Hello and thanks for reading.

Last night I was on Instagram and I saw Ryvvolte had just dropped some stuff into their distro, including this cassette from LIFELOCK. This is a live tape from Pink Noize in 2015. I think this tape is excellent and not super common to come by so I thought I’d mention it. I picked up a copy when they were initially released cos I had already become obsessed with LIFELOCK via their debut EP. You just never know what yer gunna get when buying a live cassette haha. The tape has good sound quality, which is why I would recommend you pick up a copy if you are a fan of LIFELOCK but don’t have it. If you don’t know this band but like DISCHARGE and DISCLOSE, I would recommend you check the link above and definitely check out their 2018 EP as well; the tone is insane. I feel like this band is so good that you don’t need to be obsessed with D-beat to like them, so if you pass ‘em over based on aesthetic I might have another look if I was you. Alright thanks for reading, I hope everyone is well. Peace.

Hey there everyone. How are you?

I always seem to start my staff pick off with a little too much personal information and an apology it seems, so I will not do that this week, but suffice to say the hits keep on coming.

Fortunately for me, I have records and music to soothe my soul and this week has seen me pull out an old favorite which I feel duty bound to steer you towards this week as my staff pick.

In times of stress, sadness, pain and uncertainty, we all find comfort in the familiar and with something that brings us great pleasure. There are many ways we can do this, but for us music heads, nothing beats playing a great piece of music from one of your favorite records. The record I am suggesting for you this week has been with me for over two decades now and it has never failed to hit the spot each time I hear it. I wasn’t sure what to write about this week, but had a CD playing in the car and a cut from this album came on. It sounded great as always and took me to my happy place and perhaps it may do the same for you when you hear it.

The record is by jazz pianist Les McCann and titled Invitation To Openness and was released in 1972 on Atlantic Records. My exposure to the album came during my first few months of living in New York after moving there in 1998. I can’t remember who it was that turned me on to it first, but whoever it was did me a solid. I was aware of Les McCann and had some of his other records, but as with many artists I was only just beginning to dig deeper into their discographies. I was told the record had great drum sounds on it, that it was a little trippy and had a great mood to it. That and the fact that it wasn’t expensive was enough for me and I bought it. When I got home and played it, I was more than pleasantly surprised. Perhaps still expecting more of a Soul-Jazz sound, albeit funky what I instead got was indeed a slightly trippy, spacey record with a definite mood and yes, great drums. I fell in love with it on first play and each subsequent listen keeps improving the experience. The actual record jacket itself is cool too. Thick cardboard gatefold and almost all black except for the text for artist and title, label logo and catalogue number and a photo taken by McCann of what looks like a sunset through some trees. Inside the gatefold are notes on the selections by the artist along with two essays by the producer Joel Dorn and author Ron Neal. All great stuff.

Reading the personnel list soon makes it apparent why this record sounds so good. The musicians are all legends. McCann played piano, electric piano and a Moog synthesizer that was brought into Atlantic studios especially for the recording. He is joined by Yusef Lateef on tenor sax, oboe and flute. Cornell Dupree and David Spinozza play electric guitars, Bill Salter is on bass and sitting on the drummer’s seat is none other than Bernard Purdie. So, no wonder I was told it had great drums. Filling out the sound is Ralph McDonald on percussion with Buck Clarke adding African drums. There is also a harp, and that is played by Corky Hale.

Arrangements by McCann and produced by Joel Dorn. Dorn’s credits are too long to list, but he had been producing records for Atlantic since 1963, starting with a Hubert Laws session that resulted in the hit album The Laws Of Jazz. As for this album, he writes in the liner notes that he felt Les McCann cared deeply about it and was personally involved in all aspects of its creation. He notes Les had wanted to play and record like this for a long time and that it was a shame it took him so long as the music turned out so well.

McCann’s notes on the song The Lovers, which takes up the entire first side, give you a pretty good idea of where his head was at and rather than me trying to explain, it’s best to quote the man himself.

“Once I had a dream to live and love and this dream became music. It touched all the beautiful feelings I have searched for or known. Each sound was a color, and each color was a warm feeling, and my heart kept the tempo. The musicians who have helped make this music possible have dreamed, lived and loved also. I love to listen to this music with openness and without thought or images. I turn the lights down and the music up and I find joy in the different places it takes me.”

There’s not much you can add to that is there? He said it perfectly and especially the part about the lights down low and the music up.

That track that he is describing, The Lovers, slowly builds and you must be patient and just allow the music to do its thing. Around the five-minute mark is where you’ll first be rewarded, and from that point on, you’ll be along for the ride. The music is “free,” but the rhythm section holds it down and allows the others to do their thing and in turn keeps the listener engaged. Unlike other free records that sound like the musicians pushing their instruments down a flight of stairs mixed with the sounds of honking geese, this record has a much more appealing sound. The drums we already mentioned are ace. The keyboards are dope 70s sounding and the electric guitars rocking out in a Larry Coryell style.

Side two is a touch more traditional sounding, drawing on his roots in Jazz, Blues and R n’ B music although still very funky and groovy with Les getting to have fun with the Moog synth and all the musicians getting to show what they got. Just two tracks that combined equal the twenty-six-minute side one. The songs are titled Beaux J. Poo Boo, which was the name of an album McCann made back in 1965 for the Limelight label and Poo Pye McGoochie (and his friends). Not sure who they are but they sound like they might be fun.

I would recommend this record to anyone, but especially to those that enjoy 1970s Jazz Fusion and funk. Its reputation is solid, and it is seen as a landmark album. Perhaps not super obscure to seasoned heads, but an album that continues to find fresh and appreciative ears as the years go by. You should be able to pick up a copy easily and it shouldn’t cost you much. Whenever I see one, I always try to put it into someone’s hand. My copy is a white label promo pressing which has now been played a few times but still sounds good. I should buy another copy myself at this point next time I see a nice one.

Check it out and see what you think. Don’t forget to turn down the lights and the music up. Thanks for reading and see you here next time.

Cheers - Dom

R.I.P. Betty Davis

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Yall heard this SOH tape yet? Sorry State got a big ol’ stack of ‘em, and we’ve sold a good amount, but I just think this tape is KILLER. It should sell out by like tomorrow. Now at first, I wasn’t sure what I should expect SOH to sound like with this cover art—the illustration of punks on the cover art looking like some kinda heavy metal He-Man looking shit. It either looks like that, or an obscure, private press Bay Area thrash metal record. I kinda love it, and regardless, the music is killer.

SOH, or System of Hate, is based out of Los Angeles and features members of Sorry S9tate favorites Tozcos and Prision Postumo. Whether you’re talking about those two bands or The Dark, I feel like this crew of people’s bands have a distinctive sound. SOH blends so many sounds into a seamless and potent concoction. The rhythm of a lot of the songs on this tape have that pounding, in-between pace and anthemic fist-pumping power of UK82. And while I wouldn’t call SOH metal by any means, they do have a distorted, metallic edge with some tightly executed chugging in the riffs that reminds of some early Japanese hardcore like Ghoul or The Clay. None of the metal-leaning influences ever seem dull or indulgent, it just adds another layer of intensity. There’s no meandering or boring, drawn out passages. The songs are still constructed with unyielding, snappy urgency, and are so damn catchy. I think I’ve begun to realize that on any given record, I pay special attention to the vocals. I probably mention the vocals on just about every new record I try to describe, and for me, the vocals can be a make or break situation for my opinion on a band. For SOH, the vocals are what MAKES and not breaks the band big time. The vocals are the best part. The singer’s voice is so ferocious, gritty and powerful. Every now and then, the singer departs from their snarl in exchange for an ethereal, banshee-like bellow. Under all the ferocity, SOH conjures a cloud of moody darkness. So good.

I’ll admit that I too was late to the game in giving this a listen. But if you’re reading this, then you have no excuse. Do yourself a favor and blast this rager at full volume.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Mercenarias: Cadê As Armas? LP (original 1986, Baratos Afins; reissue 2021, Beat Generation)

We just got in copies of this reissue of Cadê As Armas?, the first album from Brazil’s Mercenárias, and I’ve been spinning it a bunch. I’ve heard these tracks on several previous Mercenarias compilations like 2005’s The Beginning of the End of the World on Soul Jazz Records and the 2018 collection on Nada Nada Discos, but Beat Generation’s reissue marks the first time Cadê As Armas? has been reissued in its original format.

Mercenárias began in 1982 when the punk scene in São Paulo was at a creative peak, with bands like Inocentes, Cólera, Olho Seco, and Ratos de Porão hitting their stride. While Inocentes and Cólera had a lot of UK punk in their sound, the latter bands’ gnarly hardcore is what I think of when I imagine early 80s Brazil… grimy, angry, and above all intense. When you factor in that Brazil’s proto death metal scene with bands like Sepultura and Sarcófago was just a few years away, it seems like brutality must have been the order of the day, but Mercenarias’ music is something else.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to scrounge up much historical information about the band. Nearly every bio notes the members were students when Mercenarias started, which makes perfect sense… Mercenarias’ music comes off as urbane, particularly when contrasted with the hardcore bands I mentioned above. However, I can’t seem to find much on why the group started or what the members wanted to accomplish. Even the two essays printed in this reissue’s insert (one of them by Joao Gordo, Ratos de Porão’s singer) seem to be from an outside perspective. The sounds of the early Rough Trade Records catalog must have influenced Mercenarias, since their music exudes a sense of art school cool that resembles many of those bands.

While I don’t have much info to fill out Mercenarias’ story, I have some good news: there’s a surprising amount of vintage video footage of the band. Check out this video of “Pânico” live on Brazilian TV, this one of a track from their second album, Trashland, on another Brazilian TV show, this scorching early live version of “Policia,” and their very awesome, very 80s official video for “Pânico.”

Alienator: demo cassette (self-released) Alienator is a new hardcore band from Portland springing from the same well as Suck Lords and Reek Minds. This won’t surprise you if you’re familiar with those bands, but this tape is a total scorcher. Stylistically, Alienator lives at the intersection of fast, Discharge-inspired hardcore and thrash metal, with former’s density and ferocity and the latter’s technicality. They sound kind of like Within the Prophecy-era Sacrilege or Forward Into Battle-era English Dogs, but at Shitlickers speed and with a level of meanness that’ll remind you of Siege or YDI. It’s brutal shit, to where it’s easy to get lost in the intensity and miss how fast and technical the playing is. I’m generally wary of breakdowns, but Alienator are masters of the art, and that holds true whether they’re doing a pretty traditional-sounding thrash metal mosh part (as in “You Wish”) or one of their sludgier breakdowns, like in the crushing opening track, “Born to Die,” whose mosh part has a Sabbathian swing that brings to mind Corrosion of Conformity’s classic Eye for an Eye. Those C.O.C. vibes might cause some people to put Alienator in the same bucket as Tower 7 (admittedly, a pretty good bucket to be in), but Alienator’s speed and viciousness place them in a league of their own.

Angel Hair - S/T 7"

All of this talk about a 00s revival and some festival in Vegas (haha) has me reminiscing on my middle school emo phase. It’s funny to see the things I was ridiculed for become trendy 15 years later… I’ll just say I was ahead of my time. I have been spending a lot of my car rides listening to From First to Last and The Used, continually surprising myself with how much I still LOVE their early releases. I don’t wear stud belts and wish for straight hair anymore, but I guess you can never get the angst out of the 00s emo kid.

All of this to say, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised I’ve been gravitating towards 90s hardcore/emo/screamo/post-hardcore/whatever the fuck type of music you’d categorize Angel Hair. I was initially transfixed by their packaging—as a printmaker, I always make it a point to listen to something with compelling hand printed packaging. The music matched the manic, monotype style I saw on the sleeve and I immediately fell in love. They are similar to other bands I’ve written about who put out 7”s in the 90s—grungy, feedback-y, chaotic Dillinger Escape Plan-esque hardcore. So far I’ve only collected their self-titled 7” and a split they did with a band called Fisticuffs Bluff (also a great band, I found out) but I’m eager to snag more of their discography.

But the cool part of this band is a Blogspot I found linked to their Discogs page. I don’t stray far from my roots, because I love emo and I love a good Blogspot page and have since I was barely a teenager. As you can imagine, googling ‘Angel Hair’ doesn’t have many fruitful results and the Discogs page of the band and members don’t provide much information. I think this blog was done by a fan and not a member, but it’s hard to tell. Someone lovingly and painstakingly scanned in flyers, physical releases, and other ephemera relating to Angel Hair. There are so many cool flyers and I even found a lithograph one of the band members made inspired by the art on their self-titled 7”! Knew I liked these dudes… printmakers just know their people. If you want to do some deep diving into the scene in Colorado in the 90s, check this blog out. And do yourself the favor of listening to Angel Hair while you browse!

Whenever I match up bands for HC Knockouts, I pick em from the same country, and I do my best to pick bands that were active at the same time or at least within a few years. I felt bad when A.O.A. and ANTI-SYSTEM faced-off some time ago cos A.O.A. was Scottish while ANTI-SYSTEM was English. I guess they were both a part of the United Kingdom? But still, I’m sure the countries and especially the cultures differ a lot. This is the case again with this week’s Knockout between OI POLLOI (Scotland) and CHUMBAWAMBA (England). I’m sure a lot of people don’t know why I think this Knockout is particularly great, but a devoted OI POLLOI fan would likely understand. I heard OI POLLOI in my late teens. When I heard ‘em initially, I had no idea they were a band that began in the ‘80s. Their sound changed a lot over the decades. They’ve had dozens and dozens of members, with the vocalist being the only constant member. They started out with an anarcho sound, moved into hardcore, toughened up a bit in way too after that, and somewhere in there they incorporated much, much more of an Oi! sound. If I remember right, they intentionally leaned hard into this style to pull over all the fence walking skinheads in their area and at the gigs. I don’t listen to OI POLLOI much anymore, but when I first heard em when I picked up their “Total Resistance To The Fucking System” compilation 12". The photo above is from a page in the booklet that came with the record. This comp featured two EPs and some extra tracks. One of those EPs is Carson? which originally came out in 2003. I still like this EP a lot actually so I wanted to link it. Alright, those extra tracks… if I remember right they are all cover songs. At the time I don’t think I knew THE SPECIALS, so I’m not sure if I understood ‘Concrete Jungle’ was a cover, a really cheesy cover... But they also cover RUDIMENTARY PENI’s ‘Rotten To The Core’ but under a new name, ‘Shhh…It.’ At this age I loved “Death Church” through and through so I lost my mind at this haha. I definitely did not know CHUMBAWAMBA was initially an anarcho-punk band. I probably never even heard their name aside from that hit single from the ‘90s. I’ve listened to a lot more of their releases since and I don’t really like their shit very much, but there was a rip of a tape I heard that I obsessed over for a long time. I’m not sure anything about it but I found this link on YouTube of the same songs. Anyway, I guess I haven’t explained any of the beef OI POLLOI has with CHUMBAWAMBA, so I’ll just leave you with the rest of that page from the booklet cos I don’t wanna write anymore about this pretty much meaningless Staff Pick. I hope every one is doing well, take care. - Usman

Hey there everyone. How’s it going? Good, I hope. I’ll be honest, things have been a little tough for me of late, but I’m not here to moan to you all about my life and that’s certainly not why you are reading the ol’ Sorry State Newsletter. What I will say is that finding the joy in things has been difficult and it’s especially difficult finding the words to describe records. I’ve struggled to find the right inspiration and then subsequent words to articulate how certain records make me feel etc. I may or may not be suffering from depression and general anxiety blah, blah, blah, but I do still listen to music. Lol. All day long, really. Records truly are my salvation. My best friends who are always there for me. Although sometimes finding the right one to play to suit the mood can take effort. I stare at thousands of records and can’t find one to play. And I do have thousands. Another aspect of writing about records that I struggle with is the feeling that it’s all been said before and better by someone else. Sometimes within the Sorry State collective. I’m not a natural writer and often stare at a blank screen for a good while trying to come up with just a single sentence. In addition, I’m not a bragger and don’t like to flex that much about records I own. Not that I have a collection full of crazy rare and big-ticket items, but I have a few. Being a DJ also trained me to keep my cards close to my chest, as it were. You can’t give away all your secrets. Of course, in this internet information age nothing is a secret anymore but there was a time when the only way to hear and know about stuff was to go to events, visit record shops, read music magazines, exchange information with fellow nerds and make a bit of an effort. Getting to even hear rare records was a task, let alone owning them. Now you can hear something for the first time and a minute later know everything about the record and possibly even buy a copy. All from the comfort of your own commode. I’m veering into old man shaking his fist at the sun territory here, but you get the point.

With all that being said, I would like to talk about records with you. I have been playing a CD compilation in the car this week and it’s one of my favorites. It probably has repeat played a half dozen times. The tunes themselves have been some of my most loved of the genre for years since first discovering them. The collection is called Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets From The WEA Vaults and I would like to recommend it to you as my pick for this week’s newsletter. The CD collection came out in 2004 in the US with a CD and vinyl edition seeing a UK release the following year. Subsequently, for Record Store Day in 2016 a vinyl repress was made but with not nearly as fetching cover art. The original CD cover even sports a rotating pinwheel as a nice touch. Note the UK vinyl edition is titled differently. It’s called My Mind Goes High there.

For those of you unaware, this collection compiles twenty-four singles (mostly) that were released on Warner Brothers, Reprise and their sub-labels in addition to others that have since fallen under the WEA umbrella. The tunes all came out in the golden mid to late 1960s era and are almost all by American artists. Musically, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Provides 24 awesome psychedelic pop nuggets. As it is a legit compilation and not a bootleg, it also provides the tunes in excellent sound quality and the liner notes by Andrew Sandoval are detailed and informative with plenty of artist photos, label scans and other related artifacts. Not that I am necessarily opposed to the odd grey area psych and garage compilation. They can be the only way to hear some rare sides. This one though is beautifully put together in the grand tradition of the original Nuggets compilation. If you dug that one, then you’ll dig this one.

My interest in music from the 1960s has always been present. After all, I was born then but during the 1980s and 1990s it seemed like the flood gates opened with so many obscure and unknown records being made available through compilations and getting talked about in music papers and magazines and within the scenes that played these records. Every day, it seemed that a new artist and record was introduced to folks like me who were like sponges, eager to soak as much in as possible. Over the years of collecting, I became aware of most of the artists on our collection here and have even got my hands on about half of the twenty-four tracks. Some of them, though, are rare and quite expensive. Based on a multitude of reasons that cause such things. Each one has their unique story. Among the obscure acts and records represented here, there are some recognizable names that most should know. The Monkees being the most obvious. Their contribution comes from their psych movie Head with the Porpoise Song. Another popular group on here is The Association who had a string of pop hits and albums during the 60s. Their sound was safe for the most part, but they were capable of interpreting slightly darker and edgier material. The song chosen for this compilation is titled Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies and it’s great. I’ve had it as a DJ spin for years as it is easy and cheap to find and always surprises people when they hear it and find out who it is. The song incorporates some interesting instrumentation, and the lyrics are a step above the usual found in pop songs.

The title track Hallucinations comes from a guy called Baker Knight and it’s a brilliant cut, perfectly setting us up for the music to follow. He was a song writer mostly, penning songs for Ricky Nelson and Dino, Desi and Billy among others. His career began back in the 1950s however, when he fronted a rockabilly band. By the time of cutting Hallucinations in 1967, he was in his mid-thirties.

Also on here is a track from Kim Fowley called Strangers From The Sky about aliens that has a part that sounds eerily similar to the Close Encounters theme. John Williams had to have heard this and been influenced, whether consciously or not. Take a listen and see what you think. I know Fowley isn’t a great human being and cancelled, but you can’t argue he was behind a ton of great music.

Ending out the set, we get the cut Smell Of Incense from The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. A great group with a great name and so many fab tunes to their name. We recently got a copy of their first LP here at Sorry State, a nice mono promo actually. I love these guys and I heartily recommend you look into their story and music. Incense was covered by the band Southwest F.O.B. who had a hit with it.

There isn’t a duff track on here and you’ll have a lot of fun listening to the rest of the collection and discovering some new personal faves. Good luck trying to find originals of some of these records and if you do, be prepared to cough up the dough. Some are well into the three-figure territory by this point.

Thanks for reading and remember it’s a nugget if you dug it. I stole that line from the liner notes. Lol. See you next time. Peace - Dom