News

Hello and thanks for reading. I missed last week cos I was away from work celebrating my partner’s birthday. I don’t like to talk about personal stuff often, but I can’t use words to express how much I love my partner. I feel unbelievably lucky to have spent so many years with such a loving, patient, supportive, and beautiful person. OK anyway... there are a lot of cool new releases and great reissues in stock, but today I have chosen to write about YELLOWCAKE. This is one of those records where I have been awaiting its final release date. I even mail ordered a limited copy direct from the label. I can’t remember how this band initially got on my radar, but I was hooked after only a few seconds of the first song I heard. While we don’t really sound similar, some elements of this band actually remind me of SCARECROW. The drummer of this band is also in this band SYCOPHANT, who I also think is outstanding. I am pretty sure Sorry State will eventually release a follow up to that record. The song writing on that one is just like, insane. These bands are based in Arizona, but a little while back the drummer was on the East Coast doing URCHIN and EXTENDED HELL. Knowing that, it’s kind of a no-brainer that I would like this record, haha. I thought the name YELLOWCAKE was a bit cheesy at first, but naturally I wanted to see if had a meaning deeper than a dessert. And ah yes, the word is associated with nuclear power. It is a yellow, powdery substance that comes from processing uranium after it’s been mined. It is then used to prepare the fuel for the nuclear reactors. After learning this, the name went from cheesy to clever in my mind. I think there is a fine line between cheesy and clever at times. It’s also not easy to sound original when playing a pretty straight forward style of music that is now 43 years old, so I try my best to never judge a book by the cover when it comes to hardcore records. I don’t want to say they are a DISCHARGE clone, but YELLOWCAKE is obviously under the influence of DISCHARGE. They sound like maybe there is some Swedish stuff happening, but I can’t quite place what I hear at the moment. I think the Swedish edge is why it reminds me a bit of SCARECROW. The guitarist played with a full stack live. That was pretty sick. If you don’t have the riffs to back up a rig that size, I think it’s a bit whack, but trust me the man has got riffs. Their drummer is phenomenal, so the combination is killer. Unfortunately, I was working the door at the gig, so I did not get the full effect of their live performance, but I was still happy to witness them. Alright, that seems like about it for today, check this record out! Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone for the support.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Sorry to all you readers that I skipped writing one of these last week. I usually try to bust some writing out on Thursday morning before the weekend and prior to Daniel sending out the newsletter on Monday. I remember showing up to the store last week and just feeling too busy and too overwhelmed to write anything down. But I’m back baby!

I’m sure you all have been noticing our updates about Sorry State’s 10th anniversary weekend. As I’m writing this, this coming weekend is the last few days of September, which means the fest is only 3 weeks away? Aaaagggh crazy! Make sure you get your tickets NOW. I think weekend passes are almost sold out. It’s gonna be wild. Can’t wait to see everybody and RAGE like barnyard animals.

Speaking of the Anniversary Weekend, one aspect that I’m not sure if I drilled into everyone’s brains properly so far is that we are planning on doing a HUGE drop of used records during that weekend. Lots of rare and original punk and hardcore. A few of these records we acquired years ago, and we’ve had them set aside in anticipation for the big event. But just the other day, we bought a collection from this local dude who had a bunch of cool punk stuff. In his collection, he mostly had a bunch of 80s UK punk stuff, like some Oi! and stuff on No Future. But he also had a bunch of classic LA punk stuff, most notably stuff on Posh Boy.

For whatever reason, as I was pricing this dude’s records, I was digging through his boxes and decided to throw on one of those Rodney On The ROQ compilations. I had never really checked out these comps too in depth before. But in this box, he had ROTR volumes 1, 2, and 3, and I was surprised at how captivating I found them and how much I enjoyed listening to these records. I sat there and listened to all 3 records all the way through. Rodney Bingenheimer seems to be a rather eccentric character. I know that in Los Angeles he was quite the socialite. And because of that, I guess I always associate him with sort of more the 70s glam era, when all the cool celebrities bedazzled in glitter and feathered boas would be binging blow all night at night clubs on the Sunset Strip. So the fact that Rodney was a huge factor in ushering in and championing the emerging LA punk and hardcore scene is so puzzling and interesting to me. On his radio show, Rodney’s personality seemed so gentle and mild-mannered. I’m sure for him to have the Germs on the air was pretty terrifying haha. But hey, he made it happen!

What’s so cool about these comps is that they feel like a real snapshot of what was going on in the LA music scene in general. These compilations were released on the Posh Boy label in conjunction with Flipside Magazine. Each record comes with a fanzine that’s basically like a truncated version of an issue of Flipside and contains interviews and information for each band featured on the comp. With each Rodney On The ROQ compilation, I’m pretty sure Rodney was heavily involved with the curation of songs and liner notes. The format and sequencing of all the bands has a pattern that must be totally intentional. Side A is always loaded with killer early 80s LA hardcore bands like Black Flag, Agent Orange, Adolescents, Shattered Faith, etc. Then the B-side on each volume is much more new wavey stuff and silly novelty songs. Like Volume 2 has the classic new wave hit by Gleaming Spires, “Are You Ready for The Sex Girls?” Which, when this song came on, I just giggled because I remembered first hearing that song on soundtracks for movies like Revenge of The Nerds and stuff like that. Both the 2nd and 3rd edition’s B-sides are front-loaded with tracks by the band Unit 3 With Venus, a new wave band with a pre-teenage girl lead singer. Clearly, this band must have been one of Rodney’s favorites. I mean “Pajama Party” is a rager, for sure. The juxtaposition between the A-side and the B-side makes for a really fun listen. You get all worked up raging to Channel 3 and Ill Repute, and then flip the record over and cool down with some David Hines doing “Land of 1,000 Dances.”

For all the lighthearted innocence perceived from these comps, there is also an underlying element of kinda greasy sexuality. I mean, each record basically has pinup style 60s beehive schoolgirls lookin’ saucy while jamming the hot new tunes. I’m sure it’s all in good fun, just a bit cheeky. One really cool thing I was trippin’ on when reading the fanzines is the interaction between the new wave bands and the hardcore bands. The Bangles are featured on Volume 3, and in the interview, Rodney asks them if they were scared of the “hardcores” being mean. I guess he was referring to a show where The Bangles opened up for Social Distortion. Susanna Hoffs says something like, “We were really nervous they were gonna spit on us, but they were really nice! The guys from Wasted Youth were like tugging on my dress and were drooling over Debbie’s skin-tight pants, but they seemed really cool.” Horny hardcore boys, what can I tell ya?

Welp, I’ll leave ya with that haha. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Phew: S/T 12” (1981, Pass Records / 2021, P-Vine Records)

Newsletter readers and Japanese punk aficionados already know the 1979 album by Aunt Sally; I chose the Aunt Sally album as my staff pick in February 2022, and once we stocked copies of Mesh Key’s domestic reissue of that album at Sorry State, I wrote about it again as a featured release. Phew was Aunt Sally’s singer, and her first solo album from 1981 picks up the Aunt Sally story where we left off.

To get you back up to speed, here’s a quick refresher on Phew’s impossibly cool backstory. Intrigued by what she read about the Sex Pistols in the music press, she traveled to London in 1977 to see the band live. Inspired, she returned to Osaka, Japan, and started what must have been one of the first punk-influenced bands in Japan. However, like the first generation of post-Pistols bands in the UK, Aunt Sally didn’t imitate the Pistols but expanded on their sound, resulting in an album that sounds a lot more like post-punk.

After the Aunt Sally project ran out of steam, Phew began working under her own (stage) name, signing to Pass Records and recording her debut single with Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra. I hadn’t heard that single before I started researching this piece, but it was an immediate “add to wantlist.” Rich, dense, and experimental, it expands on the more interesting experimental aspects of the Aunt Sally album and sets the stage for the album I’m writing about today. Hopefully I can pick up a physical copy at some point and write about it in more detail for a future staff pick.

So this brings us to Phew. How do you follow up a first act as incredible as the Aunt Sally album? Flying to Germany and recording with famed producer Conny Plank and having Jaki Liebezeit and Holger Czukay of Can play on your album is a pretty good start. I’ve looked for information about how this group of musicians came together, but I haven’t turned up much in English. It just seems amazing to me. Even listening to both the Sex Pistols and Can circa 1980 was a notable achievement in coolness, but how did these musicians come to work together? I would love to know if anyone can offer more insight.

Circa 1981, Can was in a state of inactivity, the creative spark behind the project having largely gone out for their last few (mediocre) albums of the 1970s. Thus, it’s surprising they play with so much fire on Phew. Admittedly, though, if Jaki Liebezeit is playing drums on your album, it’s going to sound good, and he sounds great here. He’s one of those musicians who, if I see their name on a release, I am automatically interested, and his trademark style is on full display here. The album doesn’t list who played which instruments, but the rest of the sounds are full of rich, exciting textures, rhythms, and melodies. It’s tough to tell how they’re making these sounds, but there are synthesizers in play and perhaps some electronically treated sounds created from other (perhaps unconventional?) sources, which was consistent with Czukay’s m.o. at the time. This isn’t just soundscapes, though. Liebezeit’s drums always hold a steady groove, and Plank’s production is heavy to the point of being dub-ish, giving the tracks significant heft. That combination of deep grooves, dub heaviness, and bold experimentation resembles the first couple Public Image Ltd albums, and if you’re a fan of those, this is well worth checking out.

There isn’t a track on Phew that I skip, but I think it has a particularly strong ending. The third from the last song, “P-Adic,” is the most aggressive on the album, an uptempo synth-punk tune with driving drums and stabbing sequencer rhythms that recall Neu Deutsche Welle groups like D.A.F. If you liked the recent Die Letzten Ecken album we raved about earlier this year, this might be your favorite track on Phew. They follow that with “Doze,” a moody, atmospheric track with an eerie synth melody that might make you think of John Carpenter’s film music. The album then closes with “Circuit,” a short and futuristic, new age-ish instrumental that could have fit on an After Dinner or Kate Bush album.

If you’re intrigued, it shouldn’t be too difficult to lay your hands on a copy of Phew. The original pressing isn’t insanely expensive… you can get a copy in your hands for under a hundred dollars, though you’ll probably have to get it from Japan. This reissue on P-Vine Records seems to have gotten worldwide distribution, but like most of P-Vine’s releases, its price is steep, usually in the $40-$50 range. However, if you’re willing to plonk that down (I think Phewis worth every penny), you shouldn’t have too much trouble locating a copy from a seller in your country.

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone is having a nice week. We’ve had some great weather here in Raleigh and it’s kinda been feeling like fall a little bit. Especially in the morning, with that nice, crisp air. Of course, we’ll probably be hit with another heatwave here soon before fall really rolls around. Here at Sorry State, Dominic has set off for a month-long visit to his home across the pond in England. I’m happy my buddy gets to go home and visit his family and friends, but I’ll miss having him around for our shifts together at the store so he can show me my new favorite album or cut up to some bluegrass records. He’s left me with enough great music to listen to tho in his absence, including this Lush album, Spooky. I honestly had never heard of Lush till the other week when we got in a few of their albums at the store. Dominic saw them and was like, “oh shit” and told me about them and that I’d probably like them a lot. Of course he was right. I think we ended up listening to all three that had come in and I was introduced to the serenading sounds of Lush. I really enjoyed all of them, but out of the bunch I’d have to say my favorite was Spooky, their 1992 album. The whole album just flows so nicely, some of the vocals on here kinda remind me of Julee Cruise too on some of the slower songs. My favorite two tracks on here are Tiny Smiles and Laura, the latter which has this part in the middle of the song that just sounds so fuckin cool. I guess it’s an effect on the guitar or something, but it sounds like an underwater UFO. If you listen to the song, I feel like it’s pretty clear what part I’m talking about despite my lack of accurate description. Without fail, each time I play this record in the shop someone always asks “who is this?” which I usually see as the mark of a good record. Get some luscious Lush in your life today.

Hi Sorry State readers! Hope everyone is having a nice start to the fall or whatever season you are experiencing. We’ve had some lovely evenings. Around late September is when we begin our summer by day and fall by night period. I will take it. Anyway, nothing too exciting on my end. Just getting hyped to see some cool shows over the next couple months. Especially the Sorry State 10 year anniversary fest! It’s gonna be so sick. Try to make it if you can. So many bands for a pretty good deal! And other fun things sprinkled in over that weekend. It obviously wouldn’t be a proper Sorry State celebration without an extra sick used records drop. That’s what attracted me to the store and what kept me coming back again and again and again. I’m sure it’s the same for a lot of you locals!

I feel like I’m kind of cheating with my staff pick today. It’s the Yambag cassette: Mr. Ed. is Dead Again. It includes Yambag’s debut LP Posthumous Pounce and their Strength in Nightmares EP. I feel like I’m taking a shortcut because I wrote about the latter EP in a staff pick sometime last year. Wait, no, make that twice! Uh-oh. I also included it in my end of the year wrap up this year as one of my top ten releases of the year. It was actually in my top two or three favorite releases of 2022! At the time I am writing this we still have a few in stock, but my apologies if it is sold out when this goes up. I hate when I do that, or when someone does that to me. The nerve! The good news is that we should still have some of the second pressing of Strength in Nightmares available on red vinyl (Note from Daniel: JK, we’re sold out of that one! Sorry!). And it’s a really good red. So you could still acquire half of the contents of this tape. I was introduced to Yambag through that record and then I went back and to listened to Posthumous Pounce. I was not disappointed. This tape should not to be confused with Mr. Ed. is Dead, which is from 2018 and includes some tracks from their LP, but it’s a pretty raw recording. I don’t think it was ever put out on physical media.

Anyway, I guess Mr. Ed. died again, and that’s how we got here. Quickly, the band hails from Cleveland. While Cleveland hardcore is known for a particular type of intensity and angst, I think Yambag brings a little something different. It’s not as metallic as Cleveland predecessors like Integrity or Ringworm. It’s still intense and aggressive, but it’s more manic. It’s also just faster. The drums are super speedy and powerful, but they do weirder stuff with their guitars, and the vocals are more fun. I don’t want to say the word sloppy because the vocals are not sloppy at all. More like purposefully snotty. They say “blech” here and there and that really adds something to the sound. It’s very Cleveland to be disgusted by something and to communicate that. I love looser spastic vocals paired with very tight instrumentation. All in all, I love the speedy drums, the stop and starts (for a lack of proper terminology), the unanticipated bass melodies, and the brief tempo changes that provide some good mosh-worthy moments. If you want a track that does all of those things with a killer breakdown, Lowlife on Strength in Nightmares is the one. I believe it’s a cover song.

Posthumous Pounce is Yambag’s full-length record (2020) with 16 in your face, fast as hell tracks that are aggressive and antagonistic but again, fun. Along with all the tough-sounding adjectives, the music and manic and explosive. The songs Dog and (O)possum are my favorites on that one. Every track on the LP is actually named after an animal, and I guess the plan was for the singer to wear a mask of the appropriate animal for each track, but it was just too much damn work. You can imagine. After hearing the record, you know they don’t need extra theatrics because the songs stand alone quite strongly on their own. Cleveland hardcore is known for having a serious type of intensity to it, and I like that Yambag doesn’t seem to take themselves too seriously. And that their musicianship is still fantastic. Looking back, I think their first record laid the perfect foundation for Strength in Nightmares (2022). The newer release stays the course but with better production. The drums are fast and furious, but I don’t think Posthumous Pounce does them the justice that way that Strength in Nightmares does. The recording just wasn’t as good. What’s funny is there is a quote on the Posthumous Pounce side of the tape taken from MRR’s review and it reads: “They are kinda recorded like shit in the most endearing way.”

Strength in Nightmares really sealed the deal on their fastcore classification, but I really like both releases, so it’s super cool to have them on one tape. It also sounds fairly cohesive for being two different records on one tape. Anyway, Yambag quickly became one of my favorite hardcore bands and I can’t wait to hear more from them in the future!

Thank you for reading! Until we meet again.

Thanks,

Angela

I’ve had the Replacements on my brain for the past couple days thanks to that new Let It Bleed edition of Tim. I heard about the release ahead of time, but didn’t know much about it. I didn’t even order any copies for the store. Box sets are a tough sell for a store like ours… my theory is that if you’re spending $100+ on something like that, you’re probably going to shop around for the best deal, and thanks to the way the major label distribution network works, Sorry State is never going to be your best deal on a major label box set. However, the release came up on Friday’s episode of What Are You Listening To? when Sorry State’s own Eric Chubb chose the Replacements’ All Shook Down as one of his picks. The panelists had favorable things to say about it, then the next day I came across Pitchfork’s review. Not only did that review better explain what was on the release than anywhere else, but it was over the top in its praise, giving the reissue a perfect score (something they rarely do at Pitchfork) and claiming that the new Ed Stasium mix of Tim bumped it up to being the best Replacements album. Color me intrigued.

I had some time Saturday evening, so I dipped into the reissue digitally, but before I get into that, I should give you some background on my relationship to the Replacements so you know where I’m coming from. I went through a period in my early 20s (which would have been around the turn of the millennium) when I liked the Replacements a lot, but I confined my attention mostly to the Twin/Tone albums. Let It Be and Stink were my go-to’s. I had assumed, as one did in those days, that the Replacements’ major label years were uninteresting, so when I heard the best of compilation Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was?, later tracks like “Bastards of Young” and “Alex Chilton” knocked me on my ass. I played that best-of to death, and while I still prefer the loose and punky delivery of the band’s early catalog, it’s hard to deny Paul Westerberg matured as a songwriter and that the later albums contained his best work. I still haven’t spent much time with Don’t Tell a Soul and All Shook Down as at some point I just stopped listening to the Replacements, but I spent a good amount of time with Tim and Pleased to Meet Me and learned to like those albums too.

Now, back to this new Let It Bleed edition of Tim. I dialed it up on Apple Music, and when “Hold My Life” started, it took me aback. This really sounds different from the version of Tim we all knew (and many of us loved)! Before listening to this new version, I doubt I would have described Tim’s sound as cool and distant, but Ed Stasium’s new mix makes it feel like they’re playing right in front of your face, even inside your skull. The drums sound more driving (the original version, like so many records from the 80s, had reverb on the drums, while this version’s drums sound super dry) and the bass has a rich, lush bottom end that sounds modern and hi-fi. The focal points of the mix, though, are Westerberg’s vocals and rhythm guitar. The sculpted tones of every instrument and the strong separation between them mean you can turn your attention toward what any player is doing, but the lead vocals and rhythm guitars are un-ignorable.

The new mix changes my sense of perspective as a listener. It makes the sound so much more intimate, like Westerberg is singing and playing directly into my ear. There was always something detached and cooler-than-thou about the Replacements, and while that may have been one of their many achilles heels as far as appealing to a wider audience, it’s a huge part of their charm for people who like them. That sense is gone from this new mix. It’s like the band is trying… you can hear the effort and the feeling in Westerberg’s voice, and you can hear how much technicality was in the rest of the band’s playing, too. It’s great in some respects, but it feels kind of wrong to me.

Aside from the general sound of the mix, I have a few other nits to pick too. The Pitchfork review gushes about how “Little Mascara” extends for a full extra minute, making room for a Bob Stinson guitar solo on the outro that was trimmed from the final version of Tim. Tim is the last Replacements record Bob played on, though he only lent leads to a handful of tracks. The thing is, though, I don’t think his leads on the album are that good. I love his playing on the earlier albums, but they sound out of sync with the songs on Tim, lacking the sense of reckless abandon that made his earlier leads so great… he’s clearly aiming for a more precise playing style here, and that along with the harsher glare of the clearer studio production highlights their awkwardness. Aside from laying Bob’s faults more bare, I think Ed Stasium’s mix also loses some of the original’s dynamics. All of it sounds the same, and it makes me appreciate how the original mix had more of a sense of ebb and flow.

Pitchfork’s review also points out the version of “Can’t Hardly Wait” on this collection (an updated version of the previously released “Tim version” of that song, whose supposedly canonical version appeared on Pleased to Meet Me), saying it’s the single that would / should have been a hit and made the Replacements cross over to a mainstream audience. I don’t hear it, though. That version has all the pluses and minuses of the rest of Ed Stasium’s remixes, and it’s hard to imagine this super dry recording penetrating mainstream radio playlists in 1985. If there were some alternate universe where it got released in 1992 or 93, when recordings were sounding a lot more like this mix, perhaps something like that might have happened.

All that being said, some songs really benefit from this approach. “Little Mascara” sticks out for me in a way it didn’t before, and the more rocking tracks like “Dose of Thunder” and “Lay it Down Clown” get a boost from the beefier sound, channeling as they do the big gestures of classic rock. When I listen to a track like “Hold My Life,” though, I’m so transfixed by the drums, which never waver in their rhythm or dynamics, that it draws my attention away from the song’s emotional dynamics. Maybe it’s just that the new mix is more jarring on the tracks I’ve listened to more, and that effect will fade with time. It’s hard to say. It’s like watching an old movie remastered in high definition. It’s great to see and hear all kinds of new details in the background, but noticing those details pulls your attention away from what made you love it in the first place. It’s a double-edged sword.

The next time I want to hear Tim, I wonder whether I’ll go to the original version or this new mix. I honestly don’t know. There’s no telling what’s on the other side of this acclimation period, but if nothing else I’m impressed with how completely Stasium could reimagine this album. It appears these expanded reissues of the Replacements catalog are working their way through the band’s discography in reverse chronological order, so I’m curious to see if they do something with the Twin/Tone albums next.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice last two weeks. There are big things brewing here in Raleigh with the announcement of the full lineup and schedule for the Sorry State 10 Year Anniversary fest and I can’t fucking wait. It’s gonna be such a fun weekend. I’m excited to see all the bands but particularly, I’m looking forward to the midnight show at the Pour House on Friday night with Delco MF’s, The Hell, and G.U.N. all performing. It’s gonna be a wild show. I missed last week’s newsletter as I was out visiting my dad in Seattle with one of my buddies and my brother. Man, I love Washington so much. It is the most naturally beautiful place I’ve ever been to. It feels like being in a whole other country sometimes. There’s so much to do out there, especially if you like being out in nature and camping and stuff. We went out to the Hoh National Rainforest and camped out there for a night and woke up to some elk eating leaves off the branches around our campsite. We also went up to Mount Baker and had an awesome campsite right on the river and stayed up too late sippin cold ones before getting up the next morning and going for an eight-mile hike on the mountain. It was fucking awesome. I love just going on a big hike around dramatic snow-capped mountains. It feels like those scenes in Lord of the Rings when they’re just running around middle earth. If you’ve never been out towards the Pacific Northwest, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s amazing out there. Anyway, back to music now. One night while we were in the city we went out for dinner and had about a 45 minute wait. The restaurant happened to be right next to a record store (shout out to Daybreak Records) though so naturally, that’s where I killed my time. I honestly don’t really like buying records if I have to fly back, cause flying with records is one of the most stressful things. I happened to be flipping thru the bargain bin though and came across this Bob Willis 2xLP box. At $2 I couldn’t pass it up. If something happened, not a big loss but also the box it’s in is really solid, so I figured it would be fine. It was kinda a full circle moment too, cause my dad first introduced me to Bob Wills’s music a year ago when I was visiting him out there and then we came across this on this trip. This particular record is Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys For The Last Time, which, if you couldn’t tell by the name, is the last recording of Bob Wills and his original Texas Playboys and honorary Playboys (like Merle Haggard). By this point in his life, Bob had suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, which affected his speech and bound him to a wheelchair. Nonetheless, on December 3rd and 4th, 1973, Bob led his Playboys through all of his classic tunes as he had so many times before. You can tell through the recordings how much fun they were having during these final sessions with the king of western swing. It’s nice to hear some of these songs in such clear quality as a lot of his stuff was recorded in the ‘30s and ‘40s so the recordings can be a little shoddy. Bob would go on to pass away less than two years after this session, so this stands as a monumental recording. There’s a reason why there’s a Waylon Jennings song called Bob Wills is Still the King. If you don’t know, now ya know, so go get some swing in your life.

Hi Sorry State readers! Welcome back. This week is actually flying by. I had a blast over the weekend at the Hopscotch festival here in Raleigh. I was lucky to get as close as anyone could probably get to the stage for all the shows I was most excited for. The first night it was Pavement. They sounded great and played a fantastic set list. I love bands that don’t do “festival set lists” where they play like ten of their biggest songs and that’s it. Pavement played for a good 90 minutes and they played a great mix of deeper cuts and old favorites. What I did not anticipate doing was meeting one of my long time loves. The king of 90s intellectual slacker rock, so effortlessly clever, and still foxy as ever, Stephen Malkmus. Got to take a few awkward pictures with him, so that was cool. Dinosaur Jr. was also killer. They are also one of my favorite bands, and even if you aren’t into their style, any music appreciator has to give it to J Mascis on guitar. Still standing in front of nine Marshall stacks after all these years. Not sure if there are city noise laws for outdoor music or just because the show was outside, but they didn’t sound near as loud as they did at Cat’s Cradle a couple years ago. I fucked up my hearing a long time ago so and still have never worn an ear plug in my life. Maybe not smart, but I am also not of this new generation of taking care of oneself. Anyway, I had planned on doing it up this year and seeing the smaller late night shows that started at midnight, but I was so damn tired. Every ounce of my energy and enthusiasm was gone by 11:30.

Ok now let’s get on with my staff pick. It’s the JJ and the A’s S/T debut EP brought to us by the ever so cool La Vida Es Un Mus. The band is a Copenhagen/Barcelona power punk band, and we recently received this new release. So far, it’s been pretty popular among customers. Oh how I love hooky, melodic, high energy power punk. At the risk of sounding elementary, it has a lot of sounds. Imagine that. Music having sounds. You will know what I mean when you hear it. There’s a bit of everything and it doesn’t let up. Garage punk, power punk, hardcore punk, late 70s punk. The treble is dialed all the way up on this one, with low bass, a lot of distortion, fast, no frills rock and roll riffs, and a shit ton of energy. There is even a splash of synth here and there. The vocals are great. They’re threatening and sassy with some cool layered harmonies that tie it all together. The song Head in a Vat is one of my favorites. It has a really cool layered vocal harmony thing going on and the song showcases their talent for playing different styles of punk and doing it really well. My other favorites are Unnatural Disaster and Show Me, which both pack more of a hardcore punch.

The record has some really catchy hooks and melodic parts that add depth and make things fun. And speaking of fun, the record scores high on the danceability meter. There’s no way your head won’t bob and your toes won’t tap to the infectious chorus in the song Predator. Of all the tracks, that one has the strongest early 80s power punk vibe. The main riff on that track reminds me of something off the newest Rough Kids LP, which is a great record and a past staff pickj of mine! Predator and Head in a Vat both have big catchy choruses and are the most melodic songs on the EP. They are thoughtfully placed in between the more hardcore tracks, which really makes for a cohesive record. I think they nailed it with their debut! Give it a try!

Thanks so much for reading, as always! Until next time...

-Angela

Hello and thanks for reading. I’ve been following PARANOID since their debut in 2012. It’s pretty crazy they’ve been a band for over ten years already. It doesn’t feel like it was ten years ago when I was flipping through the 7”s bins at Sorry State when saw their debut 7" and bought it on a whim. This was a unique release for PARANOID, as there were a few guys playing on this debut that did not continue on with the band after. If I remember correctly, these songs were written very quickly (like in one day) with the intention of just being classic, distorted to hell Swedish käng. While there are some elements of this record that I associate with the sound of PARANOID, it is quite a bit different than what would follow. On this debut they had Åke from legends MOB 47 on guitar. They also had a mate named Nils (R.I.P.) who did the vocals at this time as well. Åke and Nils did not continue on with the band after this release. They had another mate come in, Henke, to take over Åke’s role on guitar. Soon after, Nils tragically passed away in an avalanche, and there was an unexpected break with the band. When they picked back up, Henke took on the vocal duties alongside guitar, as they did not want to just replace Nils. This line up is who we know today as PARANOID.

Destroy Future Less System EP was their follow-up to Hardcore Addict. Based on their debut, I was looking forward to this one quite a bit. I had no idea it would be such a crazy sounding EP. It was faster, even more noisy, and man, the riffs were fucking ear-catching. It had super cool artwork as well, done by Alexander Heir. It was before I feel like he was extremely popular like he has been for years now. The style felt very fresh and very punk. I think anyone who missed ‘em on their debut had their full attention after this one. Besides them elevating the speed and noise aspects of their sound, I noticed on this EP there were some very subtle elements of black metal.

I can’t remember if their split with ABSOLUT came next, or if was the modern day absolute hardcore masterpiece entitled Satyagraha.

Maybe I spoke to soon when I said Destroy Future Less System EP had everyone’s attention, cos this LP truly is a perfect record. What an amazing debut to full-length format. I remember the LP came with a CD too. I think this was a common CD you’d find in like every friend’s car player at the time cos no one really buys CDs, haha. Man, you’ve heard this LP though, right? If you haven’t, literally stop what you’re doing right now and play this at proper volume. On this LP, they really mastered the art of layering the different textures of sounds. I’m not so good with words and describing sounds, but the way they weave things in and out is unbelievably good and unique. You can definitely hear some black metal influences on this LP as well, especially the long, somber outro and the breakdowns. Again, I can’t remember if their split with ABSOLUT entitled Jawbreaking Mangel Devastation came before or after Satyagraha. At the time, this was a monumental pairing of raw, fast bands. PARANOID started off their side with a straight up black metal song, haha, I love it. It sounds insane when the full sound kicks in. It seems these songs were recorded right around the same time as Satyagraha. The sound and style are pretty much identical. It was yet another showcase of PARANOID’s insane ability.

Fuck man, I totally forgot about the Cover of the Month thing they did around this same time. Each month they would release a cover song on their YouTube channel. On their first one, they describe their intention for the covers, and where they got the inspiration from. It’s super cool they wrote the story behind each song upon the upload as well. You can tell they were doing it out of passion. When they did TOTALITÄR I lost my mind. They had Poffen on guest vocals, ahhh. I don’t think they ever planned to actually release these physically, but I know they made some tapes. It was super cool Svart did an LP pressing a bit later. I bet the licensing on that was a pain in the ass.

Before 2015 was over, they released my all-time favorite record Punkdemonium Hell. I love the record cover so much too, easily my favorite artwork on a PARANOID record. The first track is fucking insane. The speed and chaotic riffs are pushed to the ultimate maximum. The second song is an absolute pit opener. They use that phaser effect on the guitar on this one break. It’s cheesy and perfect. Fuck, I love it. I remember listening to the flexi when I first got it, and after this song there is the sound of a needle dragging. So of course, I frantically stood up only to discover the flexi playing perfect and another ripping song just started to kick in. I thought that was a nice touch. Modern made flexis usually play like shit, and a needle skipping would be some shit that would totally happen. If I remember right, there is a proper 7" version that came out soon after that featured a DISCLOSE track as a bonus.

I won’t keep talking about the discography of PARANOID for two reasons. One, it’s a lot longer, haha. And two, this is where my listening really falls off, more or less. I think Praise No Deity was the next proper record they did after Punkdemonium Hell. I don’t think the record is bad by any means at all, but I was startled at first to hear the change in sound on the first two songs. They were pulled back in a way I hadn’t heard them do yet and sounded more metal. That sounds a bit weird to say cos they already obviously had metal influences, but this take was a bit different than before. The last song sounded like the PARANOID I had grown to love, but I could hear something else growing in their song writing. The LPs that followed drifted more and more away from noise and chaos and more towards metal and like, structure, haha. While I don’t listen to those LPs often, they each have something for me to enjoy. Some of them took me a few listens, but since I loved them so much from the beginning, I always wanted to hear what they were feeling next even if it’s not something I would naturally gravitate towards.

When I heard about S.C.U.M. initially, it was described as being in the style of their roots, so I was very curious and excited to check this one out. I saw Jocke was credited as the songwriter for these songs. I could be mistaken, but I don’t think I’ve seen PARANOID do a lot crediting like that. But of course, I was even more interested, as I know Jocke was the predominant songwriter on the records I enjoyed the most. Even though it was available digitally for me to stream, I still waiting to blast this hot ass slab in the comfort of my own home. Before I listened, I checked out all the artwork, haha. It seemed from the artwork alone they were letting me know what the sound would be like. And yes, instantly I hear much of the old PARANOID sound; speed, noise, and of course, elements of black metal. It was a pleasure to blast this one. If you are one of the listeners who tuned out after 2015, I would tune back in. I’m sure everyone reading this is familiar with PARANOID, but the noise may not be for everyone. If you do like the noise, and you don’t know ELECTRIC FUNERAL, I would check that shit out ASAP. This band was Jocke’s solo project before PARANOID. You can hear obvious similarities with PARANOID here. And of course, both band names are referencing BLACK SABBATH... Alright that’s it for today then, thanks for reading everyone. Check out the new PARANOID LP and grab a limited copy from us before it’s too late! Cheers!

Hey there everyone! Thanks for clicking on our newsletter and taking a read. We hope you are doing well and are getting excited about all the cool stuff going on in the world of music and particularly here at SSR. We have so many brilliant things to share with you. New releases, re-releases and, of course, the Sorry State Festival coming up next month. That will be upon us before we know it and will be a weekend to remember. Check all the details elsewhere here in the newsletter and get your tickets and travel plans sorted.

Talking about travel plans, I am on the verge of leaving for my trip back to the UK and I am a mix of anxious nerves and excitement. It’s been ten years since I was home, and in the meantime I have barely left Raleigh or NC, let alone the country. My head is spinning. I’ll be back for SSR Fest, though. While away, I’ll miss the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival and the Bluegrass Festival here in town but was fortunate to be here for this past weekend’s Hopscotch Festival, which was an absolute blast. Kudos to all involved in making this little fest such a success. As with any festival, you don’t always get to see everyone you want to, but you often end up seeing something that you weren’t familiar with that blows you away. On the latter point, I was so glad that I caught spiritual free jazz group Irreversible Entanglements. They were amazing and we should be stocking their new record very soon.

I had to man the fort here at the shop whilst ESG played, but Daniel went along to represent Sorry State and reported back how good they were. The classic hip-hop element was very strong this year with Digable Planets, Kool Keith, Denzel Curry and Prince Paul all performing. On the country music side of things, I caught a little of Margo Price’s set. She’s one of the fewer new country artists that I have followed, and it was cool seeing her live. Tight, pro band backing her too. However, for me, the highlight of the weekend was having my wig blown off by the sheer volume and power of Dinosaur Jr. They were magnificent, and I loved every second of their killer set. Next to My Bloody Valentine, the loudest group I have witnessed. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen them a few times over the years, as well as some of the J. Mascis solo projects and collaborations, and although I won’t front and say I am a super fan, I will say that Dinosaur Jr. were one of the new breed of American bands that I got into when I began spending more time this side of the pond in the late 80s. Them and Fugazi were door openers to a whole new world to me at the time. The UK scene was a little flat around that time, with shoegaze just beginning and Britpop a few years away. Everything coming out of the US, rock and hip-hop, seemed much more interesting. To my ears anyway.

Dinosaur Jr. don’t require any deep dive from me here as I am sure you are fans or at least familiar with them, but I will say that it was beyond dope seeing them again and they played a lot of the “hits,” including finishing their set with their version of The Cure’s Just Like Heaven, one of my favorite covers even with the sudden ending. A tough record to DJ if you aren’t ready. I still have my 12” of that song, which was a hit back in the UK when released, and it came with a cool etched B-side. Worth noting about the show was the equipment set up. Gear heads will know more about it than I do, but I believe J was playing through four Marshall stacks with vintage heads and was even using a twin reverb at ear level for a monitor. It was loud, but in an awesome way. For the exact set up, I’ll refer you to Jeff or our good friend Mike, who were both there and know all about this type of stuff. It was impressive, that’s all I can say.

All told, a fun but busy and hectic weekend, which also included a little bit of festival magic for me. I ran into friends I hadn’t seen in years, and we got to hang out and that really capped the weekend off. Good times.

Not exactly a “staff pick” this week, but I hope that you’ll forgive me. My mind is overflowing with way too much stuff right now. If nothing else, maybe I’ll inspire one of you to pull out an old Dinosaur Jr. record and give it a blast.

Cheers everyone – Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Yet another week has breezed right past me. What even happened? Oh, I guess I went to Hopscotch here in Raleigh this past weekend. I was lucky that Daniel got hooked up with a few extra wristbands for the festival. So, I thought, why would I not go see Dinosaur Jr. for free? I thought they sounded really great. J Mascis at one point at the end of their set said, “Anything you guys want us to play?” I yelled out, “Lou’s Anxiety Song!” I don’t think they thought it was very funny haha. For some reason, I also went to see Cro-Mags at Slim’s, a tiny little dive bar here in Raleigh. Paranoid Maniac totally RIPPED, and besides that, I don’t really have much positive to say about my experience that night.

In other news, we have announced the finalized lineup for the Sorry State 10th Anniversary Weekend! As well as all the venues where the 4 shows will take place. I’m so excited. By the time this newsletter goes out, I’m pretty sure the pre-sale tickets for individual shows will be up for sale on our webstore. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW. It’s a no-brainer. Let’s rage.

Alright, staff pick time. So, we just got in a stack of these Tiikeri 7”s. How appropriate that I decided to wear the one pale yellow shirt I own when talking about this pale yellow 7” sleeve. As some of you know, I first discovered Tiikeri with their LP Punk Rock Pamaus!!! that came out earlier this year. I already wrote about them in my staff pick from a few months ago. But am I gonna talk about them again? OF COURSE. Sorry, not sorry. This 3-song single originally came out in 2021 and was self-released by the band. But thankfully, the always impeccable Tom over at General Speech just released a beautiful reissue. Aaaand… he’s already sold out too! But Sorry State still has copies! I guess it just goes to show you, there’s something about Tiikeri that’s connecting with all of us punks out there. What can I say, dude? This band is just too infectious. Maybe it’s because we’re all living in a world that happens to be in a particularly bleak state of affairs, and instead of having a stark black & white cover and just being “heavy”, a light-hearted, melodic, and (dare I say?) “fun” punk record coming out is a well-deserved breath of fresh air.

I’m pretty sure all 3 of the songs on this 7” are also on the LP from a few months back. But again, this single first came out in 2021 and I’m almost certain it’s a different recording session. And even though I love the LP, I think I prefer the sound of this single. Even as bubblegum poppy as the songwriting is, the sound is just a bit more raw and gritty. The title track “Punk On Rakkaus” which means “punk is love” (aaaww) is the A-side—and when I say this is a “single,” you should see this thing! On the A-side, the actual grooves for the song are so small, and there’s so much dead wax after the track ends that it’s comical. Almost like they took those LA punk 12” singles I always joke about, and then shrunk it down to miniature size. It’s awesome. Tiikeri’s music, to my ears and as described by General Speech, is like a love letter to late 70s Finnish KBD-style punk and classic punk in general. I feel like Tiikeri’s connecting with that idea resonated with me more after experiencing the band’s presentation on the 7” format. The sleeve is a folded in such a way that instantly reminds of me of old Finnish punk EPs that I’ve literally held in my hands. The band has such a strength for replicating a vintage punk feeling with authenticity.

Okay, but now we’ve gotta talk about the artwork. I can’t help it. As a record nerd, the packaging grabs my attention. On the original pressing, it looks like the band hand-drew the layout for center labels over blank white labels. It’s a big-hole 7”, and Tom took that design and beautifully replicated the hand-drawn aesthetic as a printed label. It looks so great. The word “tiikeri” in Finnish translates to “tiger” in English. And they have a fuckin’ mascot. A little cartoon punk tiger with a studded bracelet. I mean “punk is love”? The layout is smattered with anarchy “A’s” inside of hearts. This record also includes a 16-page booklet, and every page is loaded with goofy and rad cut’n’paste/photocopy eye candy. There’s this one page inside the booklet that’s like a game: There’s a crude drawing of Sid Vicious in his underwear, and there’s and outfit that’s made to look like it’s taped to the page, but you can cut out the clothes and dress him. Let’s see, what else? We’ve got cartoon mice with safety pins through their ears, politicians with vampire fangs, punk crossword puzzles… I really wish I could read Finnish, because so much of the content of the booklet is handwritten text. Maybe I’ll venture to translate it one day. The advertisement for this record on the promo poster says “do you suffer from pogo-less leg syndrome?”, implying that this record will be the remedy you need. I mean, these Finnish dudes are just having a laugh really. And yet, you get this feeling that it’s also a labor of love—so where does the joke end and the passion project begin? It’s a fine line.

Punk is love, baby. Get you some Tiikeri in your life. It’ll brighten your day, I’m sure of it.

Is that all I’ve got? I guess so. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Ian Glasper: Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans book (2023, PM Press)

As a decades-long fan of the Subhumans, I was super excited when I heard the band was getting an official biography. They’re one of my favorite groups ever, and while I know their music very well, I didn’t know much about the Subhumans’ history and backstory. Weighing in at nearly 600 pages, Ian Glasper’s monster tome offers a treasure trove of information. Maybe it’s a fans-only affair, but Subhumans fans like me—and I know there are many—will love it.

I first heard Subhumans when I was a teenager in the mid-90s. A pen pal included a couple of songs from The Day the Country Died on a mix tape and I loved them, their subtle tunefulness standing out from the gnarlier sounds from most of the other bands on the tape. I don’t think I found any of the Subhumans’ records until I saw their first reunion tour in 1998, when I picked up The Day the Country Died at the gig. That show was incredible, and it left a big mark on me. As I picked up the band’s other records in subsequent years, my love for them only deepened. As much as I loved The Day the Country Died, the way they leaned into their adventurous side without compromising the punk intensity was also very important to me, showing me you could be ambitious and follow your own path without compromising your principles.

I developed that understanding of the Subhumans almost exclusively through listening to their music, but Silence Is No Reaction confirms Subhumans are the good guys I thought they were. The book goes into the nuts and bolts of how the band functioned (and continues to function!) on an almost day-to-day basis, walking us through their decision-making at every stage of their development. You learn all about how they formed, signed to Spiderleg, started the Bluurg Records label, why they chose the recording studios they used, the sequencing, creating the artwork… everything. If you’ve ever read a music biography and thought to yourself, “I can’t believe they glossed over x,” this is not that book.

That can be for better or for worse. The book can get a little tedious, for instance, as it traces each of the band’s tours (particularly during their reformed era, when the members lived in different countries and did little as a band aside from tour). Ian Glasper has written several books on 80s UK punk, and if you’ve read Burning Britain (his book on UK82), The Day the Country Died (anarcho punk), or any of his others, you know what you’re getting into. I love it, but I am also a full-on nerd who does things like listen to 3-hour-plus episodes of the You Don’t Know Mojack podcast about SST Records releases I have never heard and will never hear. I want to know it all, and Silence Is No Reaction delivers.

Silence Is No Reaction is also packed with photos and scans of flyers, lyric sheets, set lists, press clippings, and other artifacts. Every third or fourth page is filled with images, and while the heroic live shots are cool, I love the candid shots of the band just hanging out. Sometimes they might be out of focus or awkwardly composed, but many of them are so evocative of their time and place, offering windows into worlds that seem so different from my experiences. Reading the book made me feel embedded in the band’s world, and its intimacy made me feel even more connected to a band I already counted as one of my favorites. I also felt that connection when I browsed the detailed listing of of the band’s gigs, which not only lists the dates and cities, but usually the venue, opening bands, and number of attendees as well. Of course, the first thing I did was look up the gigs I saw, remembering who played, who I went with, and everything else that comes flooding back. The book makes me feel like those aren’t just my isolated memories, they’re times I shared with the Subhumans and all their other fans.

We had some copies of Silence Is No Reaction in stock at Sorry State, but we’re sold out at the moment. I’ll do my best to get a restock in soon!