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What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope you all have had a nice week. If you happen to be in Raleigh this weekend, don’t miss out on the killer show at Slims on Saturday night: Woodstock 99 joined by Raleigh’s very own Scarecrow and Meat House. It’s gonna be a doozy! This week I’d like to talk about a tape that came out last year but was just recently released for the first time on vinyl, Ambush by Personal Damage. This is the second release from the LA based band and it doesn’t disappoint. Me and Dominic gave this a listen at the store and both immediately became big fans of it and snagged a copy each. Like the record itself, my review for this is gonna be short and sweet. Clocking in at just under eight minutes, this puppy packs a mean punch, and it’s all gas no brakes from start to finish. It’s got a rough, yet clean sound to it and I like how clearly the vocals come through and how catchy it is. I really like the opening title track as it starts the record off with a bang, but what really hooked me was the sick cover of Peter Tosh’s Stepping Razor that closes out the record. I didn’t even know that song could sound like this. I’m looking forward to what Personal Damage releases in the future. If you like punk at ripping speeds that’ll get stuck in your head, this one’s for you. Snag a copy while you can and don’t miss out!

Hi Sorry State friends! Hope all is well with you. Things are good on my end. Super excited for Fall, the best time of the year! The weather here in Raleigh has been beautiful this week. You never know, it could be 89 degrees next week, so I’m enjoying the current weather while it’s here. Ok let’s jump in to the music!

My pick this week is The Muse Ascends by Girlsperm. I’ve heard a few gSp songs here and there but never a full album. Being a huge Bikini Kill fan, I was super psyched to hear this, as riot grrrl punk legend Tobi Vail plays drums. She is joined by Marissa Magic and Layla Gibbon, who are no slouches either. The trio has great chemistry and compliment one another very well.

This album definitely has a riot grrrl sound, kind of like if Bratmobile and (Janet-era) Sleater Kinney had a baby, but it’s noisier and more musical. True to form, gSp has the loud bratty vocals that sound like a cheerleader who will burn your house down after the game. However, there is a great interplay of vocal styles between band members if you need a break from being screamed at. A perfect example of this is the fifth track, Not Natural. It’s got this haunting feel to it like they’re casting a spell. It’s not nearly as fast, but still noisy as hell.

Sugarcide is a big standout for me, and it’s the perfect second side opener. Tracks like this really tie in well with the faster and more chaotic songs on the album. You will recognize a familiar sound right away, or you should. It’s the keyboard part of the 1969 hit Sugar, Sugar by The Archie’s. You know the song, right? It goes something like “sugar (do-do-do-do-do-do), ah honey, honey (do-do-do-do-do-do). It’s an infectious groove no doubt, so gSp puts their own twist on the do-do-do part and created a new song around it. It sounds really cool with an interesting mix of sounds.

What Do I Do With My Guitar is probably my other favorite song on the album. Such a great mix of “talk and sing” style vocals with Tobi’s pounding, perfectly timed drums all leading up to the bridge, which is the catchiest part. If I could choose one song to represent the album, this one would be it.

I’ve talked a lot about the vocals, but I think they use their vocals very creatively, as they weave in styles reminiscent of Pixies or the Breeders. It provides some great dimension. Most of the time, the guitar is really high-pitched and twangy, creating a really unique sound that becomes the focal point of the album. The whole record has a very amped up retro surfer rock vibe. Picture Tobi Vail playing a gig at a beach party that they get kicked out of two songs in.

Now don’t be alarmed that the album has a million tracks, as almost all of them hover around one minute. Anyway, give it a try! We have a few left in stock! The Bandcamp album is linked below for your enjoyment.

Thanks for reading! Until next time..

-Angela

https://thrillingliving.bandcamp.com/album/the-muse-ascends

POHJASAKKA!!!!! I was trying to think of the last time I was this excited about a reissue. At first I thought it was when Svart Records did PYHÄKOULU. Surprise, both bands are from Finland. But how could I forget... the recent Portland Edition Kings of Punk reissue! Everyone and their mother had been dying for that to be done again. While we are sold out of our copies of Kings of Punk, we just restocked the PYHÄKOULU compilation from Svart. I raved about this compilation when we initially stocked it, and I am excited it is back in print! This time on red vinyl. If you missed it the first time, now is your chance.

I can’t remember how I first heard POHJASAKKA, but it’s a safe bet I first heard em on the Killed By Finnish Hardcore compilation. I remember they quickly became one of my favorite bands, alongside other Finnish greats like TAMPERE SS and MELLAKKA. I don’t know much about POHJASAKKA aside that they were from a town called Rauma, and they shared one member with MELLAKKA (who was also from Rauma) named Pete. He joined MELLAKKA for the second EP on vocal duties. Originally in POHJASAKKA he played bass, but on their second release he’s on the drums. It looks like he’s got song-writing credits on the second record, but I’m not 100% since I don’t speak Finnish haha.

POHJASAKKA really caught my ear initially cos they play pretty straight-forward, raw (in the literal sense) hardcore, but every now and again they throw in this super catchy melodic shit. It really hits the spot for me. On their first record, it’s Sortoa Ja Vihaa. God damn. I don’t think I’d typically like a song like this, but in the midst of the complete EP it just sounds so damn good. On their recently reissued record, Kidutusta Ja Pelkoa, they lean more into those mid-tempo parts than they did on their debut. Now I say reissued “record,” but originally this was only released on cassette. So I think it’s a pretty big deal it’s finally available on vinyl the way it was originally intended. I’m not sure why the record never happened originally… maybe the band broke up? Or maybe they were just broke, haha. This release was actually reissued already almost a decade ago on cassette by Aftermath Tapes. I think they did a great job on the tape, but there is nothing like having it on vinyl. The Finnish Hardcore label did an excellent job with this reissue, as always, and I can’t wait to see what comes next! I think this record deserves a place in every record collection, so grab one while you can. Cheers and thanks for reading!

Greetings Sorry Staters. Thanks for clicking on the ol’ newsletter. I hope things in your lives are good or as well as can be. Difficult times for a lot of us, I know. Hopefully little distractions like music, film, books, sport etc. can help you get through your day as they do me. Lots of great stuff in all those departments. I’ve got too much music to listen to, too many films and TV shows to watch, too many books and articles to read, football matches to watch, and the list goes on. I’m sure you know what I mean. The perils of modern living and consumer culture.

So, this week I am behind deadline for the newsletter and trying to write this in the store as quickly as I can, but believe it or not we don’t sit around here all day playing records and eating bon-bons and are typically busy most of the time. Therefore, this one is going to be a short and (hopefully) sweet one from me.

The record that I would encourage you all to buy this week if you haven’t done so already is the 7” vinyl pressing of the previously released cassette of Personal Damage’s Ambush. We have had their demo here at the store on cassette and then the flexi disc pressing of that tape. The Ambush tape followed, and now for all of those that missed out on that there is a vinyl release. Check out what we had to say about the band here.

I think Daniel pretty much nailed it with that description. An L.A. punk band with a more classic 70s and 80s sound. More melodic, still driving but with a slower pace and with vocals clearly in the mix. This is the type of punk that I am drawn to and when John Scott was giving the 45 a rinse here in the store, my ears pricked up immediately. I feel like an idiot for not paying close enough attention to the cassette when we first got it, but having a vinyl release was a good call and I made sure I grabbed myself a copy. I can’t tell you much about the band and who does what, but they make a good noise. The sort of timeless, almost classic punk sound that could have come out in any one of several decades. Extra points are awarded for their choice of a cover of Peter Tosh’s Steppin’ Razor, which they handle nicely and might not have fared so well in lesser hands. Who doesn’t love a punky reggae party?

I also like the gang like backing vocals from the rest of the band. They add that classic touch to proceedings I feel. Favorite track(s) other than the Tosh cover are Prison Box and Shut Your Mouth (Close Your Mind). Take a listen and grab yourself a copy.

Lastly, as we were talking about reggae music with the cover of Steppin’ Razor, we have been picking up some good bits and bobs reggae and ska wise here at the store. Some heat for sure but also lots of good but not expensive records. Whilst sorting through some boxes of stuff designated for the bargain bin, I spied a late 80s album by Jamaican singer Owen Grey. He has been making records since the early sixties and had hits in the R & B, Ska, Rocksteady and Reggae styles. His heyday was the early sixties, so this record called Let’s Make A Deal from 1988 certainly isn’t considered from his golden era and I wasn’t expecting it to be great, especially as the production was mostly digital. Not that I am opposed to the digital era in reggae music, far from it. I developed a taste for that period from when I worked on the cruise ships in the late 80s and early 90s and my Jamaican cabin mates would be playing a lot of it. Anyway, this record isn’t that great to be honest, although not faulting the vocal performances from Grey. He still had his great voice intact, but there is a reason why this record averages around $5 on Discogs. The first side isn’t that exciting, and most of the second isn’t either, but there are two songs that I kind of like and so make owning the record worthwhile. On the songs called Members Only and Tick Tock they lean into the digital production fully and on these two songs end up with something cool. At least I think so. I’d link you to the songs if they were available, but sadly not right now. Find yourself a copy or come round my gaff one day and I’ll spin them for you. Not sure what else to say other than it always pays to check the bargain bins and to always make sure you flip the record and check the other side, even if the first side didn’t grab you.

Okay, that’s me done. Check out Personal Damage and have fun listening to your records.

Cheers and catch you next time - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

As I mentioned earlier this month, for me, October is all about trying to binge as many horror movies as possible. The other night, I went to go hang with my buddy Alex, whose VHS collection would make the selection at a 90s video rental store look like it had slim pickins. We decided to watch 2 movies: The 1988 remake of The Blob and the 1989 Brian Yuzna classic Society.

Both of these flicks have fantastic slime and gore practical effects. While I had seen the classic 50s film The Blob, I had never seen the 80s remake. Alex pitched it to me as being not unlike John Carpenter’s treatment of The Thing. I definitely enjoyed it. Gross, gelatinous fun all the way through. Now, Society I had seen before. It had been a number of years, but what I’d forgotten is that the movie is kind of a slow burn that all builds to the amazing payoff in the final scene. For those of you that have never seen Society, I’m going to try my best not to spoil the big reveal at the end of the movie. But just expect a gooey and gorgeous finale.

Not unlike Society, this has all been a long build up to get to my point in writing this staff pick. Society is truly a glowing example of practical effects in body horror. More importantly, along with his work on many of Yuzna’s other films, the special effects were done by Screaming Mad George! I’m sure many horror fans are aware of Screaming Mad George’s effects work. Some punkers out there may think his career didn’t move far beyond his playing in the seminal KBD band The Mad. Screaming Mad George has done work on one of the Nightmare On Elm St movies (one of my personal favorite franchises), Bride of Re-Animator, and even Predator, among many other genre film bangers. George seems like a true freak and I love it. I was chatting with a friend online the other night after watching Society and she told me about Screaming Mad George’s 90s goth project. She sent me the music video… not as good as Society to say the least. I joked that I wonder if there are people out in the world who ride for 90s goth Screaming Mad George and don’t care about The Mad at all. I guess it’s possible haha.

Anyway, check out these 2 movies, they’re both pretty fun watches. Also, couldn’t hurt to work your way through Screaming Mad George’s IMDB page.

Expect more spooky content next week ;) As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Rachel Aviv: Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us book (2022, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Apologies to the punk fiends this week, because my staff pick has nothing to do with punk rock. However, I always tell SSR’s staffers they can write about what they want, and my process for choosing a staff pick is usually just to take a moment to reflect on what moved me during the past week and go from there. Strangers to Ourselves is the best book I’ve read in a while, so I thought I’d share. Plus, I know there are a handful of folks out there with interests in both punk and psychology (like Angela here at Sorry State and Red who sings for my band Scarecrow), so maybe some people will learn about this book here and enjoy it. Or maybe I’m just writing to the void. That’s OK too.

I don’t have a background in academic psychology, but I kept coming across glowing reviews of Strangers to Ourselves in publications I trust like The Atlantic and The New York Times. I’ve also been craving human stories in my reading… I want to know about people, to hear their stories and their wisdom, and the case study format of this book seemed like a good fit for what I’ve been looking for. Further, I have my own experiences with mental illness and the world of mental health treatment, so I have some connection with the book’s topic. I gave it a try and downloaded the ebook, which I found difficult to put down once I’d started.

Strangers to Ourselves is centered on four cases studies that detail their subjects’ encounters with the mental health industrial complex. Right off the bat, this approach puts Aviv at odds with the direction psychology has been headed over the past several decades. Throughout the first three-quarters of the twentieth century, psychology was steeped in Freud’s thought, viewing mental health as highly individual, and treatment for mental health disorders involved understanding an individual’s experience through a painstaking process of one-on-one psychoanalysis. This approach fell out of favor in the latter decades of the 20th century as a new generation of psychologists attempted to bring the rigor of the natural sciences to their discipline. This change in approach gave birth to the idea of randomized clinical trials, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and (most significantly for patients) the embrace of pharmacology, or treating mental disorders with drugs. These changes were not only significant to the working lives of psychologists and psychiatrists, they upended and changed the ways our culture thinks of mental health and the kinds of treatments people receive when they experience mental health challenges and crises.

While the case study approach has fallen out of favor as an academic tool, it makes for great reading as Aviv delves into her four subjects’ stories (as well as her own story of being (mis-?) diagnosed with anorexia as a very young child). Her subjects’ stories are rich, exhibiting the complexity and mutability of human experience. They are genuinely touching, and at its core that’s why I couldn’t put the book down.

The idea of “insight” is key to each of the four case studies, and the idea gives the book its narrative arc. On the surface, “insight” refers to a patient’s understanding of their own condition. However, we see the way psychologists understand their patients’ conditions undergo an almost total 180 over the course of the book, which calls into question the entire premise of “insight.” The book’s first case study illustrates this most clearly. The subject is a depressed middle-aged man, a successful business owner whose condition doesn’t seem warranted by his material circumstances. The place he seeks treatment (this is all happening in the late 70s) is one of the last remaining holdovers of the older, Freudian approach to psychology. The therapists there basically tell the guy to get over it, and he doesn’t respond well to this treatment. The doctors note that he doesn’t have insight into his condition. When he later seeks treatment at a more modern facility and starts including pharmaceuticals as part of his treatment plan, he makes immediate and substantial progress.

The next two case studies are interesting because their subjects exhibit a kind of insight, but not the type of insight that psychologists value or expect to see. A woman in India experiences a religious awakening that her family processes as a mental health crisis, and the conflict between those two ways of seeing her experience has a profound impact on the lives of everyone in the family. The woman has a kind of insight—in fact, the people around her view her as a literal saint later in life, once she and her family find some measure of peace and stability—but that insight has nothing to do with our models of good mental health. It’s easy to see how history’s most prominent religious figures would have been viewed as psychotics by today’s rubrics. The third case study looks at a black woman who experiences what I’d call delusions, but she has profound insight into how race frames the way psychologists and the justice system see her. Of course, this isn’t the type of insight those parties are looking for, but I’m thankful Aviv’s approach allows us to benefit from it.

The last case study was particularly interesting to me because I saw so much of myself in it. This study follows a high-achieving young woman whose life is ripped apart when she receives treatment while a student at Harvard. She is very smart, and adept at showing the type of insight her caregivers are looking for. When a doctor diagnoses her with a condition, she adopts that diagnosis as gospel truth and sees herself through that diagnostic lens. And because she appears to fit diagnostic criteria so well, she is prescribed a litany of drugs to manage her lifestyle and keep her meeting those high expectations. She is the mirror image of the first case study, whose subject just needed someone to diagnose him with depression and give him a now-standard treatment for it. Instead, it seems like what this patient needs is for people to stop doling out drugs and to see her as a complete human being rather than a bundle of diagnostic criteria.

In the last part of the book, Aviv goes into detail about her own experience with the drug Lexapro, which I also take. This part of the book hit close to home, and it deftly exhibits how the changes in psychology that upended her subjects’ lives has also had profound, if less extreme, effects on all of us who have sought and/or received mental health treatment. I worry I’ve given too much away, but if you’ve also had experience with the world of mental health care, Strangers to Ourselves may provide you with some valuable insight. It’s certainly done that for me.

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone has been enjoying their October. This past week, me and Dominic have enjoyed listening to a lot of country and bluegrass (even more than the normal amount for us), Dom even did an awesome two hour show on The Face Radio playing all country and I heard a lot of great tracks I’d never heard before, so I recommend checking it out if that sounds like it could be up your alley. Today I’d like to talk about a record I scored a couple weeks ago, Doc and Merle Watson - Live and Pickin’, a live album recorded by the father and son duo. Actually, as I’m writing this on October 13th, I just looked at the date on the back of the cover and noticed it was recorded on October 11th - 13th, 1978. Sometimes things just work out. Doc Watson was born in 1923 in Deep Gap, North Carolina, a small unincorporated community up in the mountains in Watauga County. Before his second birthday, an eye infection caused him to lose his vision. When he was old enough to go to school, he started attending the Governor Morehead School For The Blind right here in Raleigh, located just a few minutes from us here at Sorry State. The story of how Doc got his first guitar is about as classic as it gets. His dad told him if he and his brother cut down the dead chestnut trees lining their field, he could sell the wood to a local tannery. With the money he earned from this, Doc bought his first guitar, a Sears Silvertone. He was a natural talent and could often be found on local street corners playing songs and singing. In 1949, he and his wife welcomed their first son, Merle. By 1953, he was a part of a country and Western swing band playing electric guitar. The band lacked a fiddle player, so Doc taught himself to play fiddle tunes on his electric guitar. He then started playing acoustic guitar and eventually, in 1960, began playing acoustic and banjo exclusively. In 1964, he released his first solo album and started touring with his son, Merle. By 1974, Doc, Merle, and T. Michael Coleman started touring globally as a trio and recorded nearly 15 albums between then and 1985. Unfortunately, the same year, Merle Watson passed away in a tractor accident on their family farm. In 1988, MerleFest, an annual music festival held in Wilkesboro, NC, was founded in honor of Doc’s late son and still continues to attract lovers of folk and bluegrass music to this day, drawing in 70,000 fans annually to the festival. Doc continued to tour and perform up until he passed away in 2012. With all that being said, that finally brings me to the album I picked out today. I just wanted to give a little history on the duo behind the record. This is a great live album with some fun banter in between tracks, like after the second track, a great cover of Milk Cow Blues, someone in the crowd starts hootin and hollerin, which is greeted with a “I remember my first beer too buddy” from Doc. I really like the first track too, Dig a Little Deeper In The Well. Sometimes when the going gets tough, you just gotta dig a little deeper in the well and keep going till you reach that cool, fresh water. My favorite song on here though is probably the fourth track, Memories Of You Dear. I love a good sad bluegrass song that still somehow sounds upbeat. Doc and Merle Watson are true North Carolina legends in every sense of the word and the spirit of their music still continues on today with artists like Billy Strings performing ripping covers of their songs. If you’re from North Carolina and never given this music a real listen, I recommend you give it a try. When I’m listening to some Doc on my walks around town, it’s cool to think he was probably pickin’ and singing a lot of these songs in the very same places I’m walking. In the words of Billy Strings often said after he performs a cover of one of his tracks “Thank You Doc Watson”.

Hi again Sorry State friends! How are you? Last week was the first staff pick I missed since I started working here! I was in DC watching one of my old favorites, Pavement, play a killer show that was full of jaw dropping “I can’t believe they’re playing this!” moments. It was so much fun. I’ve gone crazy seeing as many shows as I could in the last two years. It’s just been pure gluttony.

Thankfully, there are some sick local shows coming up. Namely the Woodstock 99, Scarecrow, and Meathouse gig in Raleigh on the 22nd! Super stoked for that one.

So last week I would’ve written about Sniffany and the Nits, which sold out super fast for good reason. But that was last week and today is today, and my pick for this week is Indre Krig’s Destroyer EP. I was just turned on to this K-town hardcore band recently by my colleagues, who played with them during their European tour. So when we got their EP, I popped it right on. As the first 20 seconds filled the room, I liked it right away, and I expressed this with many unsophisticated words of affirmation like “yeah… oh yeah… yep… mmm hmm.” I’ve easily played it more than a dozen times this week.

This is some in your face, short and sweet speedy hardcore punk from Denmark. I’m still working it out with myself, but I’m also getting a hint of something else in their style. I think that “something else” is a 90s era PNW kind of sound. Like a speedier 7 Year Bitch, if you will. Whatever it is, it makes me like it even more.

It’s hardcore, so it’s obviously gonna be loud and fast, but they’re also mindful about changing up the pace, and making the very most of the time they’ve got from start to finish. I love the low slung crunchy bass, which is especially apparent on Pinball Eyes, my favorite track. I don’t even know if I can call it the bridge because that’s hard for me to discern when a song is so short, but the guitar riff, drum beat, and vocals that quickly follow in the last 20 seconds or so of this track is so killer. Other standouts are Loudhead and Destroyer. To be honest, every song is pretty much as good as the next.

And who doesn’t love a six track EP that clocks in about 10 minutes, but that doesn’t short change you at all? That’s what you’re getting with this one. Even down to the packaging, this is a well-done piece of wax. Grab one! You won’t be disappointed.

Take a listen below!

See ya next week! Thanks for reading!

-Angela

https://indrekrig.bandcamp.com/album/destroyer

I feel like I am fairly easy to please when it comes to hardcore, but I am also stubborn as hell. If a band’s formula includes too much, I probably won’t like it, unfortunately. I think this is why I don’t tend to like bands playing a contemporary hardcore style. I usually hate breakdowns. I think what I might dislike the most is when a band busts out the “pogo part.” Don’t get me wrong though, every now and again there is a band who does this but they execute it with extreme hardcore precision, and it rocks my world. INDRE KRIG is one of these bands. They caught my ear with their demo cassette in 2021 and I’ve been anticipating a follow-up since. SCARECROW was lucky enough to play with them in Copenhagen, and they were fucking amazing. Locked tight, with a powerful intensity. They were easily one of the best bands I’ve seen this year. After we returned from the tour I saw some buzz about an upcoming EP, which we finally have in stock! INDRE KRIG’s live energy was perfectly translated onto this hot ass slab. I think it’s a brilliant mix. The guitars are fucking blazing loud, but everything is still clearly heard. I really like the bass tone on this one too. I don’t really hear much distortion, and I really appreciate that. I feel like 99% of bands these days distort the bass to hell. When I listen to old records, like 99% of the time, the bass has a pretty clean tone. The bass on this EP is nice and warm, carrying along the riffs below the super bright guitars. The drums aren’t the loudest thing on this recording, but they are still perfectly audible. I’m not sure how available this EP is right now? I haven’t looked into it much. If you miss copies from us, you can jam it here in the meantime and hang on tight for the US press from Beach Impediment. Alright that is all for today, thanks for reading and thanks to everyone for the support!

Howdy Sorry Staters! Thanks for clicking on our newsletter. As always, we appreciate it. Daniel works super hard to make sure we give you plenty of cool stuff to read and look at each week. He really is a beast the way he cranks out his workload and always writes from the heart and honestly about the bands and records we are championing. Give him a slap on the back, buy him a drink or just say thank you next time you see him or talk to him. He deserves it.

I’m just super grateful to be a part of the Sorry State world and can say that working here has been a lifesaver. Music is my salvation and I love nothing more than being around records and music people. My health, wealth and personal life might be a shambles, but working with such cool and talented people here along with our interactions with our friends and customers gets me through the day. You can’t beat being around great music all day and putting records into the hands of those that appreciate them is such a reward. Truly.

Being a music evangelist, enthusiast, record nerd, DJ and keeper of random trivia, there is no other place for me than a record store. I’ve been fortunate enough to work at some good ones over the years, but with all due respect to all the great stores out there past and present, Sorry State is number one in my heart. Lol.

When not in the store slinging vinyl, I do still occasionally get out and do some DJ work. Not as much these days since the pandemic, but hopefully moving forward there will be more opportunities. A gig came up last week that I was happy to do, and which was a lot of fun. It was a fundraiser for Democratic North Carolina Senate candidate Cheri Beasley in the form of a dance party which took place after the televised debate she had with her opponent. Hosted by the good folks at Hummingbird at their event space, it was a great success and I felt good supporting and being a part of the night. I was one of three DJs for the night and had the honor of being behind the decks when Cheri Beasley arrived and had a little dance. As it was a dance party, I had brought some good disco and funk bangers to spin but also brought some popular faves that I wouldn’t typically play out much due to them being so well known. This wasn’t the gig for deep cuts so much, and sure enough the tunes that got the floor filled and people dancing were the hits.

One such record that I haven’t played out in years because we’ve all heard it a million times, but that was perfect for the night, was Ladies’ Night by Kool & The Gang. I know, I know, you are probably raising your eyebrows, but have you listened to that record in full recently? Loud? At a party? With some red wine fueling you? Lol. Well, have you? Let me tell you, it sounds great. Those horns punch magnificently. What a groove from start to finish. A big hit for a reason, along with the song Too Hot that appeared on the Ladies’ Night album released in the fall of 1979.

Kool & The Gang’s story began back in 1964 in Jersey City, New Jersey with the Bell brothers and five of their friends who formed an instrumental soul and jazz band called the Jazziacs. They changed their name a couple of times during the next few years and played mostly as backing for local and visiting vocal acts, eventually settling for Kool & The Gang in 1969, suggested by their new manager Gene Redd as an alternative to Kool & The Flames which was thought to be too close to James Brown’s Famous Flames. Gene Redd had just started his new label De-Light Records and signed Kool & The Gang and their career truly began. Their 1970 debut self-titled album was still all instrumental, but the band realized they needed to add vocals and stage presence if they were going to succeed. Over the course of the next few albums, two of which were live records, they began gaining their confidence as vocalists and songwriters. Although not disco devotees themselves, they picked up on the underground sounds becoming popular in the clubs and on their 1973 album Wild And Peaceful gave the world the song Jungle Boogie, which along with the tune Funky Stuff were big hits and hinted towards the sound of disco about to explode across the country and world.

The group continued throughout the rest of the decade, achieving a good amount of success and releasing several records. It was during this time that they cut the all-time classic Summer Madness that went on to be a popular hip-hop sample best used by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince for their mega hit Summertime. A tune so good they released it as both a studio and live version. It wasn’t all chartbusters though, and for a brief time towards the end of the decade they saw their star diminish somewhat. Perhaps the move to overtly disco sounding records and the addition of strings wasn’t the best move for them and realizing this they sought a way back to their original harder funk sound but still being appealing to a wider (and white) audience. The group did this by aligning with a new producer, Brazilian Eumir Deodato ,who helped develop the poppier side of the band by keeping the catchy hooks and danceable beat and by bringing onboard James “J.T.” Taylor as a dedicated vocalist. The first fruit of this new set up was Ladies Night, and thus launched the most successful era of the band’s career. Amazingly, this was their eleventh album. Although the group would undergo more changes over the years, by 2021 they had released a total of twenty-five albums, which included nine number one R&B hits and a pop number one with the song Celebration. Quite some feat and testament to their enduring appeal.

I’m not going to BS y’all and say I have all their records, but certainly have their 1970s records and the early to mid 1980s ones. There are bangers to be found on all of those, and I would encourage you to investigate. They don’t typically run too expensive and aren’t that tough to find. We probably have a copy of Ladies Night in our bargain bin right now.

Besides the gig this past week, I was a little busier over on The Face Radio. Before our regular show Worldy, Matt and I did what the station calls a “side hustle” show where the DJs play music not in their wheelhouse or stuff that they don’t get to spin that often. Both Matt and I love country music, so we did a whole two hours of country, western and bluegrass music. It was a lot of fun, and two hours wasn’t nearly enough time to play a fraction of the records that we both wanted to play. Despite a technical problem at the top of the show which affected the first few minutes, once we got going, I think we had a good one and perhaps you will enjoy listening if Americana and roots music is your bag.

My love of all things America and particularly the legends of the Old West has been with me all my life, and was set into stone during the two incredible tours my parents took my sister and I on back in the day. My dad, who didn’t listen to too much music, did like country music and his favorite artist was Hank Williams. When he was a young man, he sailed to America on the old Queen Mary with his brother and spent five years or so working and traveling around the States. This was in the early 1950s, when Hank Williams was at his peak of popularity, and I am sure my dad was exposed to his music and honky-tonk country during this time. His love for this period of country music was passed on to me, and I always try and pick up good records from this period when I see them. One such record that got played this past Monday on the show is one of my favorite Hank Williams albums called Honky-Tonkin’. This one has some of my all-time fave Hank tracks on it as well as sporting an awesome cover. It includes the big hit Jambalaya (On The Bayou) to start things off then goes right into I Won’t Be Home No More, Honky Tonk Blues, I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive—a song with some of the best lyrics ever—and that’s just the first side. Side two keeps going with more classics, including the immortal Mind Your Own Business. It’s almost a greatest hits record. I guess technically my copy is a 1960 repress as the original 1954 release was an eight track 10” record that was expanded to an LP with twelve tracks in 1956. I honestly prefer the cover to this version over the 1954 release, although that one is cool too, but the newer art is just a little better in my opinion.

I have a few things that my dad and I bonded over. Our love of western movies and country records were probably the biggest, and every time I hear an old Hank Williams record, I imagine my dad back in the 1950s sitting in some bar listening to the jukebox or driving on the highway dialed into the local radio station. The music entered his DNA and was passed onto me, and here I am all these years later still digging it. I picture him up in heaven honky-tonkin’ and having a good time. I almost didn’t mention any of this, but coming into work this morning, John Scott had a Hank Williams record playing, and so it confirmed my decision and I hope you’ll join us in some classic country appreciation this week.

Okay, that’s all the blah, blah, blah from me this week. Thanks for reading and as always, I hope you have fun spinning whatever record you have on your turntable. Cheers and see you next time.

Footnote: I had a beater copy of Kool & The Gang’s Wild And Peaceful in my bargain bin boxes and gave it a wash, and John Scott and I jammed out to it at the end of our shift. It looked like an ice rink but sounded great. That record is chock full of bangers. Gotta love how they made records back then.

-Dom

This week I thought I had a pretty good plan for my staff pick, but as the week wore on, my plan crumbled. However, I’m going to go with it anyway. It just won’t be as tidy as I’d envisioned.

Earlier this week we got in a nice collection of ’77-era UK punk singles at Sorry State. I am a sucker for singles from this era, and whenever they come in, I’m always looking to fill holes. There were a few in this collection I needed, including the final single from Menace, The Young Ones. Menace flies under the radar for many people (Jeff was just telling me he’s pretty sure he’s never listened to them), probably because they never released an album during their initial 1976-1979 run. They only put out four singles during that time, with a fifth, The Young Ones, released after the band split. I’m not sure how I discovered Menace—it may have been just buying old UK 7”s I didn’t already know—but I’ve always kept an eye out for their records.

I was prepared to write about how Menace wasn’t all that great, but I like them anyway. That was the first part of my plan for this staff pick to fall apart. Scarecrow had a gig in Charlotte on Thursday, and since I was the only one who wanted to come home after the show, I ended up driving to the gig by myself, which meant about five hours alone in the car. While I was driving, I decided I’d refresh my memory of Menace. I dialed up G.L.C. (R.I.P.) on Apple Music, which compiles all five singles from the band’s original era. Pretty much as soon as I hit play, I thought to myself, “what was I thinking? Menace fucking RULES!”

In my head, I’d written off Menace as an unremarkable oi! band. Listening back it’s easy to see why I might have done that, since they share some characteristics with the skinhead set, mostly a penchant for singalong terrace chant choruses on tracks like “Carry No Banners.” However, Menace isn’t as dunderheaded as, say, the 4 Skins. The band began in 1976, and as with Cock Sparrer, you can hear an earlier era of rock and roll peeking around the edges of their sound. The title track of their first single, “Screwed Up,” is a perfect example. It has this Stones-y swagger that’s a bit like the early Cock Sparrer stuff or Slaughter & the Dogs. Ditto for “Executioner,” with its infectious, Who-inspired stuttering chorus. As each track started, I’d think to myself, “oh yeah, THIS one!” and start singing along to every word. The only mediocre track, in my opinion, is the a-side to the single I just got, their cover of the Cliff Richard song “The Young Ones” (which punks know better as the theme song from the 80s British TV show The Young Ones). This band was too damn good to give over precious vinyl space to a novelty cover tune.

Which brings me to the other part of my plan that got blown. My staff pick was going celebrate the fact that I now owned original copies of all five Menace singles, but it turns out I don’t own GLC. Shit! I could have sworn I had that already.

Looking at Discogs, I noticed GLC is on Small Wonder Records. “I have a lot of records on Small Wonder,” I think to myself. Clicking through to Small Wonder’s discography, I see I have about half the records the label released during their original run. So, once I complete my Menace discography (which has now leapt forward on my list of priorities), I may have to take a stab at getting all the original Small Wonder releases. Which reminds me that another single I picked up in this batch helps me toward my goal of getting every No Future Records release. But that’s a staff pick for another day…

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope wherever you’re reading this, the fall weather has come around like it has here in Raleigh. With it being October and Halloween approaching, I wanted to switch things up and write about a movie this week for my staff pick. When it comes to horror, I like the older, campy stuff like the Evil Dead series or psychological thrillers like The Shining. The movie I’d like to talk about today is a bit of both, the 2018 psychedelic action-horror film, Mandy, directed by Panos Cosmatos and starring Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough. I love when movies are completely out of left field and this movie is exactly that. It’s hard to describe why I like this movie so much, but I can start with the fact that it’s different from any other movie I’ve seen before. Nicolas Cage is fully unleashed in this one in the best way possible, and when his performance is on point, he’s one of my favorite actors. I don’t want to spoil too much of the movie here, but I want to talk about at least the first part of it, so if you want to go into this movie completely blind, stop reading here.

The film takes place in 1983 near the Shadow Mountains of the Mojave Desert in California. The main character, Red (Nicolas Cage), works as a logger and shares a (really cool) cabin in the middle of the woods with his girlfriend, Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), who works as a gas station cashier but in her free time is also an artist and author. Between the conversations the two have and Mandy’s writings, you can tell they’re both a little out there and seem to have been through a fair share of shit in their lives. One day when Mandy is out on a walk, a van full of some very strange looking individuals drives by her and she catches the attention of the man sitting in the passenger seat, who happens to be Jeremiah, the leader of the cult these people are a part of. Side note but the cinematography and some of the shots and the effects they use on them are so well done and this scene, paired with the incredible and haunting score, is one of my favorite examples. It really fills you with a sense of dread and anxiety. It later cuts to a scene of Jeremiah telling one of his loyal disciples that he “needs” the girl he saw today on the side of the road. That night, a couple of the members drive out in the van to an empty field and one of them gets out and blows an ancient looking ocarina which fills the air with red smoke and summons the Black Skulls, a demonic biker gang. One of the cult members offers up a human sacrifice and a jar full of highly potent liquid LSD, in exchange for capturing Mandy and bringing her to the leader. A member of the Black Skulls accepts the offer, and the scene is set from there. I’m gonna stop talking about it there and let you watch the movie if you want to find out what happens, but if this sounds like it may be interesting to you and up your alley, I promise you won’t be disappointed. It definitely might not be for everyone, but if you love a weird, original, and creative movie, I highly recommend it.