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Hello fellow Sorry Staters! This week will be a short one for me. I have been getting ready for my vacation coming up and my brain has become mush trying to fit everything in and trying to not forget anything for my trip. If I take a trip longer than a couple of days I get nervous that I will forget something, and having a slight phobia of flying doesn't help much either. At least I am heading to sunny Orlando to see some top notch haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. One record I have been digging a lot since we got it in is the new Dark Thoughts record, Highway To The End. Dark Thoughts is from Philly, PA with members in other bands such as Delco MF's, Kinetic Orbital Strike and Condumb. Right off the bat, the cover is iconic, using a silhouette of the Ramones' Road To Ruin record. Caught my attention immediately seeing it! What can be said about this record? It's really fast, fun Ramones style punk with the same down stroking guitars and fast repetitive drums that people love with this style of punk rock. A must listen if you like Teenage Bottlerocket or The Lillingtons. Dark Thoughts’ singer’s voice sounds very familiar, and that is not a bad thing at all. As always, we have been working hard at listing some really killer used records and CDs and have a ton of really great new stuff to check out. Also, pre-order the new Home Front if you haven't already!

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice couple of weeks since my last write-up. I got back from my trip to France last week and had a great time over there. I really enjoyed my time in Paris. It felt like there was just an endless number of things to do and places to see. It’s hard to beat just wandering around and settling down at a nice café and just ordering some drinks and roasting some heaters and just doing some nice people watching. The south of France was also super cool, especially after being in such a giant city. It was awesome to just take the train down and spend some time on the coast. I didn’t realize how salty the Mediterranean Sea was; it was fun to just float on the surface so easily. We went on a nice hike along this path on the rocks that led to this beautiful kinda hidden bay with a little beach, so we stopped and hung out there for a while and did some swimming. All in all, it was a great trip, and I definitely wanna go back someday and spend some more time there. Anyways, enough about my vacation. Today I’m writing about some other Americans that spent some time in Paris, the funk band Ice AKA Lafayette Afro Rock Band. The band started out up in Long Island, but quickly relocated to France after they formed. Maybe they were just on a mission to bring the funk to France. The other day I came into the store and Dom was blasting one of their records and it immediately caught my ear. This album, Afro Agban, is full of funky-ass tunes that are certified to make you groove. The whole album is amazing, but I really dig the track Alow Aton. It just has such a cool intro, and the organ is going crazy on this one. If you only have 35 minutes today to listen to music, listen to this album! You will be better off for it.

Hi and thanks for reading. We recently got a huge order in from UK distributor Plastic Head, and we got a few copies of this EXISTENZ reissue from them. Heptown Records originally reissued this LP back in 2018, and that’s actually when I first discovered EXISTENZ. Unlike most of the raging Swedish hardcore bands I know, they do not typically play with a d-beat style. Regardless, their debut 1983 7” is some of the rawest hardcore that came out of Sweden I have heard. I wish someone would reissue that damn record! When comparing the 7” to the LP, the LP is not nearly as good—however, I do still consider the LP an essential record. It’s much less chaotic and kinda has more of a UK82 feel to it. I wish I took the time to check what the Swedish Punk Encyclopedia had to say about EXISTENZ before writing today, but in my typical fashion as of late I am not prepared. I know they were from Helsingborg, which is the same town SWANKERS PMS was also from. If I remember right, the same artist handled artwork for both bands’ 7”s as well. EXISTENZ reformed sometime in the 2000s. I haven’t checked out any of their new material, and maybe it’s terribly presumptuous of me to think it’s gunna suck, haha. However, a fortunate outcome from their reformation is that you can find all their ‘80s shit on their bandcamp page. They’ve got all the tracks under Let’s Get Drunk Before It’s Too Late, but you can hear the 7” and a handful of songs that only appeared on compilations following the LP. I think I only have one of those comps, so I was especially excited to discover I can stream some nice quality tracks online. Funny enough, it sounds like they ripped an actual 7” to get the tracks on bandcamp, haha. Maybe that’s why it has still yet to be reissued! The LP reissue is quite nice. It’s pretty much an exact reproduction of the original with the reissue label’s information added. The original record included an insert and the reissue upgraded that to a printed inner sleeve. The LP features a ton of photos of the band, and they did an excellent job with the printing of the reissue. Too often I see reissues with that moiré pattern shit on the photos. Maybe you know what I’m talking about? Or I am just picky, haha. Ahh… alright, I guess that’s all I got today. If you don’t know this record, I’d suggest you check it out! If you know EXISTENZ and don’t have this reissue—jump on it! Cheers and thanks for reading.

Hi there and thanks for clicking on our newsletter. How are things with you? Surviving, I hope. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. I know I say it all the time, but thank God for music and the arts. I’d go insane if I didn’t have records, films and books to escape with. Currently watching World War Two movies is really doing it for me. They always have, but there’s something even more satisfying now about watching Nazis getting their faces kicked in. I highly recommend it as therapy for the times we live in. It’s a good reminder of who the bad guys used to be in the world. This past week I watched a bunch about European resistance fighters foiling Nazi plans and generally f’ing them up. Great stuff. I also watched one of my favorite old Tarzan films, where Nazis are trying to kill the local tribes and steal their mineral resources. Tarzan puts a stop to them, helped by Cheetah who steals a part to their radio and does a good job of annoying them. Fantastic. Got to love seeing a chimp outsmart a bunch of Nazis.

Anyway, back to the music. There’s never a slow week as far as new records coming into my life is concerned. Whether it’s new releases or cool old used records, I always feel blessed when something that I haven’t heard is introduced to me. The reason I am here and why we are all here. Music. It’s the best. It’s what feeds our souls. Not to sound too corny. You know what I mean. When we come to write our staff picks, I think we all try to write from our hearts and tell you about stuff that we genuinely like, and with me it tends to be whatever I am listening to at that moment. So, for this week I am going to encourage you all to check out the album, Even When I’m Not, by Harry Kakoulli. Released in 1980 on Oval Records.

Regular readers might remember that I mentioned him a few weeks back. It was regarding his song I’m On A Rocket that was included on the great compilation All The Young Droids that I recommended you all to check out. We just got that restocked btw. That song is great and one of my favorites from the comp, and it led me to finding a cheap copy of his full-length LP on Discogs that includes the tune. I hoped that the rest of the album might yield at least one more song as good as Rocket and at the very least not suck. It doesn’t suck, but I’m On A Rocket is still the jam in my opinion. However, I do like the rest of the record. It’s got a quirky new wave vibe with a lyrical delivery that could have only come out of the U.K. circa late 70s/early 80s. There’s lots more interesting synth sounds on the other songs, and even the obligatory reggae/dub track that all records at the time had to have. Thankfully, it sounds more like The Clash than The Police.

Kakoulli was the bass player in Squeeze previously and was also in the short-lived band England’s Glory with Peter Perrett of The Only Ones. This was his debut solo album. The Rocket single was the only accompanying 45 and was backed with another track from the LP called I Wanna Stay. He saw out the rest of the decade releasing a few more pop singles and then moved into house music and tribal electro territory.

I can’t talk on any of those records, but can highly recommend listening to Even When I’m Not. It’s a fun record. Lots of good songs. Check it out.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It didn’t really occur to me until I sat down to write this, but we’ve skipped a week since last time, huh? Daniel took a break from the newsletter so that he could take a road trip and go see our Sorry State label comrades Yleiset Syyt play a couple gigs in New York and Philly. I’m jealous. Our Finnish buddies only played a few shows on the East Coast and didn’t quite travel far south enough for me to go see them play. Oh well, maybe next time.

While I’m on the subject of bands touring, I wanted to mention that my good friends and bandmates in Invertebrates are on tour right now. They’ll be playing a bunch of shows in the Northeast and beyond, working their way up to Varning fest in Montreal. Make sure you catch them if they’re playing near you! Damn, I hope I get to travel doing cool punk-related activities soon. Not much going on with me. I got to see a couple of my good friends get married this past weekend, which uplifted my spirits. Beyond that, it’s been business as usual. Speaking of which, time to move on and talk about records!

Over the last several months, I would look at the empty space in the bins of our “metal section” at the store and just think to myself, “Hmmm, we could do a lot better.” I wouldn’t say I was embarrassed exactly, but our heavy metal selection definitely required some beefing up. You can only sell Master of Puppets so many times before you satisfy demand, I suppose haha. So recently, Daniel and I made a concerted effort to stock a bunch of cool, classic metal titles from labels like High Roller, Earache, Peaceville, and tons of others. I must say, the metal section is looking HEALTHY now, and I’m pumped.

The record I wanna talk about is one that we only just recently stocked at the store, the debut 1986 LP Recognize No Authority by Détente. I’ve loved this record for a long time, but never have managed to lock down an og 80s copy on Metal Blade. But I must say, High Roller does a beautiful job with their reissues. Even just holding it in your hands, the record feels high-quality. All the records come housed in these super nice heavy-duty sleeves. Plus, they hook me like a sucker with the bonus goodies. This Détente record comes with a reproduction of the original black & white inner sleeve, but they also include a full-color photo collage, a reproduction (what I call) glossy promo photo, and a HUGE foldout poster. The mastering on the actual vinyl also sounds crisp and loud. Hell yeah.

For those unfamiliar, Détente was a metal band from Los Angeles that only released this one LP during their initial run as a band. Stylistically, I think Détente falls somewhere between the emerging crunch-crunch sound of mid-80s thrash, but still has elements of speed metal as well as classic early 80s European heavy metal. Détente definitely brings the speed of thrash with that chugga-chugga rhythm guitar playing. But the only reason I don’t push to immediately classify them as straight-up thrash has a lot to do with the production and some of the musical choices in the guitar work. The sound of the record still has that early 80s, kinda reverby atmosphere and that old-school, boomy, bombastic kick drum production in the double kick work. Then guitars often play these spidery, noodly, yet virtuosic parts that to my ears harken back to the guitar stylings of Mercyful Fate. All that said, what brings Détente to the next plateau is that the way they deliver these songs brings such a lethal level of aggression.

Let’s just get into it, cuz everyone knows it’s true: the crown jewel of Détente’s sound is vocalist Dawn Crosby. I just can’t say enough about how rad Dawn’s voice sounds. Her voice is so damn gnarly and intense, like she gargled broken glass before recording her vocal takes. Soaring, high-pitched, but gritty screams of violence. And there’s never a moment of subtlety with Dawn’s singing, so if you decide to listen to the entire LP, then you’d better strap in, buddy. Not that her voice is grating to listen to, but you might emerge out of your listen with scars and bruises. What’s cool is that Dawn will sing with these soaring banshee-like screams, but then the boys will echo her words with these low, grunted gang chants, which makes for a cool contrast. It weirdly sounds demonic and ceremonious at times. The chorus of one of my favorite tracks, “Shattered Illusions,” is a great example of this, with a kind of call and response vocal pattern.

In many ways, Détente were trailblazers—not only because of their unique sound, but also in breaking down conventions of heavy metal dogma. Would it be too much of a stretch to classify Détente in the crossover category? Because of their raw and gritty approach to heavy metal, but also their use of imagery, the band appealed to punks and metalheads alike. I mean honestly, just that front cover with its black, white & red graphic design depicting police brutality, it really looks like an old UK punk record. There’s also some live footage of Détente in the 80s and you can see Dawn wearing a GBH shirt, which is so rad. Unfortunately, Dawn tragically passed away very young in the mid-90s. Thankfully, we have this ripping metal classic in her memory.

Apparently, the band reunited in the late 2000s. Funny enough, I talked about Hellion several weeks ago, and Ann Boleyn took over vocal duties in Détente for a short period. If you’ve never checked out this record and have any interest in thrash or speed metal—or honestly, even if you’re into that Lifeless Dark LP—I think this record will be right up your alley.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

We took last week off from the newsletter so I could spend a few days driving around the east coast of the United States seeing bands, visiting record stores, eating vegan deli sandwiches, and trying to squeeze in the odd hour of work on my laptop whenever I could. The journey started at the Life / Destruct gig in Richmond, proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia to see Illiterates, then up to New York and then Philly to catch two of Yleiset Syyt’s four US tour dates. The shows were a blast… the bands ripped, and it was great to see so many friends, particularly my Finnish buddies Ville and Tumppi. And while I only mentioned the touring / headlining bands above, all these gigs were stacked with killer locals too, including bands I knew like Richmond’s Ultimate Disaster and Philly’s Early Grave and bands that were totally new to me like Norfolk’s Living Dead and Richmond’s Massacre System. If you didn’t already know it, punk is alive and well.

I also visited a ton of record stores on my trip. I got to catch up with Tony at Celebrated Summer, Colin at Sit & Spin, Max at Nexus, Dave at Vinyl Addiction, and check out a bunch of other shops too. Of course, I came home with a ton of records. It’s a weakness of mine. I’m interested in so much music that it’s nearly impossible for me to leave a record store empty-handed. Even in a crummy store, I can usually find a record or two that I’m curious about. At stores like any of the Academy locations in New York, where the stock is always fresh and the prices are attractive, I’m dragging armloads of vinyl to the counter. If I’m lucky, I find a few things I’ve been actively looking for (Academy, for instance, had several punk compilations that were on my want list, one of which I’m sure I’ll write about for the newsletter soon), but usually what I find are records I’ve heard about but don’t really know, or things that just look intriguing. And then sometimes you decide that today is the day you finally pull the trigger on a record you should have bought a long time ago… such is the case with my pick for this week:

The Authorities: Puppy Love 12” (Buckwheat Headlock Productions, 1995)

Like many people, I’m sure, my first exposure to the Authorities was via Screeching Weasel’s cover of the song “Achtung,” which appeared on Kill the Musicians, their first collection of non-album tracks that came out (on CD only!) on Lookout! in 1995. I must have bought Kill the Musicians right around the time it came out, and I wore that fucker out. Aside from the Minor Threat discography CD, it was one of my first exposures a compilation of non-album tracks by a punk band. I would soon learn that these were usually where the gold was, since punk bands often put their best songs on EPs and singles. That’s certainly the case with Kill the Musicians, which contained many of Screeching Weasel’s best songs. Even among those, though, “Achtung” stood out with its hooky vocals (the verses are even catchier than the chorus!) and those precise, lunging stops that occur throughout the song. Brilliant track.

While I’m sure Ben Weasel’s rambling liner notes for Kill the Musicians mention that “Achtung” is a cover, it was many years before I heard the Authorities again. I’m guessing my next exposure was “I Hate Cops,” which memorably kicked off Mystic Records’ We Got Power (Party Or Go Home) compilation (which I often refer to as my favorite compilation of all time). “I Hate Cops” is right up there with “Achtung” as far as brilliant hardcore punk tunes go, but there was still more to hear! It was probably somewhere in the late 90s when I heard the first Killed by Death compilation, which features both “I Hate Cops” and the Authorities’ third stone-cold classic tune, “Radiation Masturbation.”

All three tracks (along with “Shot in the Head,” which ain’t no slouch either) appeared on the Authorities sole 80s release, 1982’s Soundtrack for Trouble EP. Sadly, I’ve never been able to land an original pressing, but in 1995 Buckwheat Headlock Productions combined Soundtrack for Trouble with a previously unreleased 1983 studio session and released it as the Puppy Love LP. While the 10 extra tracks you get on Puppy Love might not have the cache of the original Soundtrack for Trouble songs, you’d be hard-pressed to discern any dip in quality. The band still plays with fire, hard and fast but brimming with classic punk hooks and a touch of 60s psychedelic texture. If you’re a fan of Angry Samoans, you’ll love it… though I’d argue the Authorities do it even better. It’s nice, too, that Puppy Love is succinct, taking an all-killer-no-filler approach rather than digging up sub-par material like live and rehearsal tapes. It’s so short that it spins at 45rpm.

The Authorities were from the small city of Stockton in northern California. Music heads will remember Stockton has another notable musical export: indie rock legends Pavement. The bands aren’t unconnected, either; Pavement’s original drummer Gary Young helped engineer and mix the 1983 session on Puppy Love and also played drums in a band called The Fall of Christianity with Authorities guitarist Brian Thalken. I’m a fan of Pavement and the Authorities, and it’s cool that Pavement has always name-checked the Authorities. The Authorities definitely got a mention in the recent film Pavements, and Pavement even got the Authorities to reunite when they curated the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2010, which led to more touring and some releases by the reformed band (which, honestly, I haven’t heard).

While the version of Puppy Love I picked up at Academy is the original 1995 pressing on Buckwheat Headlock Productions, Get Hip Records has kept the Authorities flame alive by keeping both Puppy Love and Soundtrack for Trouble in print. We should do a better job keeping them in stock at Sorry State, but they’re out there and available if you need to get some material by this brilliant band in your collection.

Hello fellow Sorry Staters! You made it to the next volume of the newsletter in my little, very little corner of the internet to blab about my previous week’s listening ventures! Lots of bands go on tour, and either you wait for your city to come up or you just have to miss them on tour if you can’t afford to travel. In the year 2025, this should not be the norm with tons of streaming platforms out there, and I feel like all bands should hire a team of folks to ride along on the tour and live stream the concerts. One band that is changing the game on this concept is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Over the past few years, King Gizzard has been live streaming all their shows for free on their YouTube streaming channel. It’s helped grow the community surrounding the band, and I believe it has also given access to the shows for folks that cannot attend, which has made this band explode in popularity.

This weekend was Field of Vision in Buena Vista, Colorado, which is King Gizzard’s weekend-long festival with so much going on. Everything from art projects to drag school… something for everyone. The reason I mention streaming is that the band was nice enough to stream the entire festival for free. Fans could tune in to see so many great bands from all over the world. A couple that stood out to me were Memo PST, Babe Rainbow, Gaye Su Akyol and Jay Weinberg and Argus.

During the day I made it a point to watch Jello Biafra’s spoken word and DJ sets, which of course did not disappoint. His engaging storytelling was hard to listen to when you were distracted by him wearing a gigantic foam pope hat and, you know, just Jello being Jello. His DJ set on drag night was really fun to watch. He was dressed up like an older lady going to tea in the afternoon, wearing a long blonde hair wig, a huge bouffant hat, and a flower dress he got from goodwill that has probably been there since the 80s. Luckily for me, someone took a picture of his set list, so someone else made a playlist of it on Apple Music. It includes all the great hits from all his side projects like Mojo Nixon and Guantanamo School of Medicine along with some songs from Alternative Tentacles label-mate, Wesley Willis. One highlight of Jello Biafra being there was being able to see him perform “Police Truck” with King Gizzard on night one. It sounded great and had a little King Gizz twist on it, which is what everyone was hoping for!

One of the main reasons I love watching King Gizzard live shows is that they have a catalog of 32 albums. When you have that many, you have a wide variety of songs you can play and not repeat songs for a long time. They played for 3 hours each night, going from their heavy stuff and microtonal psych albums to their electronic album and ending with more jammy type psych rock. Honestly, these were some of their best set lists that I have heard since I started following the band back in 2018. I know I have written about King Gizzard many times in my portion of the newsletter, but I feel like it’s well deserved. The band is huge, and they are only getting better at writing songs and presenting them even better at live shows.

Until next week! Be sure to check out everyone else’s pick and go buy some records! Also, We got some really kick-ass new shirts in, so go buy one of those too!

Hi strangers! So happy to pop in this week and talk about music with you. I hope everyone is doing well. Missed ya’ll!

It’s kinda weird to say I’m even doing ok against the backdrop of this fucked-up country and world. So, I guess me doing ok just means I have my physical health, I moved to a house I love, and I just got an adorable angel baby puppy named Bowie. I wanted to name him Ian MacKaye, but my daughter would’ve had a meltdown. Instagram was much more partial to Bowie as well. Oh, and I went to Iceland for a week. (hashtag blessed!). Please catch the overt sarcasm in that.

But truthfully, life is weird when there is a looming black cloud over your head no matter what happy things may come along. But, being happy as a state of mind seems ridiculous. I think we are meant to have moments of happiness if you can find them. And that’s it if you’re lucky. Which begs the question, why we can’t just have moments of depression or anxiety instead of a whole-ass existence? Man, isn’t this staff pick a blast so far? Reading too much nihilistic philosophy. Let’s change things up.

Okay, so I’ve been trying to keep up with newly released ragers and the like, but damn it’s hard when you take a break from record hunting and chatting with friends about the latest and greatest. I came back to life/started to see people in person and speak to them in April/May of this year after a 4-5 month hiatus, and felt so out of the loop. I never took a break from music, but definitely relied on nostalgia music mostly through these past several months.

So I checked out five or six releases from this year, and I was kinda hooked on the new EP from Skull Cult, Can’t You See What I Mean? Admittedly, it was the cat on the cover that drew me in initially. Anyway, they hail from Bloomington, Indiana. I don’t hear too much/anything out of those parts, so that’s cool.

So I’ve heard this band before, and some of the older stuff was just a bit grating. When it comes to noise punk / weird punk, it could go either way for me. I like it as long as it has something, just something, grounding it just a little. It’s gotta feel like they aren’t up there just fucking around. So I much prefer this newest EP over the last. First one released by the band since 2018!

So Skull Cult definitely dialed down the abrasive weirdness and increased the catchiness. Good move. Thankfully, it’s still somewhat chaotic, and it’s still weird, but I think they found their sweet spot. I have to mention that some of it could be looked at as egg punk, but the only really eggy part I picked up on was the intro to the Rocker and a little bit of Organization. But the record has great blown-out guitars, frantic vocals, good bass lines, and frantic drums that collectively make the record. It’s just better. And the vocals often sound like what that cat on the cover may sound like in a street fight, and that works here.

It’s more grounded and focused than previous works. I guess you’d have to hear the older stuff to make up your mind on what style you like. It doesn’t deviate so much from past EPs in terms of the foundation, but the execution of it just makes more sense. Language is for sure my favorite on the record. I just like the line “and there’s nothing you can DO about it,” with the emphasis on “do.” It’s short and sweet. The vocals aren’t insane on that one, but it feels like old nostalgic punk.

You definitely get some variety in these five songs. Some are more synthy and melodic, and some more chaotic. It all just fits together to make one well-rounded EP. There is a good balance. Like, if a song is lower tempo, the vocals will be much more abrasive. I think that’s what records like this need. Typically, we don’t want to hear a sing-songy voice on a lower-tempo punk track. I don’t know; you might.

I think the record is an easy listen. If you do like punk stuff like this that is a little synthy and melodic, you will probably enjoy it. It’s also kinda garage. I don’t know; it’s something different.

I have so enjoyed being a part of the newsletter again! Thanks for listening to me ramble, and give me some grace as I haven’t done one of these in a long time! Have a great weekend coming up.

If you scrolled down this far, and read my words, thank you!

-Angela

Hi and thanks for reading. Today I am shamelessly using this space to promote two new releases on my label Prescription. I am honored to release this split 7” with two of my favorite d-beat/kängpunk bands: DESTRUCT and SVAVELDIOXID. DESTRUCT has just embarked on a short tour with Japan’s LiFE. If you are anywhere close to one of their gigs, you’d be a fool to miss it! The standard covers have killer artwork by Wombat of SMT. They were beautifully screen printed by Monolith, based out of Oakland. A local friend, Jeff from PARANOID MANIAC, screen printed some bonus mail order sleeves, which were done with silver ink on black paper. I am super happy with the result. Of course, Sorry State will have copies of the split soon, but if you fancy the limited version, you can order from bunkerpunks.bigcartel.com and secure your copy before they sell out. This record took much longer than I expected to come out. The original prints were lost in the mail back in May. Then that printer I normally use happened to be shut down for two months. Maybe one day they will show up… haha. The screen-printed alternative was much more expensive, but in the end, I am happy to have more deluxe packaging.

Alongside this split is a debut cassette from Uppsala’s SHITCONTROL. If you haven’t heard this tape yet, you can check it out here. While SHITCONTROL isn’t doing anything new if you ask me, the execution is simply perfect. They deliver eight tracks of absolutely raging DISCHARGE style Swedish hardcore. They even recorded on a 4-channel Portastudio, the same way MOB 47 did! I got very excited when I learned the bassist Robin was previously the guitarist of ANGER BURNING. I wrote about ANGER BURNING some years ago. All of their records are so good, and I think When is a modern masterpiece. If, for some reason, you haven’t heard that LP, do yourself a favor and check it out immediately. When talking to Robin, he informed me that their drummer Calle played in the ‘90s band DISCONTROL. I had never heard of them, but holy shit their side of this split smokes. The tone is so gnarly, it’s insane. They weren’t from Uppsala like SHITCONTROL is, but they definitely sound like something you could have heard on the Uppsala Crust Compilation. Because of this compilation and the label Your Own Jailer, I always thought Uppsala was the coolest place ever for 90s hardcore. While most countries had whack and/or boring hardcore through the ‘90s, Sweden had some of the best shit I have heard to this day. Japan obviously follows the same theme as well. Anyways, Sorry State will have copies of this tape as well, so stay tuned! That’s all for today then. Cheers and thanks for your support.

Hi there Sorry State newsletter readers. I trust we find you well.

A quick bit of housekeeping before I proceed. In these pages last week, I was giving the thumbs up to Finnish jazz and to Ville Valavuo, whose recent album I really liked. I said I wasn’t aware of his other projects, but that wasn’t true. Jeff reminded me about one that we stock here at Sorry State and one that yours truly promoted when it came out, namely Modem and their Megalomania LP. Sorry Ville, I didn’t mean to forget that one. We are all fans of that record and are looking forward to seeing you next month when you hit Raleigh on your US tour.

For those of you into cool synth-based electro pop, check Modem out on that tour and pick up a copy of their album, if you haven’t already.

Okay, with that addressed, what else have I been listening to this week? Inspired by John Scott’s French vacation, I recently picked up a nice French pressing of an album by the original Ye-Ye girl herself, Sylvie Vartan from 1967 called simply Sylvie. The album has her covering some Motown numbers like Same Old Song and You Keep Me Hangin’ On, along with a few other rock and pop hits of the day. My favorite so far has been L’amour Est No. 1, which has a cool fuzz guitar riff going on in it. The album packaging also must be mentioned. A gatefold, with great photos of Sylvie in the studio on the inside and a cool color pic of her on the back cover wearing a sharp military jacket. Tres chic. This French RCA pressing sounds great too. Cheers to the US dealer on Discogs who gave me a great price on it and santé to John Scott. I hope it’s nice in Nice mate.

Here at the store, we have been enjoying stocking represses of two great groups, Broadcast and Stereolab. I love them both. The Stereolab reissues have all been well done, with plenty of bonus material and sounding great. Fill your boots on any missing in your collection. The Broadcast demos and BBC sessions however are a must for fans. Highly recommended if you haven’t heard these versions.

With that in mind and having already spoken about Modem, if you were still hungry for more sophisticated, cool electro-pop that has always been tough to get on vinyl, then you must pick up the reissue of 604 by Ladytron. The band’s debut from 2001 still sounds fresh almost twenty-five years later. Another fine act from Liverpool, let it be noted. They had a bit of a time with their record labels over the years, resulting in vinyl pressings of their albums becoming in short supply. I was shocked to see the current prices on their back catalogue. Fortunately, as with Broadcast and Stereolab, their music does seem to be getting new vinyl pressings. Their follow-up to 604, Light & Magic, is also now available, and their critically acclaimed third album, Witching Hour, is about to get an anniversary repress. So that’s good news. We’ll make sure we get copies of those in for you. I wish for Light & Magic the original UK artwork was used, but I guess most people only know the US version and so it makes sense to use that, but I wonder about the thought process back in 2002 for then label Emperor Norton to release the record with the close-up shots of the band members as artwork instead. Not that it’s a bad cover; just different. They probably couldn’t go with a cover that didn’t show the group and looked more like it was a Factory or Creation Records release from ten years ago. Maybe?

I admit to not being a huge fountain of knowledge on Ladytron, but they are an internationally recognized and successful group, and a quick click of your mouse will take you to all the information you should need. Because their albums haven’t been so widely available on vinyl, as with many artists, I just haven’t had the opportunity to come across copies and spin them. I don’t tend to listen to much music that isn’t a record. I know that sounds like a crazy luddite. I just don’t stream and download that much, if at all. It’s always been records for me, with tapes being okay and then CDs. I just like physical media. That’s all to say that I had 604 and Light & Magic on CD, but that’s as far as my listening to them went, unless I heard them out somewhere etc. I’ve been enjoying listening to 604 again after so many years, and this current vinyl pressing sounds decent to my cloth ears.

I’ll sign off with copying excerpts apparently taken from the record’s original press release at the time. Whether that is true or not is almost immaterial as they are perfect descriptions:

• ‘methadone ABBA’

• ‘Kraftwerk meeting Nico in the 24-hour chemist’

• ‘the hit stage version of Brave New World’

• ‘a teasing glimpse of how Britney Spears might have sounded, had she been born in the GDR and a heroin addict........’

There you go. If that appeals, then you know what to do. See you next time. Thanks for reading our newsletter and supporting the store and the artists that we stock. It means a lot to us all.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

How’s everyone doing? As I mentioned before, this time last week when the newsletter came out was my birthday. I had a great one and was riding the high for a few days after. Thanks everyone for all the b-day wishes, including some of you newsletter readers who reached out! Very cool. Honestly, I haven’t really given many new releases proper attention since last week. Because of that, for my staff pick, I’m just gonna write about records I was given as gifts from my Sorry State compatriots. Usman and Daniel each hooked me up with records that I’ve been on the hunt searching for years! I’ve been so stoked blasting these rippers.

Firstly, I’ll talk about the In ControLuce 7” single by Wretched. It’s funny, I think I name-checked this record when I wrote about Ayucaba a couple weeks ago. Little did I know that Usman would be giving a copy one week later haha. When I hear most people discuss 80s Italian hardcore, Wretched is one of the first bands people mention. My brain immediately envisions the most explosive, raw, chaotic hardcore imaginable. But what’s interesting about In ControLuce is that it’s quite a musical departure for the band. Released in 1988, a much later period release by the band, the 2 songs are a totally different vibe than chaotic early sound on EPs like Finira’ Mai? I think this might have been the band’s final release. And I gotta say, I just love it. It’s still hardcore, but with much more melodic guitar work and catchy songwriting. You can hear some of this experimentation incorporating more ambitious, melodic guitar work on La Tua Morte Non Aspetta, but even that record, with its huge, cavernous-sounding production, still sounds totally like the songs could fall apart at any moment. The drumming in particular on In ControLuce, as opposed to any other Wretched record, are super groovy and in-the-pocket, played with restraint. And while the title track is great, I just love the B-side “Libero E Selvaggio.” This is a weird word to use, but it’s like… beautiful. Haha. The vibe of that song is much more anthemic, almost like UK82, but still kind of dark and brooding. This might be a weird comparison, but it’s almost like comparing mid-to-late 80s era Dischord to the first 6 7”s – or like Salad Days vs. Filler. It’s just like more mature and refined, in a way. Then again, the guitar stuff also kinda reminds of stuff from Tuomittu Elämään EP by Varaus, so what do I know? I just find that after I’ve been bludgeoned by the Wretched/Indigesti split 7” one too many times, I always come back to the 2 songs on this single. I kinda wish that Wretched had a whole LP that sounded like this.

Okay, so speaking of Varaus, and Finnish punk in general, now let’s move onto Kohu-63. It’s funny, a few weeks ago, I was texting with a friend whom I met while Public Acid was in Europe, and while we were talking, she was at the Puntala festival in Finland. She got to see Pohjasakka, which is rad, and we were just talking about our favorite Finnish hardcore bands. While I love Mellakka, Rattus, and so many other bands, this Valtaa Ei Loistoa 12” by Kohu-63 has really become one of my favorites over the years. So much so that I probably blabbed about it all the time, and Daniel remembered and cheekily found me a copy while he was in Finland this summer! So rad. But yeah, there’s just something about this record. First of all, it’s only 8 (really more like 7) songs, so it’s the perfect length for a hardcore 12”. Also, I just think this 12” EP has such bright, clear production. Kohu-63 is from Tampere, but I would say that they’re not as gritty or gnarly as their hometown peers, like say Kaaos, for example. Valtaa Ei Loistoa came out in 1982 on Poko Records, and to me has more in common sonically with a band like Lama. Still a bit tuneful and catchy, especially the vocals, which I personally really like. But I think more-so than the first Lama LP, which came out the same year, Kohu-63 is so much more propulsive and raging. The song “Valtaa I” even has a gang-vocal chants with an almost kinda UK Oi! vibe to it. But then when you get to a song like “Huorra,” they amp up the power and speed almost akin to Gang Green territory. The band all hit one big chord, then the drums come barreling in. But once the strings start, the guitar player attacks the riff so ferociously, playing through all those strings so blisteringly fast that I bet my dude’s cuticles were bleeding in the studio! The mid-paced stomper “Puhtaat” is great, but I swear the first time I heard it I was like, “is this a weird cover of ‘Hang Ten In East Berlin’?” Maybe they somehow got a hold of The Detours version if that compilation made its way to Finland? Or maybe it’s just a total coincidence haha. This Kohu-63 song isn’t on Youtube, so I guess you’ll just have to find a copy on vinyl to hear what I’m talking about. Come to think of it, a few of the songs from this record aren’t online anywhere. Someone should change that maybe. Or not. The record ends with a gang chanted a capella “Oi! Oi!” type thing, and they keep just saying “Barmy Army” over and over. Pretty funny. Love this record.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. Thanks for letting me gloat about my recent scores.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Longtime newsletter readers will remember a section called “Featured Releases” that used to appear at the bottom of the newsletter. Each week in this section I wrote about several new releases in addition to the Record of the Week. I really miss doing that, and I hope I can bring that section back one day, but lately things have been so busy here that the newsletter has become something I bang out in half a day. I can just about get a staff pick and a Record of the Week description done in that time, but adding descriptions of 6 more new releases on top of that is way too much for one person to accomplish every week without going insane. Maybe one day I can hire enough staff that I can spend two entire days on the newsletter each week. Until then, maybe I’ll turn my staff pick over to contemporary releases from time to time rather than only writing about old records. To kick things off, here are four recent punk/hardcore releases that are in stock at Sorry State right now, that are flying under the radar, and that I think are excellent. I’ve included links to listen and buy should you find yourself intrigued.

Fuerza Bruta: Ecos De Chicago 10” (Warthog Speak Records)

Bandcamp / Buy it from Sorry State

Chicago’s Fuerza Bruta has been around a while now, and some of their previous records have been popular at Sorry State, but I have heard little chatter about this new 4-song 10” on Warthog Speak Records. I associate Fuerza Bruta with the skinhead / oi! world, but when you actually listen to their music, it really doesn’t lean too hard on any conventions of oi! music, except for the gang vocals in the choruses. The dance / electronic record they released a few years ago shows their willingness to color outside the lines, and they’ve always reminded me of early Leatherface in that you can tell it’s steeped in traditional punk (particularly 70s and 80s UK punk), but unbound by that scene’s dictates and willing to go wherever the music takes them. Nowhere is the Leatherface comparison more apt than on the closing track here, “Lado a Lado,” which is built around some very Frankie / Dickie two-guitar dynamics. Another winner from this now-veteran band.

Ignorantes: Las Promesas Que Te Hacemos Te Las Puedes Meter Por El Culo 7’’ (General Speech Records)

Bandcamp / Buy it from Sorry State

Ignorantes is another band whose previous releases have been buzzy, but whose newest record appears to be flying under the radar. Perhaps that makes sense here, as this single differs from Ignorantes’ previous material. While most of their previous (many) records were tupa-tupa-style pogo punk, these two songs go in a more blatantly melodic direction. The vocals, while still charmingly off-key and punk as hell, are almost sing-songy melodic, and there’s the addition of some rather sunny-sounding keys playing melodies that wouldn’t be out of place on a Screeching Weasel record. While that might make it seem like Ignorantes has gone soft, the recording and performance are still of the punkest, lo-fi, sub-KBD variety. I love the packaging here too… they printed the covers on the thinnest possible newsprint stock, mocking the very idea of “mint” condition. This is down-in-the-gutter music, dirty and flawed, but by adding a dollop of sugary pop sweetness, Ignorantes has created something unique, fresh, and exciting here.

Psychic Vampire: Sophomaniac 12” (self-released)

Bandcamp / Buy it from Sorry State

While Fuerza Bruta and Ignorantes are well-known bands, I understand not being hip to this killer 12” from Minneapolis’s Psychic Vampire. While the band had a few extremely limited previous releases, this self-released 12” is the first time I’ve heard them, and that they only pressed 100 copies tells me they’re not planning on appealing to the masses. They also promote their record with a Maximumrocknroll review that consists almost entirely of incomprehensible inside jokes. Still, that fucking killer Drügface artwork should have clued you in that something interesting was happening here. Psychic Vampire shares a member with Citric Dummies, and while Psychic Vampire is more straightforwardly hardcore than Citric Dummies, I hear a similar sort of quirkiness here (particularly during the not-infrequent interruptions of hooky lead guitar). Ultimately, Psychic Vampire lies in the space between punk and hardcore where so many interesting and under-appreciated bands live. Their drummer beats the fuck out of the kit, they’re fast as hell, and their singer’s raspy shout would have the pop-punkers cowering the corner, but their incorporation of melody and their blithe dismissal of hardcore’s musical conventions are apt to alienate that scene too. If this clicks with you, though, I imagine it’ll hit hard.

Amerol: demo cassette (Helta Skelta Records)

Bandcamp / Buy it from Sorry State

Here’s my quick pitch for this Amerol demo: imagine Eve Libertine moved to the US in 1982 and joined up with a ripping young hardcore band. Amerol is from the isolated city of Perth on the west coast of Australia, and their demo comes to us via Helta Skelta Records, who have been documenting that city’s fertile punk scene for many years. There are a lot of different sub-styles of punk represented on the label, but (as if the always-killer Keith Caves artwork didn’t already clue you in), this one is for the US hardcore heads. The label’s description mentions No Thanks and Sin 34 and those are fine comparisons, but maybe undersells it a little. Amerol doesn’t really step outside hardcore’s conventions, but their music is full of little twists that make it clear they’re not content to copy from the rule book… see the strange timing on the intro to “Desperate Living” or the dissonant lead guitar stuff happening at the end of “Crossfire.” And then there are the vocals, which totally elevate the whole enterprise, the singer’s heavy accent oozing style and charisma, barking out rapid-fire venom when the songs call for it and weaving in those Crass-esque melodic lines that beg you to sing along. Wrap it all up in beautifully warm 4-track-style production and you have something really special.