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Hello fellow Sorry Staters! I hope everyone has had a good week! This past weekend was a special one for me as it was my wedding anniversary to my amazing wife Molly! We usually buy gifts, but this year we decided on learning something new and decided to take a class together. I’ve always wanted to learn how to blacksmith, so we took a blacksmith class here in Raleigh and forged a small metal hook! I would definitely do it again and start taking advanced classes. Doing stuff like that as someone with ADHD really helped me focus, and it was kind of relaxing to be honest. I’ve been in a listening rut for quite some time now, so it has been difficult for me to find something to write about every week. This week is quite good though, and I am quite excited that they finally released a repress of the Ink & Dagger catalog. Some might say a bit controversial during live shows, but Ink & Dagger was odd, genre-defining and just a smack in the face musically.

We just got the all the band’s full length represses from Trust records this week. I had no idea they were coming out so I had to scoop my two favorite albums by them, The Fine Art Of Original Sin and the compilation album of early EPs, Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake Through My Philadelphia Heart. I am not much of a fan of their last record, which was just a self-titled record. It is definitely one of their most experimental albums. The story of this band is quite tragic and is not something I think is important to mention. The band has been gaining popularity again due to a documentary a former band member turned Hollywood star, Eric Wareheim, made but refuses to release due to it being too dark. Don Devore, one of the main members of the band, reformed one of his other projects that I love called Frail, one of the best screamo bands from the 90s and early 2000s.

As always, we are getting in restocks and new records daily, so be sure to check the site often! Thanks again for reading my little corner of the internet.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. Hopefully everyone got their Halloween ya-ya’s out as we cruise into November. There are some cool shows coming up this month. I’m looking forward to Giallo with support from Plastique Pigs and Steramines coming up at Neptunes here in Raleigh on the 21st. Another show I’m excited about is actually happening the night this newsletter is released: Takaat over at the Fuzzy Needle in Durham. If you see this in time definitely try to make it out there. I saw them play earlier this year at Kings here in Raleigh and they were phenomenal. Anyways, this week I’m writing about some more Ethiopian jazz. I recently discovered the 1984 album Sons of Ethiopia by Admas and have been really diggin it. The group was made up of four dudes living in Washington, DC all of Ethiopian heritage, and I feel like they all carry different influences to the album. Honestly this album is all over the place, and if you just heard it randomly you might think it’s just a playlist or compilation of different bands cause the songs all have a unique feel to them. The first track, “Anchi Bale Game,” has this infectious keyboard playing that’ll get stuck playing in your head. Then the second track, “Bahta’s Highlife,” has this light, bouncy dance sound to it. What really hooked me was the track “Wed Enate,” which sounds like something you’d hear on some sick dub mix. This was the first track I heard, and when I listened to the rest, I was shocked to hear how different the rest of the album was. Definitely check this one out.

Hi and thanks for reading. I haven’t really been listening to records again. I finally listened to this copy of the DISMACHINE / NAILED DOWN split that I picked up back in June, haha. While I got this record for DISMACHINE, the NAILED DOWN shit is pretty cool. I think they were from Australia? Also pretty cool, this record came out in 1997 and they covered KURO. I remember having this record once a long time ago and I foolishly sold it. It’s not an expensive record by any means, but shit they are hard to find in the States. I actually picked this record up at Trash Palace in Stockholm. I first heard DISMACHINE via their split with TOTALITÄR and I was hooked right away. I think those are some of their best tracks, with the perfect fusion of groovy d-beat and truly disgusting blast beats. If you don’t know, the guitarist is Jan “Jutte” Jutila, who operated the label Your Own Jailer. And whom I also refer to as the Swedish d-beat master, haha. My friend Martin told me Jutte didn’t use a guitar pick… what the fuck? I’m sure I have raved about this 7” here before, but I think the TIMES SQUARE PREACHERS Don’t Be Numb EP is one of the best records to come out in the ‘90s. The songwriting is killer, and damn, the drums are so groovy. It’s insane how deep he gets in that pocket. Oh yes, I brought that up cos Jutte was playing drums in TSP. Haha, Martin also told me another story where Jutte would get on stage and stick his head in the kick drum to make sure drummers were playing a proper d-beat. I think the recording itself is also excellent. The drums are placed in the perfect spot in the mix. The guitar sounds clear but also simultaneously gnarly. Surprise, Jutte recorded the tracks haha. He also recorded both sides of the TOTALITÄR / DISMACHINE split. I’m pretty sure he recorded every record he played on actually, at least the ones he released on YOJ. I know some readers already know all this shit, so I apologize. But I still need to point out the DISMACHINE/CUMBRAGE split 7”. Now, these right here are probably my favorite DISMACHINE tracks. The first track is so pummeling it’s nuts. They bring you in with some riff perfection with ripping d-beat but then sprinkle in these blasts near the end that bring the intensity to the next level. I typically hate blasting, but in the case of DISMACHINE there is something original and special about it. There’s some crazy shit happening on “Aargh,” which is an entire blast track. The bass tone also really sticks out in that song, and the sound just blows my mind. So, I didn’t bring up this record to obsess over DISMACHINE really, but to point out the Jutte did vocals in CUMBRAGE. I love these CUMBRAGE tracks. The sound isn’t crispy like DISMACHINE, but the riffing is absolutely on point. The way that mofo dances up and down the fretboard is so sick, and once again, the drummer is groovy as fuck.

Alright, so the photo I used above is from this band KURT KANONMAT. I know nothing about this band, like at all. According to the youtube link, they released this EP Äldre Skolans Mangel in 2023. But I wonder if it’s just digital or what. My aforementioned friend Martin sent this to me last week, and I have been listening to it often. It’s not doing anything groundbreaking really, and the riffs are not necessarily ones that get stuck in my head either. But I still think this shit rips. Sometimes they remind me of MOB 47, and other times NO SECURITY. They certainly have speed and intensity, and they do some weird bits here and there, so the sound isn’t always what I’d expect—and I can really appreciate that. I will have to grill Martin on what he knows about the band, and if this was actually physically released. I think have some more questions for him about Jutte as well, haha. I will report back with my finding. Cheers and thanks for reading.

Greetings everyone. Thanks for giving us a look this week. We’re into November now and the holiday season, although I hope you all had a great Halloween weekend. As predicted, my night was on the quiet side. I stayed in and watched movies, some horror but also a fun one with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in a comedy that was cool. This week on the eve of the special elections here in the States, I had to watch some war movies and see Nazis getting their asses handed to them, including one of my favorites that I watch at least once a year, Where Eagles Dare with Richard Burton. Classic.

Musically, the soundtrack over Halloween weekend included a couple of plays of the tape Jeff wrote about so eloquently in last week’s newsletter. If you haven’t checked out The Ancient Pulse yet, get on it. We still have a couple copies left for sale here. I was really impressed by this one, and for me it’s in the mix for release of the year. Great job fellows.

As for this week and my pick for you? Well, it’s an old one from the mid-1970s that some will love and others will hate or, if that’s too strong a word, be indifferent to. I’ll admit that when I first heard this record, it wasn’t for me, but over the years, I have come to appreciate it. I’m talking about the self-titled album by Debris’. Released in 1976 in a run of 1000 on their own Static Disposal label. The label name later being confused with the band name by folks discovering the record years later. Indeed, the first reissues in the late 90s and early 00s referred to the band as Static Disposal. Even now, if you look on Discogs, the Static Disposal moniker is still used. From what I have read, that isn’t the band name nor the album title, but it seems that time has other ideas and that’s just how some will still refer to it.

Debris’ were from that hotbed of punk and underground sounds that was Chickasha, Oklahoma. They formed as a trio in 1975 and took advantage of a local studio's package deal of ten hours of studio time and 1000 pressed and sleeved records. They went in rehearsed and caught each song in one take, and in April 1976 their album was released to the world. It must be noted that the sleeve design depicting a girl tied up in cables and shown as a purple-hued photographic negative image with the band’s name across her eyes is quite striking and cool looking. Musically, the band sounds like a mix of Roxy Music with Eno, Sparks, The Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. It’s art rock with a punk attitude filtered through a 1970s Midwest LSD and reefer fueled teenage wasteland. Sort of. Maybe not an easy listen for some. There is a stray saxophone that rears its head in a couple of spots, so those of you like Jeff here at Sorry State who have an aversion to that take note. LoL. A couple of other friend musicians of the band add some organ, percussion and vocals, and there’s even a credit for an 8” circular saw.

There weren’t many bands making these types of records back then, and of course Debris’ went largely underappreciated and unheard for many years. Critical reviews at the time were few and far between and mostly unfavorable. Locally, the redneck normies certainly didn’t get what they were doing, but apparently folks in New York liked them and an offer was made for the band to play at CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City. Unfortunately, these offers came too late, and the band had disbanded. However, the reputation of the record spread throughout the underground and record collecting circles, gaining a sort of cult status over the years. Original copies have always been hard to find and expensive and would certainly command three figures of some sort for a nice copy, if they pop up for sale. The album has seen CD and vinyl reissues over the last couple of decades, and more recently the reissue label Superior Viaduct has put out a nice version. The CDs also contain demos for the album that were recorded in 1975, the year before original release. The band also take on The Stooges and cover “Real Cool Time.” The current vinyl pressing from Superior Viaduct is a straight reissue and does not contain any bonus cuts. I’m fine with that, as those rehearsals and demos are available elsewhere. My only gripe might be that it would have been nice if they could have included an insert or small booklet with additional information and photos etc. Especially as that information is out there now. Small complaint. We have the internet don’t we? It’s the music that counts, and honestly, I prefer a straight reissue over big heavy releases with additional discs. For the most part.

If you aren’t familiar with the album, click here for a listen, and if you end up liking it, snag the current pressing and save yourself a few hundred dollars.

Okay, that’s my lot for this week. Thanks for reading and your support, and happy listening.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

How was everyone’s Halloween? I had a pretty good time. Coated my face with makeup to look even more like a corpse than I usually do. Just had myself a cool ghoul’s night out. Saw a Dead Boys cover band, got covered in fake blood (at least I hope it was fake), and partied with my Richmond friends. Speaking of Richmond, I’ll be driving up there yet again this weekend as Public Acid makes our way to Philly. We’ll be playing with Beton Arme and KOS, as well as Dark Thoughts for their record release show on November 9th. It’ll be Public Acid’s first gig since we returned from Europe earlier this summer, which is wild to think about. Hope to see some of you readers there!

For my staff pick, there is no better option than the Stunted Youth / Save Our Children split LP that just came out on Unlawful Assembly. Beyond all my Halloween nerdiness I’ve focused on for the last month, I’ve listened to this LP like a dozen times. A record that makes me reiterate to myself: “Goddamn, I love hardcore.” The 2 bands were/are based out of Austin, Texas, and they share members. Seems like they were always kind of a package deal. I remember seeing both bands touring together back in 2022. They actually played in NC and it was Meat House’s first show ever. Pretty funny. In my mind, I had assumed that both bands were now defunct. Maybe for a while they were? Not too long after that tour in 2022, Chester who sang in Save Our Children and plays guitar in Stunted Youth had actually moved to Richmond for a while. He was playing in the band No Victim, whose tape I was raving about many months back. So, all this to say, this LP coming out was quite a surprise.

In a way, it’s kinda beautiful that these 2 bands were always intertwined. On that tour back in 2022, Stunted Youth and Save Our Children had a split cassette as well. Many of the songs, if not all of them, appear again on this LP. To my ears, it sounds like both bands re-recorded these songs? Just based on the fidelity of the recording, they sound like sonically updated versions of the songs from the cassette. The collection of songs on this split LP seems like a single session from each band. Like one day, they just went into a studio to record literally every single song they had, which is a pretty rad thing to do. Not overwrought with concern about production or cleanliness, just down and dirty live capturing of each band ripping it up. Or at least that’s what it sounds like to me. It’s raw and gritty, but still clear and punchy, more like a proper recording for a record than a demo. There’s literally like 40 songs on this LP, around 15-20 from each band. And what’s great is that it still doesn’t feel like an overly long hardcore record. I mean, maybe you’ll feel like you’ve been bludgeoned repeatedly for 30 minutes, but for my money, that’s a good thing.

What I love about both these bands is that they embody the spirit of everything I love about 80s US hardcore punk. Like these dudes heard Void and Gang Green, then just stopped and called it right there: “YEP, that’s what perfect hardcore is supposed to sound like.” Youthful, explosive, fast, chaotic, even a little sloppy sometimes. And you might assume that you’d feel barraged by digesting so much material from each band since it’s pretty much all-out raging hardcore for the entire listen. While surely these songs were formed with urgency, I personally don’t think the songwriting was shot from the hip so carelessly. The songs are powerful with meaty, badass riffs to sink your teeth into, tons of smoothly executed transitions and tempo changes, and most of all—all out RAGE. I’ll go on record and say that I’m not even the biggest fan of when hardcore drumming gets into “blast beat” territory. But with Save Our Children in particular, when they erupt into these tempos, it doesn’t make me think of “power violence.” The band’s stylistic take on this style of playing reminds me more of the way certain 80s bands that I like would approach this tempo, like Negative FX or Deep Wound. It just rips.

Now if I had to compare the two bands, I would say that Save Our Children is more snotty with big, bright riffs and maybe slightly tighter, more composed song structures and tempo changes, while Stunted Youth is gruffer, meaner, more noisy and chaotic sounding. I think I might prefer S.O.C. just by a hair, but both bands are great. Match made in Hell. Makes me wonder if people will compare this to Faith and Void one day. Honk once or honk twice. Everything about both these bands to me resembles a lack of pretension—no tough guy posturing, no obvious or corny aping of genre or style like a tribute band… just an exemplary display of true, genuine love for tried-and-true blazing hardcore punk. If you sleep on this, you’re missing out.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

This week I’ve had straight edge hardcore on my brain. Last week I picked up a small collection that included most of the early Revelation 7”s, and rather than taking them right to the store to be priced, I brought them home to give them a spin. (Related note: if anyone needs a 2nd press black vinyl Warzone 7” and wants to trade me something more in my wheelhouse, hit me up.) I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in the newsletter many times, but like a lot of folks out there, the straight edge scene was my introduction to DIY hardcore. I started going to gigs in 1995, just as the youth crew revival hit. All the East Coast youth crew revival bands of the time played Virginia, and I definitely got swept up in the energy. My relationship to that stuff is pretty ambivalent now… once I started digging more into early 80s hardcore I found a lot of stuff that was more to my taste musically, and once I discovered the more political / punkier corners of the hardcore scene I felt more at home socially too. I still have some fondness for straight edge hardcore, though, the same way you might have a fondness for the local pizza joint in the town you grew up in. It may not be the best thing ever, but it’s part of who I am, and revisiting it brings me back to a more innocent time.

I’m tempted to go through these records and give my thoughts on each of them, but I have a slightly different direction in mind for this week’s staff pick. Still, I’ll share a few thoughts. First, for a label that is (justly) renowned for its strong branding, Rev’s early releases are kind of a mess from a production standpoint… certainly it’s part of their charm, but those early 7”s are not slick AT ALL (at least in their original pressings). The design and layout work is super rough around the edges, the print quality is pretty poor (low quality paper, off-center prints, misaligned cuts, etc.), and the actual sound of the records was pretty bad too. I don’t hate the songs on the Warzone 7”, but the recording and/or pressing makes it almost unlistenable. While not on Rev proper, there was a first press Judge 7” on Schism in the collection, and that looked and sounded pretty dodgy too. There wasn’t a Together comp in the collection, but we’ve had those come through the shop before, and I remember some serious fidelity issues on that too. Rev stepped things up for the Sick of It All 7”, which sounds considerably better and also looks good with a spot color pocket sleeve and cool photography. Sadly, though, the first SOIA 7” has never done it for me musically. As for the Gorilla Biscuits 7”, it still feels pretty magical to me. Returning to it with a lot more hardcore listening under my belt, I’m struck by how much Victim in Pain I hear in the band’s sound, but even at this early stage Gorilla Biscuits was overflowing with their unique charisma. Side by Side is the real gem of the early Rev catalog I think… the lyrics are undeniably corny, but the band is fucking blistering.

I’d been listening to and thinking about these 7”s, and then earlier today I was driving around town listening to the latest episode of the 185 Miles South podcast, where Zack talked about going to see the Earth Crisis / Judge / Integrity tour last month. It seemed like he enjoyed the show, but he mentioned the bands seemed like shadows of their former selves. He also mentioned that Porcell gave a long speech about straight edge before playing “Straight Edge Revenge” by Project X, which prompted Zack to pose the question (I’m paraphrasing here, so apologies if I’m not 100% accurate), “is it OK these bands are hypocrites?” I thought that was a really interesting question. My take (that no one asked for) is that, from my perspective, these Gorilla Biscuits / Judge / Youth of Today / etc. reunion shows that seem to happen pretty much every weekend these days have seemed, for many years now, like hollow, low-effort cash-ins. Aside from seeing Youth of Today play a set at Chaos in Tejas, I haven’t actually gone to see any of these bands play, and I’m sure it’s fun, but I feel like I’m always hearing stories about cobbled-together lineups, sloppy playing, and other half-assery. (I bet no one forgets to print the merch, though!) Clearly none of these bands have any interest in writing new material or being any kind of living creative entity… it’s like an ultra-niche version of the old nostalgia circuit shows where they’d bring out a parade of one-hit wonders to deliver a shaky version of their hit song to a half-interested audience. Dark shit. That these bands, as part of creating this simulacrum, proselytize straight edge from the stage when they (or at least most of them) clearly don’t give a fuck about it is, to me, just another symptom of the hollowness of the entire enterprise.

(I want to make it clear, by the way, that I have the utmost respect for Revelation as a label. They are a huge and important part of today’s hardcore scene. They directly support Sorry State in ways I am eternally grateful for, and they do the same for many other labels and bands. If some of their generosity is funded by selling colored vinyl on behalf of some old sellouts, that’s a tradeoff I’m perfectly comfortable with.)

Now that I’ve introduced the topic of corny and false straight edge, it’s time to get to my staff pick for this week… the corniest and falsest straight edge record of them all:

No For an Answer: You Laugh E.P. 7” (Revelation, 1988)

Where do I even start with this one? When you look at You Laugh in the context of Revelation’s discography, it feels like a total misstep. As I noted above, I think Rev got off to a rocky start, but the Gorilla Biscuits and Side by Side 7”s (Rev 4 and 5) are cornerstones of Revelation’s identity. And then when the label moved to putting out LPs—The Way It Is comp, Youth of Today’s Break Down the Walls, Bold’s Speak Out (Rev 7, 8, and 9)—they were firing on all cylinders, leveling up considerably in their design, production, and presentation. They had more or less perfected the Rev aesthetic by the time they put out the Gorilla Biscuits and Judge LPs (Rev 12 and 15), arguably the two best-known and most universally loved records on the label. But then sitting in the middle of that run is Rev 6, this fuckin’ stinker.

Now, I can’t say I hate this No For an Answer record. It has its charms. The layout is pretty classic, and the stickers of cool early 80s punk bands on the guitar on the cover pique my interest. The drumming is sloppy as fuck, but in kind of a cool way… it sounds like the drummer is playing as fast as he can, and even though he’s barely hanging onto that fast beat, he still works in some rhythmic accents that increase the intensity. The band sounds upbeat and alive. The guitarist doesn’t have much in the way of cool riffage, but the way he buzzsaws through the fast parts definitely helps keep the energy level high. The songs are dead simple, but they’re performed with passion and intensity, as hardcore should be.

The lyrics, though… oof. “Without Reason,” a song against drunk driving, has a flatness and lack of detail that reminds me of those pamphlets religious nuts hand out on the street. The EP’s title track is a tirade against casual sex, and it’s similarly one-dimensional, accusatory, and self-righteous. “Just Say No” has always been the most offensive to me, though. It’s crazy that in 1998, when Reagan was still in office, a band would take Nancy Reagan’s anti-drug slogan and appropriate it as a gang chorus. It’s like if a straight edge band today implored us, deadly earnest and with their crew backing them up, to “make America great again.” And there’s also “About Face,” which is an anti-sellout song. Here’s the first verse:

Where once stood convictions in things you would say,
There now stand restrictions your mind sold away.
You once were a symbol of true strength and heart,
But now you’re a warning of where the sickness starts.
You stood there and preached independence and faith,
You talked of commitment then made an about face.

I mean, obviously this is just gobbledygook (“restrictions your mind sold away?”), but it’s also absurd to me that someone who—judging by the lack of detail and nuance in the lyrics—has almost no life experience is calling out someone else for the choices they’ve made. Straight edge has always been judgmental as fuck (one of the biggest bands is literally called Judge!), with countless songs about sellouts and backstabbers, which invites a certain amount of schadenfreude when the self-righteous narrator inevitably cannot live up to their own standards. There’s also this ubiquitous language of oaths and commitment—being “true ’til death”—which is always going to ring hollow when that shit (again, inevitably) falls to the wayside. If you’re over 40 and straight edge—hell, over 30!—then respect. If you’re less than 5 years out from living with your parents, I don’t want to hear about your oaths and commitments. Even if you get them tattooed on you, like the singer for No For an Answer, who devotes one side of the record’s insert to showing off that he has “POISON FREE” tattooed in giant black block letters on his forearm. Take a wild guess whether he’s straight edge today.

I don’t mean to pick on No For an Answer or their singer… they were just kids, and more people love their record than will ever love anything I’ve played on. Also, in reading more about their singer’s story as I’ve been writing this, I learned he grew up with addict parents and that his aversion to substance abuse came from a very real place. I guess I’m just reflecting on those feelings of insincerity and hollowness Zack mentioned on the podcast. Those are things I’ve always felt were part of the ambient energy of straight edge hardcore, basically baked into the genre in all its youth crew-derived incarnations. NFAA’s lyrics are an egregious example, but they’re hardly atypical. That doesn’t mean the music isn’t good, and it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t enjoy it. There are far worse ways you could spend your time and money. But if you’re looking for these bands to feel as meaningful as they did 35 years ago, you’re begging for disappointment.

Hello fellow Sorry Staters! Thanks for checking in on another edition of the Sorry State newsletter! Lots going on here at Sorry State HQ. We are stocking up lots of new records in the store and online on a daily basis, and tons of really great preorders are popping up on a weekly basis it seems. Lots of really great Sorry State releases coming up too!

This week I’ve been listening to a lot more early 2000s skramz, emotional hardcore, screamo or whatever the hell you want to call it. This is a genre that I got into while living in Greenville, going to shows while my friends were going to ECU. Come to think, the majority of my music knowledge outside of punk came from those years of me living there and getting to experience a show almost every night, with every show just being totally odd and different from the next. Most recently Lovitt Records reissued Sleepytime Trio’s Memory Minus Plus Minus 12”. It’s the full collection of all recorded material with bonus demos, remastered material and a zine with a complete show list, interviews and photos. This record is packed full of soft twinkly guitar that repeats what seems like forever, then just bursts into this onslaught of harsh screaming, everything you would want in an emocore record. This band is definitely up there with some of the best to do it: Pg 99, Joshua Fit for Battle and Majority Rule. I think we sold out of this on the webstore, but go grab it if you can. It is well worth it for any collector and fan of 90s and early 2000s screamo.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has been having a spooky good October. I’ve had a solid last couple of weeks. Went to the state fair one night, which was a blast, and have caught some great shows, specifically the Golpe show here in Raleigh. What a treat to get to see them again and they killed it as usual, as well as Starving Bomb and Plastique Pigs. One of the highlights from the show for me was Plastique Pigs doing an absolutely kickass cover of the Go-Go’s “Lust to Love.” Of course, I’ve been getting my fair share of horror movies in as well. This past Tuesday I got to see Lucio Fulci’s unhinged 1981 film The Beyond at the Alamo and it was awesome. I’ve never seen a movie where so many people get their faces literally melted off while blood shoots out of their eyes like a water gun. The premise of the movie is that a lady inherits a creepy old hotel in Louisiana and soon finds out it’s built over one the entrances to Hell. That’s all I needed to know to make me decide I had to go see this on the big screen. It’s also pretty cool to see an Italian director make a movie set in Louisiana. None of the actors in this were winning any awards based off their performances, but man there’s some line deliveries in this that had me cracking up in the theater. Also at one point, one of the main characters is shooting at some zombies and quickly realizes that shooting them in the chest or anywhere other than the head is ineffective, yet for the next 10 minutes you watch him continue to shoot zombies in the chest 2-3 times before delivering the killshot to the head. It was maddening. Of course with an Italian directed horror movie from the 80s, you get a pretty sick soundtrack to go with it. While I was flipping thru records at the store the day of the movie, I happened to randomly come across a copy of the soundtrack we had in stock (as well as a bunch of other sick horror soundtracks). If cheesy acting and over the top, gross out body horror is for you, this movie will be right up your alley.

Hi and thanks for reading. Today I write with very limited time, so this will be short. First, you need this MECHT MENSCH reissue. Their original 7” Acceptance has become increasingly harder to find. Luckily, you can get those tracks now on this reissue, plus their entire recorded output! I will say the sound quality of those Acceptance tracks is excellent. I haven’t had time to compare the sound to the 7”, but when listening to the reissue it seemed like it actually sounded better than I remember the original sounding. Maybe my memory is absolutely wrong though. This reissue is kinda expensive, but it is really well done. The disc comes housed in a gatefold sleeve, and a massive poster is included alongside a nice-sized booklet. I know there were a few different color variants, but the black vinyl was pressed in the same quantities as the colors, so it’s really just as limited. I think black sounds better compared to those swirly color ones anyway, and it’s cheaper too. Get yours before it’s too late. I know the label is almost sold out!

So, last time I wrote I mentioned these new NO FUCKER 7”s. I think Daniel ended up publishing the newsletter after we got them in stock, so my writing probably didn’t make as much sense since I was writing about them before we had em in stock. We actually sold out of the first batch pretty quickly, and we are onto a restock now. I had no idea what these records would sound like since they weren’t streaming anywhere, but I knew I’d need both of ‘em cos NO FUCKER is so good live. It seems that Annihilate Your Desperation was recorded first, going by the catalogue number. I think this might be the last material they recorded with their drummer Luke before he sadly passed away earlier this year. The record is good, but it has a pretty “lo-fi” sound to it. Now the other 7”, Are You Really So Afraid, sounds worlds different. The sound is absolutely punishing. The guitar tone is perfect. It’s kinda funny cos this 7” is literally just DISCHARGE songs with new lyrics done by NO FUCKER, but holy shit it is still so good. On paper this sounds like a cheesy move, but NO FUCKER really pulled this one off. If you haven’t grabbed copies yet, I would suggest you grab both. Are You Really So Afraid really hit the spot for me. Alright, that’s all the time I have today. Thank you for reading and thanks for your support!

Hey there Sorry Staters. Thanks for checking out our Halloween week newsletter. I hope everyone who enjoys this time of the year is having fun. Whatever you end up doing on the night, have a good time. I don’t tend to dress up these days and will probably be at home watching old Hammer House Of Horror films. My favorites of the genre. Not that I am a big horror buff to be honest. I like the old classics mostly over the newer, darker stuff and have never really been into the super violent and gory end of things. I’m a bit of wuss when it comes to all that stuff. Unless it’s done in an over-the-top comedic way, then I can just about stomach it.

You’ll need to talk to Jeff or the others here at SSR for a Halloween film recommendation, if one is needed. I’m sure Jeff will have a great one here in this very newsletter. I’m going to stick to music and records though for my pick this week, but it is one that Jeff turned me on to. A few months back we had beefed up the metal section here at the store with some choice imports that Jeff had ordered from one of our overseas vendors. It was an opportunity for us to put some cool and interesting titles on the floor for our customers, and ones that they perhaps might not know or see much. Whilst working one day, Jeff and I listened to a bunch of them, but there was one that stood out for me, and it was called Sin Will Find You Out by a group called Original Sin. It was from 1986 and purported to be an all-girl speed metal band from New York. Cool. The front cover has a bit of cheesy shot of an almost topless woman tearing off her bra, but on the back is a photo of the band. They look like cool punk metal goth chicks that could be in a band. The only thing is they weren’t. There never was a band. It was a studio band and totally fake. Damn. However, it is a good record and rocks and has great catchy tunes with titles like Bitches From Hell and is still definitely worth hearing and getting to know.

So, a bit of backstory. The album was one of several metal-sploitation albums that the Canadian label Cobra was putting out at the time. That label was managed by a fellow named Zoran Busic, who managed Canadian group Saga. The actual musical talent behind these releases was mostly provided by a guy called David DeFeis, a keyboardist, writer and vocalist from New York. For the Original Sin album, he had his sister Danae sing. She’s credited as Danielle Draconis. Guitars are played by Edward Pursino, who’s listed as Cynthia Taylor. He plays on some of the other fake metal bands on the Cobra label with David DeFeis. On bass is Joe O’Reilly, called Pandora Fox on the record and on drums is Mark Edwards. His pseudonym was Darlene Destructo. Brilliant. Not sure who the actual girls pictured on the record cover are and if one is at least Danae DeFeis. I guess they were girlfriends of the musicians and scenesters around at the time. I’ll need to consult Jeff; maybe he knows. Besides their fake band activities, David, Ed and Joe were in a real metal band, Virgin Steele. Their label Cobra had just released what is considered a classic, the album Noble Savage, by them the previous year. To give you some idea of what these musicians were doing at the time.

The Original Sin album doesn’t hang about. Just over thirty minutes and ten songs of banging speed metal with titles such as the previously mentioned Bitches From Hell, and To The Devil A Daughter and Enchantress Of Death. How can you go wrong? It’s a great Halloween metal spin. Of course, I am not an expert and don’t know too much about these sorts of things, so I might be way off, and more experienced heads might not think it’s all that great. I don’t know. I guess click the link here and check it out yourself. I like it and think it rocks. It would have been way cooler if it really was an all-girl band for sure, but it is still real musicians and real humans singing and not AI, so it at least has that going for it. Whatever, I thought it was cool, even if the cover is a bit Benny Hill meets Page Three Girl. Looks like the album came out in Canada, America and the U.K. at the time and is now being made available by German label High Roller Records. They seem to do a nice job on their reissues, and the price point is decent too. Kudos to them. Originals don’t seem to go for that much, but a nice copy will probably set you back fifty bills.

Before I sign off and let you get back to your trick or treating, I want to mention that our Raleigh shop still has some great horror movie soundtracks left in the bins and a bunch of cool metal and punk records that will sound great this time of the year, or at any other time. If you are local, try and stop in if you haven’t already. But don’t worry, we do our best to make sure there are killer records in the bins whenever you come by to shop and say hello.

Finally, I must mention that there have been a bunch of cool, fun and interesting new release records coming through of late. I’m a sucker for anything that sounds like UK DIY or C86. That indie sound that isn’t punk but isn’t bed-wetter wimp either. Preferably with female vocals alongside male. There has been a continuous lineage of bands since picking up that mantle and carrying on. Not only in the UK and Ireland but in Europe and particularly here in the US. Labels like Slumberland and the new Inscrutable over here, for instance, are releasing great records by new indie bands.

I’d like to quickly list three new ones that came in that I liked and want to recommend.

Firstly, from Richmond, K9 and their album Thrills. We just got copies hand-delivered the other week (thank you) and I really like this one. It’s got a lot of charm but has bite too. Good mix of male and female vocals, good songs. Take a listen.

The Inscrutable Records label has their #10 release out, and it’s a likable lo-fi, bedroom pop album called Permanent Opposite. Essentially a solo, one-man project from Jared Leibowich covering emotional issues that most of us may have dealt with or might be going through and can relate to. Worth checking out if you like this sort of thing.

Lastly, underscoring how good the Richmond scene is, another interesting one from there. This time courtesy of Sarah Everton and her project called Added Dimensions. The album is titled Jane From Preoccupied America. Swell Maps fans will instantly get that reference. Again, I liked this one a lot. Seems to hit that nerve in me. We were playing this in the store when we first got it in, and my ears pricked up immediately. I don’t want to throw out lazy journalistic comparisons saying it sounds like this or that, but if you like decent lo-fi, indie post-punk flavors, then you should give this one and the records above a listen.

Okay, cheers everyone. Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter. Thank you for supporting record stores and the artists who make the records that we champion. It’s important and appreciated.

-Dom

What’s up my Sorry State fiends and ghouls?

Only a few days left until All Hallows Eve, can you believe it? The best day of the year falls on a Friday this time, so I’m hoping it ends up being a night to remember. I will most likely be spending my Halloween in Richmond this year. I’ve heard there’s a parade and a cover show, so that sounds like fun. Hope all you readers out there have some fun and spooky plans as well.

Wanted to mention that Public Acid is playing our first gig in a while, which is coming up in Philly on November 9th. It’s Dark Thoughts’ LP release show, along with Beton Arme and KOS. I imagine it’ll be a really good one. Then, a couple weeks after that, Usman and I will travel to Stockholm to hang out for a week and go see Totalitär and Missbrukarna. Any friends in Sweden hit us up! We’d love to get together and hang out :)

Might take me a minute to get to my staff pick, but follow me here…

So, the other night, I watched the 1986 classic Trick or Treat. This movie is a great snapshot of 80s heavy metal and horror coming together. For those unfamiliar with this film, the plot focuses on our protagonist Eddie, also known by his nickname “Ragman,” who is a total outcast at school and heavy metal fanatic. He learns that the singer of his favorite band, controversial figure Sammi Curr, has died tragically in a house fire. A local radio DJ personality, played by Gene Simmons giving a hilarious performance, gifts Eddie an acetate of an unreleased Sammi Curr album entitled “Songs in the Key of Death”… Pretty funny, I wonder if Stevie ever heard about this. Eddie is tormented by the voice of Sammi from beyond the grave. If Eddie plays the acetate on Halloween night, Sammi will be resurrected from the dead! Hilarious 80s cheese in all its glory. Ozzy Osbourne makes a great cameo as an evangelical moral crusader, raving against the filth in heavy metal lyrics. It’s hilarious. Ozzy’s character along with the general depiction of demonizing heavy metal culture must be a reference to political conservatism and its effect on pop culture during that 80s era. My brain immediately thought of Dee Snider’s hearing with the PMRC, as well as the “de-metalling” segment in Decline of Western Civilization—Part II. But it’s a great movie; would recommend.

Sorry for the overly long synopsis. I get passionate; what can I say? But my whole point is that one of the most notable things about Trick or Treat is the soundtrack. Used as the songs performed by Sammi Curr and his fictional band in the movie, the entire soundtrack was recorded by the band Fastway. Fastway featured Fast Eddie Clarke on guitar after he left Motorhead. The singer of Fastway went on to be in some band that sings about four-leaf clovers, where people wear kilts to their shows or something like that… Anyway, it’s cool to have a soundtrack that’s just as memorable as the movie itself.

Fuck man, that was a long-winded, roundabout way to get to my staff pick, but here we go:

Basically, my overall theme here is horror soundtracks. Sorry State just got in these cassettes, which I’m stoked to say perfectly encapsulate the essence and same love that I have for 80s horror soundscapes. I’m talking about this new tape by a project called The Ancient Pulse. If you couldn’t already tell by the artwork and packaging, based on the aliases/pseudonyms alone, I’m pretty sure this recording is the work of Austin from Blazing Eye and Bungee from Personal Damage (not to mention all of Sorry State’s killer artwork as of late). This tape is awesome. It advertises: “WARNING: SPINE-CHILLING SOUNDS OF THE DEPRAVED UNDERWORLD ...PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!” With each track, these compositions are like a love letter to the cold, creepy synthwave scores of all our favorite 80s horror favorites. As soon as the first track “Hair on The Inside” cold opens with a werewolf howl, which sounds like a soundbite lifted straight off of a novelty “Halloween Horrors” sound effects record, I feel like I’m instantly riding on a wave of nostalgia. It’s like the perfect music to play at your Halloween party, in the background of your haunted house… you name it!

The Ancient Pulse captures everything grandiose and terrifying, while simultaneously hilariously cheesy and corny about horror movie soundtracks, all compiled within this recording. It’s got everything: hazy, atmospheric and instantly recognizable synth sounds, smokin’ hot 80s shredding guitar leads, a canned and artificial, yet driving and propulsive drum machine, wolves howling, lightning striking, a heartbeat pumping at increasing velocity, crows squawking, doors slowly creaking open… but for all the atmospheric, experimental passages, the tape has some serious bops as well. The track “Grave Dancing” is a perfect example. It’s super groovy and danceable, providing some fun levity from all the spookiness. Difficult not to imagine Linnea Quigley gettin’ down in a graveyard to this track.

The sounds and orchestration of these tracks are so well-done and authentic, it’s almost hard to believe it was created by 2 punks in their bedrooms. Maybe Vestron Video was able to kick in for the budget? But seriously, it’s so cool that these dudes are this talented beyond writing great punk and hardcore music. The eerie, smoky sonic landscapes are on par with the classic synth score work of John Carpenter. Funny enough, looking at the credits on the Ancient Pulse Bandcamp, this dude Irfan is thanked for letting them borrow his Juno-106 synthesizer. Carpenter famously used this synth on all his classic movie scores, whether we’re talking the iconic, fear-inducing title theme from Halloween, or the isolating, melancholic adventure you’ll never come back from in Escape from New York. What’s even funnier is that I know Irfan, and I was just laughing reading his name credited while remembering Public Acid driving with Irfan to go get burritos at 3am while we were in East LA. So cool.

Hearing this tape, the way it makes me feel honestly, is that it’s so damn good, it almost makes you wish there was a horror movie that actually existed—a movie as classic and deserving enough to have a soundtrack this great to be paired along with it. Who knows? Maybe the Ancient Pulse will be commissioned to score a badass punk-horror crossover as good as Return of the Living Dead one day. Considering how much great punk and hardcore exists out there, and how interest remains consistent in horror movies these days, I’m surprised a movie like this hasn’t happened yet. I feel like a fresh punk-horror classic is long overdue.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Seriously, check this Ancient Pulse tape out. It’s so fuckin’ rad.

‘Til next week when Halloween will be behind us :(

-Jeff

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here in Raleigh, which is why we didn’t get a newsletter out last week, and also probably why I’m writing this right now on my couch, covered in a warm, fuzzy blanket, because I’ve called out sick from work the past two days. Being sick sucks, but if it was an unavoidable side effect of everything I’ve been up to, I’d say it was worth it.

First up, Will from To Live a Lie Records booked a hardcore show at RUMAH headlined by Dry Socket from Portland. Sadly, I missed the first band, but I got to see Natural End play a solid set of tough hardcore and MERC rip through a set of gnarly, old-school sounding power violence in the vein of Crossed Out. MERC had a unique sound, and I couldn’t figure out how they were generating it until I asked one of the band members. Turns out they’re a guitar-less band featuring one regular four-string bass and a Bass VI as the second set of strings. I’d never seen that setup before, and I really liked it… I know there’s a reason most bands use the same instrument setup, but I still like to hear folks fuck with the formula now and again. Dry Socket closed the night with a ripping set that got everyone moving. The band had a very dialed-in sound, a super tight performance, and their singer oozed charisma… I’d catch them if you have the opportunity.

Then on Sunday evening, Rigorous Institution rolled through Raleigh on their current tour. I booked this gig and hosted the band at my house, so my stress level was considerably higher for this one. This was the first gig I’d booked (or even been to) at a new venue in town called Cannonball Music Hall, and it worked out well I think. The environment is perhaps a little sterile because everything is so new, but they had great sound and the staff there did a great job making everything run like clockwork. Richmond’s Gnostics kicked off the night playing (if I remember correctly) their third show ever. Gnostics feature Rigorous Institution’s original guitarist Scully and have a similar neanderthal riffing style as the early Rigorous stuff, balanced out with a lot of atmosphere and some cool anarcho-inspired parts (I loved when their drummer joined in on vocals). Gnostics has a tape out soon on Roachleg Records, so watch out for that. Raleigh’s Paranoid Maniac played next and were on fire, ripping through a short set of their hyper-fast, left-of-center hardcore. I love it when a local band plays and you see all the touring musicians slowly gather in front of the stage as they realize how great the local band is. Hopefully we can get P Mane to play out more in the future. Then Rigorous closed the show and demolished everything. I was glad I booked this at a proper venue as the band sounded monstrous and their unique vocals popped just like they should. I’d seen Rigorous play a few years ago in Richmond, but on the tail end of a long-ish tour they sounded extremely tight and powerful. Like Gnostics, there’s a new Rigorous record coming soon on Roachleg that you need to watch out for… the Raleigh gig was actually the first tour date where the LP was for sale, since Sorry State is helping Roachleg with the distribution.

The show marathon continued on Monday with what was probably the main event for most people, Golpe’s long-awaited return to Raleigh. Plastique Pigs, a new Raleigh band whose name you’ve probably seen in the flyers section of the SSR newsletter over the past few months, opened the gig with their first set since Usman joined the band on drums. Usman hadn’t learned all the songs yet, so the set was quite short, but goddamn it ripped. I don’t think we’ve announced it anywhere, but Plastique Pigs have a demo tape coming out soon on Sorry State, and fans of hooky USHC like Government Warning need to watch out for that. Next up was my first set playing bass for Starving Bomb, and I think that went alright. We played the songs OK, though it’s tough for a three-piece to get the crowd revved up. One band that never has an issue revving up a crowd is Golpe, and they obliterated RUMAH that night. It took a song or two for everyone to loosen up, but before you knew it, bodies were flying and the venue was a sea of smiling faces, everyone reveling in what a great band we were seeing. Long live Golpe! If you have the chance to see them on this current US tour, please don’t miss it. Given the way the world is going, a return trip is not a given.

After 3 gigs in four days, I got a small respite before we had a big rager at my house for Usman’s 35th birthday. Invertebrates had a show in Asheville on Saturday night, and they kindly came down to NC a night early to celebrate Usman’s birthday. Our friends Marty and Terence also made the drive down from Richmond for the get-together. Music was blasted, the fire pit was lit, about 40 gazillion beers were consumed (I am responsible for exactly one of those LOL), and everyone had a great time. I think I slept until 3PM the next day though.

I haven’t had a ton of time to listen to records in the midst of all this partying and show-going… in fact, there are a bunch of new arrivals at Sorry State I’m eager to check out. But one LP I’ve put on a few times lately is my staff pick for this week:

Gary Numan: Telekon LP (1980, ATCO Records)

Since I’m an 80s baby, Gary Numan has been part of my world for as long as I can remember. But it wasn’t until the 2000s that I realized the depth of the world beyond “Cars.” The Tubeway Army stuff and The Pleasure Principle have been in regular rotation since then, but I’d never gotten around to checking out much of Gary’s post-Pleasure Principle material. A few weeks ago I picked up a copy of Telekon in some bargain bin or another, and then another few weeks went by until I pulled it out of my “to listen” pile and put it on the turntable. Something about it perfectly matched the mood of the fall weather we’ve been having in Raleigh, and I’ve spun it several times since.

When I read other people’s takes on Telekon online, the prevailing wisdom seems to be that Telekon presents a “more sophisticated” or “subtler” version of Gary Numan than the one we heard on The Pleasure Principle. I think that’s fair. It’s hard to put my finger on, but something about Telekon seems less in love with the sound of the synthesizer than The Pleasure Principle. The arrangements are more three-dimensional, instruments floating in and out of the mix slowly and gracefully. The songs seem less tethered to pop gestalt, taking on a novelistic quality that ebbs and flows and wanders in a way that feels very organic. Though maybe people just think it sounds more sophisticated because violins play what would otherwise be a synth melody on “The Joy Circuit.” It does sound a bit upper crust, I guess.

Even though Numan’s music is often described as cold or icy, like I said Telekon feels like perfect fall music. It’s so organic-sounding that a color palette of leaves changing to red and yellow feels like the perfect window dressing, and the way the album takes in so much seems right for a time of year when the seasons change before your eyes. Get yourself a warm blanket and a hot toddy, throw this one on, and see if you agree.