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What’s up Sorry Staters?

Recently, Sorry State purchased a handful of records from this dude’s collection. Flipping through his 7”s, it became immediately clear to me that this dude was buying records during what I affectionately refer to as the “No Way-era”. Basically, that period in the early-to-mid-2000’s when a flood of bands came out trying to emulate classic 80s hardcore. One of the bands heavily featured in the stack of records that this dude sold to us was Career Suicide. Bringing back memories, I decided to revisit and basically listen to all of Career Suicide’s records, which I thankfully still have at home. And DAMN, I gotta say these records still rip hard as fuck and hold up so well. The records maybe even make more of an impression on me now that I’m older, because over the years, I’ve heard so many bands trying to ape this style.

I was a little young to hear the first few records by Career Suicide when they first came out. By the time I was a teenager getting super into hardcore and discovering local shows, it was probably right before Attempted Suicide came out. Career Suicide is of course from Canada, but the band clearly was destined to link up with the Richmond (by way of NC) scene and the No Way Records crew. On Attempted Suicide, the band recruited Brandon from Direct Control to play drums on the record, and for my money, it remains one of the most mind-blowingly great drum performances on any punk record—like EVER. That said, all the early records are killer too and have some of my favorite songs. “Jonzo’s Leaking Radiation” from the first 7” still gives me goosebumps. Funny how their song “Quarantine” found new meaning in 2020 (yikes). It’s funny, I didn’t realize I had doubles of the Sars 7” and both the standard AND pic disc version of the Signals EP. I don’t have a few of the records from the later-00’s, like Cherry Beach. I also listened to Machine Response the other day and regret not grabbing a copy of that when we stocked it here at Sorry State. I’ve seen Career Suicide play shows a few times, but it was definitely after their heyday. I could talk about regrets all day, but I also somehow managed to never attend any of the No Ways Fests when they happened. I also was a dumb teenager with no car at the time… shrug emoji

But seriously, Career Suicide had so much special going for them. Martin’s higher pitch, snotty, sneering, throat-shredding vocals had so much personality. And for all the ripping riffs and intense fast drumming, the band had so many huge choruses and vocal hooks. And of course there are some Jonah riffs that sound like the gold standard for classic-sounding hardcore punk guitar playing. If you ask me, the first few releases by Career Suicide were super early to the game and pre-dated the surge of 80s hardcore obsession that would explode a few years later. The band had that perfect blend of song-oriented writing in the lyrics and vocals mixed with super intense and powerful playing. It’s like simultaneously loose and off the rails, but also military tight at the same time. The band seems kinda snarky, funny and unpretentious, but also dead serious. I dunno, maybe I’m having a nostalgic moment over here, but these records still sound incredible to my ears. But if you’re referencing the period when I got into all this punk madness, these records are stone-cold classics.

I’ll be putting out a bunch of used Career Suicide records from that dude’s collection in the bins at the shop this weekend. So if you’re local and you’re reading this and have slept on this band, do yourself a favor and add a few of these slabs to your collection. They’re also pretty inexpensive, but who knows? One day they might be hard to get.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Okay Temiz / Johnny Dyani: Witchdoctor’s Son LP (orig. 1976, reissued 2019)

In last week’s newsletter I asked y’all for recommendations on slow death metal, and I want to thank everyone who sent me stuff to listen to! It’s been an insane week here at Sorry State and I haven’t had much time or attention to dig into those recommends, but I’m looking forward to it! Sometimes when people write to me to ask about an artist or title or recommend something to me, they seem shy or apologetic, assuming they don’t have anything to tell me about music. That’s bullshit! I am but a novice in the school of music history, and even if I’ve heard of something or even heard it, hearing a particular person recommend it (especially if they share their thoughts on it) can make me hear the music in a new way. So please, keep sharing with me!

My pick for this week is going to refer to another older pick, since my favorite BBC 6 Music show, Stuart Maconie’s The Freak Zone, introduced me to this one. I can’t remember which track from Witchdoctor’s Son they played, but it moved me enough to look up the record later, and when I listened to it I knew it was a must-buy. After a few weeks sitting on the Discogs want list, a reasonably priced copy of this 2019 reissue popped up in the US and I smashed that buy button. It arrived earlier this week and here we are!

Going in, I didn’t know anything about Okay Temiz or Johnny Dyani, but the reissue contains detailed liner notes that give a wealth of context for this album. Okay Temiz is a drummer from Turkey and Johnny Dyani is a bass player from South Africa. Both had migrated to the creatively fertile European jazz scene in the 60s. That scene drew players from all over the world, including expatriates from the American jazz scene attracted by Europe’s less intense racial attitudes and better paying gigs. Temiz and Dyani met playing with American avant-garde legend Don Cherry, and they played with him for years both as a trio and in larger ensembles. During this period, Cherry was consumed by the project of synthesizing a truly global music from folk music traditions from across the world, and Temiz and Dyani found this idea influential, leaning into their influences from their own countries’ folk traditions. After leaving Cherry’s band, Temiz and Dyani formed the trio Music for Xaba with Dyani’s bandmate from South African bebop group the Blue Notes, Mongezi Feza. Unfortunately, though, Feza passed away in December 1975, bringing the group to an end.

Witchdoctor’s Son was recorded during the duo’s 1976 residency in Istanbul, augmented by the musicians who joined them during their live gigs. Witchdoctor’s Son differs from Temiz and Dyani’s other recordings because it seems to have been created for and distributed within the Turkish market. Only 1000 copies of the original record were pressed, the cover art a photogram by the renowned Turkish visual artist Teoman Madra.

Anyone with a taste for Anatolian rock will love the first side of Witchdoctor’s Son, where Temiz composes one original tune and arranges four traditional Turkish songs. These songs are built around the distinctive Turkish scales and melodies I love, and the electric bassist for the session, Oğuz Durukan had even played with Erkin Koray. As much as I love the tunes, though, Temiz is the star of the session, laying down densely polyrhythmic heavy funk grooves that remind me of Jaki Liebezeit’s pioneering drumming for Can. Dyani takes the lead on side 2, arranging all the tracks. This side is cool, especially their version of Don Cherry’s “Elhamdulillah Marimba,” but it’s the a-side that I want to play over and over. Watch out if you listen to the album on YouTube, though, because Dyani’s side appears first on that rip for some reason.

I’m looking forward to checking out more of Temiz’s work in particular, and the liner notes on this reissue serve as a great road map. In the meantime, though, Witchdoctor’s Son is going to get a lot of play.

Aliester Crowley: Black Magic

I lost a few good records when I broke up with my last long-term boyfriend. There are three that still haunt me, all these years later, and I’ve finally been able to add two of them back into my collection. I can’t remember if I was even the one to purchase them (probably not) but I was so excited to somewhat own them. I usually save my money for used records because I know Daniel and our customers always bring the heat and I have a hard time saying no but the past few weeks have tested my wallet with these new releases.

Any stoner with a feigning interest in metal/psych/desert rock should (and hopefully does) listen to Earthless. Their latest record came out a few weeks ago, but what I was MOST excited about are the reissues of their back catalog. My ex got From the Ages when we split and it’s been a bitch trying to secure a copy of my own. Thanks, Earthless, for the represses! Still on the hunt for Black Breath’s Sentenced to Life LP…

What I’m really here to write about is this Aliester Crowley record, though. I have no idea if this is the same thing as what my ex got at, where else but Graveface. We didn’t have a working record player until we were 20+ records deep into collecting, so I can’t recall what it sounded like or if we ever listened to it. We kept it hanging on the wall throughout every move, though. When I saw the familiar photo on the ‘coming soon’ section of one of our distributors, I immediately messaged Daniel so we could secure a copy for at least myself.

I’m glad he bought more than one because I’d feel a little guilty depriving anyone else of this rad release. I love Cleopatra Records and always look to them to release the weird shit. They got a bunch of electronic artists to create tracks with the famous recording of Crowley as ‘vocals’ for all the tracks. I’ve heard the recordings on YouTube but I did not know it was from an old wax cylinder from the early 1910s!! This compilation is really a great mix of dark ambient, beautiful instrumentals, and overall just some shit you wanna hear in a dark smoky goth club. Crowley’s voice doesn’t feel forced into the tracks- everything compliments each other. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing, so I thought it was fitting to share it with some people who (hopefully) will also like it.

The best part of this release isn’t the music, though that comes as a close second. The release has two LPs on a beautiful red vinyl and the second record is a newly remastered version of JUST the old wax cylinder recording. It sounds super crisp and I think I understood a lot more of it than when I’ve listened to poor quality youtube videos in the past.

If you like the occult or just like some good ol’ witch house/dark synth/ambient goth shit/whatever, you MUST listen to this. As I write this we still have two copies in store and on the website…

Hello, and thanks for reading. This week I was not sure to make the focus of my Staff Pick. When in doubt, I can’t fail with using a photo of a hot ass slab. I chose this slab cos it is brand new to my collection, aka I’ve been playing the fuck out of it. To be honest, I never thought I would secure a copy of this pressing. They are pretty damn hard to find. I got this copy direct from a Finnish pen-pal of mine who fucking rules. I am grateful for the slabs and flyers he has granted me, alongside the many stories and info he has shared with me. According to discogs, there are 200 of the first version of this legendary split and 150 of the following version, which is pictured here. When I got the disc, I was curious when I noticed the matrix and center labels were identical for both versions. I wondered if they were pressed at the same time or if it was actually repressed like discogs says. Well I learned from someone else that discogs is wrong, surprise. I notice errors on discogs often these days, however I don’t take the time to correct them haha. If you are familiar with this pressing, you already know the CADGERS covers were identical for both versions, while the KAAOS cover was different. I learned that Vote V. from P. Tuotanto ran out of KAAOS covers after the first 200 copies, which is why 150 more came out a bit later featuring a different cover. Once I learned this, I decided I won’t worry about finding a ‘first press’ cos they are essentially the same record! Plus, it seems as though I have the sleeve that is harder to find...

Speaking of rare, I mentioned the VARAUS reissue we were getting a little over a month ago, but I intentionally left out the part about all the copies being on an exclusive SSR color!!! Why spoil all the fun at once? I can’t even express how fucking cool this is to me. I know Jeff and Daniel feel the same. VARAUS is a fucking killer band and their records are extremely sought-after in collector’s circles. That our shop in Raleigh, USA plays a role in the reissue of this rare 80s Finnish slab is simply unreal. I doubt we will have any copies in stock by the time you read this, so I hope you are like the other SSR fanatics who check the New Arrivals on our web-store each day. I also mentioned we were getting the ‘new’ KAAOS 7” in the same Staff Pick. I wish I had some details on that for you today, but I have none at the moment.

Alright, time to write about something we do have in stock, BOMBARDEMENT! I don’t know shit about this band, aside from that they are French. I did interview them briefly for the 2020 SSR Mixtape cos Daniel featured a track of theirs. I remember not really caring for them at first to be honest, but vividly remember listening to the finished mix tape and their track stood out in the sequence. After I found myself pleased with their new LP, I went back into their catalogue of another LP, 7", and demo. Damn, you can hear the band’s growth from recording to recording. This is awesome cos a lot of times bands get fucking boring after a record or two, and that’s not the case here. Instead, each BOMBARDEMENT record is like an enhancement from the previous release. It’s hard for me to relate BOMBARDEMENT’s sound to other bands, but maybe I could put the sound somewhere between MEANWHILE on their ‘Ghostface Democracy’ 7" and CIMEX’s ‘Criminal Trap’ 12". They keep the songwriting pretty straightforward, but the songs are not short. This drawn-out writing style reminds me of something a classic band would do. I feel like most bands playing this style nowadays keep their songs around 80-90 seconds. The recording itself sounds really good. Everything is super clear, and the tone is very pleasing to my ears. The voice of the front person sounds more calloused than the previous record, making this record hit harder for me. While the songwriting is simple, BOMBARDEMENT maintains a pummeling energy that keeps it exciting for me rather than getting boring. And when the guitar plays the occasional all-out lead, it hits the spot for me. Alright I’m about out of time now, I wanted to mention this BOMBARDEMENT LP cos it’s 100% worth checking out. Grab a copy if you dig it! I hope all my friends and loyal SSR subscribers got a copy of the VARAUS E.P. Thanks for reading. Peace!

Greetings loyal Sorry State supporters. Thank you for clicking on our Newsletter once again and reading.

A lot of things going on here at Sorry State Towers this week, with exciting new releases either out or on their way, a potential new colleague joining the ranks, more great collections being bought and not least of all our leader Lord Daniel making it official and getting married to Lady Jet. Congratulations to you both. Please raise a glass to their happiness won’t you?

In the outside world, the news keeps on getting more and more bizarre and troubling it seems, although we are all still trying our best to keep going and live our lives the best we can. There seem to be more events happening and gigs, etc. So that is good. Here in Raleigh this weekend will be the Dreamville Festival curated and headlined by North Carolina’s own J. Cole. My Worldy DJ partner Matt and I had the honour of spinning some records for the festival’s first kick-off event yesterday at Junction West, which was fun. Getting to play records out and hear them loud with others is the absolute best. I’ll hump turntables and record bags almost anywhere for that pleasure.

I wasn’t sure what to talk about this week. I’ve been listening to so many different things and could have gone in any of several directions. However, I had fun spinning an old fave yesterday and so thought I might mention it as you might dig it too. The record is Present Arms In Dub by UB40. Okay, okay, calm down and stop the sniggering. I’m serious here. This record is excellent and although the reggae purists dismiss the pop side of UB40 and judge them by their later work, don’t let them put you off. Purists are boring anyway. Besides, anyone who knows and likes music will know the early UB40 records are good. Present Arms was their second album after the excellent Signing Off LP. There were some good extended mixes released for some tracks off that record besides some single sides, but this was the group’s first dedicated all dub instrumental record. The parent album Present Arms had been a chart hit and the dub album followed suit, making history as the first full dub album to crack the UK top forty. Of course, the concept of dub LPs was not a new phenomenon and UB40, being well versed in Jamaican producers such as Lee Perry and King Tubby, would have been more than familiar with the idea of making instrumental versions of vocal tracks. Indeed, there were producers in the UK such as Dennis Bovell and Neil Fraser aka Mad Professor who were making groundbreaking strides in homegrown reggae and dub productions, but their efforts were, at this point in time, still underground and known only to the hard-core reggae enthusiasts.

Regardless of your opinion about the group and any of their pop hits, this is a proper legit dub record and if you didn’t know who it was by and it was mixed in with other dub music, none of it would seem out of place. I’m in no doubt that lots of weed was consumed during its creation, but you don’t have to be an herb lover to enjoy listening to it or be that familiar with the original record. The production is top notch and mastering excellent. The drum and bass, the cornerstone of dub music, sounds superb and the added effects that come in and out are not distracting or cheesy. Whenever I spin a track from the record during a DJ gig, invariably someone comes up to ask what it is or to give the thumbs up of approval. Another plus factor is that you don’t have to spend a lot of dough to get a copy, which you would have to for other cooler or hipper dub titles. I’m the biggest fan of common and cheap records that punch above their weight. They can sit alongside my rare and expensive shit based on the musical content and not the price tag. It’s all about the music at the end of the day.

If you have heard this record and are in the know already, you’ll have to forgive me for stating the obvious, but perhaps there are some of you that aren’t familiar or just hate the song Red Red Wine. Put that out of your heads. This is not that. I personally enjoy the Labour Of Love album which that song came from and plenty more UB40 records, but if you had to own just one of their records, then Present Arms In Dub would be the one. Followed by Signing Off if you are allowed a second. Lol. I’ll attach the link here for you to follow and listen. I hope you enjoy.

That’s all from me for this week. Don’t forget to toast Daniel and Jet and keep on supporting your local record stores and digging music. Cheers - Dom

Carnage: Dark Recollections LP (1990, Sweden)

I am a (death) metal poseur. I acknowledge this. While I’ve always been interested in death metal (I think I first heard the term as a teenager in the early 90s), I’ve listened to more of it lately. It seems like that’s something happening throughout the punk scene, as many of my favorite current hardcore bands like Public Acid and Tower 7 weave death metal elements into their sounds. I’m sure that’s a big part of why I’ve been more interested in death metal, but there also seems to be something in the air. A full-on “old school death metal” revival is happening in the metal scene too. Maybe this is appropriate music for a time when sickness, war, and death have touched so many of us.

Anyway, on to Carnage. Carnage was a short-lived Swedish death metal band who, during their brief existence, released two demo tapes, played three gigs, and released this album, Dark Recollections. Despite the short resume, Carnage casts a long shadow. Dark Recollections came out a few months before Entombed’s landmark album Left Hand Path, and both albums helped to inform the world’s idea of what would come to be down as Swedish death metal and its trademark “chainsaw” guitar sound.

Something I’m realizing as I explore the world of death metal is that I prefer bands with a lot of mid-paced and slower parts. I’ve written staff picks about bands like Demigod and Cianide who fit that mold, and another record that’s caught my ear is Bolt Thrower’s The IVth Crusade, which has its share of crushing breakdowns. While Carnage doesn’t sound too different from Entombed’s definitive take on the Swedish death metal sound, their songs include more of those crunchy, moshy parts that get me going. As with Entombed, though, you can also hear the influence of Discharge and Anti-Cimex on Carnage’s fast parts, which have a d-beat feel in places.

As I noted above, Carnage casts a long shadow, and where the members went after Carnage disbanded played a big part in that. Half of Carnage got subsumed into another landmark Swedish death metal band, Dismember, and before long Carnage’s drummer Fred Estby joined Dismember as well. Guitarist / bassist Mike Amott joined Carcass and played on their seminal records Necroticism and Heartwork, leaving that band in 1993 and starting Arch Enemy with original Carnage vocalist Johan Liiva.

So yeah, if you’re looking for something heavy… enjoy. And if you have any recommendations for slow and nasty death metal, hit me up.

Hello and thanks for reading,

I’m sitting down to write my Staff Pick pretty close to the submission deadline, so please excuse my lack of information and attention to detail. I decided to put together this image of some LPs I was jamming earlier this week. See what they all have in common? Yes, that’s right, DISCHARGE. Surprise? Anyway, The MERCENARY 12” has been on heavy rotation for me. So, it will be the star of my Staff Pick. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever heard their tracks from the Atlanta’s Burning cassette they did until this record pressing. Which is whack cos my old band with Jeff played that fest. I remember when the first demo tape came out, I was pretty excited cos the style was right up my alley. When I finally heard the second demo that appears on this 12" compilation, I was impressed by how much the sound and song-writing improved. I played the B-side over and over again. It’s a shame that stuff was only a cassette until this 12" reissue. They explain the details inside the LP of why this was the case. They also write a bit about Ruby (R.I.P.), the vocalist of MERCENARY. I only had a handful of conversations with Ruby ever. Although the writings about him in the LP are not written in a grieving fashion, it was still saddening to listen to the LP. I’m glad Mark from Beach Impediment did this reissue. Like I said I barely knew Ruby, but to me this is an important homage to him and his life. His memory has been materialized, and his legend will live forever. I hope you may rest easy wherever you are now, Ruby.

As for the other hot slabs in my photo, they don’t need an introduction right? Every single one is hot as fuck. Haha, now that I am looking at the photo again, I realize that each record is one of my favorites from the band. Aside from DISCLOSE, there is stuff I listen to instead if I am craving DISCLOSE. Even though this split was released in 2001, I still think it is legendary. ENGLISH DOGS and DISFEAR have been reissued somewhat recently, but I honestly fear that the TOTALITÄR / DISCLOSE split will never be reissued. It was on Your Own Jailer records, and nothing has ever been reissued from that label. I think self-titled DISFEAR 7" is so damn good and traditional sounding. It’s hard to pick if I prefer this full-length ‘Soul Scars’ or that EP. ‘Soul Scars’ is just so fucking good, damn. I was about to do a bit of nerding on DISFEAR, but instead you can click here and read my previous nerding about DISFEAR from last year. Unfortunately we sold out of the ENGLISH DOGS reissue and haven’t been able to restock, but we have copies of the DISFEAR reissue in stock. I would grab a copy of that alongside this MERCENARY 12" if you been sleeping. Alright, that about does it for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone for the support! Peace.

Hey guys! How’s it going? Spring is in officially here Stateside, and the weather has been heating up here in North Carolina, albeit with a few days of sudden cold and like last night some heavy rain and thunder. My poor cats and I were shaken out of our beds this morning by a thunderclap so loud it shook the house. With the warmer weather, I naturally think of tropical and sunny music to listen to. Reggae, Latin, Brazilian flavors all feature on the turntable. Being born and raised by the sea I have a soft spot for anything with a nautical theme or related to the beach. Thus, growing up I fell in love with the Beach Boys, surf music and any of the surf movies that sometimes would get shown on TV. There are surfing conditions at certain beaches along the UK coastline, but we were all dreaming about California and Hawaii. So, with that in mind, my staff pick this week is going to have a surf music theme.

A couple of years back, a record came through the doors at Sorry State that I immediately was attracted to. It was by Cosmic Sand Dollars and titled Requiem For King Dick. The cover featured a wipeout surf scene and proudly stated that the makers of this album were Ventura’s premier surfing combo, the title a clear reference to surf guitar legend Dick Dale. I was intrigued. I have amassed a decent surf music collection over the years and that includes original sixties acts as well as the eighties and nineties revival groups. I’ll check anything out that has a twangy guitar sound and good driving beat. Putting the needle down on this record, though, it became instantly clear that this wasn’t your typical surf album. Something much weirder was going on here. Lots of electronic manipulation of sounds and samples were being added to the mix. It sounded like if The Ventures had collaborated with early Moog music makers like Jean-Jacques Perrey or Morton Subotnick and been produced by Joe Meek. That’s a brilliant thing in my book. I listened to the record a lot and really liked it. I made it one of my best of the year and played tracks on the radio show I do where it was received enthusiastically by listeners.

Fast forward to recently and I was talking to Daniel in his office and noticed two other Cosmic Sand Dollars records leaning against a stack of albums. We were getting ready to order copies for the store he told me. Great, I say, count me in. Those two records were the albums released prior to Requiem For King Dick and are called Let’s Go Critical Density! and Let’s Go Insertion! There is a third titled Let’s Go Nuclear Woody! to complete the theme. That release, though, was apparently super limited so we couldn’t get copies, but you can bet I’ll be keeping a watchful eye out for one.

Daniel kindly allowed me to take the advance copies he had to listen to as equally kindly, main Sand Dollar, Jordan Darby, had sent me complimentary copies with our order. So, thank you very much for that. I am the last person to be tempted by freebies to get a review and I hope my genuine enthusiasm for these records doesn’t come across as some sort of payola.

Funny thing though. On those two earlier records, the label states 45 RPM and that sounds about right. I have lots of fun playing records at different speeds and pitches, but that does seem to be the correct speed. On the King Dick album though, the labels do not state speed and I have been playing the record at 33 RPM all the time. I now tried spinning it at 45 and some of it sounds pretty good that way. LOL. I’ll have to check a digital copy to confirm.

Both earlier albums confirmed what I loved about these guys. You can tell that they love the music. Familiar snatches of surf guitar riffs drift in and out of the sound, mixed in with the keyboards and electronics. It’s almost like listening to the radio up in space where years of sounds are all floating around together and exist at the same time and can be heard simultaneously. Past, present and future all together. Or something like that.

Kudos also to the cut-and-paste artwork aesthetic that reminds me of that used by early 80s dub experimentalists New Age Steppers. Musically a little different, but in some ways very similar. One was a modern update on dub reggae and the other on surf guitar music. Cool on both counts.

As a fan of these genres and instrumental music in general, I must declare these records all winners. I didn’t know I needed them in my life until I heard them, but am so glad that I have them. You too can join the Cosmic Sand Dollars and I as we surf our way through the cosmos with these albums sound tracking our trip. I think you’ll have just as much fun.

Check out the clips and investigate.

Thanks for reading and don’t wipeout baby.

-Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Welp, I’ve gotta talk to ya about the new White Stains 7”. I’ve been really into the last few releases on the Neon Taste label. Those Canadians have really carved out a decisive look and sound for the records they decide to put out. After hearing stuff like that Imploders 7”, I see how Pittsburgh’s White Stains could fit right in. It’s really cool this release is part of their catalog.

The dudes in White Stains have also played in a bunch of your other favorite hardcore bands. Their LP Make Me Sick felt really fresh to me when it came out because it wasn’t so focused on being the “most heavy” or even the fastest punk record ever made. White Stains leaned pretty heavy into a more “classic” side of hardcore punk, if that makes sense? Like you can’t imagine the dudes in the band caring about silly metal-punk shit like leather pants or eyeliner. The vibe is more like the dudes are probably all wearing shredded blue jeans that they were just skating in before they walked in to record this EP. And if the tuneful, (for lack of a better comparison) West-coast influenced sound was apparent on their first record, then Blood On The Beach dives deeper into this classic-sounding direction. While there are of course killer riffs, some of the tracks on this new 7” feel more decidedly song-based than just stringing a bunch of killer riffs together. The nasty, irreverent menace of bands like Sick Pleasure are coupled with the Agnew-style melodic riffage and hooky vocals of Adolescents. Particularly the song “2021” feels like the hit, like it should be the standout track on a Posh Boy single or something. Plus, the Vains tribute for the cover art is killer. “White Vains” ;)

I feel certain you didn’t need me to sit here and tell you to check this record out. But just in case you were on the fence, don’t sleep. Grab this ripper.

Short and sweet this week. Punk rules. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Over the past few years, I’ve accumulated three singles by the Cravats, which is only a small portion of the group’s discography. During their original run from 1978 until 1982, they released two full-length albums and ten singles, an impressive catalog for a band as uncommercial as the Cravats were most of the time. I know there are Cravats super-fans out there who know the band’s catalog well, and I won’t pretend to be one of those people. I know very little background information about the Cravats and I’m only familiar with this small and idiosyncratic sampling of their discography, but I enjoy these records.

I had some dim awareness that the Cravats were an outre / experimental punk band, but I think their 1979 7” The End on Small Wonder was the first time I’d sat down with one of their records. According to the price sticker, I picked this up for $7 from Vinyl Conflict in late 2016. Score! The a-side, “Burning Bridges,” is what sticks out on The End. Having expected something non-linear and avant-garde, it surprised me just how much of a tune “Burning Bridges” is. Built around an infectious horn line, it reminds me of horn-driven 90s (ska-?) punk like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones or even Reel Big Fish. That sunny horn line would have gotten me skanking if I’d heard it in 1995, the song’s brisk beat, propulsive bass, and triumphant chord progression sealing the deal. The b-side of The End is about three times as long as the a-side, so it’s mastered at about half the volume. That keeps “I Hate the Universe” from having the same impact as “Burning Bridges” even though it’s a similar song, an upbeat punk tune a bit like the Ruts, while the more ruminative closing track “The End” sounds like the weirder end of the Dangerhouse catalog (like Black Randy & the Metrosquad), which is more indicative of the other two Cravats records I own.

The next Cravats single I picked up was 1981’s Off the Beach. While the horns are still there, the music is now more jittery, and rather than gliding over top of the rhythm melodically, the horns skitter mosquito-like around the edges of the angular rhythms. The b-side track, “And the Sun Shone,” reminds me of their Small Wonder label-mates the Fall. Like many of the Fall’s best tracks from this period, the song is built around an ominous repetitive rhythm while horns, guitars, and electronic noises wander in and out of the mix like strangers in a busy train station. The back cover lists the sources of the sounds on the record in random order, including items like the band members’ names, musical instruments like drums, saxophone, and clarinet, and non-musical sound-making devices like a coffee percolator, vacuum cleaner, and drills.

The third single in my Cravats collection is Rub Me Out on Crass Records. The Cravats made their way to Crass Records after releasing five singles and an album on Small Wonder, releasing the Rub Me Out single in 1982 as well as their second album, The Colossal Tunes Out, on the Crass-related label Corpus Christi. Crass Records might seem like an odd fit for the Cravats if you’re only familiar with bigger Crass Records bands like Rudimentary Peni, Dirt, Flux of Pink Indians, and Crass themselves, but anyone who has delved deeper into the Crass Records catalog will have no trouble reconciling the Cravats’ uncommercial music with Crass’s intriguing but defiantly non-commercial aesthetic.

I’m tempted to say the move to Crass invigorated the Cravats’ non-commercial proclivities, but a closer listen makes me think Rub Me Out continues developing some of the ideas on Off the Beach. That being said, while the a-side is still not too far off from what the Fall were doing, the song’s eerie horn break is disquieting in a different way, one of the strangest and most exciting moments in their music that I’ve heard so far. The b-side, “When We Will Fall,” is more conventional still, an upbeat, punky song driven by a nervous but infectious horn line that’s not far off from “Burning Bridges.” You hear some electronic squiggles buzzing around the edges of the mix, though, and there’s a lengthy break in the middle where they wander off into Room to Live-era Fall land again, with spooky, whispered voices that sound like they might belong to Eve Libertine. Revisiting this single to write this piece, I think it’s the best of the three I own, with strong production and a confrontational aesthetic that hits like a jolt of electricity.

Rub Me Out also features great design work. The other two singles had interesting sleeve designs, but the Cravats take full advantage of Crass’s default 6-panel fold-out poster sleeve. The band poses with strange costumes and homemade instruments in front of their logo backdrop, which I’ve only recently realized is just the copyright symbol (clever fuckers). My favorite part of the design, though, are the text collages made of rub-on letters (which fits the theme of “Rub Me Out”), which are harmoniously chaotic, similar to a Jackson Pollack canvas. They also bring this lettering style to Crass Records’ address on the sleeve’s rear panel, and it looks cool as fuck.

It feels strange to write a lengthy staff pick when I have such a scattershot knowledge of the band. It’s like writing an essay about an ornate gothic cathedral when I’ve only peeked inside through a keyhole. But that’s the way things go. I remember checking out the Cravats’ first album, In Toytown, on streaming services, which also features several of their Small Wonder singles as bonus tracks. However, the Cravats’ dense and challenging music might work best on singles. Listening to several Cravats tracks in a row feels like channel surfing, where things change before you have the time to orient yourself. Plus, if other Cravats singles have packaging design as strong as Rub Me Out, that’s an element I would hate to miss out on. So, I guess I’ll go on picking up these Cravats records as I come across them.

The Horrors: Strange House

So I know I generally talk about shitty screamo bands when I talk about my childhood, but I swear there were a few bastions of good taste somewhere in there. Now and then I remember the album Strange House by the Horrors and fall back in love with it. I think I found it shortly after it came out; there was a copy of Alt Press I got my hands on that had a very mall-gothy photo of them so I wanted to check it out. I think I was sold on the flippy hair and eyeliner, to be honest. Their music is anything but the typical mall goth/emo/whatever bullshit from 2007, so even my 12-year-old ears felt refreshed when I put it on for the first time. I guess it’s a very punk album, but I never considered it as such… I also thought My Chemical Romance was the hardest fucking band in the world, so you can’t trust my opinions.

For a while, The Horrors reigned supreme as my favorite band just from this one album. It was so unlike anything I’d heard or could find at the time. I pored over the lyrics but no matter what I never understood them; I think that’s partially what kept me coming back for more. I love how garage-y and frantic each track is. I almost didn’t need to understand the lyrics (I still tried though). Sometime in 2010-ish, the Horrors played at Cat’s Cradle on my birthday and I couldn’t have been more fucking excited. I’d spent years listening to Strange House at that point, and I needed to hear it live. I guess I vaguely knew the tour was for a new album, but I just thought I would hear more weird fuzzy music like their first album. I’ve never seen a band change genres so quickly and drastically, but I found out that night that the Horrors completely changed their sound. Even worse, they didn’t play a single song from Strange House, and I was absolutely devastated. What’s the musical equivalent of blue balls? That’s what happened to me; I went to the venue expecting to dance to songs I’ve loved for years and instead everyone stood around while boring shoegaze music blasted through the PA.

I’ve tried to listen to the Horrors’ albums after Strange House. I really have, but they don’t do it for me. Shoegaze as a genre doesn’t really do it for me, so it makes sense. At least they’ve kept up the strong aesthetics and attention to design throughout their career. The singer is an amazing visual artist and I haven’t let my distaste for shoegaze ruin that, at least! Check out Strange House and lament with me that we only got one album of this sound…

Hello and thanks for reading,

I really can’t remember when I first heard “Stockholm’s Mangel” but I know I checked it out cos of MOB 47. I had no idea who the other bands were previous to my listening, but quickly AGONI, CRUDITY, and DISCARD became some of my favorite Swedish bands. At the time, I did not know all three bands shared members. The DISCARD tracks were later reissued on a 7" in 1990, and a few times again after that. The CRUDITY tracks were bootlegged a few times, once on a 7" and once on a 12" split with DISCARD. I’m not sure when they came out, but I can tell you the 7" sounds like shit haha. I remember when I got my copy I was so bummed on the sound; you can’t crank the volume at all without it distorting. My homie Chris (What up Mofo!!!) said to me he thinks the 7" was around 1997, and the split was around 2000/2001. So the 12" might have good quality sound if they used the “Stockholm’s Mangel” CD reissue from 2000 as a sound source. No idea though, maybe that boot came before the reissue. I got the CD version cos I thought I’d never secure the LP version. They don’t pop up much, especially in the USA. Well, sometime over the pandemic, I was lucky to score the LP pressing within the USA. The entire reason I bought this shit was for CRUDITY pretty much. Don’t get me wrong, I love AGONI and DISCARD, but I wanted to blast the CRUDITY tracks in specific from the vinyl pressing. That band rips so hard, it’s insane to me. Hilariously, there is a fucking error in the track list on the CRUDITY side. In the middle of their tracks, all of a sudden an AGONI song plays that already appeared. And the CRUDITY track that should be in that spot is nowhere to be found. I was so fucking bummed to discover this... hahah. I was surprised no one has noted it on the Discogs page to be honest. Getting back on track, AGONI was never reissued aside from that “Stockholm’s Mangel” LP/CD on the label Swedish Punk Classics in 2000 (which I think is just the dude from Distortion Records). I think this bit of mystery added to my obsession with the band. The tracks from “Stockholm’s Mangel” were on their own demo tape as well back in the ‘80s but I have never seen much info on it, aside from this pixelated photo of a j-card I’ve seen in a few places online. The only other stuff I’ve heard from them was when they changed their name to AGONY and they were playing metal by this time. Unfortunately I didn’t care for it but I loved their first demo so much. It stood out compared to other Swedish bands with their super blatant DISCHARGE worship. I know bands like DISCARD and SKITSLICKERS worshipped DISCHARGE, but they had their own twist. Alongside the DISCHARGE riffs and aesthetic, DISCARD brought a pummeling speed with their D-beat. And SHITLICKERS of course worshipped every element of DISCHARGE but they added an extra element of noise and chaos. To me, AGONI’s first demo is right on the nose DISCHARGE worship. The riffs, the somewhat relaxed tempo, the lyrical content, and the overall aesthetic was pure DISCHARGE. The only thing they didn’t have was a ‘Dis’ name haha. I never even knew about the existence their second demo until this reissue was announced. The record comes in a gatefold sleeve with liner notes and band photos printed inside. I was bummed to fold it out and see there wasn’t a word written in English haha. My nerdy ass was looking to do some learning... Luckily, Daniel used his phone to do this translate thing, which was amazing. However, here now I have one better for you: complete English translations direct from the label! The compilation features three demos and five tracks recorded live in 1985. Aside from the first demo which I talked about already, I had never heard any of this stuff. Well really for the second demo, I think less than twenty people ever heard it in the history of the world. We are so lucky one guy saved a copy after all these years. They explain this stuff in the liner notes I linked above. The second demo is not ‘right on the nose’ like the first one, but man is it good. You can hear some foreshadowing of the metal to come on their following tape (which starts off the B side of the compilation.) There is some more attack on the guitar picking and the riffing is a bit more complex, which pushes the second demo away from the blatant DISCHARGE elements, but man is it damn good. Damn. I am biased though. I told you how much I obsessed over the band so hearing anything unreleased like this is going to make my day. So inside the cover there is no photo for the j-card of the second tape. Maybe there never was one? They also mention there never was song titles, so they just made ‘em up for the reissue. They also used that same pixelated photo I mentioned earlier of the first demo inside the gatefold. Man, AGONI tapes must be rare as fuck if no one can muster up originals in Sweden for scans, etc. All the more reason you should just buy this now! Haha. Alright, I think that’s all? Forgive me if I bounced all over the place in my writing. I felt confident in the topic at first but later found myself second guessing what I am writing. Anyway, as always, thank you for the support and thanks for reading. Peace!