What’s up Sorry Staters?

As more and more years go by, I realize that I still just like all the same stuff that I was into when I was a teenager. I go through phases of feeling like I need to expand my palette and broaden my horizons, but I think I’m just avoiding the inevitable. I always find myself coming back to hardcore and skateboarding. I don’t necessarily think the issue is that I have a serotonin response to what feels comfortable or familiar… I think the problem is more that I just need to admit to myself that I don’t need to abandon things from teenage years that bring me joy.

Now, my body probably isn’t prepared to be along for the ride, but lately I’ve just been transfixed on skateboarding all over again. Whether it’s binging episodes of Jeff Grosso’s Love Letters to Skateboarding or watching Jason Lee’s interview on the Nine Club podcast, I just eat it up. I even re-watched Thrashin’ the other night, and even with the corny moments, I loved every second of it. Monk from the Daggers’ Zany Guys t-shirt? So rad. And when it comes to records that inhabit this exuberant, skate-obsessed spirit, the Big Boys have really been scratching that itch for me lately. First of all, they’ve got the best logo. I think I’ve probably gushed about the Big Boys in the newsletter before, but hopefully not too recently. Anyway, here we go again!

This might be weird to say, but the Big Boys are the kind of hardcore band that really brings a smile to my face. Don’t get me wrong, I do sit and boil over with rage while absorbing the seedy, negative and pissed off vibes that I usually gather from my hardcore records. And as much as I identify with that, the sort of upbeat positivity that Big Boys bring to the table is welcomed at this particular moment. When you look at photos of Big Boys on their record layouts and inserts, you’ll see the guys jocking skateboard decks with Pushead’s Zorlac graphics. So sick. And while other 80s skate-centric punk bands doing surf covers is cool, I think the Big Boys’ funk tunes totally rule. But then, of course, the 40-second hardcore songs RIP. The band touches on some politics and worldview, but always with a sense of humor and cynicism. Like in “Apolitical” where Randy Biscuit belts “Leave me alone you pamphleteers, give it up and buy me beers!” Pretty rad. As iconic and classic as the Fun, Fun, Fun EP is for most punks, I often find that Lullabies Help the Brain Grow is my go-to record when I wanna listen to some Big Boys. Every song is good. The opening track “We Got Your Money” with its hooky, repetitive background vocals kicks the record off with a bang and sets the tone. Then vicious rippers like “I’m Sorry” or “Brick Wall” are sub-minute explosions of killer hardcore. Some of the songs are more brooding like “Sound On Sound” or “Manipulation”. Then of course funk bangers like “Jump The Fence” get you groovin’. I don’t know, I could probably write an essay about every song. The sounds from song to song are so diverse, but they flow so well. And all of them are charged with this infectious energy. One day, I’d love to get my hands on a copy of the Where’s My Towel LP and of course the legendary Frat Cars 7”, but I’ll probably need to go sell plasma a few times before that. One day…

For the most part, I would say Big Boys exude a more colorful, light-hearted perspective. I mean come on, “Fun, fun, fun, that’s what we say!” I think that underneath the surface, I do sense that the band captures a spirit I connect with. Big Boys fly the flag for the true freaks. Chunky, dirtbag, skate-obsessed, queer… true weirdos. Also, if I see one more new dumb crust band with a high-contrast black and white photo of dead people, I’m gonna lose it. I’m so sick of that shit. Fuck Discharge! (…I’m totally kidding, they’re like the best band in punk to ever exist.) I think that’s just where my head’s at right now. So sue me.

Maybe one day I’ll get back into skating for real. I miss it. I’m just worried I’ll wreck myself. I guess that’s part of it, right? Even if I don’t go hard, it feels like a part of my identity that’s missing. Like my Texan legends would say, “Skate for fun or don’t skate at all.”

Well damn, that was more than I was expecting to write today. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

The Homosexuals: The Homosexuals’ Record LP (Recommended Records, 1984)

Like many people, I was introduced to the Homosexuals via the Astral Glamour 3CD collection that came out in 2004. That collection was the talk of the town when it came out, and deservedly so. Compiling everything the Homosexuals recorded, it was a fan’s dream. However, I wasn’t a Homosexuals fan (yet) when I heard it, and three jam-packed CDs is a lot for a new listener to process. My takeaway at the time was that the Homosexuals were a great band, “Hearts in Exile” was their best song, and the rest of their output was there for me to explore at a later date. I had their records sitting on my want list for ages, and a few weeks ago a copy of this album popped up for a nice price from a US seller.

I’m pretty sure all these songs appeared on Astral Glamour, but the more digestible package is hitting home with me. “Hearts in Exile” is still a standout—it’s like the best song Wire never wrote—but The Homosexuals Record presents a very different picture of who the Homosexuals were as a band than Astral Glamour. To me, there’s one side of the Homosexuals’ work that embraces the punk / UKDIY sensibility that I love… simple pop songs delivered with energy and passion. However, as with Wire, that extroverted side of the band contrasts with a more introverted, experimental streak. The Homosexuals Album was released on Recommended Records, the great, defiantly non-commercial experimental imprint that provided a home for some of the most out there sounds of the 80s. While “Neutron Lover” or “Hearts in Exile” might be an odd fit for Recommended Records, even comparatively poppy tracks like “Vociferous Slam” and “A Million Keys” have moments that wander into some pretty noisy stuff.

Speaking of noisy, one thing that surprised me about getting an original pressing of this record is how hot and abrasive the mastering job is. I don’t know if that was intentional, but the treble end of the spectrum is so hot that it can make your teeth hurt. Actually, after the LP was done, my wife asked that I not play it again when she was around… I’m sure she liked the songs, but the production is super abrasive. That’s something I never noticed on Astral Glamour.

The Homosexuals’ music is dense with ideas and pushes hard against the boundaries of the punk / post-punk sound, so I’ll need a lot more time with the album before I have anything original to say about it. However, it’s been great to spend time with a record that has that 70s punk / post-punk sound that I love so much, but still feels like a new discovery for me.

Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records) I actually wrote the “official” blurb for Peace de Résistance’s debut LP so you can consult that for my super objective take on the record. For the Sorry State newsletter, though, I can let my guard down and effuse about how much I love this record. I’ve been listening to Bits and Pieces for months (a perk of helping them with distribution), and with each play, I only love it more. I’d been a fan of Moses’s previous projects and the things I loved about those bands—his lyricism in Institute, the rawness and intensity of Glue—are there in Peace de Résistance’s music, but the framework is totally different. When I say that Bits and Pieces sounds like glam rock I don’t mean the more formulaic bootboy glam that’s been a minor trend in the underground for a few years. Instead, Bits and Pieces reminds me of the more fleshed-out and self-consciously artistic sound of landmark 70s rock records like David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World or Lou Reed’s Transformers. This isn’t someone cracking the code of a particular sound or style and reiterating the formula with minor adjustments; these are songs, and great ones at that. But despite how sophisticated the songwriting is, the record is also raw as fuck, with blistering tones on all the instruments and the same sort of DIY charm that we in the underground need to hear in order to take something seriously. I love Moses’s lyrical approach on Bits and Pieces, which avoids cliches and generalizations, summoning a straightforwardness that the Clash would envy. I’d never guess you could write a great song about a tax form, but “Don’t 1099 Me” proves you can. Oh, Peace de Résistance’s secret weapon might be Moses’s bass playing. Maybe it sticks out more to me because I play bass, but the grooves behind every song are so powerful and infectious. I’m sure he’s a busy guy, but someone should get him in as a ringer on the bass. Maybe I’m crazy and this is just striking some particular chord with me, but I’ve already listened to Bits and Pieces so much that it’ll be inextricably tied to this part of my life. Maybe you’ll like the album that much, or maybe you won’t. If you don’t, I hope you can find something else, because to love an album like this is what it’s all about for me.

Summer of Soul (...Or When the Revolution Could Not be Televised)

I’m a bit late to the game, as this documentary came out last year, but I’ve been telling anyone who will listen about it! It’s your turn, faithful newsletter readers. So, the premise is interesting enough on its own: a huge series of summer concerts happened in the heart of Harlem during the summer of 1969. It was extensively filmed and incredibly well attended but the footage sat in a basement for 50 years and got upstaged by Woodstock. The film sat in a basement for fifty years until someone found it, Questlove got a hold of it, and this documentary was born. A story about long lost footage piqued my interest on that premise alone, but holy shit there is so much more in Summer of Soul that had me mesmerized.

The footage is amazing- seas of people dancing and singing to an absolutely insane lineup. Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder….It would’ve been a shame if we never got to see these performances. Throughout the movie, I found myself thinking about what it must’ve felt like to be the first people to watch this in 50 years. To stumble upon this magic? Insane. Questlove really did this story justice. Watching the documentary felt like discovering something magical.

The talking heads in this documentary are a mixture of people that performed and attended the concerts. I could’ve easily sat and watched the found footage from start to finish, but seeing these people react to this thing that had only been a memory for FIFTY YEARS is almost as amazing as the footage itself. This event was revolutionary. It was a showcase of black culture in a predominantly black neighborhood during a time in America where it was even harder than it is now to be black. It was in 1969, but you can still feel the electricity today. Obviously there’s only so much I can say as a white girl, but the information provided by the interviews doesn’t shy away from talking about the influence on black culture. The whole story and documentary is almost more powerful from a 2021-22 perspective because of how far we’ve come, but also how little has changed.

All that being said, check out the trailer and the soundtrack to this movie, but most of all PUHLEASE watch it.

Hello, and thanks for reading.

I don’t have much time to write today, but I would like to make the time to correct something that I was wrong about last week. But first, let me quickly mention these brand new reissues from T.H.E. Rutto! The OGs are sought after, so I am happy it has finally been reissued and I can add them to my collection. I first heard of RUTTO from their second EP cos it appeared on the ‘Finnish Drunks’ bootleg 12”. I’m not sure if it’s cos I’ve spent more time with this EP, but I prefer it over the first one. I would check both out though if you aren’t familiar, and don’t sleep on grabbing copies cos there are only about 250 of each in the States. Alright moving on, I’m not sure how many people read what I write. If you do and you read about the KAAOS / CADGERS split last week, then please know that I was wrong about the pressing information I shared!! The person who told me the discs were the same pressing was completely wrong. Vote V. told me the first pressing was made in 1981 with a total of 200 copies. The bands made their own covers and shipped them to him. After 4-5 months, he had sold out and repressed the record in Spring of 1982. Finnvox (the pressing plant) had a minimum of 200 discs, but Vote bargained with them over the phone to have his pressing of 150 made cos he was tight on money. He also told me he had to borrow money from a friend to press the second batch! Funny to know that and see what they re-sell for nowadays. Anyway, again the band made their own covers and mailed them to him. The CADGERS cover remained the same while KAAOS had changed their cover, which meant the second press was not numbered like the initial one on the KAAOS sleeve. As you can see from my staff pic, I am huge fan of Finnish hardcore so I had a strong urge to correct what I said. I find it frustrating that I was given the wrong information, and I am embarrassed I shared it with such confidence. I want readers to be able to rely on my Staff Picks for accurate information, so please forgive my mistake. I will do better next time to fact check my findings. Cheers and thanks for your understanding.

Hey there everyone and thanks for clicking on us this week. How was your week? Good, I hope.

The world keeps turning and the wheels are spinning fast here at Sorry State Industries. You will have read about some of the exciting new releases that are either here or on their way elsewhere in the Newsletter and certainly make sure you subscribe to get these regular updates. There is always something cool to check out.

For me personally, this week has been a pretty good one. Compared to others more recently. I’m sure I’ll return to my more typical not good weeks, but for now things are okay. A big moment this week was discovering that the mixer my DJ partner and I use for our show has a built-in function called a “Mic Gate” which is supposed to help filter out unwanted sounds being picked up by the microphone. What it did for us was clip our speech and cause dropouts. Not what you want when trying to talk on air. It’s been very frustrating for us and has been messing with my head these past months as I thought it was me who just couldn’t enunciate or talk properly. Discovering that was huge and now hopefully we just need to get our levels right and we’ll be able to present a much better sounding show. Fingers crossed. Progress, at least.

My record listening this week has been all over the map as usual, but there were a couple of things that I have been jamming more than once and digging and would like to share with you if I may? You’ll have to forgive me for not getting into proper reviews and artist profiles on these picks but as those of you who read here regularly will know, I’m not the world’s best writer and am not going to try to compete with the professionals out there. I love music though and talking about records, which is why I love being part of the Sorry State family. Being in the store and interacting with our friends and customers is what I love. Geeking out on record trivia and sharing the rush of pleasure you get from music with people is the absolute best. Putting great records into appreciative hands is what we are all about here.

Okay, so here we go. A week or so ago, I had a CD compilation playing on repeat in the car. The collection is called Beyond The Calico Wall. It’s a fab collection of 60s Garage and Psych put together by Erik Lindgren, a Boston area musician and historian on his great Arf! Arf! Label. His label specialized in high quality reissues of forgotten and obscure psych and garage. If you are into this era of music and see an Arf! Arf! Release, you can buy with confidence. Anyway, I have had this comp for years and hadn’t played it in ages, but was happy to become reacquainted with it. In particular, for a track from a group with the spectacular moniker The Spontaneous Generation called Up In My Mind, which is a cool fuzz ripper. Buying a copy of that 45 on the open market is out of my budget even if a copy was available. The group were out of Atlanta, and this was their only single on the Fevre label. The b-side has a good cover of The Who’s Pictures Of Lily. The single came out in 1968. If you find one, major score.

Also, from 1968 and on the collection is a track called Psiship by a group called Cosmic Rock Show that originally appeared on the Blitz label. That’s a cool one. They were possibly from Minneapolis. A comment on discogs described the record as being a precursor to Suicide’s 1977 record Rocket U.S.A. I can see that.

Another cool ripper is the comp opener from Park Avenue Playground. Their 1969 track, The Trip, appeared on the USA label and will set you back a few hundred bucks if one is offered for sale. It has a great guitar riff and some interesting sounds going on. They were from Lansing, IL and recorded the song in a studio in Madison, Wisconsin. Apparently copies of the record were lost in a flood and that is why they are so scarce.

The collection ends with the only track that isn’t an actual 60s recording. Demons Of Negativity and their song Resurrection was cut in the 80s by compiler Erik Lindgren and his musician friends. It’s a cool tune though and finishes the collection well.

After jamming the CD over and over, I somehow still felt the need to buy a vinyl version of the compilation because you know? I needed these tracks on vinyl and would never find some of these records as originals and might feel the need to spin them at a gig or something. Ha! That’s my logic and rationale for buying many records. However, if you don’t own this collection and are into psych and garage there isn’t much better bang for your buck than this one and most of you will just need one copy. The CD though has extra tracks.

Alright, I need to get out of here and leave you to it. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time. Cheers everyone - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

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

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

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

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

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Erupt: Left to Rot 7” (Static Shock Records) Static Shock Records brings us the debut from this Australian hardcore-tinged thrash metal band / thrash metal-tinged hardcore band featuring members of heaps of other bands you already know and love. As Static Shock’s description notes, Erupt makes the lines between extreme punk and extreme metal very blurry. When I listen to Left to Rot, I keep thinking this record is like the perfect amalgamation of Voivod and Septic Death. Erupt reminds me of Voivod in the speed and technicality of their playing. Not just that the riffs are more complex, but that the playing and the arrangements are full of odd timings and twists and turns that only an extremely capable band could execute. Maybe one day Erupt will evolve into a prog band like Voivod has? They have the chops for it. The other standout element of Erupt’s sound is the menacing nightmare vibe, which is what reminds me of Septic Death. While the music is dense and the playing is accomplished, they compress the maximalisminto a fuzzy, 4-track style recording that seems like it’s bursting at the seams, straining to contain Erupt’s pummeling power. More than just raw, though, Erupt sounds scary… legitimately evil a la the first Bathory album. I’d recommend Left to Rot to any punk or metalhead who pursues the extreme in all its manifestations.