K” to a “C,” but you do count the two collaborative albums the group did with Brian Eno, 1977’s Cluster & Eno and 1978’s After the Heat. That sentence alone hints at how deeply embedded Cluster’s two official members, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, were in the 70s German progressive music scene, so I won’t go too deeply into that here. Trust me, these two guys are super important. Grosses Wasser, though, I don’t think is seen as a crucial part of their discography… which is weird because many bands’ seventh albums are their most popular, right?

Besides coming rather late in their discography, perhaps Grosses Wasser lacks the sense of discovery of Cluster’s classic periods. Their first two albums are out there on the fringes ambient music, while 1974’s Zuckerziet and 1976’s Sowiesoso found them condensing their compositions into compact instrumental nuggets that had all the impact and melody of the best pop and classical music. The two Eno collaborations came next, which were front page news for weird music heads. Grosses Wasser, though, has weak branding. Peter Baumann’s production is a new wrinkle, giving the group a polished, crystalline sound that’s less organic, but very cool and modern (much like the cover artwork). Grosses Wasser splits the difference between the two early eras of Cluster’s work, with a bunch of compact tracks on the a-side and a more progressive, multi-movement piece taking up the entire second side.

I didn’t know any of this when I first dropped the needle on Grosses Wasser. All I knew was that it was a Cluster album I hadn’t heard, and it just delighted me. Each shorter piece has a different musical character, but they’re all beautiful, combining rich textures with a strong sense of composition and structure that many synth and progressive artists lack. The long piece is also interesting. It’s not droney like the longer pieces in Cluster’s early catalog, more like a short symphony with discrete sections that link together. As a whole, the album is like an anthology of tight, readable short stories with a longer story at the end, and it works well.

I’m not sure if Grosses Wasser is the place I’d start with Cluster, but if you enjoy their first six albums, there’s no reason to stop here. Cluster made one more album, 1981’s Curiosa, before disbanding for the first time that year. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that one and see if it maintains the same level of quality as this.

What’s up everyone? I hope you’re all having a nice week. I’m going to the Dead and Co. show tonight here in Raleigh, so I figured it’s a good time to write about my favorite Grateful Dead record, Reckoning. I know some people reading this newsletter probably hate the Grateful Dead’s music, and that’s okay. Some people don’t care for it, and some people really enjoy it, and I happen to fall in the latter category. I remember listening to some of the more popular stuff when I was like thirteen and I liked it, but didn’t think much more of it than that. Then probably about five or six years ago I was visiting my buddy out in Colorado and we went on a hike in the mountains and when we were driving back down, he put on Terrapin Station and it just clicked for me. I started listening to all the live stuff and just went down the rabbit hole from there. Diving deep into their music has been very integral on my musical journey and led me to so many other artists and music I love today. If I never had this deep dive, I probably wouldn’t have discovered Billy Strings and been to all the shows I’ve been to this past year and become obsessed with old folk and bluegrass music. Which leads me to the album I’d like to talk about today. My brothers got me this copy of Reckoning (from Sorry State!) for my birthday a couple years back. I remember when I got it, I was a little thrown off by the tracklist. What the hell were all these traditional songs on here I didn’t recognize? An acoustic set? It was all a little different from the stuff I’d heard before from them. I remember I listened to it and thought it was good, but nothing that really stood out to me and it kinda just sat on my shelf for a while while my other Dead records got more love. Fast forward to my revelation with folk music and I come back to this album. Hold up, they’re covering Dark Hollow, Been All Around This World AND Deep Elem Blues on here? Fuck yeah. I love this record so much now, sometimes some things just need a lil bit of time to grow on you and this album has aged like fine wine to me.

Hi Sorry State readers! How are ya? It’s been ok on my end. It’s been kind of a dreary week or two around these parts. Which sucks now that I’ve committed to going for walks regularly. I’ve been trying to go out in the morning, because I read some science about the benefits of physically being in the sun (whether it’s behind clouds or not) when you first wake up. I say physically because it doesn’t count if you just look out the widow. Plus, it just makes me feel better all day. It also gives me the perfect opportunity to listen to new music! Let’s go.

My staff pick this week is by the Canadian band, Divorcer. They released an absolutely killer EP titled Espionage. It has been in very regular rotation for almost a couple weeks now. It’s so likable. It’s fun and catchy and all that good stuff, but also witty and clever.

It’s very pop-heavy, but it feels substantial. The vocals are sharp and sometimes breathy, with a lot of lovely harmonies. Tiny Devil (the first track) is absolutely infectious. It sucked me right in with its simple yet effective beat, and sharp vocals that are both sweet and taunting. They cleverly blend quieter vocals with the lead vocals to play the part of the tiny devil in her head. I mean, I think that’s what they’re doing. The layered vocals add great dimension to all the tracks.

This is also evident on the next track, Bug. It’s my other favorite track. It starts out rather simple and catchy, and just a little weird. You think you get the gist of the song after 30 seconds or so, but it gets more weird and then kinda trippy, but still maintains structure. I like when songs take weird, unanticipated turns, but they still find their way home.

Crying is a slower tempo, more stripped down track. The darker melodic bass riff lays ground for lovely vocal harmonies. I think it’s a well-placed track to slow things down and reset before going out with a bang on the closing track, Leech. This is another winner for me. It seems to draw inspiration from a popular alt-rock formula with its quiet verses and loud crashing choruses. It also incorporates some more noticeable distortion to roughen things up. It all makes for a well-rounded EP.

I’m really drawn to poppy songs with clean and simple beats, but don’t sound superficial. I think that making good use of simple sounds in a way that sounds creative and catchy is no easy feat, and Divorcer does this very well. Unfortunately, this may be sold out or very close to sold out at the time that you’re reading this, but if you get a chance, give it a listen! And hopefully we’ll get more.

Thanks so much for reading! Until we meet again.

-Angela

Hello and thanks for reading. Today I am here to talk about this killer VORKRIEGSJUGEND 12"! The first pressing of this record sold out super quick. I think we got like only ten copies or less. Luckily it's back in print and we got a nice stack, so I am happy to write about it this time around. I discovered VORKRIEGSJUGEND soon after my adventures into German hardcore. I don't really know much about the band, but their 7" is absolutely killer. It seems like it might be rarest thing released on Pogar Records? Maybe cos they have pretty limited reissues. I was just looking on Discogs and the 2003 reissue LP goes for over $100, damn. When I was on there, I also saw this pretty cool write up on this very 12" I'm here with today. It's well-written and provides way more insight into the band than I could, haha. Nevertheless, I still wanted to highlight some shit. This comes from a sound board recording, so the audio is great. I mentioned thinking the 7" is killer, and they play all but one song off of it, I think. So of course, it had me raging! It seems like there is one track on this live 12" that was never properly recorded, but I could be wrong. I looked around YouTube and found some other live recordings and they had played the same song. This one is pretty nice, it's got a ton of sets on it - but still not the one that has been reissued on this LP! It was an excellent touch the LP comes with fold-out insert that has a photo of VKJ playing that night and a scan of the gig flyer. The insert folds out to show a bunch more flyers with them playing with some killer bands. This is the first release on Stonz Records, based in Berlin. I hope they have more planned cos I think this live LP is excellent and everyone should get one, haha. If you don't know VORKRIEGSJUGEND, I would definitely check out their EP. Their LP is cool too, but not quite as raging. A live LP may not be the best place to start if you've never heard a band...who knows though, if you don't buy it now maybe you'll regret it later. Oh before I go, I wanted to drop a link to this video on YouTube of VKJ playing live in 1984. It looks like they are playing in the basement of their squat or something. Since I don't understand German of course I have no idea if that's their squat. There's a handful of videos on there from the same occasion it seems, and it's all based around an interview of some sort. Alright then I’ve got to go! talk to you next week. Thanks to everyone for the support!!

Hey there everyone, I hope all is well with you. Thanks for tuning in again and checking out the ‘ol newsletter. We appreciate it.

Like any head into music, I love witnessing live music. That’s where it’s at for sure. Seeing, hearing and feeling great music performed in person is the best. In recent years, that has been something that I haven’t been doing a lot of and it sucks. Partly due to the covid years and not wanting to be in crowds again too soon, but mostly down to my old broken-down body not being able to take it anymore. My legs, knees and feet are usually giving me a lot of pain by the end of any given day and so standing for long periods of time, especially in place, amongst a crowd is verging on agony now for me. As a result, I barely go out much at all now let alone go to shows and stuff. I’m saying this not for pity but as a lead into my pick for you all this week. Because I have not been attending shows, I have been going through my record collection and spinning some of the live albums I have. That and watching concert footage on TV and streaming live audio via the internet. Here at Sorry State, whenever I work with John Scott, we typically play at least one live show during a shift. It has started to become our ritual to fire up his Nugs account during the last hour and play a Billy Strings show or something similar.

One live album that I did pull from my jazz shelf this past weekend was the fabulous double by Grant Green titled Live At The Lighthouse, on Blue Note Records from 1972. What a killer record and thoroughly recommended for fans of Jazz, Soul and Funk music. To paraphrase Big Daddy Digs, this one is so hot it smokes across all four sides; you’ll need a fire extinguisher standing by.

Jazz fans will not need any introduction to ace guitar slinger Grant Green, but if you are new to him, then this record is a fine place to begin. This was his last album for the great Blue Note label, one that he had been with since the early sixties, with a couple of excursions to other labels here and there, and for which he had cut nearly two dozen albums. These records are great, but many have argued that Green really excelled in the live environment. Perhaps a case that could be made for many a performer. Two years previously to the Lighthouse session, Blue Note released another album by Green recorded live at a club in New Jersey called the Cliché Lounge. This, Alive! is a great record too, capturing Green and fellow musicians in fine form. You really can feel the atmosphere of the room in the recording. Soul Jazz in its purest and simplest form. Funky and groovy and current but with the jazz and blues roots upfront instead of perhaps the new fusion and psychedelic elements that were now becoming in vogue. Highlight of that set for me being the cover of the Don Covay tune Sookie Sookie that rockers Steppenwolf helped popularize a couple of years previously. On Alive!, Green is supported by the ace drumming of Idris Muhammed and by Ronnie Foster on keys. Those names alone should be enough to convince you of the pedigree of the record.

However, in my opinion, and I don’t think I am alone in saying this, Live At The Lighthouse is even better than Alive! Two years later and a change of coasts and venue and with a different line up, albeit just as talented. This time around the drummer’s stool is occupied by Greg Williams, a young cat at the beginning of his career who started with Lou Donaldson and in the same year as the Lighthouse session would play drums on Jack McDuff’s great Heatin’ System album, ably demonstrating his ability to keep it funky. Shout outs and mentions must be given to all the musicians, so on vibes was Gary Coleman who had played on dates for everyone from David Axelrod to Quincy Jones. On organ was Shelton Laster who gets a writing credit for the tune Flood In Franklin Park. Bass duties were filled by Wilton Felder of the Jazz Crusaders. On tenor and soprano sax was Claude Bartee who had previously been playing with Pucho And The Latin Soul Brothers. Lastly, special mention must be made for Bobbye Porter Hall on percussion. A native of Detroit who played, often uncredited, on countless Motown recordings alongside the Funk Brothers in Detroit and the Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles. She changed the spelling of her first name to distinguish herself as a female musician. Her bongo skills can be heard on Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler) for one example. She has played with everyone from Marvin Gaye to Bill Withers, Gene Clark to Carole King and many, many more.

Green selected his bandmates well, and together they put on a barnstormer of a performance for the lucky folks crammed into the Lighthouse for these recordings. The Lighthouse is an historic venue that started as a restaurant and then became a bar in the 1940s and beginning in the 1950s a venue for jazz music. Located at 30 Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, it became a hub for the burgeoning West Coast Jazz scene and a must play venue for touring musicians. It’s still there, although it’s added Café to its name. Years ago, after I left college, I flew to California with a view to try and get a job and stayed in Hermosa Beach with a friend of my old boss. The job didn’t pan out, but I was staying just up the street from Pier Avenue and the famous Lighthouse venue and would walk past often and did catch a show there. I was just beginning my journeys into jazz back then so wasn’t hip to the history of the club necessarily, but it was cool to have been there.

On the recordings, each tune is introduced by announcers Hank Stewart and Ed Hamilton and throughout the audience plays their part also. You hear quite a few shouts of “Right On!” and rightfully so. There isn’t a dull moment on any of the four sides of the album, but I really dig their interpretation of the Donald Byrd tune Fancy Free along with the workout they give to the song Jan Jan from The Fabulous Counts. Both stellar performances worth the price of admission alone. This is top-notch stuff, funky and groovy, right on and just plain fun. Green’s guitar playing here is some of the best you’ll ever hear. With the band cooking behind him, his solos are sublime. Funky, bluesy and driving, yet simple and always soulful. He doesn’t need to be flash and doesn’t hog the spotlight, giving plenty of room for all the musicians to soar on their solos. Almost all the numbers are stretched out to ten plus minutes, but you could easily see and want them to keep going on longer. Reading a few reviews from then and now, it seems that in not following the rush to fusion territory this record has perhaps aged better than some of those that did. Funny how things circle around, although in more recent years, fusion is becoming more popular again. Whatever. Just enjoy it all I say.

Grant Green has left us. He tragically died in his car of a heart attack aged 43 whilst in New York to play at George Benson’s Breezin’ Lounge. He had gone back out on the road against doctor’s orders after having spent much of the previous year in hospital. Since his death there has been more music released in his name than when he was alive. He literally recorded on hundreds of sessions whether as a leader or sideman and his legacy is as one of the greats. Several of his recordings have been sampled in the hip-hop world and the Acid Jazz boom of the late 80s and early 90s picked up on his rare groove classics, keeping his name alive with the next generations of music lovers. One of his six children, Grant Green Jr., is an accomplished jazz guitarist himself and plays in a similar style. In addition, his daughter-in-law Sharony Andrews Green has authored an informative and heartfelt book titled Grant Green: Rediscovering The Forgotten Genius Of Jazz Guitar. The book concentrates more on Green the man rather than being a dry diary of recording sessions, etc.

If after listening to Alive! and Live At The Lighthouse and are hungry for more jazz guitar, then you will be in for a treat with pretty much any Green album you pick next. Released the same year is the soundtrack to The Final Comedown, which Green provides the music for. A good movie and a great soundtrack, which has the distinction of being the first soundtrack on Blue Note. A record that is popular with the samplers and rare groove guys is The Main Attraction, released in 1976 on Kudu. You can dip in with confidence to any of his 60s recordings. Street Of Dreams from 1967 is a good one. The Latin Bit from 1963 is a favorite too.

Personally, as far as instrumentation in jazz goes, I love the guitar and vibes the most. Add in some Afro-Cuban percussion and a funky drummer and we’re off to the races. My collection features a lot of albums with guitar and my favorite artists other than Grant Green are many. George Benson, Boogaloo Joe Jones, O’Donel Levy, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Gabor Szabo, Kenny Burrell, Pat Martino, Larry Coryell, Sonny Sharrock, Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul and John McLaughlin are the first few names off the top of my head, and I know I’m missing many more. You get the point. If you dig the sound of guitar in your music and see any of those names in the credits, you’re guaranteed some top playing no questions asked. Go explore.

Signing off now and getting back to work. Tonight, John Scott is going to see the Dead in concert and Jeff is preparing for his weekend of gigs and as I have been writing I’ve been spinning The Great Society live at The Matrix from 1966. It’s all live music action around here and always where it’s at.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

As the weekend approaches, I’m yet again scrambling to get one of these damn things written. I spent like half an hour trying to get the graphic above put together. It looks so stupid. It’s like one of those tattoos where a shark is busting out of the skin, but it doesn’t even look that cool. But at least it features images related to the key topics contained within this write-up. I’m partially anxious because as soon I leave the store tonight, I’m immediately hopping in my car and driving up to Richmond. Then I’ll wake up at 9am and hop on a plane to Minneapolis. Trust me, I ain’t complaining. I’ve talked about it in previous newsletters, but Public Acid is playing this one-off gig on Saturday. I’m way stoked about this Thrasher event we’re playing. I get to see some of my favorite pro skaters sponsored by Vans rip it up during the day and then go rip it up with Electric Chair that evening? Can’t wait.

Once again, I didn’t know what record to write about. I took the easy way out and decided to write about a record I threw on the other day. I’ve been listening to old LA punk constantly lately. The other day, I listened to the sole release by this band Kaos (not to be confused with the Finnish band Kaaos, spelled with 2 “a’s”). This single, entitled Product of a Sick Mind… was released on What? Records in 1980. This same label released a lot of other early LA punk stuff, namely “Forming,” the first Germs single. Kaos was a short-lived band formed out of the ashes of The Controllers. The A-side track “Alcoholiday” was born to be featured on a Killed By Death comp. Less hardcore sounding than their contemporaries, this song is a sleazy, ramshackle, garagey punk stomper. I’m pretty sure this song appeared on KBD #4, sandwiched in between a bunch of Zero Boys songs. On the B-side, “Top Secret” is a bit faster tempo and reminds of the Randoms’ “Let’s Get Rid of New York” or something similar on Dangerhouse. The last track is a heavy dirge lamenting about not being able to sleep. Funny enough, this final track “Iron Dream” I first heard when the Carbonas covered it. That repetitive refrain “I can’t sleep at night!” I always associated with the Atlanta punk greats. It honestly sounds like a song they could’ve written. So when I finally got into this Kaos single, it was exciting to connect those puzzle pieces.

I scored my copy of Product of a Sick Mind a few years back. I pull it out to jam every once in a while. Funny enough, my copy is the 12” version, so it’s one of those oversized punk singles with plenty of unnecessary dead wax. My favorite style. But there is a more KBD-appropriate 7” single version released the same year. Limited to 200 copies, it’s super rare and has become quite the collector’s item. I’ll stick with my oversized platter.

Weirdly, I haven’t been drinking much lately. And funny how that works, I feel pretty great. But inevitably in Minneapolis I think I’m gonna rage. Time to get my Alcoholiday started.

Welp, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Honor Role: Rictus LP (Homestead Records, 1989)

My nephew Brody just spent a few weeks staying with my wife Jet and I. The original plan was to hang out for a bit in Raleigh and then go on a mini-vacation on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina for Memorial Day weekend, but a big storm came in, the ferries weren’t running to the island, and we had to cancel our trip. That was a bummer, but it was fun to hang out with Brody for an extended amount of time. He’s 19, a student at Ohio State, and he’s super into music and skateboarding, so we get along like a house on fire. It was nice to have a buddy to skate with, and while he was here we spent most evenings playing music for one another.

Something I realized about myself during these listening sessions with Brody is that I have a strong bias against music from the 90s. Brody played a lot of stuff from the 90s, and it made me realize I almost never listen to music from that entire decade, no matter the style. There’s probably a deep psychological reason for that… like I see the 70s and 80s as some sort of unspoiled golden age, but the 90s make me think of real life, being in high school and feeling like I didn’t belong, being stuck in a rural Virginia backwater while the interesting stuff happened somewhere else. Most recordings from the 90s have a distinctive sound, and while a lot of things about that sound are pretty good—it was an era known for big-sounding, polished recordings, even for underground bands—the sound doesn’t take me to a place I want to go. Even when Brody brought up punk and hardcore bands, I realized I hardly ever listened to them. He told me he’s been into Orchid’s Chaos Is Me, and I told him about how I bought that record when it came out and how Orchid’s guitarist, Will Killingsworth, masters like 50% of the music we sell at Sorry State (including several releases on our label), but I realized I haven’t listened to Orchid in 20 years. He also texted me the other day to tell me he’d been listening to His Hero Is Gone’s Monuments to Thieves. Again, a record I loved when it came out, but I haven’t listened to it in many, many years. So many of our conversations went like this, Brody bringing up something from the 90s and me driving the conversation back into the 80s and earlier or forward into the present millennium.

Having this realization about myself, I was particularly excited when a copy of Honor Role’s second and final album, Rictus, came through the shop. Brody, like most young people it seems, has broad tastes, but I think his favorite style of music is the post-hardcore math rock of the early 90s… he loves Slint, US Maple, Don Caballero, and stuff like that. So I was excited to bring home this Honor Role record because I know they were a big influence on that sound. I think he liked Rictus, but the first thing he said was “this sounds like Tweez,” Slint’s first album, which actually came out in 1989, the same year as Rictus.

I feel weird writing about Honor Role because I’ve heard so much about them from older people in NC, all of whom insist they were one of the best bands they ever saw, way better than their studio recordings. Honor Role played Raleigh a lot… people tell me they came down from Richmond so often they were pretty much considered a local band. Since they broke up in 1989, though, I never got to see them play, and for years I never even checked out the records because of how vocal everyone was about how they didn’t live up to the live experience. However, at some point their 1985 single “Judgement Day” came into the shop, and noticing it was on the legendary Raleigh label No Core Records, I checked it out. I listened to that 7” so much… I even ripped mp3s of my copy so I could put it on my phone… I was so addicted to it I needed the ability to hear it any time I wanted. Contrary to my expectations, “Judgement Day” has a great, powerful recording, raw in the manner of low-budget 80s recordings, but clear with good separation between the instruments and a big drum sound. And the songs, “Judgement Day” in particular, are just so good. They’re a long way from pop, but still so memorable. “Look around me, all I see, waves and waves of… MEDIOCRITY!” Classic.

Converted, I started picking up Honor Role’s records when I saw them. Rictus, though, proved elusive, sitting on my want list for years before this copy came in. It was worth the wait, though! When I first popped it on I was digging it so hard… it had everything I loved about the “Judgement Day” single, namely the catchy vocals and dense, poetic lyrics and the powerful, punk-informed rhythm section, but so much more than that too. Honor Role is lauded for their ability to play in odd time signatures and the relentless riffage of guitarist Pen Rollings, and both are in full effect on Rictus. Some timings on these tracks are just wild. And beyond just being quirky, they’re executed with so much fluidity. I love complex, proggy rhythms, but often bands who play like that can feel overly tight, like the music is laid out on a grid and everyone is playing to the grid rather than with one another. But Honor Role sounds like a band who has abandoned the grid, locking into rhythms that are more organic and human than any math equation. And the riffs… fuck! A lot of them sound like they’re grounded in the big classic rock riffs of bands like AC/DC and Thin Lizzy, but skewed and bent into something subtler and more interesting. Like Greg Ginn, Pen Rollings’ style is instantly identifiable and I could listen to him shred forever.

It’s a shame I never got to see Honor Role play live, because if they were exponentially better than these records, they must have been something truly great, which everyone insists they were. There are a couple of gigs on YouTube, and these sets from CBGB in 1987, DC in 1988, and Chapel Hill in 1989 (the band’s final show) are indeed powerful. I’m not much for watching video footage of bands playing live, but all three hold my attention. If you want to check out Honor Role’s studio recordings, Merge Records collected everything from their post-punk era (I can’t believe I didn’t even mention the band’s hardcore years above… oh well) on a CD called Album, which is available on streaming services. That CD starts with Rictus and then proceeds in reverse chronological order through the rest of the band’s catalog, ending with the “Judgement Day” single. While it’s a lot of this very dense music to absorb in one sitting, at least it’s out there and accessible. If you want to follow my path into their discography, keep an eye out for used copies of the “Judgement Day” single and Rictus in your local used bins… it might take a while for them to turn up, but they shouldn’t cost you much when they do.