News

We've had lots of stuff trickling in over the past few days so here's a quick roundup. First up is a brand new 7" from Chicago's the Bug. I've loved the Bug from pretty much moment #1, but this is without a doubt their best stuff yet. It's somehow both wilder and more coherent at the same time... if you dig out of control, avant-garde hardcore like Mozart check this out... this will definitely be a contender for my best of 2017 list:

IFB Records May be from Florida, but the Bug isn't the only great Chicago band they're putting out in this batch... they've also put out a brand new 7" from Rash. I always really like bands that fall in the grey area between noise rock and hardcore, and that's certainly the case with Rash.

Next up is a fanclub release of a classic Japanese hardcore compilation, My Meat's Your Poison. This has some great stuff on it, including one of the most underrated Japanese hardcore bands, Chicken Bowels! These are flying out the door, so if you're trying to cop I would not hesitate:

We also have a few other things in the new arrivals section... a "new" single for the Smiths' "The Queen Is Dead" (available on 12" or 7" picture disc, with each format having its own separate b-sides), and a bunch of dead stock power-pop singles that popped up. So check it out!

Can: The Singles 12” (Spoon) I’ve you’ve been paying attention to my writings over the past few months, then you already know that I’ve been on a pretty big Krautrock kick, but I think that the thing I like so much about this singles collection from Can is that it really casts their music in a totally different light than what I’m used to. In the last volume of the All Things to All People blog I wrote about how all of these Krautrock bands that I’ve been discovering put me into a different mode of listening, allowing me to enjoy songs that are longer and have a wider, more cinematic scope. That’s definitely true of Can’s classic albums, but that isn’t really the Can that you get on The Singles. While there are a handful of rare non-LP tracks (the most noteworthy being the excellent “Turtles Have Short Legs”), for the most part what is collected here are 7” single edits of songs that appear in longer, more fully-realized versions on Can’s albums. You would think that this would completely neuter Can’s power, but what it actually does is reveal that there are great little pop songs sitting at the core of Can’s extended psychedelic jams. If listening to albums like Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi is like watching an old French film, then listening to The Singles is like a highly-compressed montage, and an incredibly enjoyable one at that. The joy of listening to these tracks is only enhanced by the absolutely stunning physical product that they have put together. The jacket is beautifully-designed with a stylish spot-gloss finish (and the inner gatefold is even more beautiful), and these LPs sound GREAT, with deep, full bass and punchy drums that actually match the clarity and power of the original pressings (something I can say about a very, very small percentage of current reissues). Like the record that got me into Can, Cannibalism, The Singles is a great entry point if you’re curious about the band but haven’t really checked them out before, and if you’re already a fan it exhibits a side of the band that most of us haven’t really engaged with before.

Niku-Dan: S/T 12” (Fan Club) Fan club release from this obscure Japanese punk band from the early 80s. Despite the fact that they had several releases during their life as a band (including a split 8” with the great Japanese band Gas) I hadn’t really spent much time with them before, which ultimately made this LP hit with even more impact than it would have otherwise. While their releases came out in 1983 and 1984, Niku-Dan’s sound was much more grounded in 70s punk, and at times they bear an almost uncanny resemblance to the Stalin circa Trash and Stop Jap. While they don’t have any songs that rise to the anthemic level of the Stalin’s best tracks, they have a similar combination of speed and power, and the clear and punchy production (which, again, reminds me of the Stalin) makes this a real treat to listen to. Like the recent Sexual fan club release that popped up, this looks and sounds great (it’s almost certainly sourced from the official CD reissue, given that the insert is a scan of the CD booklet, staples and all), and if you’re fascinated with the 80s Japanese punk scene I wouldn’t hesitate to call it an essential purchase.

Skull Cult: Vol. One and Vol. Two 7” (Erste Theke Tonträger) Another gem from the fertile Indiana scene, and if you like stuff like Coneheads, CCTV, and Liquids it’s probably more or less a given that you’ll be into this as well. Skull Cult have elements of a lot those bands’ sounds as well as some of their own tricks. The claustrophobic, direct-in-the-board guitar sound and manic rhythms remind me of Coneheads and the big melodies paired with hardcore tempos reminds me of Liquids, but Skull Cult’s 60s-sounding synth work (which often sounds kind of like a farfisa organ) is all their own, as are the almost demonic screamed vocals (which, despite their harshness, manage to carry more than a little bit of melody). I’m kind of amazed that they managed to cram so much music on this 7”—it could have been pressed as a 12” and I doubt that anyone would have batted an eye—but the value you for money that you get here makes this record feel weightier and even more worthwhile than it would have otherwise, and personally I find the listening experience of vinyl a lot more pleasurable than shuffling out a couple of short tapes. Throw in some downright iconic cover artwork and you have a real standout EP… grab this one now before it becomes another one of those things with shocking Discogs price tags.

Liquids: More than a Friend 7” (Drunken Sailor) So, this latest 3-song EP was originally released on Drunken Sailor Records in a criminally small edition of 111 copies on gold vinyl, which was only available through the Drunken Sailor store, and of course sold out basically instantly. While they originally made it sound like that was going to be it, thankfully they’ve repressed another, probably still too small, edition of 390 copies on black vinyl that we were able to get a few copies of. I still listen to Hot Liqs regularly, but anyone who follows Liquids knows that they have some total gems scattered across highly limited, hard to find releases, and More than a Friend contains some of their best stuff. The title track in particular is an absolute scorcher… it sounds like a long-lost gem from the Lookout! Records catalog, though it’s also noisier and more aggressive than just about anything else I can think of on that label, and the melodies might even be better too. Seriously, this track is right up there with early Green Day in the way that it seamlessly melds punk rock with a delicate pop sensibility. If you like Liquids, you simply need this song, no two ways about it. As for the two tracks on the flip, while they’re not quite on the level of “More than a Friend” (which is, frankly, a band-defining song, though Liquids have a few of those under their belt), they’re as strong as any other Liquids track and you won’t have any problems wearing out that side of the record as well.

Hyena: demo cassette (Scavenger of Death) 7-song demo from this new hardcore band from Atlanta, which features most of the lineup of Sorry State’s own Bukkake Boys. While Hyena more or less picks up right where Bukkake Boys left off (though thankfully without a name that makes us wince!), there are some subtle differences in their sound. The basic framework is still heavy, full-bore hardcore that lies somewhere in the fertile ground between mid-period Poison Idea records like War All the Time and Kings of Punk and more Discharge-inspired stuff like Anti-Cimex’s first 12”. Like Bukkake Boys, Hyena is also elevated by absolutely brilliant drumming… Corey is one of my favorite hardcore drummers, and I couldn’t be more stoked to hear his distinctive and crushingly powerful beats behind a new band. Hyena do have a different guitarist than Bukkake Boys, though, and he peppers a couple of these tracks with blistering leads that push Hyena more in the direction of classic-sounding Japanese hardcore, but with the slight looseness and power of the aforementioned bands. If you’re into the kind of hardcore bands that Sorry State has put out in the past, this is pretty much a no-brainer. Highly recommended.

The Scam: Everything Ends in Rot 7” (Antitodo) Reissue of this excellent 1986 7” from New Hampshire’s the Scam on Spain’s Antitodo Records, which has been digging up quite a few interesting USHC obscurities as of late. The Scam were ripe for the picking, because while I imagine that their metal-tinged hardcore might have sounded a little bit de rigeur in 1986, nowadays it’s easy to appreciate the uniquely sinister vibe of this one. Basically, it sounds to me like the Scam’s music is informed in equal parts by early 80s SoCal punk like the Adolescents and TSOL, the more punk end of Death Rock (particularly the first Christian Death LP and maybe Samhain) and a touch of crossover / thrash (a la Animosity-era COC). I can’t think of another band that sits in this spot of the venn diagram, which is particularly impressive because they tend to adopt the best parts of each of those genres, namely the catchiness of SoCal punk, the spooky atmosphere of death rock and the musical sophistication / precision of thrash. Vibe-wise, the closest comparison I can make is some moments of United Mutation. While it’s not exactly like that, I think that it’s a safe bet that if you’re into those kind of “outsider” early 80s bands with a really unique vibe—UM, Mecht Mensch, Spike in Vain, Power of the Spoken Word, Die Kreuzen—you’ll flip out for this one. Highly recommended.

Violence Creeps: Ease the Seed Bag 7” (Drunken Sailor) Brand new 4-songer from this San Francisco-area band who have been a Sorry State favorite for a while now. You get four songs here, three of which you may already know, including an alternate version of their cover of Soft Cell’s “Sex Dwarf,” which originally appeared on their 12” EP on Total Punk (which, IMHO at least, remains THEE Violence Creeps record to get). While Ease the Seed Bag lacks the unity of sound and vision that some of Violence Creeps’ other releases have had, what it lacks in unity it makes up for with the strength of the songs themselves, as this EP collects some of the band’s most memorable moments. Too musical to be no wave but too musically confrontational to really be called straightforward punk, Violence Creeps have the same kind of stance as bands like Flipper, No Trend, and Public Image Ltd., and like those bands at their very best Violence Creeps have a way of wrenching jagged but memorable melodies out of the chaos. Keeping up with this prolific band’s bulging discography can be tough, but the rewards make it well worth it.

Tarantula: S/T 7” (Lengua Armada) Since, as of this writing, we’re already sold out of this EP and whether we can get a restock is very much TBD I won’t spend too much time raving about it, but I had to go on record as noting that this is definitely one of the best punk records that 2017 has offered us so far. I’m sure you know by now that Tarantula features a number of former Cülo members among their ranks and pretty much pick up right where Cülo left off, but honestly I think that this EP is better than anything Cülo produced, and I’m a pretty big Cülo fan! It’s funny, I mentioned to Jeff that for a band that didn’t even have a bass player in their previous iteration, the basslines on this EP are absolutely killer, and without a doubt one of the bright spots in the songs. The other reason I prefer this somewhat to Cülo is because they’ve slowed the tempos down just a hair. While this is still pretty much full-bore punk rock, playing at just a tad less manic tempo really makes the catchiness of these tracks jump out at you. I feel like I hear a lot of the classic punk sensibility of bands like the Dickies or even prime-era Naked Raygun in these tracks, though without sounding like a rehash or an homage at all. The lyrics are even really strong and well worth a read. Here’s hoping that we get a spate of Tarantula releases much like the deluge of Cülo vinyl that we saw in 2010 and 2011 and that they’re all as killer as this one.

Paranoid: Praise No Deity 7” (Konton Crasher) My favorite d-beat band in the world, Sweden’s Paranoid, grace us with another 3-track opus! Why are Paranoid my favorite d-beat band? Well, that’s a really hard thing to put my finger on. I think that ultimately what I like about them is that they have perfect balance of purism and progressivism. When you’re making the self-conscious choice to play a genre like d-beat with relatively tight formal constraints you need to find a way to honor what makes the genre great without simply rehashing, and Paranoid consistently manage to do that. The a-side (I won’t type out song titles because they’re all written in Japanese on the sleeve) is the centerpiece, and uses some of the same chords as Celtic Frost’s “Into Crypts of Rays,” which Paranoid actually covered on their excellent, highly recommended covers album. As the track listing for that covers album hints, Paranoid have more than a little bit of metal in their DNA, and this track achieves that perfect balance between Celtic Frost’s neanderthal chug and the almost breezy quality of first 12”-era Anti-Cimex. The b-side’s 2 tracks both exhibit slightly different sides of the band, the 1st track being a little rawer and nastier (sounding more like the Anti-Cimex 7”s, but with more modern production) and the second one is slightly (I mean really slightly) more technical with more complex changes than your typical d-beat track. I imagine that a lay person would probably throw this on and think “just another d-beat record,” but if you’ve spent some time listening to the genre closely and you have the background knowledge to appreciate what Paranoid is doing, then there isn’t a current band that does a better job of keeping this rich tradition alive.

All New Arrivals
Pierre Et Bastien: Musique Grecque 12" (SDZ)
Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister: Planetarium 12" (4AD)
Terror: The Walls Will Fall 7" (Pure Noise)
Kreator: Pleasure to Kill 12" (Noise)
Kreator: Terrible Certainty 12" (Noise)
Kreator: Endless Pain 12" (Noise)
Kreator: Extreme Aggression 12" (Noise)
Big Thief: Capacity 12" (Saddle Creek)
David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 12" (gold vinyl; Parlophone)
The Drums: Abysmal Thoughts 12" (Anti)
Mattin: Songbook #6 12" (Munster)
JJ Doom: Bookhead EP 12" (Lex)
Can: The Singles 12" (Spoon)
Fleet Foxes: Crack-up 12" (Sub Pop)
John Coltrane: Ole Coltrane 12" (Org Music)
John Coltrane: Giant Steps 12" (Org Music)
John Coltrane & Don Cherry: The Avant-Garde 12" (Org Music)
Past: Czarno / Biala 12" (???)
Spodee Boy: Sterile World 7" (Drop Medium)
Datenight: Sonic Youth 18 Years On Earth cassette (Drop Medium)
Datenight: Datenight Does Dallas cassette (Drop Medium)
Allvaret: Skam Och Skuld 12" (Erste Theke Tontraeger)
Muff Divers: No Muff Too Tuff 7" (Erste Theke Tontraeger)
Skull Cult: Vol 1 + Vol 2 7" (Erste Theke Tontraeger)
Self Abuse: (I Didn't Wanna Be a) Soldier 7" (Antitodo)
The Scam: Everything Ends in Rot 7" (Antitodo)
Tarantula: S/T 7" (Lengua Armada)
Venenum: Trance of Death 12" (Ajna Offensive)
Niku-Dan: S/T 12" (Euro Import)
John Coltrane & Wilbur Harden: Tanganyika Strut 12" (Superior Viaduct)
Relatively Clean Rivers: S/T 12" (Phoenix)
Brian Jonestown Massacre: Bravery, Repetition and Noise 12" (A Recordings)
Albert Ayler: Prophecy 12" (ESP Disk)
Ball: S/T 12" (Horny)
Golem: Orion Awakens 12" (Mental Experience)
Teenage Filmstars: (There's a) Cloud Over Liverpool 12" (Munster)
Generation X: Sweet Revenge 12" (Munster)
Alex Chilton: Take Me Home and Make Me Like It 12" (Munster)
Bruce Haack: The Electric Lucifer 12" (Telephone Explosion)
Reality Group: Demo 2016 cassette (Electric Heat)
Xertz: Demo 2017 cassette (Electric Heat)
The Sexual: Discography 12" (Euro Import)
Disorder: Human Cargo 12" (Rest in Punk)
Negazione: 1983: Pre-Early Days 12" (Disforia)
Ash Ra Tempel: High and Mighty Priestess 12" (Euro Import)
Ash Ra Tempel: Join Inn 12" (Euro Import)
Ash Ra Tempel: Schwingungen 12" (Euro Import)
Ash Ra Tempel: First Album 12" (Euro Import)
My Bloody Valentine: Loveless 12" (Euro Import)
GG Allin & the Jabbers: 80s Rock N Roll: The Singles 12" (Euro Import)
Misfits: 12 Hits from Hell: The MSP Sessions 12" (Euro Import)
Science Project: Basement Blues 7" (Neck Chop)
Process of Elimination: S/T 7" (Neck Chop)
Paranoid: Praise No Deity 7" (Konton Crasher)
Svaveldioxid: Ändlös Mardröm 12" (Konton Crasher)
Utanforskapet: S/T 12" (Konton Crasher)
Necrot: Blood Offerings 12" (Tankcrimes)
Fucked Up: Year of the Snake 12" (Tankcrimes)
Connoisseur: Over the Edge 12" (Tankcrimes)
Fuck You Pay Me: Dumbed Down 12" (Tankcrimes)
Deny the Cross: Alpha Ghoul 12" (Tankcrimes)
Victims: Sirens 12" (Tankcrimes)
Vivisick: Nuked Identity 12" (Tankcrimes)
Connoisseur: Stoner Justice 12" (Tankcrimes)
The Shrine: Waiting for the War 12" (Tankcrimes)
Brainoil: S/T 12" (Tankcrimes)
Exhumed / Iron Reagan: Split 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul / Cannabis Corpse: Splatterhash 12" (Tankcrimes)
Municipal Waste / Toxic Holocaust: Toxic Waste 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul: Wall of Death 7" (Tankcrimesew)
Cliterati: S/T 7" (Tankcrimes)
Annihilation Time: Cosmic Unconsciousness 7" (Tankcrimes)
Hyena: demo cassette (Scavenger of Death)
Danzig: Black Laden Crown 12" (Nuclear Blast)
Iced Earth: Incorruptible 12" (Century Media)
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit: The Nashville Sound 12" (Southeastern)
Ataxxia: Demo cassette (self-released)
Mutoid Man: War Moans 12" (Sargent House)
Ride: Weather Diaries 12" (Wichita)
Piece War: Apathy 12" (Square One Again)
Various: Bingo!: French Punk Exploitation 1978-1981 12" (Born Bad)
Wicked Lady: The Axeman Cometh 12" (Guersson)
Wicked Lady: Psychotic Overkill 12" (Guersson)
MF Doom: Operation: Doomsday 12" (Metal Face)
Disfear: Misanthropic Generation 12" (La Familia)
Conflict: The Ungovernable Force 12" (Hätääpu)
Conflict: It's Time to See Who's Who 12" (Hätääpu)
Inferno: Anti Hagenbach Tape 12" (Power It Up)
The American Epic Sessions OST 12" (Third Man)
The Monks: Hamburg Recordings 1967 12" (Third Man)
Songs: Ohia: S/T 12" (Secretly Canadian)
Songs: Ohia: Axxess & Ace 12" (Secretly Canadian)
Jason Molina: Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go 12" (Secretly Canadian)
Broken Hope: Mutilated 12" (Century Media)
Dying Fetus: Wrong One to Fuck With 12" (Relapse)
Ex Eye: S/T 12" (Relapse)
Tyrannosorceress: Shattering Light's Creation 12" (Tofu Carnage)
Helmet: Meantime 12" (Interscope)
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: Murder of the Universe 12" (Castle Face)
Raincoats: S/T 12" (We Three)
Iron Maiden: Brave New World 12" (Sanctuary)
Iron Maiden: A Matter of Life and Death 12" (Sanctuary)
Iron Maiden: Dance of Death 12" (Sanctuary)
Iron Maiden: Rock in Rio 12" (Sanctuary)
Jeff Tweedy: Together at Last 12" (Anti-)
David Bowie: Hunky Dory 12" (gold vinyl; Parlophone)
Piss: II 7" (Static Age)
Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain 12" (picture disc; Warner Bros)
Prince and the Revolution: Purple Rain 12" (remastered; Warner Bros)
Tigers Jaw: Spin 12" (Atlantic)
Carach Angren: Dance and Laugh Among the Rotten 12" (Season of Mist)
Immortal: Diabolical Fullmoon 12" (Osmose)
Municipal Waste: Slime and Punishment 12" (Nuclear Blast)


Restocks
Baroness: Blue 12" (Relapse)
Baroness: Yellow and Green 12" (Relapse)
Brand New: I Am a Nightmare 12" (Pmtraitors)
Death: Human 12" (Relapse)
Death: Scream Bloody Gore 12" (Relapse)
Death: Spiritual Healing 12" (Relapse)
Geto Boys: S/T 12" (Rap-a-lot)
Geto Boys: We Can't Be Stopped 12" (Rap-a-lot)
Joey Bada$$: All Amerikkkan Bada$$ 12" (Cinematic)
King Diamond: Conspiracy 12" (Metal Blade)
Modest Mouse: This Is a Long Drive 12" (Glacial Pace)
NOFX: The Decline 12" (Fat Wreck)
Jay Reatard: Blood Visions 12" (Fat Possum)
Royal Headache: S/T 12" (What's Your Rupture)
Run the Jewels: S/T 12" (Mass Appeal)
Run the Jewels: 2 12" (Mass Appeal)
Run the Jewels: 3 12" (Mass Appeal)
Slayer: Show No Mercy 12" (Metal Blade)
Swans: Filth 12" (Young God)
Urchin: How to Make Napalm 7" (Roach Leg)
The Coneheads: 14 Year Old High School PC-Fascist Hype Lords 12" (Erste Theke Tontraeger)
Dystopia: Human=Garbage 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul: Dungeon Bastards 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul: Transmission Zero 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul: Maniaxe 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul: We Came for the Dead 12" (Tankcrimes)
Ghoul: Hang Ten 10" (Tankcrimes)
Fucked Up: Year of the Dragon 12" (Tankcrimes)
Death Cab for Cutie: Transatlanticism 12" (Barsuk)
Downtown Boys: Full Communism 12" (Don Giovanni)
Elliott Smith: S/T 12" (Kill Rock Stars)
Elliott Smith: Either/Or 12" (Kill Rock Stars)
Danny Brown: Atrocity Exhibition 12" (Warp)
Alice Coltrane: World Spirituality Classics Vol 1 12" (Luaka Bop)
Led Zeppelin: I 12" (Atlantic)
Metallica: Kill 'em All 12" (Blackened)
Radiohead: Kid A 12" (XL)
David Bowie: The Man Who Sold the World 12" (Parlophone)
The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys 12" (Rhino)
The Replacements: Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash 12" (Rhino)
David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust 12" (Parlophone)
Green Day: Kerplunk! 12" (Reprise)
Operation Ivy: Energy 12" (Epitaph)
David Bowie: Hunky Dory 12" (Parlophone)
Motorhead: Ace of Spades 12" (Sanctuary)
Jay Reatard: Watch Me Fall 12" (Matador)
The Cure: Disintegration 12" (Rhino)
Metallica: Master of Puppets 12" (Blackened)
The Replacements: Let It Be 12" (Rhino)
Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool 12" (XL)
Nirvana: Bleach 12" (Sub Pop)
Metallica: Ride the Lightning 12" (Blackened)
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures 12" (Rhino)
In School: Cement Fucker 7" (Thrilling Living)
Blitz: Voice of a Generation 12" (Radiation)
Broken Bones: A Single Decade 12" (Havoc)
Chaos UK: The Singles 12" (Radiation)
Dezerter: Underground Out of Poland 12" (Nikt Nic Nie Wie)
Discharge: Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing 12" (Havoc)
Discharge; Why 12" (Havoc)
Discharge: Realities of War 7" (Havoc)
Discharge: Decontrol 7" (Havoc)
Discharge: Fight Back 7" (Havoc)
Discharge: Never Again 7" (Havoc)
Discharge: State Violence, State Control 7" (Havoc)
Extreme Noise Terror: Phonophobia 12" (Agipunk)
Sacrilege: Time to Face the Reaper 12" (Havoc)
Jack White: Blunderbuss 12" (Third Man)
The Melvins: Houdini 12" (Third Man)
The White Stripes: S/T 12" (Third Man)
The White Stripes: White Blood Cells 12" (Third Man)
The White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan 12" (Third Man)
The White Stripes: Elephant 12" (Third Man)
Zero Boys: Vicious Circle 12" (Secretly Canadian)
Zero Boys: History of 12" (Secretly Canadian)
Die Kreuzen: S/T 12" (Touch & Go)
Big Black: Bulldozer 12" (Touch & Go)
Big Black: Atomizer 12" (Touch & Go)
The Fix: At the Speed of Twisted Thought 12" (Touch & Go)
Negative Approach: S/T 7" (Touch & Go)
Husker Du: Zen Arcade 12" (SST)
Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty 12" (Capitol)
Death: Leprosy 12" (Relapse)
Funkadelic: Free Your Mind 12" (Three Men with Beards)
Funkadelic: S/T 12" (Three Men with Beards)
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain 12" (Three Men with Beards)
Misfits: Collection 12" (Caroline)
Misfits: Legacy of Brutality 12" (Caroline)
Misfits: Static Age 12" (Caroline)
New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon 12" (Mecury)
Pearl Jam: Vitalogy 12" (Sony)
Velvet Underground & Nico: S/T 12" (Vinyl Lovers)
Weezer: Pinkerton 12" (Geffen)

So, thanks to my 9-day (and counting!) fever and simultaneous sinus and throat infection you've had to endure a couple of days without a new blog post. The horror! However, I'm sitting here drenched in sweat so that I can give you the lowdown of what's come in over the past few days.

First up we have a big shipment of items from "Fan Club," everyone's favorite record label! How do those folks at Fan Club get to reissue all of the good stuff that no one else can? I'll leave that to you to figure out, but the first thing I want to point you toward is a repress of the Misfits' great 12 Hits from Hell. Basically, here's the deal with this one. In 1980 the Misfits went in to record some tracks at MSP Studios. At the time, Bobby Steele (who played on the band's early records) was still in the band, but mid-way through the session they kicked him out of the band, replacing him with Jerry Only's brother Doyle, who re-recorded the guitar tracks. The songs would eventually surface (with Doyle's guitar tracks) on a few 7"s releases, most prominently 3 Hits from Hell. Well, I guess at some point in the early 00s someone at Caroline Records discovered that Bobby Steele's original guitar tracks still existed on the multitracks, so they did a new mix of the album featuring both Bobby Steele's and Doyle's guitar tracks, effectively capturing a two-guitar lineup of the Misfits that never actually existed! Caroline was all set to press this up as 12 Hits from Hell, but I guess someone in the Misfits camp wasn't happy with the whole thing and scapped the project at the last minute, after copies had already been pressed and promo copies had been mailed to various media outlets. Of course those promo copies are highly sought-after collectors items now, and even the bootleg vinyl version from 2002 regularly sells for $50+ these days. Now we have a new fan club pressing, and I have to say this is some of my favorite Misfits material. The thing I like about 12 Hits is that it has something of both the rock swagger of Static Age and the over-the-top melodies of Walk Among Us, making 12 Hits from Hell the record that every Misfits fan can get behind. I'm sure it won't be long before this new pressing is just as desirable as the previous ones, so jump on it:

The Fan Club has also hooked us up with copies of My Bloody Valentine's classic Loveless  and a killer comp of early GG Allin singles, but the other thing I want to point you toward is a beautifully-done reissue of one of Krautrock's gems, the first LP from Ash Ra Tempel:

Next up we have a 12" release from New Zealand's Piece War, which is a new release on Square One Again Records, a rad label run by members of the great hardcore band In School. This LP from Piece War was originally released as an insanely limited edition lathe cut, and not only does this new pressing get it out to much wider audience, but I also have no doubt that it sounds a million times better. While this isn't In School's ferocious hardcore, it's highly recommended for those of you who like smart, inventive DIY music:

Next we have a new full length from France's criminally underrated Pierre et Bastien. I remember raving about their first album a few years back, and this new one might be even better! We actually ordered this months ago, but a mix-up with the post office means that we only just now received the vinyl. If you're into fast, catchy punk with dark and sophisticated like the Marked Men, Royal Headache, and Radioactivity I strongly recommend you check this band out... they're great!

Now we're going to jump in the time machine for a second and take a trip to 1960s Germany for some unreleased tracks by garage rock legends the Monks! This is spinning on the shop turntable right now and it's awesome! If you're a 60s garage head you already know you need this, and you can count on Third Man to sell these for the nice price ($8 retail for an LP... what is this, 1995?):

We'll finish things up with a few cool new items for this week's #newreleasefriday. Even though it probably won't sell more than the other two releases I'll talk about, I can't help but start with a reissue of one of my all-time favorite records, the deubt LP from the Raincoats. One of the most unique and powerful statements of the post-punk era, I'm stoked that we finally have this one back in stock:

Next on the agenda is the new album from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Murder of the Universe. I haven't had a chance to spin this one yet, but I know a lot of you are eagerly anticipating this one:

Finishing things off for today is the long-awaited new album from Municipal Waste! I've been following the Waste since before they even had a demo tape, and it's been amazing to watch them grow into metal superstars. This is their first album in something like five years, so I'm sure there are a lot of you out there chomping at the bit for this one! We also have the limited splatter vinyl while supplies last, so make sure and grab it now if you're trying to hold those collectibles:

So it feels like we've gotten a metric ton of mail in the past 24 hours and there is so much good stuff that there's no way I can cover it all, so if any day warrants a trip to the new arrivals section it's this one. While this will be far from comprehensive, I can't help but hit the highlights.

First up is the debut EP from Chicago's Tarantula, which is a new band featuring the core of the mighty Cülo. However, I have to say that so far Tarantula has hit me harder than anything Cülo did. Take a listen to one of the tracks below and see for yourself what you think:

Next up we have a retrospective release from 80s Florida punks Morbid Opera on the mighty Vinyl Rites label. This is a band I've heard talked about for ages, so it's nice to have a well-done retrospective collection like this.

Next we have a couple of new releases on Vinyl Rites' new sister label Bloody Master. So far, at least, Bloody Master seems to be releasing raw punk in extremely limited runs with cool, hand-made packaging. You might remember their vinyl version of the Vägra demo from a while back (we actually restocked that with this shipment, but all of the copies sold out within a few minutes), and this time around they're giving the treatment to Florida noise-punks Allergy and New York's Subversive Rite:

Next we have a couple of treats for lovers of 80s Japanese punk. First of all, we restocked the excellent fan club release from the Sexual, so if you missed that the first time around (and I know a lot of you did!) make sure to grab that. However, if you're looking for something new, we have another retrospective fan club release from Nikudan. This one compiles pretty much everything they did, and like the Sexual release it looks and sounds great.

The next stop on our musical journey is Bloomington, Indiana, the home of the great new Indiana punk project Skull Cult. You might remember that we carried this band's two cassette releases a while back (and we actually still have a couple of copies in stock as of this writing), and this release on Germany's great Erste Theke Tonträger label compiles those two tapes onto one 7":

Also on Erste Theke Tonträger in the new LP from Sweden's Allvaret! My band No Love actually got to play with Allvaret a while back and they were great... highly recommended if you're into melodic Swedish stuff like Masshysteri and Terrible Feelings:

Next up is a trip to sunny, laid-back (actually, not really either of those things) Bristol, England, for a brand new LP from seminal noise-punks Disorder! Now, as you are I'm sure, I'm always skeptical when an older band releases new material, but Disorder have not mellowed with age in the slightest. This is still ridiculously ugly, obnoxious punk like the stuff they made way back when. If you don't believe me take a listen for yourself:

We'll finish things up with a brand new tape from Minneapolis's Ataxxia. We actually just got their debut 7" in a few weeks ago, but I guess this tape is all new material and it totally rips... I guess they're going for a classic Swedish hardcore thing, but I hear plenty of gnarly Finnish hardcore like Rattus or Terveet Kadet in their sound as well:

As I noted, that's only the tip of the iceberg, so make sure to dig deeper for even more gems!

Spodee Boy: S/T 7” (Drop Medium) Debut vinyl from this Nashville project (I think it’s a one-person band). The person behind Spodee Boy actually dropped by the store while on tour with his other band and mentioned this project, noting that it was in a similar vein to a lot of Northwest Indiana stuff like DLIMC, Coneheads, Liquids, et al, and the similarities to that sound are pretty obvious with its raw production, Devo-inspired mechanical-sounding (but as far as I can tell acoustic) drums, but willingness to engage with a lot more melody and traditional pop songcraft than most noisy DIY punk bands. I think it’s pretty much a given that if you’re into that sound—particularly Liquids’ rawer cassette releases—that you’ll really enjoy this too, but I’ll also say that Spodee Boy can get pretty far out there. While some bands / songs in this style can almost start to sound like pop-punk with rawer production, Spodee Boy seems more grounded in a Hardcore Devo / Electric Eels type of thing. Definitely recommended if you’re still enjoying pulling on this thread of current punk.

Obnox: Niggative Approach 12” (12XU) Obnox has been a name that has been bumping around the edges of my awareness for some time now, and while I’ve heard records in passing and even seen him/them live a few times, I’ve never before actually sat down and tried to engage with his music. Niggative Approach has me rethinking that whole… er, approach… because, man, what a record! This album feels like a world that is completely unto itself, because I’ve never heard anything remotely like it. Attempting an exhaustive list of the influences on this beast would be completely impossible, but the primary ingredients in the stew seem to be classic funk and soul, modern hip-hop production (particularly the shimmery “Chipmunk Soul” sound that was really popular a few years ago and, for some reason, always reminds me of the Love Boat theme), hardcore, psych, and neo-garage. But I’m sure there’s way more to that, and dismissing this album as a mere cross-pollination of genres is something I definitely don’t want to do. Rather, it seems like Obnox is a man with a vision, and he’s able to pull songwriting and production techniques from whatever he feels like in order to realize that vision. The result is something that sounds utterly unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, but if I were to choose a couple of adjectives to describe the music on Niggative Approach they would be “lush” and “trippy.” I’ll refrain from trying to break this down any further, because at the end of the day it is what it is, and if you consider yourself an adventurous listener you should probably check it out.

Ben Trogdon: Rock N Roll Forever book (self-released) This is a lengthy (100+ pages) compilation of photographs by Ben, who you may know from the long-running zine Nuts. First of all, calling this a “photo book” is kind of misleading, because most of those that I’ve seen consist primarily of live band photography, and the photos themselves often portray the act of playing music as a kind of heroic, larger-than-life activity. Rock N Roll forever kind of does the opposite… portraying the music scene in a way that is almost shockingly devoid of pretense and posturing. Most of the shots are candid pics of people hanging out. The exceptions are a handful of band photo shoots that I think were mostly done for previous issues of Nuts and a smattering of live photos, neither of which really have anything of the tone and texture of most of what gets printed in contemporary zines and photobooks. In these photos, the bands don’t look heroic at all. They, almost without exception, look kind of schlubby and, in a word, human. That’s true to an even greater extent of the candid shots that form a majority of the book’s content. Most people don’t seem like they’re trying to look cool, and in the cases of the ones who are, Ben’s camera is able to capture something about them that feels very real and human. I know a lot of the people photographed in this book, and there’s a kind of truth to what Ben captures about them in his photos, and by aggregating them all together into this book (particularly along with the meticulously-constructed individual layouts for each page, which definitely add up to a unique and coherent aesthetic) Ben also reveals a wider truth about the punk scene of the last ten years as a whole. If you’ve been heavily involved in the DIY punk and hardcore scenes over the past decade, flipping through this will probably feel like flipping through a high school yearbook, though for a high school we all would have wanted to go to rather than the ones that we all, I’m pretty sure uniformly, hated. That mix of gratifying my very human impulse toward nostalgia as well as capturing something a bit higher and more artistic is a real achievement. I’m sure this isn’t for everyone, but it’s so perfectly and truly for me that I can’t help but give it my highest recommendation.

Sick Horse: S/T 12” (Static Age) I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe Sick Horse’s music, but I’m drawing a blank. They have this way of skirting categories… they’re too fast and too punk to really be accurately labeled a post-punk-inspired band, they’re too melodic to really be a hardcore band, and they’re too cerebral and angular to fit the mold of a straight up punk band. But even though they’re none of those things, somehow they’re also all three at the same time. I guess that they have a similar mix of elements as a band like Hot Snakes, but when I try to pin down that comparison Sick Horse don’t sound much like Hot Snakes at all… while the stew of influences might be similar, vibe-wise this is totally different… slightly loose and organic where Hot Snakes are nervy and wound super tight. Jeff said that Sick Horse sounds like Heavy Metal (the band, not the genre) with the goofy / campy elements removed, and I suppose that I can hear that as well, particularly on a track like “Culture Is Getting High,” which closes out the a-side quite brilliantly. I must say that I’m really looking forward to being done writing this description, because while analyzing their music feels like a fruitless activity, listening to Sick Horse is a really fun activity that I would very much like to get back to.

Ekman & Owen: S/T 7” (Goodbye Boozy) Transatlantic collaboration 7” between one of Finland’s Achtungs and DD Owen of Sick Thoughts. It’s funny, both Achtungs and Sick Thoughts have fairly manic sounds that tend to blur the lines between punk and hardcore, but both of the songs here are uncharacteristically mid-paced. “New Orleans to Helsinki” is a punky power pop track that reminds me of a lot of old European stuff that blurs the lines between those genres, Hubble Bubble in particular. On the other hand, “Gonna Go Downtown” is pretty much straight-up glam, with a rad, melodic mid-paced bootboy riff (that maybe owes a little to “Two Tub Man” by the Dictators), a Bolan-esque vocal (which I’m honestly kind of surprised Drew is capable of) and some sick Mick Ronson-worthy soloing in the outro. Someone told me a few months ago that they thought the next big punk trend was going to be bootboy glam, and “Gonna Go Downtown” makes a good case for punks making this genre their own. Like a lot of the singles on Goodbye Boozy, this one feels frustratingly brief, but damn do both of these songs smoke.

S.B.F.: Double Blind 7” (Goodbye Boozy) Second 7” from this California band that shares members with Race Car (as well as, presumably, a number of other projects), and I think it’s even better than their already-awesome first one. The first thing you’ll notice about S.B.F. is that they have a really distinctive sound. They use a drum machine, but rather than using it to program quirky robotic beats they instead use it to play the manic, Ramones-derived beats that power bands like the Carbonas. While a lot of these newer drum machine-based projects have a very thin and brittle sound, S.B.F. actually have a fairly beefy, heavy but melodic guitar sound. Putting aside the drum machine, the guitar tones and riffs have a very OC punk quality that reminds me of things like D.I. or Rikk Agnew’s solo LP. And, fortunately, S.B.F. also has the songwriting chops to match that comparison. Both of the tracks here have a surprising amount of complexity, with layered, overlapping guitar riffs that again recall the master Rikk Agnew’s work, particularly the darker flavor of the first track, “Disintegrate.” I love pretty much everything that has come out of this crew, but Double Blind strikes me as a real high-water mark.

Various: Ketters Van Het Vlaamse Platteland 12" (Mauerstadt) While I can’t make much sense of the German-language liner notes, I believe that this is a compilation of Belgian post-punk music from 1979-1983, including the bands De Brassers, Enterprise Incorporated, Struggler, Suspects, and Camera Obscura. When I think of Belgian punk the first thing that usually comes to mind are the more ’77 era/style bands like the Kids, Hubble Bubble, the Pigz, Chainsaw, et al, but Ketters Van Het Vlaamse Platteland has a different focus, centering on artier and more experimental bands working in more of a post-punk milieu. While the bands featured are quite different from one another, I can tell that they’re aware of what was happening in the English / British post-punk scene as you can hear the distinct influence of those bands, the Fall’s dystopian, Krautrock-inflected moments in particular. While several of these bands (most prominently De Brassers) went on to release vinyl, Ketters Van Het Vlaamse Platteland captures them at a very early stage… everything compiled here feels raw and immediate (possibly even live?) but with more than enough fidelity to hear everything that’s going on. Admittedly this is pretty niche stuff, but man there’s some good music on this one, as well as on the Mauerstadt label as a whole.

Piss: II 7” (Static Age) Second vinyl EP from this German band who recently toured the US, and it definitely stands up to the quality of their first. In case you didn’t check out that first one, Piss remind me quite a lot of S.H.I.T. and Blazing Eye in that they play noisy hardcore, often employ a really fast pogo beat, but also manage to infuse their music with some of the apocalyptic vibe of G.I.S.M. at their very best. While Blazing Eye’s sense of camp makes them special and S.H.I.T.’s mastery of atmosphere causes them to stand out, Piss stake their claim by upping the raw fury and aggression to the maximum possible level. At points, this EP even begins to transcend their established aesthetic, moving toward something more like the progressive noise-punk of Japanese bands like Zyanose or D-Clone. I also would be remiss not to mention the excellent packaging on this thing, including an eye-catching full-color layout and a cool screen-printed polybag that references a bunch of punk graphic cliches without feeling like a low-brow rehash. Definitely one of the standout hardcore releases of the past few months.

Bikini Cops: Number Two 7” (Goodbye Boozy) Second 7” from this Australian band, and it’s a real standout. Stylistically, this reminds me a lot of the Carbonas (and other adjacent Atlanta punk) in the way that it sounds like classic rock and roll (or that end of the 70s punk, a la the Brian James-era Damned) amped up to the point where they can hang with just about any hardcore band in terms of velocity and aggression. The combination of pop hooks and punk power is one of the most exhilarating things in music, and Bikini Cops totally nail it. Bonus points for also having more than their fair share of the vibe of Aussie punk classics like the Saints or the Chosen Few, but again sped and amped up for our modern age. Fortunately Bikini Cops even managed to persuade Goodbye Boozy to put music on both sides of this record, so it feels like a fully-realized EP and not the too-brief snapshot of some of the 1-sided Goobye Boozy releases. Basically, if you’re into any of the stuff above I’d strongly recommend checking these folks out.

All New Arrivals
Blue Dolphin: Demo 2016 cassette (self-released)
Blue Dolphin: Earth Day 2017 cassette (self-released)
Blue Dolphin: 2 New Songs cassette (self-released)
Various: Various Distractions 12" (Mauerstadt)
Various: Ketters Van Het Vlaamse Platteland 12" (Mauerstadt)
Vonbrigði: Ó, Reykjavík 12" (Mauerstadt)
Strange Devotion: Again the New Formation 7" (Mauerstadt)
Neural Circus: S/T 7" (Mauerstadt)
Mutter: 25 2x12" (Mauerstadt)
Rancid: Trouble Maker 12"+7" (Epitaph)
Crisis Man: S/T cassette (self-released)
III Guera: S/T 12" (Discos Enfermos)
Gaitze: S/T 12" (Discos Enfermos)
Asinus / Venganza: Split 7" (Discos Enfermos)
Ekman & Owen: S/T 7" (Goodbye Boozy)
Fresh Flesh: S/T 7" (Goodbye Boozy)
Bikini Cops: Number Two 7" (Goodbye Boozy)
Bad Boyfriends: S/T 7" (Goodbye Boozy)
S.B.F.: Double Blind 7" (Goodbye Boozy)
Draggs: 3D Funeral 7" (Goodbye Boozy)
Dead Kennedys: Bedtime for Democracy 12" (Manifesto)
Dead Kennedys: Plastic Surgery Disasters 12" (Manifesto)
Dead Kennedys: Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death 12" (Manifesto)
Slapshot: Step on It 12" (Taang!)
Negative FX: S/T 12" (Taang!)
Kilslug: Answer the Call 12" (Taang!)
Slaughter & the Dogs: Do It Dog Style 12" (Taang!)
Last Rights: Chunks 7" (Taang!)
Lemonheads: Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners 7" (Taang!)
Poison Idea: Learning to Scream 7" (Taang!)
RAS: Rien A Signaler 7" (Dirty Punk)
Distrust: A Dream of Peace + FOAD 12" (FOAD)
FCDN Tormentor: Demonic Thereafter 12" (FOAD)
Toxic Noise: Discography 1990-1994 12" (FOAD)
Kaleidoscope: Neurosonic Data Collection cassette (Outsider Tapes)
Violence Creeps: Gift of Music + Singles cassette (Total Punk)
Performing Ferrets: S/T 7" (Insolito)
Suffocation: Of the Dark Light 12" (Nuclear Blast)
Merrimack: Omegaphilia 12" (Season of Mist)
Morbid Opera: Collection 12" (Vinyl Rites)
Subversive Rite: The Demos 12" (Bloody Master)
Allergy: Smog 12" (Bloody Master)
Obnox: Niggative Approach 12" (12XU)
Ben Trogdon: Rock N Roll Forever book (self-released)
Bulsch: Tartington 7" (Blow Blood)
Magic City: S/T 7" (Blow Blood)

Restocks
4 Skins: The Good, the Bad & the 4 Skins 12" (Radiation)
Death Piggy: Studio Session 84/85 12" (Vomitopunkrock)
Samhain: Unholy Passion 12" (Euro Import)
The Crowd: A World Apart 12" (Radiation)
Rhino 39: S/T 12" (Radiation)
Wretched: Libero E Selvaggio 12" (Agipunk)
FU's: Kill for Christ 12" (Taang!)
DYS: Brotherhood 12" (Taang!)
Buck Biloxi: Hollow Earth 7" (Holotrash)
Patsy: Tuley Tude High 7" (Total Punk)
Paranoid: Cover of the Month 12" (Svart)
Vagra: Demo 12" (Bloody Master)

Well, as usual the mail truck was full of goodies for Sorry State on Monday! I'll try and quickly run down what we got in and what it's all about. First up is a photobook from Ben Trogdon, who you may know from bands like Ivy, JJ Doll, and Vanity, or from his long-running zine Nuts. Ben's debut photobook is called Rock N Roll Forever, and it's great. I'm sure I'll write a full description of this soon, but basically if you like punk and you like photography you'll love this. The photos have a really raw, snapshot kind of feel, and there are a lot more photos of people just hanging out than there are photos of bands playing. This thing sort of feels to me like a yearbook of the past several years of DIY punk and hardcore. It's over 100 pages long, so you get plenty of bang for your buck here.

Next up we have two new releases on Cleveland's excellent Blow Blood Records. Bulsch's Tartington was originally released as a limited-run cassette (which we carried a while back) and now there's a vinyl pressing. I can't remember whether it was me or Seth, but someone described this as "music that makes you dumber when you listen to it:"

Also on Blow Blood Records is the debut 7" from Magic City, who play more of that freaky Cleveland hardcore punk that y'all love:

Moving on from there, we have a few new releases from Germany's Static Age Musik. We restocked the excellent second LP from Heavy Metal, so you should definitely pick that up if you haven't already. We also have a brand new 7" from Germany's excellent noisy hardcore band Piss (not to be confused with Pisse, of course!). I love the packaging of these, as the band's logo is printed in white ink directly on the polybag for a very cool look:

Also on Static Age we have the debut (I think?) LP from Germany's Sick Horse. I was just talking to Jeff about this band and he described them as a less weird version of Heavy Metal, and I think that fits pretty well. If you like upbeat, song-oriented punk that's equally informed by just about all of the currently active subgenres in the DIY scene I have a feeling this will catch your ear as well... it's really great:

Continuing on, we have SIX new releases from Italy's Goodbye Boozy Records. GBR has been on a tear lately, releasing a string of standout releases in very small numbers that consistently make the collector nerds sweat. Since there's so much other stuff to write about today I won't go through each release one by one (though you can check them all out in the New Arrivals section), but instead focus on a couple that you might not have heard. First I'll point you toward Australia's Bikini Cops, who I hadn't heard before. A little more hardcore than the typical Goodbye Boozy band, they have that aggressive but catchy sound that can appeal to hardcore folks and garage heads alike:

The next one I want to quickly write about is the new single from S.B.F. You may have actually heard of them before because we carried (and still have in stock) their debut 7" on Drunken Sailor, but if you haven't checked them out yet I'd strongly recommend them (as well as other related projects like the great Race Car).

Last but not least we have a slew of releases from Mauerstadt Records. Mauerstadt has basically no online presence so you may not have heard of them, but they've been releasing and re-releasing a whole bunch of great vintage post-punk music. All six of these are worth hearing (so check out everything here), but I'll highlight a couple once again. First, check out this Neural Circus 7", which is a reissue of a cool 1980 minimal synth 7" from the UK:

And we'll wrap up this epic post with something for you freaks out there: a compilation of material from early 80s Icelandic post-punks Vonbrigði:

I'm now officially tired of writing, so go buy some records!

Even though yesterday was a pretty big new release Friday we're still not ready to stop here at Sorry State! First up is a couple of cool cassettes collecting out of print EPs from a couple of our favorite bands. Outsider Tapes has released a collection from New York's Kaleidoscope featuring basically everything they've done up until their recent 12" on Feel It, including two cassettes and their 7" for Katorga Works.

Next up is another collection, this time from California's Violence Creeps. This is the first cassette release on Total Punk Records, and compiles not only Violence Creep's excellent 12" EP on that label (which is probably their best stuff in my opinion), but also their other early EPs and compilation tracks:

Next up are three new releases on the Discos Enfermos label, all from newer Spanish bands. My favorite of the batch is from the band III Guerra, and kind of reminds me of contemporary envelope-pushing Spanish bands like Glam or Una Bestia Incontrolable:

In addition to III Guerra, Discos Enfermos has also released some new Spanish punk from Gaitze, Asinus, and Vengazna, so check those out as well!

Next up we have a pair of cassettes from Datenight out of Portland (at least I think that's where they're from). Datenight are broadly in the garage-punk vein, but with a lot of heaviness and punk aggression... in other words, this isn't some limp retro stuff. Check out their Does Dallas cassette below, and if you're into that we also have their curiously-titled Sonic Youth 18 Years on Earth cassette as well.

In addition all of that we have some restocks from Patsy and Buck Biloxi, a cool (though unfortunately quite expensive) from early 80s Fall sound-alikes the Performing Ferret Band, and a handful of odds and ends. Enjoy!