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Featured Releases: November 17, 2022

Todd Killings & the Contracts: S/T 7” (Slow Death Records) Slow Death Records brings us this 3-song 7” from Todd Killings & the Contracts. From what I understand, Todd Killings is a project featuring some folks from the Bootlicker / Chain Whip / Neon Taste Records camp, and if you’re a fan of that crop of bands, you’ll want to check this out. Stylistically, Todd Killings is in line with the Neon Taste Records roster, which has one foot in early 80s hardcore and another in late 70s underground punk, the best bands on the roster combining the energy of the former with the memorable songwriting of the latter. If you’re a fan of bands like Career Suicide or the Carbonas who tread a similar path, it’s a scene you should follow. As for Todd Killings, from what I understand, these songs were composed and recorded quickly, and they have a loose and immediate quality that feels very 70s to me, in contrast to today when so many bands’ performances are airtight. Further, rather than building the songs around intricate riffing, Todd Killings’ songs all center on memorable lyrical / vocal hooks in the chorus, most memorably on the a-side smash, “(I’ve) Got Your Contract.” It reminds me of early Career Suicide hits like “Quarantine” and “Jonzo’s Leaking Radiation,” and that’s a high compliment coming from me. Throw in some period-appropriate artwork and you have yourself a pretty bangin’ punk single.


Curleys: S/T 12” (Total Punk Records) We loved Curleys’ debut 7” on Total Punk from a few years ago, and this new 12” picks up right where that one left off. Definitely on the more hardcore end of the Total Punk spectrum, Curleys play fast and hard without exception, their super short songs coming at you rapid-fire, without breaks, exceptions, slow parts, or anything that breaks their jittered flow. Even with such narrow parameters, Curleys imbue their music with so much personality. There’s the fucked beyond belief guitar sound, which is blown to shit but still conveys the weird, epileptic rhythms that give these songs so much of their distinctive character. Then there are the vocals, snotty yet garbled, an occasional slogan like “Florida Fights Back” or “We Say No” gurgling up from the primordial soup. While these songs are hardcore punk, they’re played with a sense of total abandon I associate with Hasil Adkins or Dexter Romweber, boiling primordial rock and roll down to its essence, stripping it of anything that doesn’t contribute to the explosive raw energy. By the time they get to the closing track, the strikingly named “Sewer Cuck,” they nearly hit the two-minute mark and even have a kinda melodic guitar line in there, which sounds like Rush next to the minimalistic self-flagellation that comprises the rest of this record.


Padkarosda: Sötét Végek 12” (World Gone Mad Records) World Gone Mad Records brings us another gem from outside punk’s usual geographic hotspots… you might remember Siberian band Crispy Newspaper they released a while back, and now they’ve brought us the new album from Padkarosda from Budapest, Hungary. One great thing about hearing music from different places is that people who come from different backgrounds and traditions approach familiar tropes with a fresh perspective, and that’s the case with Padkarosda, who imbue dark post-punk with a more straightforward and aggressive energy. The heavy chorus effect on the guitars and the foreboding melodies fit the death rock style, but Padkarosda has a way with a lead guitar hook, and songs like the record’s title track (which sounds a lot like Second Empire Justice-era Blitz) and “Gépszij” where the band shows off that skill are immediate highlights. If Padkarosda was fronted by someone with a melodic croon (like, say, the guy from Interpol) they’d be millionaires by now, but the vocal delivery is snotty and snarling. The barked vocals and the interesting rhythmic inflections to the vocal lines remind me of Dezerter, and as with Dezerter, those vocal rhythms often interact with the musical accompaniment in interesting ways. Anyone with an ear for punky death rock or a broader interest in Eastern European punk will find much to enjoy here.


Gen Pop: The Beat Sessions cassette (Shout Recordings) The latest volume in the illustrious Beat Sessions series captures Olympia’s Gen Pop live in the studio. I’ve loved Gen Pop from the start, which makes sense because they wear their Wire influence on their collective sleeve, and Wire is one of my favorite bands ever. As with early Wire, most of Gen Pop’s songs are energetic, minimal, and angular to the point of being spiky around the edges, even treading into hardcore, but without that genre’s more macho and aggro elements. Even in those aggressive songs, though, there are elements that feel artsy and beautiful, like the interesting guitar melodies in “Senseless Action” or the chiming, Paisley Underground vibes in “Rough Slough Triptych.” Of course the ultimate Wire move is dropping a pure pop banger in the middle of all that spiky angularity, a feat Gen Pop nailed on their debut LP and reprise here with the same centerpiece, the gentle and fluid pop song “Pixel Glow.” As is typical for the Beat Sessions series, Mike Kriebel’s recording captures the band in clear and striking detail, like they’re filmed in strong natural light, and that approach only serves to highlight what a great fucking band Gen Pop is. Oh, and since they rip through several tracks that haven’t been released elsewhere (at least as far as I can tell), this makes this volume of the Beat Sessions a mandatory purchase in my book.


Eteraz: Villain 12” (Iron Lung Records) Iron Lung Records brings us the debut vinyl from this hardcore band from Olympia, Washington. Villain is total Iron Lung Records hardcore… urgent, smart, heavy, noisy, and somehow traditionalist without being any kind of homage. Eteraz is a little metallic but not metal, Discharge-inspired but not d-beat, and they play with confident power without being ornately technical or self-consciously primitive. At the risk of rattling off a bunch of unconnected band names, they make me think of B.G.K., Christ on Parade, Terveet Kadet, Iconoclast… the shit Pushead liked in the 80s and released on his label. It’s lifer music, and while it might lack the accessibility and easy frames of reference of starter punk bands, it makes up for it with its commitment to hardcore’s musical ideals and its unexpected musical subtlety. Also, the lyrics are in Persian, which gives songs a unique character and allows the singer to show off a gnarly rasp. This is bruising, and continues to grow on me with each listen.


Deadless Muss: 5 Years Imprisonment 12” (Euro Import) Deadless Muss was an 80s Japanese hardcore band from Shizuoka. Deadless Muss was on my radar and I have a couple of their records, but I don’t think I’d ever heard this album before this reissue arrived. I was more familiar with Deadless Muss’s earlier material, their 8” flexi from 1984 and their I Will… 7” from 1985. Those records are more in line with the gruff and murky 80s Japanese hardcore sound that I can never seem to get enough of. However, when the band signed to the legendary Selfish label and released their 860 Seconds Cooking 7” in 1987, their sound changed. Besides the layout getting more colorful than their previous records, they got way faster, moving toward a skate-thrash style that reminds me of their label mates at Selfish, Systematic Death. While there are a few moments on 5 Years Imprisonment that sound like holdovers from the band’s earlier period (“Texas Chainsaw” in particular), the band I keep thinking of when I listen to 5 Years Imprisonment is the Stupids from the UK. Obviously the lyrics and vocals are different, but the music is similar, blistering fast skate-thrash with lots of gang vocals and a hint of melody in the guitar playing. If you’re into that late 80s / early 90s Japanese skate thrash thing—bands like Systematic Death, Chicken Bowels (who I wrote my staff pick about last week), early SOB—you can’t go wrong with this well-done Fan Club pressing.


Record of the Week: Ribbon Stage: Hit with the Most LP

Ribbon Stage: Hit with the Most 12” (Perennial Records) New York’s Ribbon Stage literally wear their influences on their sleeve: the cover of Hit with the Most borrows its layout from the Shop Assistants’ 1986 self-titled LP. I love that LP and I would have been fine with a competent homage, but Ribbon Stage delivers much more than that here. Sure, the building blocks are the same as C86 pop—minimalistic, punk-informed rhythms, broad, child-like vocal melodies, harmonies that are sophisticated but not baroque, and a slightly twee aesthetic—but it’s all about the songs, and Ribbon Stage’s approach is decidedly songwriterly, to coin a term. Not only are the songs hooky, but also each one captures a particular tone or texture, from exuberant (“Stone Heart Blue”) to wistful (“Nowhere Fast”) to somber (“Nothing Left”). There are also several memorable lyrical moments, like the chorus for “Hearst:” “my soul is ripped in two… that’s how you like it.” While Ribbon Stage invites the C86 comparisons, US indie rock from the late 80s and early 90s was sipping from the same inspirational well, and moments of Hit with the Most make me think of seminal indie records like Lemonheads’ It’s a Shame About Ray, Guided by Voices’ Alien Lanes, and Sebadoh’s III, with all the songwriting excellence those comparisons imply. Even if, like me, you’re not an indie rocker, give this compact and consistently brilliant LP a try… it has the right combination of punky, underground aesthetics and pop chops to get its hooks in hard, fast, and deep.

John Scott's Staff Pick: November 10, 2022

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. It’s been in the 70s and 80s here in Raleigh this past week, so it’s felt more like spring than fall. This week me and Dominic were going through one of the boxes from Miss Veola’s collection and found two copies of Herbie Hancock’s Sunlight, a regular copy and a promo copy. I was reminded of how much I enjoy this album and we gave it a listen in the store. This past summer I was lucky enough to see Herbie Hancock perform live at the North Carolina Museum of Art in their outdoor amphitheater, and it was a really great show. During the show, he played a song that I really liked, but I had no idea what it was. Fast forward a couple weeks and I picked up a random copy of this album and gave it a listen. I quickly realized that the second track on the album, Come Running to Me, was the song I had heard at the concert that I couldn’t figure out what it was. It sounded just as good as when I heard it live, and I was so happy to finally know what it was. I also was familiar with the first song on the album, I thought It Was You, but I knew the version by Kimiko Kasai, so I was happy to discover the original version of the song. I really love the use of the vocoder on this record too. I’ve always just thought it sounds so cool. Sometimes you really enjoy a song or album because they remind you of a certain time or place. This album reminds me of my trip over to Madrid this past summer. Every morning I would take a walk on my own and walk around the city and listen to music, and I was listening to this album a lot at the time. Now when I hear this album, it makes me feel like I’m walking around in the Spanish sun, eating tapas and drinking aperol spritzes till I can’t anymore. It’s nice to have music that can instantly transport you to a different place or state of mind, especially during these cold fall and winter months when it gets dark at 5PM.

Give one of your favorite summertime records a listen next time this cold weather has got you feeling blue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4mx3KZ5zhI

Usman's Staff Pick: November 10, 2022

Hello and thanks for reading. Today I will write about this recent KAAOS reissue we got from Sonarize Records. This LP was initially released in 2019 on Fight Records, which is when I picked up my copy. I could’ve sworn I wrote about this release at that time, but I can’t find it anywhere, so here we go. I feel like Fight Records is not heavily distributed in the States, so it’s cool that we have now a version that is more available here. This LP features a recording session from late 1983. You can see that the majority of these songs we re-recorded very soon after and properly released as their debut LP, Ristiinnaulittu Kaaos. While these early versions are being released decades later, it’s actually not the first time they appear on vinyl. In 1996, Fight Records alongside Fallen Records, released 8 of these tracks as the Valtio Tuhoaa Ei Rakenna 7”. I do have that record, but I am very happy to have the complete session on this disc as these tracks deserved to be released. The session is not exactly top-notch quality when it comes to sound but trust me it fucking rages, you won’t be let down!! I could go on for a bit longer about the band’s small line-up changes during these sessions, but I think I will leave it here for today. If you missed out on the Fight version of this LP, definitely pick up a copy of this one! Thanks for reading and thanks for the support! Peace.

Dominic's Staff Pick: November 10, 2022

Hey there friends in Sorry State Land, how’s it going? Hopefully wherever you live, it’s amongst a populace that believes in democracy and human rights ahead of money and greed, unlike here in North Carolina where despite the best efforts of some, the state remained embarrassingly red. Unfortunately, I am not able to vote, but applaud those that did and boo hiss at those that didn’t bother. It was a close race, and those extra votes would have made the difference. Okay, politics aside for now… let’s talk music.

I was wondering what to write about this week (as I do every week), but on hearing the news of the passing of Brazilian singer Gal Costa yesterday my choice was made. She died aged 77 in Sao Paolo and Brazil, along with her world of fans, mourns her passing. An artist held in high regard and one who maintained a fifty plus year career in music. May she rest in power.

In the year 2022, it might be safe to assume that most of you reading have heard of her and a good bet that many of you have some of her records in your collection. For many that became interested in the music of Brazil, we came to know Gal through her involvement with the hugely influential Tropicalia movement of the 1960s. A time of great political upheaval across the world, but particularly in countries like Brazil where an authoritarian government was in place. It’s ironic that now, as Brazil has rejected their fascist leadership, we here in America are leaning in towards the type of government that they had back then and had to fight against. Perhaps we’ll see a musical movement rejecting the right wing here in contemporary America along the lines of Tropicalia. Although the punk and hip-hop community certainly have something to say, it would be great to hear more from the Country and Pop music worlds also. And I said we we’re setting politics aside. Ha. It’s almost impossible, though, when talking about an artist such as Gal Costa, who from the very beginning was a non-conformist, and whilst her pals Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were in exile, kept their music alive in Brazil by covering many of their songs.

My introduction to her and this period of music came during the late 1990s when, finally, the music could be heard. Kurt Cobain famously helped to hip people to Tropicalia, and soon after you began seeing reissues of Os Mutantes and other Tropicalia records appear in record shops. Mr. Bongo in the UK provided many of us with our first vinyl copies of some of these records when he/they started out. The album called Tropicalia Ou Panis Et Circencis, released in 1968, was the album that launched the sound out unto the world. It’s great, and features Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Os Mutantes, and Tom Ze with arrangements by another legend Rogerio Duprat. If you haven’t heard it, you should click here and fall down the rabbit hole that will open up for you.

When I moved to New York City in 1998, I soon ran into several Brazilians living there, and a small scene playing Brazilian and Latin music, and my mind and record collection expanded. It was obvious right away that seeking original copies of records from this period from Brazil was almost impossible, and if you did, they were either beat to death or, for a nice copy, very expensive. Similar to the reggae music world. Thankfully, as I mentioned before, more and more represses of key records were getting put on the market, along with great compilations from labels such as Mr. Bongo and Soul Jazz, among others. I was able to find reissues of a couple of Gal Costa’s records, and they have been among my favorite records from that scene. I love the cover artwork for starters, one with a psychedelic jungle tropical painting and the other with a portrait shot of Gal sporting a feather boa. You can often judge a record based on its cover art, and on these two you get what you might expect and so much more. Both from 1969, titled simply Gal and Gal Costa, respectively. Technically, not her first records, as she debuted a couple of years earlier on one called Domingo with Caetano Veloso. Gal’s distinctive vocals mix wonderfully with the incredible music underneath. You get the full Tropicalia experience on these two albums. Kitchen sink production throwing everything from wild psych guitar fuzz, sweet strings, funky bass lines and beats in your face. On the song Tuareg from Gal, you get a middle eastern, Arabic sound to fit the song title. That tune has become one of my favorites and would often be played at DJ gigs. It’s a groove.

There are so many great songs across these two records. The cut Baby is universally loved and was beautifully interpreted by Rita Lee and Os Mutantes as well. The musicianship, songwriting, arrangements, production, and Gal’s voice all combine to create masterpieces that transcend their time and have reverberated through the decades and will continue to amaze new listeners for years to come.

In the wake of her passing there will be lots of good pieces written by actual writers and you should read them, as I will be doing, and you should also research the whole Tropicalia scene and Brazilian music in general because it’s brilliant. Just like the football, in a league of its own.

Thank you Gal, and thank you Brazil for gifting the world with your wonderful music.

-Dom

Jeff's Staff Pick: November 10, 2022

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Don’t you find it funny when you discover unexpected things about yourself? I don’t talk about it too much here in our newsletter, but I do appreciate a bangin’ 60s psych tune from time to time. Whether it’s “Send Me A Postcard” by Shocking Blue or SF Sorrow-era Pretty Things, I do have a soft spot for this era of rock’n’roll. Another band who I’ve discovered has a few tunes that I think are bangers is Nazz. Whenever used Nazz records roll through Sorry State, we never price them super high and I’m not sure how well appreciated they are in the psychedelic rock community. But a song like “Forget All About It,” the opening track from Nazz’s 2nd LP, is just a total gem to my ears.

So, the thing about Nazz is the band featured a young Todd Rundgren. Rundgren’s solo stuff has never really grabbed my attention. Even with me digging into some Nazz stuff, I always assumed Rundgren’s solo stuff was more aligned with like proggy, flute-laden adult contemporary. Like a more hip Michael McDonald or something. Even with Greg Graffin from Bad Religion name-checking him as a favorite artist, I still never cared to give Rundgren the time of day. That said, at one point the dude must’ve been pretty damn popular because we get tons of used Todd Rundgren records from people’s collections constantly. So many, in fact, that we have a dedicated Todd Rundgren tab in our used classic rock section. When I’m filing records, I still give the occasional eye-roll as I flip past Rundgren’s thickly beefed out section, collecting months of dust as they don’t sell too often.

Now here’s where it gets interesting: the other day I was listening to a podcast about Big Star. Yes, I know. I’m one of those dudes. I can’t help it. Big Star’s obscure, sweet melodies get me in the feels like many-a cliché record nerd. Anyway, in the podcast, the hosts are discussing the making of Big Star’s 2nd album, Radio City. This album, of course, sees the absence of Big Star forming member Chris Bell, and has Alex Chilton taking over a grand majority of the songwriting and vocal performances. The hosts of the podcast were talking about Chilton’s influences and mentioned that at the time Radio City was being recorded, Chilton was super into Todd Rundgren. They go on to say that some of Rundgren’s early solo material was a glowing example and highly influential on what would later be described as “jangle” or “power pop”… to which I thought to myself, “Uh, seriously??” They played a short clip of a Todd Rundgren song I had never heard before... So, here’s me, sitting listening to this podcast, hearing this clip of an artist who I had rolled my eyes at for years and I think… “OH NO, do I actually LIKE Todd Rundgren??” Bahahahahahaha!!

The clip of the Rundgren song that played is called “Couldn’t I Just Tell You”. I went and looked up the song on YouTube and immediately just loved it. When I hear this song, to me it’s totally obvious how it would have been influential on Chilton’s songwriting. Lush, jangly guitars, hooky melodies, a sense of melancholy underneath the surface. It’s all there. Almost even kinda reminds of the good moments of Badfinger and bands in that vein. This track is from Rundgren’s 2nd solo record, Something / Anything?, which is a double album. Have I dived into the rest of songs on this 25-song album? HEELLLL no hahaha. Maybe I’ll give it a shot. I wouldn’t be surprised if I don’t like nearly as many songs as “Couldn’t I Just Tell You,” but hey, who woulda thought? From what I hear, a huge, expanded box set version of Something / Anything? Is coming out for the Black Friday Record Store Day drop in a couple weeks. Just in time to ruin my life. Will I actually end up taking one home with me? Probably not. Maybe I can get “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” on a single or something haha.

Before I get crucified for writing this, if any of you readers like a good melody and haven’t heard this song before, humor me and give it a shot. Even if you never listen to any other Rundgren song ever after that.

That’s all the nerding out I’ve got for ya this week. As always, thanks for reading.

Y’all probably won’t hear from me next week because I’ll be outta town gigging with Public Acid. But ‘til next time,

-Jeff

Daniel's Staff Pick: November 10, 2022

Chicken Bowels: S/T 7” (1987, Kagai Mousu Records)

This week I slayed a white while.

Before I get to that, though, a short rant. The word “grail” in relation to record collecting always grates against my ear. I doubt our sophisticated and cultured Sorry State readers would use so uncouth a term, but I see it a lot in the wider world of vinyl, used among the same people who use the word “vinyls” (a word that also grates against my ear, but so does the weirdly conservative grammarian backlash against it, so I just stay out of that debate altogether). I guess the problem is that the word gets overused, as in “I went to the record store today and found three grails!” To me, a grail is not just an album you like. If you think about the metaphor, the Holy Grail is something you spend a lifetime searching for, never knowing whether it exists, much less whether you’ll find it. If any punk records have that status, it would only be ones you’d be lucky to see, let alone own, in your lifetime… I’m thinking of things like the Necros skatepark sleeve or the Minor Threat Out of Step test pressing with the silk-screened sleeve. This is a class of records even beyond things like the first pressings of the Minor Threat EP or Nervous Breakdown. There are a thousand copies out there of both records, and even though demand outstrips that supply to where their values have gone through the roof, they change hands with some regularity. A grail, on the other hand, is an item of almost mythic status.

The white whale, though, that’s an appropriate metaphor for this week. The white whale, Moby Dick, literally took a piece of Captain Ahab, setting him on a lifelong journey for recompense. Beyond simple revenge, Ahab’s quest for the whale is existential… he will never be whole again until he conquers it. Unlike the Holy Grail, the white whale doesn’t exist in that strange space between myth and reality… it’s real, and Ahab encounters it several times, but never gets the best of it. This is my story with this Chicken Bowels 7” though, unlike Ahab, my tale ends in triumph, not tragedy.

My story with Chicken Bowels goes back to the early 2000s. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this several times in the newsletter because it was such a formative event in my relationship with punk music and record collecting, but one summer my friend Joel ceremoniously (Joel loves ceremony) dropped off his entire record collection at my house and left it there for several months. Joel was a manic collector of Japanese hardcore, and had all the classic records like Gauze and G.I.S.M. and the Comes and Lip Cream and Death Side when I was obsessed with those records, but only knew them from mp3 files. Holding those artifacts in my hands only increased their mystique and allure. Joel also had a ton of under the radar rippers I had never heard before, and I listened to every single record in his collection that summer, soaking up every scrap of knowledge I could. I visited Japan twice in the next couple of years, and with a couple of exceptions (I still don’t have an original copy of Fuck Heads… at the time Joel had two!) I more or less replicated Joel’s collection. Japan’s record stores are something else.

Chicken Bowels, though, proved elusive. I asked about this record at every shop I visited, but came up empty on both trips. Which got under my skin, because this record got its hooks into me. Even among the Japanese hardcore hall of fame that was Joel’s record collection, Chicken Bowels’ EP was unique. It didn’t sound like anything else. And since it came in 1987, way later than many of the hardest to find classics, and didn’t have the hype associated with the scene’s big names, I should have been able to find it.

Like Ahab, I had a few encounters with this white whale over the next two decades. I’ve had a saved eBay search for “Chicken Bowels” for that entire time, but I can’t recall ever seeing one up for sale. (Popsike tells a different story… there are nine eBay auctions for the EP archived there, but there hasn’t been one since 2013. Amazingly, though, two copies sold barely a week apart in the fall of 2006.) Whenever I heard a friend was visiting Japan, I always asked them to look for a copy for me (a strategy that proved effective for nabbing other elusive wants like Bastard’s Wind of Pain and the Aburadako flexi). At some point, I remember hearing that Joel had given his copy of the Chicken Bowels 7” to our friend Brandon as a wedding present. I got several great records from Brandon when he downsized his collection a few years after that, but I think I remember hearing that his copy of Chicken Bowels went to Mark from Beach Impediment, with whom it presumably still resides. I remember once someone on the Viva La Vinyl message board listed a copy for sale (I think it might have been Burkhard, who put together the Flex discography books). He didn’t name a price, so (if I remember correctly) I offered him $150, which at the time was consistent with what the EP had sold for on eBay and Discogs. He said the offer was way too low, and I guess he was right, because someone made him a better offer and he took it before I could counter. The white whale had escaped my grasp once again.

A few weeks ago I dropped in on the “items for sale in your want list” page on Discogs, as I am wont to do, and that garish red and yellow cover felt like it smacked me in the face. There was a problem, though: the record was in Australia, and it wasn’t available for purchase in the United States. I sprang to attention and sent the seller a message, explaining that I was happy to pay their asking price and whatever it cost to ship the record to the US. I expected nothing would come of it. If you spend a lot of time on Discogs, you know that the best records at the best prices disappear from the site in minutes. I thought for sure someone would buy the record before the seller responded to my message or before we worked out a deal. Luckily, though, the seller not only wrote back right away, but took down the listing to ensure no one else would buy it while we worked out the details. I tried to suppress my excitement, because there was still the lengthy waiting game of international shipping. While that process wasn’t without incident (the seller sent me the wrong tracking number, leading to a semi-freakout when I saw the record was delivered to a parcel locker in San Diego), the record showed up earlier this week.

You’d think that, with so much buildup, getting this EP in my hands would be unsatisfying, but that is not the case. Getting to pore over this artifact and blast it from my turntable reminded me how much I fucking love this weird ass little record.

I’ve never been able to dig up much information about Chicken Bowels, but here’s what I know. I believe they were from Hiroshima, and their drummer was Muka-Chin, whose name you might recognize since he played drums on most of Death Side’s records. Aside from their guitarist, Motsu, handling vocals in Half Years, I know little about the other members’ resumes. However, the Chicken Bowels EP was produced by Zigiyaku, a towering figure in the history of Japanese hardcore. Zigiyaku first came to prominence playing guitar in the legendary band Gudon, then formed Half Years, then Bastard, then Judgement. From what I understand, Zigiyaku was the main creative force behind those bands, and hence was one of the major figures who shaped what we now understand as the Japanese hardcore sound. It’s hard to tell how much of a hand he had in the Chicken Bowels record since a producer credit could mean just about anything, but there’s a certain magic to this recording that I suspect may have come from a sprinkling of Zigiyaku’s magic fairy dust.

Getting reacquainted with this EP this week, it struck me that every one of its six songs has at least one signature climactic moment. A band is lucky if they can capture a single moment like this on an entire record, but somehow Chicken Bowels got one into every track, and they’re all different. In the first track, “Keep Our Fire Burning,” it’s the striking, melodic bass line in the chorus, which always reminded me of funeral bells tolling, simultaneously melancholic and grandiose. On the second track, “You Live in Dream,” it’s the way the guitarist drops out of the riff on the chorus. “No Control” has one of the most epic guitar solos I’ve ever heard, played with all the melodic sophistication and creativity of a brilliant bebop jazz player. And there’s the entirety of “Fuckin’ Crime,” which ends the EP on a joyously snotty note that reminds me more of the Swanky’s light-hearted pogo punk than the heavier and grimmer sounds on the rest of the record.

And then there’s the record as an artifact. A big part of Japanese hardcore’s draw is that they do things I would never expect, and this EP is a perfect encapsulation of that aesthetic. There’s the band name… why on earth would you call your band Chicken Bowels? Perhaps it’s a significant phrase in Japanese language or culture, but to me it sounds delightfully absurd. And then there’s the record’s layout, which uses bright and striking colors that look more like a children’s toy than a hardcore record, the nutso cover illustration, and the idiosyncratic choice of typefaces. The lyrics are along the same lines… who knows what they sound like to a native Japanese speaker, but to me they are ludicrous, yet strangely evocative. From “Lie and Truth:”

Lie and truth Ramdom (sic) space

Lie and Truth Sloppy relation

Lie and Truth Oh, no! No! No! No!

From “You Live in Dream:”

You are very-very-nonsence

Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!

From “No Control:”

Hurry up! No future

Drop out! Dirty crows

No! No! Control

Die! Just yourself

Go Down! Kill yourself!

Get out! Noisy crows

Make a fresh start of life

People will talk!

(Note: I’ve excluded part of the lyrics that are printed in Kanji since I don’t know how to type them.)

So, has this strange little record made me feel whole again? It has… if only a little. I’ve always been more of a gatherer than a hunter of records, preferring to enjoy the records that find me rather than chasing down wants with an obsessive zeal. When you lust after things, you build them up too much, and at some point the chase is better than the catch. Holding the Chicken Bowels EP in my hands, though, feels like coming home. It’s deepened my appreciation of a record I already loved, but also unlocked a sheaf of memories I’ve been happy to revisit here. Hopefully, I’ll continue to get a hit of that joy every time I take it off the shelf.

Featured Releases: November 10, 2022

Lexicon: Devoid of Light 12” (Iron Lung Records) Way back in 2018 Iron Lung Records released a demo tape by Seattle’s Lexicon. Now they’re back with their vinyl debut. That demo tape was already head and shoulders above most hardcore records I hear, so Lexicon needed little refinement. Still, things seem a little more unified on Devoid of Light, which sees the band locking into a sound that takes the dense and chaotic production values of noise-punk bands like D-Clone, Zyanose, and Lebenden Toten, and applies it to a more rhythmically intricate and punkier songwriting style. I wonder if you took all the distortion off this if it would sound like Amde Petersen’s Arme or something? It’s hard to say, especially with this full-bore assault blasting in your ears. Lexicon reminds me a lot of the Richmond band Spore I also wrote about this week, and as with Spore, the moments on Devoid of Life that hit the hardest for me are the loosest and most chaotic passages. Lexicon is so locked-in that when a track like “Parasite” or “Electric Shock” flies off the rails, it’s thrilling. Records like this are why we love Iron Lung… it’s raging, interesting, and exciting in all the right ways.


CML: The Dirty Tape cassette (Rotten Apple) Most of what the new label Rotten Apple has released so far has fallen on the weirder and/or poppier end of the spectrum, but this tape from Indianapolis’s CML proves they know raging hardcore when they hear it too. The first track, “State of Mind,” starts off with a haunting intro that makes me think of Part 1, and even when the song erupts, there’s a haunting quality to the riffing and an off-kilter, anarcho vibe to the rhythms… like a more manic Rudimentary Peni or something. After that first track, though, things get down, dirty, and raw, with more straightforward, early 80s hardcore-style bash-you-over-the-head riffs and changes. The vocals are snotty and a little screechy, a dead ringer for Urban Waste in places, and the music has that raw and immediate early 80s New York Hardcore vibe too. Everything about this rules, right down to the perfectly shitty drawing on the cover.


Spore: Rabid Intent cassette (Not for the Weak Records) Not for the Weak Records brings us this gloriously noisy and crushing cassette from Richmond, Virginia’s Spore. I can hear a whole lineage of hardcore punk in Spore’s music… they sound like an American hardcore band influenced by noisy Japanese punk bands from the 2000s inspired by Swedish bands from the 80s who were stealing from the playbook Discharge first drafted. It’s fists-in-the-air, bruising shit, fast and heavy as fuck with no letup. My favorite parts are when the guitarist drops the riff and dissolves into a D-Clone-esque squall of inchoate distortion… most of Spore’s music winds me up, ratcheting up the intensity until I feel the anxiety in my body, then when the guitarist makes that move, it’s like being in the middle of a panic attack and screaming at the top of your lungs, shutting out the world and providing an essential moment of cathartic relief. As with everything on Not for the Weak, the sound is massive and bruising, and with eight tracks and eye-catching artwork, I don’t see anyone complaining they didn’t get their money’s worth out of this one. Totally killer.


The Apostles: Best Forgotten 12” (Horn of Plenty Records) The short history of 80s anarcho punks the Apostles on their Discogs page sums up the band’s unique approach very well: “The Apostles were an experimental post-punk band who developed within the confines of the 1980s Anarcho Punk scene in the UK, but did not necessarily adhere to the aesthetics of that movement.” While the Apostles eventually, once they moved from releasing cassettes to vinyl, evolved into a somewhat more conventional anarcho-punk band (I wrote about their excellent second single, Blow It Up Burn It Down Kick It Till It Breaks, in our Staff Picks section a while back), the tracks on Best Forgotten compile an earlier era for the project when they sound less like a band at all, and more like a container for a wide range of musical experiments. In that way, this era of the Apostles reminds me of groups like Alternative TV, Television Personalities, and Cleaners from Venus… all of them very different from one another, but united by the approach of following their curiosity and pushing at the edges of their respective sounds. Best Forgotten does a great job of documenting that approach, feeling less like an album and more like a documentary, and while it’s hard to imagine anyone saying that Best Forgotten contains a wealth of great songs, it is rich with vibe. It practically smells like a squat in early 80s London, cold and damp and desperate, but at least with the free time to get weird and creative (even if the means to document that creativity are of the make-do variety). I imagine this era of the Apostles’ music flies way over the heads of Conflict and Crass-loving crusties in both their time and ours, but this is tailor-made for punk intellectuals with a taste for the artistically confrontational music of groups like Alternative TV (particularly their second album, Vibing Up the Senile Man), Virgin Prunes, and early Cabaret Voltaire.


Churchgoers: demo cassette (11PM Records) 11PM Records brings us the demo cassette from London’s Churchgoers. Falling on the rawer, punker, and more early 80s-inspired end of the contemporary UK hardcore scene, it’s easy to imagine Churchgoers on a bill with bands like the Annihilated and Last Affront (who also released a record on 11PM)… I’d go to that gig! This is just a theory, but it seems to me that one of the distinguishing characteristics of contemporary UK hardcore is that many of the players grew up listening to New York hardcore, which comes out in their music in subtle ways, even when I think they’re trying self-consciously to do something different from that. I don’t know if that’s the case with Churchgoers, but I hear it on a track like “Hillsy’s,” which sounds like something that could have been on the New Breed compilation tape. Most of Churchgoers’ songs, though, are more in the fast and raw, early 80s vein, though the way the drummer lunges ahead of the beat on the fast parts also makes me think of Heresy (the super short track “M.S.P.” serves as further evidence for that line of thinking). Maybe you won’t hear any of that and Churchgoers will just sound like a ripping 80s-style hardcore band to you, but either way, it’s a win.


Alerta Roja: Punk Rock En Dictadura 7” (Esos Malditos Punks) Esos Malditos Punks brings us this 5-song 7” from early 80s Argentinian punk band Alerta Roja, which they bill as the first punk rock studio recordings made in that country. According to Discogs, two of these tracks came out on an extremely limited 7” (only 50 copies!) in 1982, but Punk Rock En Dictadura presents all five tracks Alerta Roja recorded at the session. While hardcore was in full swing in other parts of the world by 1982, Alerta Roja’s music here is still steeped in the music of the Damned, the Heartbreakers, and most of all the Sex Pistols (they even borrow the “no future for you” melody from the end of “God Save the Queen” for the chorus of “Desocupación”). While the compositions are in that riffy, rock-influenced punk mode, the recording is raw and nasty, giving this a feel closer to that of early European punk classics by bands like Tampax or Lost Kids. Alerta Roja’s singer also has a similar tone of voice to Eduardo Benavente from Paralisis Permanente. All five songs are killer, starting with the anthemic “Desocupación” and climaxing with the gloriously strange guitar solo at the end of “Robots.” If you’ve put in your time with your Killed by Death and Bloodstains compilations, this 7” is gonna be right up your alley.


Record of the Week: Mutated Void: Slash the Altar 7"

Mutated Void: Slash the Altar 7” (Sewercide Records) Hot on the heels of their recent 12” on Iron Lung, we have another 8-song 7” from Canada’s Mutated Void. I really liked that 12”, but I feel like my description didn’t get that across… I felt like I needed a flight of poetic fancy to get across how unique that record is, but it didn’t say everything I wanted to say about Mutated Void. That’s OK, though, because I like Slash the Altar even more. Part of that might be that Mutated Void’s music is so abrasive that it’s easier to digest in small chunks, but Slash the Altar is also just a really strong record. Its sequencing works very well, and the a-side is a master class in hardcore dynamics. The first track, “Slash the Altar,” is Mutated Void in a nutshell. I love that the title seems to reference both black metal and skateboarding, and the main riff sounds like something Darkthrone might have come up with during their punk-influenced 00s era, though with the super abrasive and raw production of Goatlord. The riff is straight up nasty, and when the drummer does that slow tom roll into the chorus it gives me those hardcore goosebumps I love. Mutated Void follows that up with two ultra-fast rippers that, like the Iron Lung 12”, make me think of Septic Death more than anything else, then they change things up again for the standout a-side closer, “Tent City.” That song starts with a huge, crashing intro that makes you think all hell is about to break loose, but instead the bottom falls out and the song goes into this eerie, groovy part that seems to have a bit of Agent Orange in it, but it doesn’t sound like much else I can think of. The b-side is killer too, but I could listen to those four tracks on the a-side over and over. Any way you slice it though, Mutated Void has created two of the most unique and memorable hardcore records of 2022.

John Scott's Staff Pick: November 3, 2022

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone had a fun Halloween weekend. Today I was gonna switch it up and write about how I spent my weekend over in Asheville for the annual Billy Strings Halloween shows. I went with one of my good buddies and we took his van, which was a lot more spacious than I expected. We were able to raise the top and fold out another upper sleeping area and set up a table and chairs, so we were pretty comfortable rolling around in our little mobile home for the weekend and parking in various parking lots to sleep. We arrived late Friday night and the first of three shows was Saturday night, so we just chilled that night and woke up and got some breakfast and went on a nice hike in the morning. I love being up in the mountains this time of year and seeing all the Fall colors. It never gets old. The theme for the shows was Lord of the Rings, so each night musically played out the plot of each movie, starting with The Fellowship of The Ring. The sight of Billy Strings walking out on stage as Frodo and the band dressed as the rest of the fellowship (Gandalf on upright bass, Legolas on Fiddle, Sam on mandolin, Aragorn on banjo) is a sight I don’t think I’ll soon forget. Lots of other people joined them on stage throughout the shows, including a flute player, another fiddle player, and even Gollum ripping metal cello solos. They played an array of music set to the plot of the movies which included songs from the movies like Bilbo’s birthday song, original Billy songs, and covers of songs by artists like Doc Watson, Johnny Cash, Leadbelly, Black Sabbath, and a bunch more. I have too many favorite moments from throughout these shows but if I had to pick a few, it would be Gandalf singing Ring of Fire, Gollum’s fucked up cello solo when he first showed up, and the nine-piece band Freeborn Man encore at the end of the second show. Not to mention the insane almost 20 minute Meet Me at the Creek, which had the sweetest sounding flute solo I’ve ever heard. The attention to detail was great, like Gandalf emerging from smoke on stage the second night in an all white robe and a chrome bass representing his return as Gandalf the White. These shows were so much fun. There are not too many other ways I’d wanna spend my Halloween weekend than in the Blue Ridge Mountains dressed like a Hobbit and living out of a van with one of my best friends while watching one of our favorite bands play. Go see Billy live. You won’t regret it!

https://youtu.be/ls18VzQDK-M

Angela's Staff Pick: November 3, 2022

Hey fam! How’s everyone doing? All is well on my end. The two days of Fall we had were so great, but the weather said “siiiike it’s still summer, burn in Hell!” so it’s gonna be like 80 degrees all weekend. So gross. Fake Fall is real, and it hurts.

No internal debate necessary for this week’s staff pick. Hands down, it’s the Judy and the Jerks Music to go Nuts LP. To call it an LP is a stretch to be honest. It’s more of a super solid EP. Anyway, I’ve heard bits of this record coming from Daniel’s office and I’ve asked what he was listening to on at least two different occasions and the answer was always Judy and the Jerks. So I figured it was time to sit with it myself. I played it, loved it, and haven’t stopped playing it.

This record is a great mix of sounds that all work. Some of it has a more playful retro surfer punk sound with the snotty vocals, and some of it is hardcore. There’s even a more lo-fi punk track for good measure.

The tight AF rhythm section and meaner sound on the song Nothing to Prove stopped me in my tracks. It’s very anthemic and I can see this one getting a crowd going. Scorpion is another one on repeat. You can’t not like it. Kudos to Hampton Martin, who has a real talent for sliding in and effortlessly syncing up to the beat. I’m such an appreciator of a really tight and instinctual rhythm section with clean drum beats and catchy bass lines. A lot of times you’re lucky to get one or two songs where the bass stands out, but on this record the bass is THE standout for me.

California is the catchiest, danciest song on the record. The lyrics are super fun (“start a band and tour the Northwest, maybe we could even play the Olympia hardcore fest. Make it big just like Black Flag. Be on the cover of the Maximum Rocknroll mag”). Delivered with bratty sarcastic vocals and a great beat, it’s kind of addicting.

The band really switches things up with the closing song, Control. This is a way more lo-fi, dare I say grungier sounding track with an intro that seems longer than most of the songs. It’s not though, don’t worry. The guitar really shines on this track, even leading the song into noise rock territory for a brief moment toward the end before reeling things back in. It’s a really well-rounded song that adds interest to the mix and reminds you of what the band is capable of. I think it’s a cool move to close the album with a track that sounds the most different from any other song on the album.

We have a few copies left, and I highly recommend it. I’ve been keeping track of my top 10 records for the year and this one just made its way in.

Thanks for reading!

Angela

Usman's Staff Pick: November 3, 2022

HEADCLEANERS are one of my favorite Swedish bands. This opinion probably changes on a daily basis between TOTALITÄR, MISSBRUKARNA, NO SECURITY, ANTI-CIMEX, or maybe even AVSKUM. HEADCLEANERS stick out to me as one of the greatest cos their sound is unique compared to the heavy, straight-forward DISCHARGE or UK82 influence on most Swedish bands. While they play with an obvious nod to DISCHARGE, they incorporate other elements like the wonky yet very catchy guitar lead (or flute… haha). I’ve always loved the look of all their record covers and inserts as well, so that really adds to my liking of the band. So naturally when we have a HEADCLEANERS compilation 12” in stock, I am going to write about it! While this isn’t an official release, I am happy to have these songs all together in one place with some good quality sound. The A side of the record opens up with their tracks from Really Fast Vol. 1, although it says they are from Vol. 2 on the insert, haha. Since there is not a proper track listing and I am high, it’s easy to get lost when listening. So please forgive me if I fuck up. After the Really Fast tracks comes (most of) their tracks from Varning!! För Punk compilation. However, the tracks on that CD compilation are just tracks from their 1981 split with PICNIC BOYS and Really Fast Vol. 1. Following those comes their 1981 Disinfection EP. The B side finishes off with their tracks from Beating The Meat, which came out in 1984. But those songs are not exclusive to the compilation. I am pretty sure they are just the missing songs from the Varning tracks that already appeared, basically making the A side complete with their earliest recordings. I will say though, the recordings they used did come from Beating The Meat, cos HEADCLEANERS added those silly intros/outros to their tracks when they appeared on that comp later. The B side opens up with their track from the Welcome to 1984 compilation. However, that is the same recording from the Disinfection EP that has already appeared on the A side, haha. Following that is their Infection Grows EP, which came out in 1983. Then comes their 1984 tracks from the Vårt Fria Land split to finish off the record. Aside from some obscure song(s) that appeared only on a cassette in the ‘80s, I don’t think there is anything missing from this compilation. That makes this a complete HEADCLEANERS collection, which has never been done on vinyl before. I read in an interview from like ten years ago with Mats, the mastermind of HEADCLEANERS, where he said that one day there will be a discography release of some sorts. I am not sure if or when that day will come, but until then, I’d grab one of these slabs to hold you down. Alright that’s it for today, cheers and thanks for reading!!