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No Allegiance: Mad 12” (Destiny Records, 1986)

One of my favorite moments of 2023 so far is when Scarecrow played with Lasso in Norfolk, Virginia a few months ago. The bands all stayed at the newly opened Not for the Weak Records, and after the gig everyone hung out at the shop late into the night, sipping beers and listening to music. Eventually things degenerated (as they tend to do) into drunken OpIvy and Specials singalongs (with Greenough displaying an impressively deep command of even the densest OpIvy verses), but for most of the night Chris from Bato was spinning hardcore deep cuts from his collection. There were jams galore, including a handful of things I didn’t know… how had I never checked out the Special Forces LP? My want list definitely grew by a few items that night.

Another band Chris played for us that night that I didn’t know was Germany’s No Allegiance. Actually, after some subsequent research I realized I did know No Allegiance, at least kind of. The band’s original name was Porno Patrol, whose underrated 1984 7” I was familiar with. However, Porno Patrol (wisely?) changed their name to No Allegiance in 1985 and released two LPs, Mad and No Cash Value, on the singer’s label Destiny Records. Destiny Records has a long history, including at least a few cool records like the Porno Patrol 7”, the Combat Not Conform LP, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers’ Live in SO.36 LP (which I still need a copy of!), and Squandered Message’s Getting Blunt LP. It appears the label’s tour booking arm also helped to bring a bunch of American bands to Europe in the 80s… I’m guessing the label’s releases from US bands like Capitol Punishment, R.K.L., M.D.C., and Verbal Abuse coincided with those bands’ tours. I bet there are a lot of stories to be told about all that.

Back to No Allegiance. I was in New York for Another Lost Weekend, and of course I hit a bunch of record stores while I was there. I hadn’t been to Generation Records in probably 15 years. The last time I went, I’m pretty sure the store sucked… if I remember correctly, the upstairs was all CDs and merch and all the vinyl was downstairs, but I don’t remember buying a single thing. This time around, it was a different story. There were lots of crazy records on the wall (for crazy prices, of course), and while I didn’t buy any of that stuff, I found a lot of cool, more reasonably priced records in the used LP bins. (Side note: every record store I went to in New York just calls their entire used section “new arrivals,” which is probably a good way to get people to look through everything.) There were a bunch of 80s German hardcore LPs, which I have to assume came from the same collection. One of them was No Allegiance’s first album, Mad, which I eagerly nabbed.

Sometimes when you hear a band at a party after a few beers, add it to your wantlist, and track down a copy weeks, months, or years later, it doesn’t hold up as well as you remember. While Chris had played No Cash Value, No Allegiance’s second album, Mad was no disappointment. In fact, I think it’s pretty killer. It reminds me of better-produced US hardcore records from the mid-80s, when bands started getting stronger recordings… I’m thinking of records like the FU’s Do We Really Want to Hurt You and DRI’s Dealing With It… bigger-budget records from bands that still played loud and fast. RKL might be another good comparison. Basically, if you like the bands that were still riding for hardcore in the mid-80s without going melodic or metal, you’re probably going to dig this.

It looks like both of No Allegiance’s records fly so far under the radar that they barely sell for anything on Discogs. (I paid the New York City premium price for my copy, but I’m OK with it.) So, if you can track down these records, they shouldn’t cost you much at all. And if you ask me, they punch way above their weight.

Bloody Flag: S/T 12” (Bunker Punks Discs & Tapes) The short tag line for this tape is “Disclose worship from Chris Ulsh” (he of Impalers, Power Trip, Mammoth Grinder, Quarantine, Vaaska, Devil Master, Hatred Surge, and many others). When I heard this was in the works, I was intrigued because I’m a huge fan of Chris’s music… of course projects like Impalers and Quarantine are right up my alley, but even when he works in genres I’m not as attached to, I still find the music riveting. Bloody Flag, though, falls firmly in the category of “musician I love playing a style I love.” If you’re a big fan of Impalers, you can hear that group’s bones in Bloody Flag, particularly their burly, charging rhythms and the commanding yet shredded vocals. These strengths are a perfect match for the stylistic elements Bloody Flag borrows from Disclose, like the heavy reliance on fast palm-muting and the wandering, “nuclear rain” guitar leads. That mix of blaring ferocity with loose, almost psychedelic elements is a big part of what made Disclose so great, particularly in their Disbones phase, and Bloody Flag channels that perfectly while allowing room for Ulsh’s playing style to shine through. Chris from Warthog also provides harsh noise interludes, adding even more depth and texture to the release and nodding to Kawakami’s Goatworshipper project. I’ve had this tape on repeat since I first laid my hands on it, and it’s one of my favorite hardcore releases of 2023. While this is already sold out from the label and nearly sold out from us, I hear a second tape is on the way, so keep your eyes peeled.

The Hell: S/T 12” (Not for the Weak Records) “This one goes out to the bad boys” is inscribed at the bottom of the insert for the Hell’s debut LP on Not for the Weak Records. It’s the only information aside from the lyrics on the record’s layout, but it says what you need to know about this group from Cleveland, Ohio (the bad boy’s natural habitat). While the Hell plays at hardcore tempos, they remind me more of a nasty, Dead Boys-inspired punk band, with snot-crusted vocals and riffs that strut like a dirtbag gakked to the gills. A stark contrast to the militaristic and ritualistic intensity of hardcore descended from the Minor Threat branch of the family tree, this makes me think of New Jersey’s the Worst, Boston’s Vile, the Dwarves circa Blood, Guts & Pussy… bands that sounded like hardcore because it annoyed the norms, but if too many hardcore kids liked them, they’d find a way to alienate that audience too. While a true bad boy might take this record as a holy scripture, even a dweeb like me can thrash to the Hell… I just probably won’t invite them to stay at my place after the gig.

Fairytale: Shooting Star 12” (Toxic State Records) Here at Sorry State we were huge fans of Fairytale’s previous EP on Desolate Records, and the New York City d-beat band builds on that record’s strengths with Shooting Star, creating something even more distinctive, powerful, and exciting. I can’t believe how much room Fairytale finds for innovation in their sound without compromising the ferocity and brutality. If you merely appreciate Fairytale on that level, there’s plenty to love, and they’re certainly in the same league with flat-out ragers of recent vintage like Salvaje Punk, Destruct, and Electric Chair. However, there’s so much more happening than raw intensity, as Shooting Star is filled with unique and innovative touches at nearly every level. The first time I listened to the record, the unexpectedly melodic chorus of “Possible to Grow” was the standout moment, and playing this record into the ground for the past few weeks hasn’t dulled my enthusiasm for it one bit. However, there are subtler moments that are just exciting, though they take a little more close listening to extract from the din. “Life Plateau,” the first mid-paced song on the record, might seem like a standard homage to “A Look at Tomorrow” on the surface, but the manic drumbeat with an unexpected hi-hat pattern gives the song a uniquely suffocating level of tension. “Fairytale” is another standout, borrowing the hypnotic quality of Disclose’s “Wardead,” but rather than riding the “psychedelic d-beat” wave in any kind of expected way, the outro hangs on the song’s main riff for what seems like ages. Eventually a solo emerges, but just as it starts to pick up steam, the rhythm section drops out while the guitarist continues to noodle away, ending the record’s first side in an evocative moment of deflation. Even when Fairytale is in straightforward bashing mode, Lulu’s unique vocal cadences provide compelling rhythmic counterpoints, and moments like chorus to “Bluer Skies” and the snotty verses in “Wrap It Up and Buy It” prove the infectious chorus in “Possible to Grow” is no fluke. Fusing subtlety and brutality is no easy feat, but Shooting Star pulls it off ably, resulting a record that will peel your hair back on the first listen, but continue to reveal something new with every subsequent spin.

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone has been having a nice week. The weather has felt great here in Raleigh recently, so it’s nice to catch this little window of nice weather before it gets real hot this summer. Speaking of hot, this week I’m writing about this Enemic Interior S/T 7”. The other day Dom and I were going thru and listening to some of the new 7”s we had gotten in over the last couple weeks and I threw this one on. I was immediately pulled in by the catchy guitar riff on the first track. Every song on here rips. I lack the proper music knowledge and vocabulary to tell you why it’s so good, but I just love the way this whole thing sounds. Vocals are always a big factor for me and can make or break a record, especially with music like this, but I really dig em on this. I realize I’m a little late to the party for these Barcelona madmen, as this EP was originally released on cassette last year, but better late than never. In fact, they just released their second EP a couple months ago, but we sold out of it pretty quick here at Sorry State, so here I am bumping this one. Give this one a listen if you haven’t yet and if you like it, we still got a few copies left, so snag one on this sweet red vinyl while you can!

Hi Sorry State readers! Hope everyone is having a great start to Gemini season. I’m not that into astrology, but I am a Gemini. Fun fact… at Sorry State, each member of the staff has a different zodiac sign, and they are ordered in the same sequence as in the zodiac calendar, one after another. We are only missing the first sign and the last four, but we have Taurus through Scorpio covered, in order, with no repeats. It makes for a good balance of personalities. Or it could all just be a bunch of bullshit. Who knows? All in good fun.

So my staff pick this week is something pretty new to me. It’s by the band Cel Ray, a four-piece post-punk band from Chicago. This is their debut EP, Cellular Raymond. I popped it on and it took all of five seconds to know I was gonna be into it. Totally my vibe. It’s a mix of basement punk, post-punk, egg punk, and punk punk. Each song leaning a little heavier on one of those sub-genres more than the others, which makes for an interesting mix.

It was the second track that got its hooks into me, as parts of it have some old school riot grrrl sass. It reminds me of the Bratmobile song, Cool Schmool. Basically, the shared message is “ew, I hate you. go away.” More specifically, she says, “I don’t want to touch anything you’ve touched. I don’t want to touch it too. Don’t want to touch anything that’s touched you.” Oh, the song is called Clorox Wipes, which is what makes those lines funny. I love the sassy vocals on that one.

That track and the fourth one (Attention) are way more egg punk than the others. I’m a fan of egg punk, so that works for me. One of the last tracks (Sorry Stew) is a really interesting one. It has this really low slung bass riff that plays perfectly with the manic vocals. But then they add in a high-pitched guitar riff that has a country twang. It really gives it a punk hoedown feel. It made me think of square dancing in fourth grade. Talking to other people that had to engage in this activity, it was always in fourth grade. No matter where you lived in whatever part of the country. Like someone decided that was the right age for our first major public humiliation.

I remember they had kids just go down the line and pick a partner. Girls lined up on one side and boys on another. Like we were on the Bachelor. Looking back, that’s a traumatizing event for a 9 or 10-year-old. And they’d spring it on you, so you couldn’t plan to fake sick that day. Dude, I swear, being a kid in the 90s was like playing a ten-year season of Survivor. Brutal.

Pardon my tangent. That riff stirred up some repressed memories. My point is that Sorry Stew is a standout track. What a great name, too.

Love the lead bass line in the last track, Dog War. Another fun, mid-tempo number. This one is really long, clocking in at almost four minutes. But they don’t mess around. They know that four minutes is half of a punk set, and they don’t waste your time. In fact, the last minute of this track (which is the last minute of the whole EP) may be the raddest part of the whole thing. Toward the end, there is a timely pause, and then a standout melodic bass riff. The vocals get tougher, and it’s an explosion of sound. A very cool track.

Oh, I should mention that the cassette is quite eye catching, which is why I grabbed it in the first place. Housed in bright green casing is a clear cassette with a generous amount of green glitter on the inside. I do appreciate the details.

Ok that should do it. Thanks so much for reading, and maybe give Cel Ray a try!

-Angela

Hello and thanks for reading. While I am here today to talk about AIVOPROTEESI, I wanted to mention some other stuff first. I’m sure I will talk about it more some other time, but the debut FAIRYTALE LP is just so damn good. I’ve been following the band since they came down and played the house just a few months before Covid-19 hit the States. They had a flexi out only at the time, and it did not really give testament to the band’s raw intensity. Live they were so unbelievably good, and this LP is without a doubt my favorite release so far. Also, I wanted to mention this LP from D.T.A.L. I was really excited for this one, cos the EPs from the ‘80s are so sick, especially the first one,”Time to Die." I always thought it was interesting their second EP “A Beautiful Day” was much harder to find, especially cos it’s not as crazy and raw sounding as their debut EP. Eventually I attributed its allure to it being pressed on blue vinyl, haha. The “Dark Dimensions of War” LP comes with an insert explaining the history of the band and its ever-changing line-up. I’m guessing “A Beautiful Day” was poorly distributed (if at all), since the band was not technically a band when this EP was released. It was a new line-up with a new metallic direction that went on to do “Dark Dimensions of War” years later. They explain this record was planned to be released on CBR Records in 1990, who released ANTI-CIMEX that same year. Apparently, the plans for the D.T.A.L. 12" faded into nothing after CBR was dealing with lawsuits due to the title of “Absolut Country of Sweden.” Recently the original tapes were found, restored, and the release picked up right where it left off - thanks to De:Nihil Records. I was happy to get this record, and read the history of the band especially. Check it out, but be warned this is not raw hardcore like the way they originally played.

Alright, so AIVOPROTEESI. I just found this video made by the band with studio tracks and live footage, collaged together with images of war and propaganda. The timing of it looks like this was released when the LP came out. It is kind of cheesy, but I think it’s super cool still. They give us a brief history of the band, which is also cool. I was hoping this compilation LP would come with an insert of some sort, but unfortunately it does not. The record is housed in a nice gatefold jacket that is loaded will full-color photos of the band. I don’t think the cover itself is very appealing (I think it’s the color scheme?), and it has tons of labels listed on the back. Most of the time when you see that, it’s a sign of a whack ass record... haha. There is a US label on the back of this record, but I worried we would never get copies since it has been available in Europe for nearly a year. Eventually I said fuck it and mail-ordered a copy from Germany. Finally though, we can all enjoy copies of this hot slab in USA. AIVOPROTEESI unfortunately never had a proper record until this one. They appeared on the legendary Yalta Hi-Life compilation, and that was their only real appearance (aside from a handful of obscure 80s compilation tapes and a couple bootleg LPs that came much later). Maybe it’s easy for some to overlook AIVOPROTEESI on this compilation cos they appear next to super popular bands like TERVEET KÄDET, KAAOS, or VARAUS. But their tracks on this compilation are just as killer and they are easily of the same caliber as those legendary bands. On this compilation they released eight songs, although ten were recorded in the session. Those tracks were pretty much lost to time until the Finnish Hardcore label reissued them on a super limited lathe in 2020. It was definitely cool to hear these missing tracks, but nothing beats being able to hear the full session in all its glory. I think that alone makes this compilation LP worth it, but they’ve loaded it up with a handful of different recording sessions and some live tracks - totaling in 31 tracks, killer. Alright I think that about does it for today. Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone for the support. Cheers!

Hello guys, we hope we find you well as we close out another week here with the ol’ Sorry State Newsletter. As always, thank you for reading and hopefully you come away with some good steers towards cool and fun shit. As music lovers, we come to you again with heavy hearts saddened by more passings in the world of music. This week we lost Astrud Gilberto and Tony McPhee, the former the world’s forever girl from Ipanema and the latter the UK blues guitar hero who gave Peter Green a run for his money. I hate turning the newsletter into an obituary and quite honestly there are far more eloquent tributes being made than I could ever come up with, but damn it sucks losing more great artists and makes you feel old and think about your own mortality. Certainly, in this old geezer’s case.

Astrud Gilberto helped bring the sound of bossa nova to the world and was key to my entry into the music of Brazil. A friend of ours here at Sorry State posted on his social media a story of his introduction to Astrud via the exchanging of mixtapes with an old girlfriend and how hearing her voice and music changed his life and had such a profound effect on him. That’s the power of music. Gilberto cut a slew of fun, bright, romantic and groovy records throughout the 1960s and into the 70s. Mostly sticking to the jazzy bossa format, but adding in some interesting songs and sounds along the way. She always had top writers, arrangers, producers and musicians contributing to her records, making each one different and desirable. I dig them all, but really like the ones she cut at the end of the sixties most. Namely, I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do from 1969, which sports a close-up shot of Astrud with a tear in her eye and from the following year, September 17, 1969. These were both produced and arranged by Brooks Arthur, whose New York City-based studio Century Sound would see everyone from Neil Diamond to Van Morrison record there. Arthur was a huge talent. He could write quality songs, sing them and record them in equal measure, and often did all three at once. In the 1970s he would have hits with singer Janis Ian and then later went on to have success with recording comedy albums, notably with Robin Williams. He sadly passed away last year.

On these two Gilberto albums, the sound is a little more “mature” in nature with elements of melancholy in particular on I Haven’t Got Anything Better To Do. There are also some top tunes. The song Beginnings from September 17, 1969 is a banger and a great start to the record. Her record on Perception from a couple of years later called Now is a good one too, and she is credited as producer. The opener on that one called Zigy Zigy Za is a fun tune and makes me smile. Again, she is assisted by a who's who of talented musicians too long to list here. Check these records out if you dig her and need more than The Girl From Ipanema.

Tony McPhee might not be known to as many around the world as Astrud Gilberto, but his contribution to music is massive. His group The Groundhogs were active across five decades, although he was the only constant member. A killer guitarist who alongside others like Peter Green brought fresh life into blues music and was instrumental in the blues boom of the sixties. His group backed John Lee Hooker and Champion Jack Dupree on their tours. Whilst recording a single with Dupree, McPhee was given the nickname T.S. which stood for “Tough Shit” by producer Mike Vernon and at his suggestion added the initials to his name to make him sound more blues like. If you like the early Fleetwood Mac records, then you’ll enjoy the early Groundhogs albums too. The album that most people know by them is Split, featuring the song Cherry Red. That is a good album and recommended. As too are the albums proceeding it. Thank Christ For The Bomb is a good one and so is Who Will Save The World? The Mighty Groundhogs which came out the year after Split. McPhee maintained an everyman’s approach to music and life, never playing overly complicated parts or acting and looking flash. It’s no wonder that the likes of Mark E. Smith and Peter Hook admired him. Over the years, it seems more and more artists have claimed McPhee and The Groundhogs as inspiration and influence for their own music. Although his solo records and later group works might not have reached critical and commercial highs, those from the sixties and early seventies are all close to essential listening, in my opinion, and you are highly encouraged to dive in and explore.

Lastly, before I go, I would like to steer you all towards a cool reissue that we recently stocked from the good folks at Iron Lung Records. It’s the 1981 single Living Underground from an Australian group called The Vacant Lot. I dig it. Four very distinct tracks that straddle the Punk, Post Punk divide. Check out the story and our take here. John Scott was spinning it the other day and at first I thought he was changing the record between songs as the sound varies so much. The last song, Multinationals, I recognized but couldn’t place. Turns out it was on the compilation Bloodstains Across Australia. I love the keyboard on this song. Those into KBD type stuff are probably already hip to this one, but if you aren’t, go check it. Being an obscure release, naturally originals go for three figures, so a big thank you to Iron Lung for this affordable reissue. Any plans to do a stateside issue of the group’s recent album?

Okay, that’s all I got for you. Back to work. Thanks for reading and supporting us and loving your music as much as we do. See you next time.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Man, what a 3-day weekend I just had. Here we are on Thursday afternoon, and I think I’m still recuperating. I just had the best time in Minneapolis. Maybe it’s just a midwestern thing, but whether it was punks that we met or just random people on the street, everybody in that city was so friendly. Like, genuinely. Will from Desolate Records and his partner Bretton were the top-tier, greatest hosts. They put us up in their beautiful house full of elderly cats for several nights and hung out hard with us every single day. They rule.

The Vans skate event at Familia skate shop was so killer. I honestly wish we’d made it over to the skate park earlier, because I think people had already been skating for a while it seemed like. Ronnie Sandoval was totally shredding for a while, going for huge ass tricks, but then he took a pretty gnarly slam. The demo kinda fizzled out after that. Elijah Berle was ripping it too. I got to briefly meet Tony Trujillo. All the rest of our crew was getting photos with him and stuff, but I was too nervous haha. He was mad cool though. It was kinda cool just to see all these more behind the scenes dudes either filming or taking photos that I recognized from watching King of The Road. The afterparty gig we played was rad too. It was in this weird big open event space that kinda felt like a huge wedding venue, but it was still cool. It was also rad just kickin’ it and goofing off with the Electric Chair dudes—visiting sex shops where everyone could ride a giant mechanical dick. You know, that kinda thing. Then we all went to this late-night swimming spot where I realized that everyone was just super comfortable with being nekkid. Just bodies of all shapes and sizes jumping into the lake. Totally non-sexual… just free, queer, accepting and comfortable. It was a beautiful thing. I, for one, stayed fully clothed and drank beer.

Public Acid all flew back on Sunday afternoon. Then I drove back to Raleigh from Richmond and arrived home at around 4am. THEN, I went to work on Monday morning, and John Scott came and bailed me out so Scarecrow could go play a rad gig with the Subhumans that night. Pretty killer weekend, if you ask me. More mellow this coming weekend, but there’s more fun times on the horizon. I’m stoked.

Anyway, that’s enough gushing about me. Now let’s talk about records you readers need to buy. Usually, Usman is the ambassador of all things Finnish hardcore. But this week, I’ll take a stab at a little write-up about some Finnish stuff that I personally think is killer. You’ll often hear people talk about Kaaos or Riistetyt or whichever band, but I don’t often hear people reference Aivoproteesi. In all fairness, the band never released a proper EP or album during their existence in the early/mid-80s. Aivoproteesi’s most notable contribution to the legacy of Finnish punk is their appearance on the classic Yalta Hi-Life compilation from 1984. Upon first hearing this comp back in the day, the Aivoproteesi songs always stood out to me. As much as love Terveet Kadet and Varaus’s tracks on this comp, for years you could always catch me saying, “Oh, the Aivoproteesi songs are the best thing on that comp.”

Sometimes I’m frustrated when I think bands from the 80s are so killer, but there’s nothing besides a compilation that I can get my hands on. I would’ve loved if Aivoproteesi put out a 7” or something. But nope. My fascination with these comp tracks got me always wondering if this band ever recorded anything else besides the session that appears on the compilation. I tracked down the BCT tape that had all Barabbas Records bands on it, but alas, it was just the Yalta Hi-Life songs. But after years, eureka! In 2020, an EP was released with unreleased Aivoproteesi songs. I managed to get my hands on one, finding out later it was limited to like 80 copies or something crazy. I was bummed when I found out it was a lathe cut, but it actually sounded alright. Now FINALLY, in our lord’s year 2023, a comprehensive compilation LP of Aivoproteesi recordings is now available. The LP is a split release between several labels, including the ever-reliable Hohnie Records, and also Final Doomsday here in the US. The record contains 10 songs from a studio session (including the songs used for Yalta Hi-Life), 4-track demos, and some miscellaneous live recordings. Your classic “throw everything on there” style compilation. I ain’t complaining. It’s not my favorite packaging I’ve ever seen, but the cover art looks kinda cool. It’s a thick gatefold sleeve, and the inside gatefold has a widespread collage of nice looking full-color photos that I’ve never seen before. I kinda wish there was a booklet included instead so all the photos were larger… But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

If you love all things Finnish punk and are unfamiliar with this Aivoproteesi, I highly recommend you dig into this missing piece of your puzzle. Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Cluster: Grosses Wasser LP (1979, Sky Records)

It’s been a week of ups and downs for me. On Monday, Scarecrow played with Subhumans, which was awesome. It was my third time seeing Subhumans (the first was way back in 1998), and they were great as always. They’ve always been a huge band for me as their music is so powerful and unique, and it’s really special that they still do such great gigs and they bring them around to all corners of the world. Very cool. Unfortunately, though, it was a rough night for me physically. I’ve mentioned my recent skateboarding injury in the newsletter; I was grinding a parking block two weeks ago and fell hard right onto the block, taking it directly to my ribcage. I felt like it was getting better, but Monday was a long day with a full day’s work, playing a set, standing around a lot at the gig, and moving more equipment than I should have (though Jeff and Usman kindly handled all the speaker cabinets). By the end, I was in a lot of pain, so on Tuesday I broke down and went to the doctor. I’d avoided that because I read they couldn’t do much about a rib injury, but I got x-rays confirming I didn’t fracture any ribs, and they prescribed me some kind of medication. I’m not sure what the medication was, but two days later I’m feeling way, way better. Maybe it’s a coincidence or a placebo effect, or maybe I should have just gone to the doctor two weeks ago. Either way, it’s nice to feel like there’s some positive movement.

Between the gig, doctor’s appointments, and driving around my wife, whose car broke down on the way back from the Subhumans gig, I have had little time for listening to records. I got in a good listening session Tuesday night, when I spun the Die Letzten Ecken LP (this week’s Record of the Week!) a few more times and got to soak in the new Fairytale LP, which is phenomenal. I’ll write about those for other sections of the newsletter, so what to write about for my staff pick? I scanned my pile of recent acquisitions and landed on this 1979 album from Germany’s Cluster, which I took home a month or so ago. I was at the store one day and it was sitting at the front of a bin, unclaimed after a few weeks in the stacks. I commented that I hadn’t heard it and was interested, and Jeff was like, “you should just take it.” So I did!

Grosses Wasser is the seventh album by Cluster… well, the seventh if you don’t count the two albums they recorded as Kluster before Conrad Schnitzler left the group and they changed the “K” to a “C,” but you do count the two collaborative albums the group did with Brian Eno, 1977’s Cluster & Eno and 1978’s After the Heat. That sentence alone hints at how deeply embedded Cluster’s two official members, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius, were in the 70s German progressive music scene, so I won’t go too deeply into that here. Trust me, these two guys are super important. Grosses Wasser, though, I don’t think is seen as a crucial part of their discography… which is weird because many bands’ seventh albums are their most popular, right?

Besides coming rather late in their discography, perhaps Grosses Wasser lacks the sense of discovery of Cluster’s classic periods. Their first two albums are out there on the fringes ambient music, while 1974’s Zuckerziet and 1976’s Sowiesoso found them condensing their compositions into compact instrumental nuggets that had all the impact and melody of the best pop and classical music. The two Eno collaborations came next, which were front page news for weird music heads. Grosses Wasser, though, has weak branding. Peter Baumann’s production is a new wrinkle, giving the group a polished, crystalline sound that’s less organic, but very cool and modern (much like the cover artwork). Grosses Wasser splits the difference between the two early eras of Cluster’s work, with a bunch of compact tracks on the a-side and a more progressive, multi-movement piece taking up the entire second side.

I didn’t know any of this when I first dropped the needle on Grosses Wasser. All I knew was that it was a Cluster album I hadn’t heard, and it just delighted me. Each shorter piece has a different musical character, but they’re all beautiful, combining rich textures with a strong sense of composition and structure that many synth and progressive artists lack. The long piece is also interesting. It’s not droney like the longer pieces in Cluster’s early catalog, more like a short symphony with discrete sections that link together. As a whole, the album is like an anthology of tight, readable short stories with a longer story at the end, and it works well.

I’m not sure if Grosses Wasser is the place I’d start with Cluster, but if you enjoy their first six albums, there’s no reason to stop here. Cluster made one more album, 1981’s Curiosa, before disbanding for the first time that year. I’ll have to keep an eye out for that one and see if it maintains the same level of quality as this.

Die Letzten Ecken: Talisman 12" (Static Age Musik) There’s nothing like being knocked out by an album you didn’t know you needed in your life, and that’s what happened when I listened to Talisman, the new LP from Germany’s Die Letzten Ecken. The track that hooked me first was “Rasender Stillstand,” a hard and fast synth-punk banger of the highest order, a Mussolini Headkick that knocks you out and drags you by the collar to an undisclosed location. Think Nervous Gender, the Normal, Metal Urbain… the jagged and paranoid stuff that is punk as fuck with nary a stringed instrument in sight. An album full of tracks like this would have been just fine by me, but over the course of Talisman, Die Letzten Ecken wheels out a host of Sprockets-adjacent moves. “Der Ritter” is more industrial, pulling from the darkest and heaviest corners of the Wax Trax catalog, Throbbing Gristle, and Einsturzende Neubauten, while “Brennender Kummer” and “Talisman” have a more of a balanced approach to sweet and salty, combining pulsing, dance floor-ready low end with a more delicate sense of melody from the synths. Those tracks have a similar vibe to Fatamorgana, and they work well as moments of melodic respite peppered amongst the harsher sounds on the rest of the album. Each song has its own character, and the masterful sequencing makes Talisman a gripping front-to-back listen; it feels like a strong album in a way few records do these days. While Talisman is great in and of itself, its sound and style feel fresh and suited to the moment. I’m smitten with Talisman, and if your tastes also span punk and underground electronic music, I encourage you to check it out.