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Angela's Staff Pick: April 20, 2023

Hi Sorry State fam! What’s up? It’s that time of year again. It’s the calm before the storm known as Record Store Day. There are several records on this year’s list that are pretty on brand for me. I’m excited to see Poe (first time on vinyl!), The Donna’s, Hüsker Dü, and the Soul Jazz comps to name a few.

Anyway, my staff pick is not related to anything I just said in my introductory paragraph. I chose Blitz: Time Bomb, Early Singles and Demo’s Collection. It’s an import but if I’m not mistaken, it’s the same track listing as the Blitz Punk Singles and Rarities, which was a European Radiation reissue released in 2013. I think this is basically the same thing, but with a different cover. Don’t quote me on any of this. It’s not that serious. The main point is that it sounds good.

I was in the mood for some good old familiar classic oi! punk to get me going for the day, so I turned to Blitz. But I wanted all the Blitz, so this singles and demos compilation did the trick.

Consisting of demos and singles, including their first few EPs, their very first recording session from 1980, the Timebomb demos, and a few demos from Voice of a Generation. It also includes all four of their charted singles, like my personal favorite, New Age.

Blitz has such an infectious sound and I love that communal vocal style. Not communal like a shared toilet. More like “hey, we’re all in this together, so let’s swear and shout until we blow our vocals out.” Oh hey, that rhymed. It’s not that cool of a line but feel free to use it if you need a lyric. We’re all in this together, after all.

I love classic Blitz but I also love the more new wave/post-punk sound. Paired with their gruff, anthemic vocals, it just works. I think the darker riffs and boppy bass lines were a timely and refreshing fusion. The influence of Joy Division knows no bounds. Some people didn’t like the change in direction, and there is a whole history there with lineup changes and what not. People have their opinions, but I like pretty much everything the band put out. Their music always hits the spot, and this compilation is the perfect way to have all the Blitz in one place.

That’s all I got. Happy (upcoming) Record Store Day to those who celebrate. Thanks as always for reading!

-Angela

Usman's Staff Pick: April 20, 2023

Hello, and happy 420 to all the weed smokers across the world. Today I’m writing about this killer box set on Svart Records. The aim of this series was to provide replica-type copies of super hard to find 7”s from late 70s Finnish bands. I was familiar with most of these bands via a mixtape a friend gave me like 10 years ago, but back then I only wanted my Finnish punk to be raw and hardcore. It took me a while to appreciate the stuff he shared with me. Over time my taste opened, and now I can’t get enough of this early Finnish sound. Maybe I’ll talk more about those tapes some other time. Svart started this series Punk Elää in 2019, but there hasn’t been an addition since 2020. I hope sometime they will hit us with another one, and maybe repress the ones that went out of print. I don’t have Volume 1 and I would like to. Every record they have included is awesome, but that NAUTA 7” in Volume 1 is so good. Inside Volume 3 is BRUPS, NIRVANA, and OUTO ELÄMÄ. I’m not gunna bother writing about the bands, cos the description does it best and inside the box set is a very well-done booklet that includes history of the bands and photos. Alright, it’s about to be 4:20pm. Given that it’s about to be 4:20 on 4/20, I’ll be wrapping up my workday now and proceeding to smoke weed like there is no tomorrow. To all my fellow weed smokers out there, don’t forget to double-blaze it at 8:40. Cheers and thanks for reading!

Dominic's Staff Pick: April 20, 2023

Hi everyone out there in Sorry State Newsletter land. Happy 4/20 for those that celebrate. In a timely manner, Daniel just bought a small collection of records with a few interesting reggae albums in there, so today the soundtrack at the store is going to feature some of those green tinged tunes. There’s not much time for a lengthy staff pick this week or much of anything else as we are feverishly preparing for this upcoming Saturday’s Record Store Day. Jeff is taking photos like a possessed David Bailey—there’s a lot of titles this year and thus so many product photos to take. It’s all action around here, but I have the coffee going and we are fueled and good to go.

So, for my pick this week I just wanted to give a mention to a new 45 that my DJ partner Matt hooked me up with the other day. Hot off the Big Crown Records presses, it’s El Michels Affair and Black Thought with the title track from their new album Glorious Game. What a great record it is and one that should do very well for all concerned. I can see this one being a big one. I’ll remind Daniel and Jeff to make sure we have copies in stock for you. For all hip-hop fans out there, this one is an essential pick up.

Glorious Game is a nice G Funk flavored track with a killer groove and the b-side tune called Grateful, also from the new album is a reggae-tinged banger (it samples Shabba Ranks) with a nice flute line hook. Really good stuff. A great collaboration between the soulful, funky El Michels Affair and arguably one of the best hip-hop artists currently out there. Surprisingly, this was their first time working together, but one can assume there will be more to come as the music and lyrics are a terrific match together. I hope so. I’m a big fan of El Michels Affair and have mentioned them in these pages before and everyone surely loves The Roots, right? With them busy each week holding down the Tonight Show in New York, one would think the opportunity for more collaborations might be possible. Big Crown is Brooklyn based, so let’s hope so.

Go ahead and give these two a blast and hopefully you’ll be feeling the vibe too. Gotta get back to the Record Store Day business. Hope to see some of you come through Saturday. Thanks for supporting us and all the other great record stores out there. Music is your best value entertainment. Cheers - Dom

Daniel's Staff Pick: April 20, 2023

The Bonniwell Music Machine: S/T LP (1968, Warner Bros. Records)

My connection with the Music Machine begins with Rocket from the Crypt. I should write at length about my feelings on RFTC at some point. I loved them when I was a teenager, even though they never achieved the level of success many people think they deserved. They were such a great band, but their campy aesthetic and their James Brown-influenced, “hard working entertainers” schtick were just so out of sync with the times, the total opposite of the earnest slacker vibes that dominated the radio in the post-grunge era. RFTC’s songs were so damn great that to check them out was to fall in love with them, and every time I have revisited their music in the two and a half decades since (!!!), their greatness is confirmed. But that’s an argument for another day.

Camp Zama Records in Norfolk, Virginia was the first independent record store I frequented. There are a handful of records I remember seeing there, some of which I bought, and some I didn’t. One of them was a minty first pressing of the Teen Idles EP on the wall for $100. At the time I made $4.15 an hour, so $100 was an inconceivable amount to pay for a record… most new 7”s were about three bucks. But I think seeing that record on the wall planted a seed in me that’s still sprouting today. Other records I remember buying there include the Cap’n Jazz LP, Converge’s Halo in a Haystack, and Redemption 87’s self-titled LP, all of them seeming to my sheltered teenage brain like messages beamed from some kind of youth culture promised land. Another one I remember seeing on the wall was Rocket from the Crypt’s 1996 single featuring two cover songs by the Music Machine. The artwork for that 7” was a straight rip of the cover of the Music Machine album, and I remember being so intrigued by it. I can’t remember if I bought that single or not, but the tracks hit home with me when I (re?) discovered them on the CD version of RFTC’s 1995 10” EP, The State Of Art Is On Fire, which added the two Music Machine songs to the end of the original 10”. The State Of Art Is On Fire is kind of the ultimate RFTC record, catching them right on the bubble between their earlier, rawer records and the more anthemic material they moved toward during their major label period. I played that CD to death, and the two Music Machine covers were a big part of why I loved it, a perfect pop chaser after the heady psychedelia the band dips into on the EP.

(A short aside: RFTC connects to another significant moment in my life as a music lover / record collector. Their third album, 1995’s Hot Charity was only available on vinyl… I think I remember reading that the band promised the record would never appear on CD. Not only was one of one of my favorite bands repping for vinyl by refusing to release their new album on the dominant format of the day, but it also taught me an important lesson… a lot of great music only exists on vinyl.)

So, with the cover of the Music Machine’s album burned into my brain via seeing RFTC’s homage on the wall at Camp Zama, the next stop on my journey with the Music Machine is when I picked up their album for a dollar. Every year at Richmond’s Strawberry Festival, Plan 9 would have a giant outdoor booth filled with LPs, and everything cost a dollar. Every year I would spend $50-$75 and buy a giant armload of LPs, and I got loads of great stuff. My first copy of the Circle Jerks’ Group Sex came from one of these sales, a beater copy with split seams. The original 1966 pressing of Turn on the Music Machine I bought, however, didn’t have any major condition issues. I’m amazed the record ended up at the dollar sale, because Plan 9 was one of the few stores in the area that dealt in collectible records, and they knew their shit. Maybe someone was dropping a golden ticket in the pile of dross. However it ended up there, I was stoked.

Even though I didn’t know much about 60s garage, I played Turn on the Music Machine for years. It just ripped. It turns out that RFTC’s covers of “Trouble” and “Masculine Intuition” were faithful to the originals, and those weren’t the only killer tracks on the record. “Talk Talk” might be the band’s shining moment, and their cover of the Beatles’ “Taxman” is scorching. They hew pretty close to the Beatles’ arrangement, but it makes sense since the song is suited to the Music Machine’s strengths. There’s also a great version of ? and the Mysterians’ “96 Tears,” and as I don’t think I’d heard the original by that point, the Music Machine also pointed the way toward another 60s garage classic.

I think I was dimly aware there was a second Music Machine album under the name the Bonniwell Music Machine, but I’d never taken the time to check it out until I picked up Rhino’s 1984 Music Machine compilation Best Of The Music Machine. I picked up the LP hoping it would gather some cool non-album sides I wasn’t familiar with, and I found myself intrigued by the tracks “Double Yellow Line” and “The Eagle Never Hunts the Fly,” which are the two singles from the Bonniwell Music Machine album. The album went on my want list, but it’s not an easy grip… it sold poorly at the time, so original copies are scarce, and in the intervening decades, the Music Machine has been canonized as a titan of 60s garage, so the supply and demand see-saw slams down right on your wallet. Luckily, though, when I was in LA for the Lie Detector Fest in December 2021, I found an original pressing during my wanderings around LA’s record stores. It wasn’t a cheap copy, but it was reasonably priced and in nice shape.

So yeah, that’s the long story of how I discovered and acquired this record. As for the music… it’s pretty cool. Leaning more toward psychedelic rock than the more ferocious, punkier Turn On, The Bonniwell Music Machine is still full of great songs, though I think the band chose the strongest two as the singles. The production is somewhat baroque, and it reminds me of Love’s Forever Changes… actually, Love’s trajectory as a band resembles the Music Machine's, starting with searing garage rock and moving toward baroque pop. I even played this LP once when my family was visiting, and my dad and my brother-in-law commented on how much they liked the music. I don’t think they’ve EVER done that before or since.

Featured Releases: April 20, 2023

Body Maintenance: Beside You 12” (Drunken Sailor Records) We wrote about this Melbourne, Australia band’s debut EP back in 2021, and now they’re back with their debut full-length on the UK label Drunken Sailor. In case you missed that first EP, Body Maintenance’s sound is grounded in the cold, tense post-punk sound of late 1970s England. While bands trying to be the new Joy Division are a dime a dozen, Body Maintenance is a cut above thanks to their sophisticated pop sensibilities and their lush sound. In fact, rather than the standard comparisons to bands like Joy Division and Bauhaus, I’m more inclined to liken Body Maintenance to groups like the Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Modern English, all of whom added liberal doses of psychedelia and pop to the post-punk formula. Chameleons fans will also find a lot to love here, particularly on upbeat tracks like “Silver Yarns” and “The Spiral.” While the upbeat pop numbers front-load the album, the latter half slows down the tempos and gets more sullen, with tracks like “Beside You” reminding me more of the Cure circa Faith and 17 Seconds. If you enjoyed that recent A Culture of Killing LP on Drunken Sailor, Beside You is well worth checking out, as it’s similar in both sound and the high quality of the songwriting and production.


Ordinance: demo cassette (Dynastic Yellow Star) The Florida hardcore label Dynastic Yellow Star brings us the demo cassette from this new band out of Richmond, Virginia. Ordinance’s music is grounded in the noisiest and most brutal d-beat classics (I hear a lot of Shitlickers and Disarm), but they don’t sound like one of those bands who reverse-engineers old records… instead, Ordinance takes the basic building blocks of a relentless rhythm section and guitars and vocals drenched in noise and uses it to build their own thing. The vocals, rather than the gutteral bark those Swedish bands preferred, are more of a youthful howl drenched and reverb and delay, incomprehensible to where it threatens to unspool into pure noise. The guitars, on the other hand, have completed this unspooling process, with a fried tone that pulls against the more straightforward bass playing, creating an almost psychedelic tension. Something about the desperation I hear in Ordinance’s music also makes me think of 90s Gravity bands like Angel Hair and Heroin. In other words, this is DIY hardcore, as raw and as real as it gets.


Punter: S/T 12” (Drunken Sailor Records) This debut 12” from Melbourne, Australia’s Punter is one of those records that I went into with no expectations and got fully knocked on my ass. While I wouldn’t describe Punter as a hardcore band, they play a lot harder and faster than many bands who consider themselves hardcore. However, there’s too much of Australia’s long, rich tradition of ass-kicking rock and roll in Punter’s sound for hardcore to define them. On the track “Retirement Simulator” (my favorite on the record), Punter brings to mind Plastic Surgery Disasters-era Dead Kennedys, trading in the same kinds of blistering rhythms and snotty, sarcastic vocals, but once again doused in pints of Radio Birdman and AC/DC and Cosmic Psychos. The epic last track, “A Year’s Silence,” makes me think of the Damned’s Machine Gun Etiquette, similarly rippingly, psychedelically grandiose and over the top. With only six tracks (one of which is more of an intro than a song), Punter leaves me wanting more, and I often play it a few times in a row, which only makes these songs’ subtle hooks dig themselves even further into my brain. This might not be your cup of tea if Punter’s brazen criss-crossing of genres rubs you the wrong way, but if all you want from life is a great melody delivered with the energy level of a frightened chihuahua, then you need to check this record out.


Litovsk: S/T 12” (Symphony of Destruction Records) Even though we’ve carried several of their records over the past few years, I’m pretty sure this new 5-song 12” EP is the first time I’ve given them a close listen. They do not sound like what I expected! Has anyone coined the term skingaze yet? As in a combination of skinhead / oi! music and shoegaze? I think the word accurately describes Litovsk’s sound. The singer belts out broad, anthemic melodies like Gary Bushell is in the audience tonight, but the guitars are lush, layered, and bathed in effects. It’s halfway between Blitz’s Second Empire Justice and Modern English’s After the Snow, and like those records (both of which I love, by the way), the songwriting is excellent. While that’s what Litovsk brings to mind for me, it’s also not too far away from stuff that labels like Jade Tree were putting out in the late 90s. A similar mix of lush arrangements, melodic songwriting, and a dash of punk energy powered bands like the Promise Ring, Braid, and Texas Is the Reason. Maybe that broad range of comparisons means there’s a timeless quality to Litovsk’s music. Any way you slice it, though, this is a beautiful and powerful EP.


Record of the Week: Poison Ruin: Härvest LP

Poison Ruin: Härvest 12” (Relapse Records) From the first time I dropped the needle on Härvest, Poison Ruin’s third record and their first for Relapse, I was smitten. How can you not fall in love with a record that starts with a song as great as “Pinnacle of Ecstasy?” It’s a tour de force, moving from a guitar hook that could have powered an artyfact from the Nuggets era to an equally brilliant main riff to an anthemic chorus and into a heroic lead guitar freakout, moving from part to part with a poise and confidence that runs counter to Poison Ruin’s lo-fi production values. Speaking of which, if you thought moving to Relapse would water down Poison Ruin’s aesthetic, you are mistaken… if anything, Härvest leans on tones that are nastier and gnarlier than their previous records, but the production feels richer and more dynamic than on those releases. A big part of Poison Ruin’s appeal is their sound, a distinctive, cooked-down concoction of anarcho punk, oi!, and classic heavy metal, but even with such a heavy vibe, Härvest’s songs shine. This record takes everything that was so striking about Poison Ruin’s earlier records and just slams the gas pedal to the floor. The hooks are bigger, the riffs more distinctive and memorable, the performances crackle with even more energy, and the lyrical concept and execution is next-level by DIY punk standards. Poison Ruin doesn’t invite easy comparisons, but a good point of reference might be Subhumans. Like Subhumans, Poison Ruin has an identifiable sound and aesthetic and they craft ambitious songs that would lean toward prog’s pretensions if they weren’t so steeped in punk energy and venom. And in that context, Härvest is like Poison Ruin’s The Day the Country Died, where all the elements come together with a rush of excitement as intoxicating as your first drink. I could go into why I love each track on this record, but it’s enough to sayHärvest is a non-stop parade of hits, the work of a brilliant band at the height of their powers. Viva Poison Ruin!

Kestrel's Staff Pick: April 14, 2023

What’s up Sorry Skaters? It’s been a solid week working to help get orders picked and ready to be packed at the Hive. It’s definitely nice to see it warming back up again. There’s your obligatory comment about the weather. As much as people make fun of the supposed mundane nature of small talk regarding weather, I think deep down it resonates with people. Unless you’re a meteorologist saying that it will snow in Raleigh, there isn’t much bullshit surrounding weather. It’s right in front of and all around you. Hell, it can even give you cancer. Anyways, I’m going with Sotatila’s eight-track EP titled Vituiks Meni for my staff pick this week. Speaking of bullshit, you won’t find any on this record. You can pull out your binoculars, you can pull out your microscopes, but you’re not going to find any bullshit here. This 7” is straight up Finish Hardcore and makes you feel like you’re at a Kaaos show in some weird basement in the early 80s. I really like the back-and-forth vocals on the third track Ei Toimi. I’m a sucker for gang vocals, if you can call them that. Sometimes you just want some no frills hardcore that makes you feel right, and this does that for me. I also want to list some other music I’ve had blasting: Nisses Notter: Knackta Notter, The Insane: Why Die!, No Security: 40 Talisterna. This stuff has been helping me get through a week of very very little sleep and as I’m completing my last day of work/school, I have a sense of relief and I’m very ready to CHILL. I’ll finish up with a quote from Macbeth about sleep. “Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labor’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, Great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.”

Angela's Staff Pick: April 14, 2023

Hi Sorry State readers! How is everyone doing? Things are good on my end. I can’t really complain. I feel like I need some more introductory content that isn’t weather-related. Ya know, talking about the passage of time is also pretty popular. So like… can you believe we’re already halfway through April? Crazy, right?

So my staff pick is the self-titled debut record by the Philly phenoms, Dark Thoughts. Let me preface this by saying that I sadly do not have this record. Come to find out, it’s also not very easy to get (wink wink, nudge nudge). That’s why you’re seeing a generic stock photo. Sigh. Anyways, I’ve been listening to this band a LOT. This particular album is totally infectious.

I’ve only known of their existence for maybe six months? They popped up on my Spotify and I was like, wow this is really good. So I started playing their music at work and it was funny because at separate times, each of my esteemed colleagues said something like “oh you’re listening to Dark Thoughts?” which would subsequently be followed with a string of praise for the band. So yeah, pretty much everyone here already likes and literally knows the band, and I’m just late to the game.

I’ve listened to all three of their LPs, but I play the first one the most. It’s 20 minutes of the catchiest shit. I hate to use a Ramones comparison because it feels like a lazy cop out. But, it is the right band to reference to give a basic description of the type of punk this is. It’s that really catchy, boppy, fun, easy to sing-a-long with kind of punk. But it has a lot of depth.

I know a lot of bands go for that fun and simple straightforward kind of punk that the Ramones are known for, but a lot of them just don’t get their hooks into you. On the contrary, Dark Thoughts makes you feel something. I think that it you can accomplish that, any other measure of what’s good and what sucks doesn’t really matter anymore.

With all that said, I can’t stress enough this band sounds like they should be way bigger and more well known than they are. That’s the first thing that came to mind after listening to just a few songs. They really have their shit together and the songwriting is impressive. They play super tight and fast-paced from start to finish, often exceeding the pace of the track before it. Jim’s vocals are perfect for the music. They aren’t overdone or obnoxious, nor are they too understated.

There are zero duds on this album. Seriously, every track could be a single. But if I had to choose, my favorites are Identity Crisis, No More Soul, Where Did You Go, and Nothin to Do. I’m all for short and sweet tracks, but I wouldn’t be mad if their songs were a little longer. They’re that good. If their goal was to leave you wanting more, then mission accomplished.

I will leave a link to Spotify if you want to check out this album, but don’t sleep on their other two full lengths. They have a strong catalogue and I hope they add to it soon!

Thank you for reading! Until next time!

-Angela

https://open.spotify.com/album/6B7ej8MpaYYN5Z8jeLmgOj?si=jQ2KW5AARMKFU85hwV8GgA

Usman's Staff Pick: April 14, 2023

Hello and thanks for reading. Today I am writing about ANTI-SYSTEM. My introduction to the band was via their debut 7” ‘Defence Of The Realm EP’. At this point, the band more or less has that classic UK anarcho sound. The guitar sounds fairly tinny and noisy like a band on Crass Records, but the drummer plays with more DISCHARGE style compared to most of those bands. This EP is excellent, and I’m not sure I could say which of their records I like the most… but man, I’ve been playing their full-length ‘No Laughing Matter’ non-stop lately. I feel like it’s one of the best records that came out in 1985. They leaned way more into the DISCHARGE on it. The guitar tone even sounds more like ‘Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing", with the tinny guitar replaced by a huge wall of sound. While these elements were pushed harder on the LP, they still take the time and space to go deeper into the anarcho side of things. From audio-clips, to percussive passages accompanied by chanting, and even a tiny bit of political spoken word—this record has it all for me. I feel like this fusion of DISCHARGE and CRASS was not too uncommon around this time, but when has it ever been this perfect? ANTISECT’s ‘In Darkness There Is No Choice" is another example of this perfect fusion for me. Alright, I’m happy to say I don’t have to go back to work for once… but I am going to drink gin and tonics, and make some pizza. I hope everyone is well. Thank you for reading and thanks to everyone for the support!!

Dominic's Staff Pick: April 14, 2023

Howdy, howdy everyone, thanks for dialing us up again this week. It’s been a typical busy week here at Sorry State with more and more great records hitting the bins. Record Store Day is just around the corner, and we are beginning to receive some of those titles from our distributors. There are a lot of great releases this go-around. Besides the RSD records, we are busying trying to price up as many cool used records as possible so that the store will be bursting with great records. More than normal. Don’t worry, we have plenty to still load up the Friday New Arrivals before then and for a good while afterwards. All sorts of great stuff too, not just punk and metal. This week, for instance, I have been working on a box that had a lot of Blues records. We let you know about a couple the other day on our Instagram, which you may have seen. John Scott and I were enjoying spinning those and a few other cool ones. Come flip through the Blues section and our new arrivals next time you are visiting to get your fix.

I have always liked Blues music. As a kid discovering 1950s Rock ‘n’ Roll and Rockabilly, it was natural to dig deeper and sideways and appreciate Blues, Country, Jazz and R & B at the same time. I fell in love with B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Robert Johnson et al. My love of Jimi Hendrix solidified my appreciation of blues music considerably. I don’t have a massive number of blues records, but over the years have collected a few good ones. Anytime I can pick up a new to me good one I am happy. Such was the case whilst pricing up some of these latest purchases. It wasn’t one that I had initial high hopes for as it was recorded in the 1980s, not the classic era for Blues music but a time when there were still plenty of old school blues artists alive and a few younger cats playing authentic blues. Anyway, I enjoyed this album, and I’d like to make it my staff pick for this week.

Johnny Copeland: Texas Twister. Rounder Records. 1983

Johnny Copeland played the Texas Blues style and had a career beginning in the mid to late 1950s. Born in Louisiana, he established himself in Houston, Texas and released records on Duke and other labels to marginal success. He established himself on the touring circuit however, and spent a good couple of decades slinging guitar and playing the blues with a dash of soul to audiences across Texas and the South. Towards the late 1970s, he moved to New York with an eye on mixing in some of the disco sound into his music. Here he linked with an upcoming younger producer, Dan Doyle, who helped sign him to Rounder Records and produced his early records on the label. Texas Twister was his second for the label and features a couple of special guest artists. Firstly, Stevie Ray Vaughan plays guitar on a couple of songs, which is cool and probably why people pay a bit more for the record. Johnny met Stevie playing the blues festivals and clubs and performed on several of the same bills during this time. The second special guest is Archie Shepp, the Jazz legend. He plays some cool tenor sax on my favorite track on the album, the song called North Carolina. It was that cut that made me check the record in the first place and it’s been ear worming me all week. For an 80s record, it still has the funk with the blues. Any track that can connect on a personal level is a winner in my book and the lyrics of this tune where he sings about moving from New York to North Carolina had relevance to my own life. The track has a cool repetitive horn and piano hook and then the nice solo by Archie Shepp to cap it off. Nice. I’ve been digging it.

The record has an awesome cover too. Our man Johnny sporting a dapper suit with his Peavey T-60 guitar looking bad ass. Jeff confirmed the guitar make btw and informs us that this model has a cool Toaster pickup. So, there you go. Cheers Jeff for the expert info.

Sadly, Johnny left this world prematurely aged just sixty in 1997, but left an enduring legacy of fine blues and soul recordings behind him. His daughter, Shemekia Copeland, has carried on the family tradition however, and is an award-winning blues vocalist with over ten albums under her belt.

Is this the best blues record in the world? Of course not. Is Johnny Copeland cool and a bad ass? You bet he is. Crank up the computer volume and give North Carolina a blast and nod your head along with me.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time. Cheers – Dom

Jeff's Staff Pick: April 14, 2023

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m in so much pain. Not even kidding. It’s kinda funny how it happened tho. Scarecrow played a local gig the other night after what felt like a long hiatus from NC punk gigs. And I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t stretch before we played, or if it’s a symptom of how hard I was rockin’ out (yeah right 🙄), but I’m feeling rough. The muscle running down my neck and down along my shoulder is sore as all hell. And I’ll be honest, when I go through my day focusing on how much my shoulder hurts, it’s hard for me to maintain a good mood. I was pretty cranky yesterday. The soreness also made me not really feel excited about getting up off the couch and flipping records. As soon as I got home from work, I went into full lazy couch potato mode.

But wha wha, I’m sorry to be a cry baby. One thing that I’ve been experiencing lately (besides the pinched nerve in my shoulder) is a pinch of nostalgia. In part because while I was lazing away my evenings, I was binging a bunch of punk documentaries on Tubi. Have y’all checked out this streaming site before? It’s free, and the selection of music documentaries and horror movies makes me want to cancel all the streaming services I pay money for. Lately Daniel and Usman have been buzzing about skateboarding. Which is rad. Daniel got a bit thrashed the other day, which I’m sure he’s not stoked about, but I thought it was so rad because it was evidence of getting out there and shredding!! Once my shoulder heals, maybe I’ll hop back on my board and skate around a little bit. Until then, I watched the Bones Brigade documentary for like the 100th time to tide me over. I also re-watched the Descendents documentary. I don’t know why, but content like this has been making me feel cozy lately I guess.

By funny coincidence, Sorry State recently purchased this collection chock full o’ pop punk bangers that I loved in my early teenage years. The other night, I decided to throw on Screeching Weasel’s 1993 banger Anthem For A New Tomorrow. Now, I understand that Screeching Weasel is divisive—for many reasons. Some people can’t stand Ben Weasel’s voice. Some people have written off the band due to Weasel’s very publicized on-stage behavior. I totally get it. But I didn’t know about any of this when I was in my innocence, jamming bands like The Queers and The Lillingtons. So whether people are turned off by them or not, I will say that for me at least, Anthems always stuck out to me as one of the band’s better records from the 90s.

I threw this copy on the turntable as I was closing up the store, and I actually found myself wanting to stick around and listen to the whole damn thing. When I was younger, I don’t think I made the connection that a good amount of Screeching Weasel’s records came out on Lookout! and that they were connected to that whole scene. I was somewhat tempted to set this platter aside for myself, but this copy we have at the store is an original copy in nice shape with a hefty price tag. I’m trying to practice self-restraint. But it’s funny, as I was listening, there were a bunch of killer moments on this record I totally forgot about: The awesome instrumental tune “Talk To Me Summer”… the moody, jangly guitar strumming in “Inside Out”… the catchy organ (or is it like children’s piano?) passage in “Peter Brady,” which also it sounds like Fat Mike does guest vocals on? Wild. I don’t know how these little details of the production seem to be wiped from my memory. This copy sounds fucking great, so all these little decorative extras in the instrumentation were really hitting me.

I had fun revisiting this pop punk banger from my youth. I guess this is more-so directed at shop locals who read the newsletter, but if you’re into that world of melodic punk and garage, then we’ll have some cool stuff hitting the used new arrivals for you over the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, wish I had more to contribute this week, but I think this is all I can muster. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Daniel's Staff Pick: April 14, 2023

B.G.K.: Jonestown Aloha LP (1983, Vögelspin Records / R Radical Records)

This week we’ve been experiencing our annual brief but glorious glimpse of California weather here in North Carolina. Living in the South my whole life, I’ve learned to savor this fleeting moment between winter (which, to be fair, usually isn’t too bad for us) and the scorching summer heat that will make existing outdoors all but impossible until October. I’ve been sleeping with the windows open, drinking my morning coffee on the back porch and, for the first time in many years, dusting off my skateboard.

I’ve been thinking about skateboarding for a while. I skated regularly until my early 30s, when I drifted away from it, for fear of injuring myself and not being able to play music. Lately, though, a few of my friends have been getting back into skating, and I felt jealous. Then I was at the Zorn show in Richmond the other day and I ended up talking to my friend Justin about skating for a while… I met Justin in high school at my first DIY punk show and he’s about the same age as me (it was his first DIY punk show too), so I figured if he could do it, then I could too. It took me a minute to get going because the only shoes I owned were boots and running shoes, but last week I scooped a new pair of Vans and rolled into an empty parking lot to fuck around. It took about 2 minutes to realize how much I missed it. I keep thinking about this sample on Spazz’s La Revancha LP, when someone asks this kid, “What do you love about skateboarding?” And he answers, “the motherfucking god damn freedom.”

Skating has made me want to listen to hardcore, because those two things go together like peanut butter and jelly. I’ve listened to a bunch of rad records since the first time I went out, but one I hadn’t touched in a while is B.G.K.’s first album, Jonestown Aloha. For a band whose discography consists of three fucking killer records, B.G.K. doesn’t get the love they should. Jonestown Aloha is a scorcher, though. It’s B.G.K.’s catchiest record, smoothing out some of the rough edges of the more blistering White Male Dumbinance EP and more streamlined than the more ambitious Nothing Can Go Wrogn. The songs are lean and mean, most of them around a minute and a half long, making their way from a catchy main riff to a chanted chorus and back with no room for fiddly bits. “Race Riot,” “Arms Race,” “Pray for Peace and Kill for Christ…” classics abound.

I have little information on B.G.K. Maybe that’s why they don’t get talked about as much today, because there isn’t too much information about them on the internet and their members aren’t making fools of themselves on social media, selling busted ass merch, and doing lifeless reunion tours (at least as far as I know). But every B.G.K. record rules. Hardcore rules. Skateboarding rules. Get out there and have some fun if you can, because the clock is ticking.