Alice Coltrane: Huntington Ashram Monastery (1969, Impulse)

Last week Rachel shared one of her scores from Miss Veola’s collection, so this week I’ll share one of mine.

With over 5,000 items in Miss Veola’s collection we can’t process it all at once, so we’ve been bringing a few boxes from storage to our warehouse each week to be priced up, cleaned, and prepped for sale. The collection is in something of a disheveled state at the moment. It looks like someone hastily packed it into liquor boxes, and whoever did that didn’t even take time to make sure the records were all facing the same direction, much less maintain any kind of order. However, it’s clear that at some point the collection was organized, if only idiosyncratically.

Interestingly, the jazz records in Miss Veola’s collection seem to have been filed by lead instrument. All the Grant Green and Kenny Burrell records are near one another because they were both guitarists, for instance. The first box of records I processed from the collection featured a bunch of harpists. This is exciting because two jazz harpists in particular—Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby—are favorites among collectors. Even better, a bunch of the Alice Coltrane records in the box were 70s pressings that were still sealed! Dominic grabbed a Dorothy Ashby record he’d been after for years, and I was excited to fill this gap in my Alice Coltrane collection.

Huntington Ashram Monastery was Coltrane’s second album as a band leader, appearing a year after 1968’s A Monastic Trio on the Impulse label. I’ve been exploring Alice’s catalog over the past few years as I come across older pressings. I don’t search for copies online, but when a record I don’t have comes through the shop I usually check it out and end up taking it home for myself. Alice’s records get a lot of play around my house because their gentle, ethereal vibe helps to counter-balance the frantic, stressed state I put myself in by taking on too much responsibility. When I checked out Huntington Ashram Monastery, I knew it was going into my collection, particularly given that my purchase would also support the Veola McLean Scholarship Fund.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

This week I’m gonna talk about one of my recent scores. The record in question is not my choice because I’m trying to flex. Or at least I hope it doesn’t come off that way! I’m really excited to finally have an original 7” version of the Dirty Rotten EP by DRI because I have a lot of history with this band!

DRI was a hugely important band to me when I was first getting into punk and hardcore as a teenager. I remember being blown away at how fast they played. And even more impressive to me was how fast the vocalist Kurt could squeeze in all those lyrics! Dude could spit mad fast. But THEN when I actually got my hands on a CD copy and could read the lyrics, I was dumbfounded at how great they were. I think the political and social ideas in DRI lyrics actually impacted my worldview. For my money, a lot of them are still pretty right on. It actually took me a while to discover that DRI was a foundational crossover thrash band later on. Some of those later records I still find pretty corny. When I heard the lyrics to one of their later tunes, I think it was something like “GO. Don’t be tardy. Got drunk last night at a party!”, I definitely winced a little.

Listening to that CD when I was 15 or whatever, even with the raw recording, I was fully under the impression that the Dirty Rotten record was a full album. When me and some of my other punk skate rat friends found out that they squeezed 22 songs onto a 7”, I think we were super impressed by that haha. My first band that ever played shows definitely took heavy influence from DRI. We never put out a record, but I remember us discussing how many 23-second songs we could fit onto a 7”. We also covered “I’d Rather Be Sleeping.” Our lyrical content was certainly less serious than our dirty-rotten teachers. We were less about politics and more about skateboarding. That band was called Feeble Minded… pun definitely intended. When I listen to this record now, it brings me right back to high school. The other night when I was playing my recently acquired copy of this EP, I reached out to my buddy who was in that high school band. We hadn’t talked in quite a while. We recited the lyrics to “I Don’t Need Society” to each other in ALL CAPS, exchanging the verses line by line. That was cool.

The grooves on the actual 7” copy of the record are so tight and thin that it’s almost comical. In order to fit all the songs, I’m sure the record had to be mastered a certain way because the record is pretty quiet. But for me, once you crank the volume on your stereo, they sound perfect. Stoked to have this record. Revisiting some old memories while listening to DRI makes the record feel all the more special to me.

Also, “SUBMARINES!”

Thanks for reading.

‘Til next week

-Jeff

Greetings Sorry State gang. I hope we find you all well this week. Thanks for clicking on our newsletter and reading. We appreciate it. Another week and more great music continues to hit the store. Lots of cool new stuff and tons of great used records. We are always buying collections, large or small and have records covering a wide spectrum of genres and price scales filling our bins. There really is something for everyone. We’d love to see you if you ever get a chance to visit Raleigh. If you are local and reading this, then you know already but should still come down anyway. We want to see you.

This week I thought I would highlight a couple of new releases albums that we have in stock, albeit in limited quantities. I was excited about their releases as I am a fan but realize that over here Stateside not as many people are aware of them. I’m talking about The Coral, a group from Merseyside, England who have been around since the late 90s and Gruff Rhys from Welsh heroes Super Furry Animals.

Long time readers will know that I like SFA a lot and have had many amazing adventures centered around seeing them over the years. Front man Gruff has been releasing solo records for a good dozen years now and this is number seven or eight. His style is generally in the pop field with some twists and turns and there have been some concept records and a soundtrack he did which veered a little. This latest offering is called Seeking New Gods, and it is another concept record. This time dedicated to a volcano with mythical properties in North Korea called Mount Paektu. Why not? You don’t need to be up on your Korean mountains and legends to enjoy the album, however. For this record, Gruff recorded the majority of the tunes with his touring band live in the studio and you can definitely feel the energy of that collaborative style of recording. Sound wise, the record has the hallmarks of his recognizable style. Candy dipped psychedelia in glammy 70s pop fashion with clever lyrical wordplay delivered with his inimitable vocals. Great stuff.

There is a little note from Gruff printed on the Obi around the jacket that says,

“I hope this album and its component songs sound like they came from a very personal place, and the fact they are all inspired to varying degrees by events relating to Mount Paektu, from 2333 BC to the present day, remains coincidental to the listener.”

Job done, I would say. You can totally enjoy this record and not have any previous knowledge of orography. My favorite track so far is single Loan Your Loneliness, a keyboard and synth led jam that harkens back to some of the pop hits from later era SFA. I’ll leave you a link to that one. If you like it, you’ll be onboard for the rest of the album, I think.

Also, just to note, we received nice green vinyl versions here at SSR as an Indie exclusive.

Coral Island is the name of the latest record by The Coral and it’s another concept record coincidentally. As with SFA, I have been a fan of these guys since they first appeared. They mix retro psychedelia with pop nous and excellent wordplay to create what could be classified as Cosmic Scouse Rock TM. Their first few albums are all solid and the couple of times I saw them live I was not disappointed. When they came over to New York for the first time they visited the shop I worked in and signed my copy of their single, which we had just got in and invited me to their show. One of the advantages of being in the city was the chance to see visiting UK groups in very small venues when they first came over. My memory bank is full of so many great experiences seeing bands like this. Good times.

The Coral Island LP is their tenth record. I’ll be honest, the last couple have slipped by me over the years but when we were solicited this new one, I thought I would get a copy for myself and the store. Like the Gruff Rhys record, this one is an Indie exclusive and comes on translucent yellow/green vinyl. It is a concept record, as I mentioned, with a narrative about the joys and sadness of a seaside town. The 85-year-old grandfather of band members the Skelly brothers provides a soft monologue throughout the record in a nod to The Small Faces and their Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake LP. It’s a nostalgic kind of record, harkening back to the pre-Beatles era of rock ‘n roll and like watching an old movie from the 1950s set in a seaside location. Possibly not the record I would choose to introduce newcomers to the band but those of you reading who might be aware of the group and their sound will find plenty of familiar and comforting sounds within. I would highly recommend their self-titled debut and follow up Magic & Medicine as good starting points for those wanting to investigate but regardless, I still enjoyed listening to Coral Island and found the whole tone of the record very pleasing and dare I say it, easy listening. They are such good song writers, and the musicianship is top notch. Lots of interesting sounds are employed throughout which help to set the scene of each song and provide context. Twenty years into their career and you can tell these guys know their way around a studio and their instruments. Having the record released as double vinyl might not have been necessary timing wise but it helps separate the two parts of the album and as one reviewer has said, the gap of placing the stylus down on each side gives a few seconds for the narrative to seep into the unconscious before the music begins again.

There are several highlights but on the first few listens I have been digging a track on the last side called Watch You Disappear which sounds like it could have been produced by legendary producer Joe Meek and helps to drive home that retro early sixties feel. In fact, the album does close strongly as also on that final side of vinyl comes another early favorite, a song called Land Of The Lost which has some nice guitar work going on. I’ll drop those links here for you to check out.

https://youtu.be/xLuS3LAVJ0 - Watch You Disappear

I’m going to sign off here. Thanks for reading. I hope my selections this week were of use to at least a couple of you. I guarantee good results should you chose to fall down either a Coral or Super Furry Animal and Gruff Rhys rabbit hole. Until next time, peace and love - Dom

There is a lot of good shit in the shop right now. I will briefly talk about a few things. Most importantly, we got copies of the Molde Punx repress!! This was first pressed about 1 year ago and the copies sold so fast... I do not think many copies made it to the States. I’m pretty sure Sorry State didn’t have a chance to get copies either, but I made it my Staff Pick back in July 2020 when I got a few distro copies. I gave an in-depth rundown of my take on the bands and made a nerdy chart of Norwegian bands haha. Some of these tracks I actually used on the Norsk tape I made a few months ago, if you got one of those. You can check out the label’s bandcamp to hear the songs, but just buy one soon. Don’t fuck up. I fucked up this week; I came back to work to find out we sold out of Disattack and LVEM is also sold out, haha. I can’t stress enough how cool the booklet is with the Molde Punx comp. On the repress they changed the cover of the booklet, but everything else seems identical. I think the new cover is way fucking cooler than the first one, haha. Anyway, you can read the Staff Pick I wrote about this at the link above if you wanna hear me blab more and missed it the first time.

Chaotic Uprising Productions is like my favorite label in the States right now. I dunno the person/people that operate the label personally, but I know it’s someone from Subversive Rite for sure though. Everything they release is worth listening to. All of it has a similar vibe, artwork included. All of it sounds fucking raw and classic in the best way. I know it’s a lot of tape releases, but the tapes themselves actually sound damn good, so it gives the releases more merit in my opinion. Some people don’t care much about tape production and rely heavily on the digital aspect of it. I can understand the digital thing even though I more or less disagree with it, but to me there is no reason why yer tapes can’t sound amazing. You can get a demo tape’s worth of material professionally duplicated for literally $2, in a case too. But disregard that entire opinion when it comes to a band self-releasing a demo/tour tape. Usually those are made with mad haste right before a gig/tour, and everyone has a million things going on so no one gives a damn what they come out like, haha. So the “consumer” pays the price... but I dunno, I don’t expect much from a bands tour tape when I’m at their merch table, I just want to support them so I grab ‘em regardless of how bad they are likely to sound. Anyway... Chaotic Uprising just released a gang of 3 titles. You can check them all out here. Unfortunately Sorry State is already sold out of my favorite from the batch, Bloodsuckers. This band is not doing anything new, but damn, is it good. Pefectly executed, snarling hardcore. The riffs are pretty UK82, but everything sounds a bit meaner than that. I dunno who all is in this band, but I know it’s the same vocalist from Koward, who has been in a shit ton of bands. Koward was one of my absolute favorite bands on the East Coast for a long time. If you dunno them, I would check their first EP out right now. The second EP is very good too. We still have the Hounds of War flexi, but everything else is gone already! (I do have a few copies of the 100% Blood tape, if you want one you can email me at in.decay@yahoo.com)

The last thing I wanna mention briefly is the new Rudimentary Peni LP. If you haven’t taken the time to check it out cos it’s new and you assume it won’t be good, listen to it! It is fucking killer, and honestly it fits perfectly into their timeline. The sound is amazing. I need to listen to it more but it surprised me how much I enjoyed it. I wanted to mention it especially cos Sorry State had A SHIT TON of these, and now we are down to the last two boxes. I imagine they will sell out relatively soon, so be sure to check out the jams and decide if you wanna grab one before it’s too late. Alright, thanks for reading.

Every time I think I’ve come to know what’s on the floor at the store, I inevitably find some sort of hidden gem. I don’t think I’ve gone a week without buying at least something from the bargain bin since I’ve started working here. I have to dig around the store and office space three days a week to fulfill orders, so I thought I had a semi-good grasp on our inventory. As I hope you’ve seen, I’ve been adding to the used section in our online store every Monday. I’m having a great time finding things in-store customers have slept on and it seems like y’all like it because stuff is selling.

This past weekend I found two records in my two favorite sections of any record store- Spoken Word/Oddball/something with a lot of slashes because it’s where all the miscellaneous stuff ends up...and of course the country section. To my surprise, I found two records that had SKUs dating back to 2017-18. HOW had no one snatched these up? Two LPs of great country folk music and a spooky ‘true’ story record priced well under the Discogs median? I didn’t even think twice about buying them. These poor babies had been sitting in the back of the bins for years!

I guess this is all to say what I feel like I always say at the end of my bargain bin record rants- DIG THROUGH ALL THE BINS! The amount of times the very last record in a stack has been the thing I bought...it’s an addicting mentality because who knows what you’re missing! I love when customers come in and can’t leave until they’ve flipped through our entire ‘new arrivals’ bargain bin shelf by the register. Because SAME. Finding gems like what I got this past week just fuels the fire and I know I’ll be making sure I pay extra attention to what we have lurking on the lower levels of our bins.

You know how some records just look RIGHT? I saw this coolass sleeve on the wall at Sorry State the other day, and it jumped straight out to me. Sufficiently minimalistic fonts with a high-contrast copy of the ill-fated Andy Warhol robot printed on a lovely mustard yellow cardstock? SIGN ME UP! I pulled the 7” down from the shelf and next noticed its New Underground Records tag. Hey, I know that label from those weird’n’wonderful “Life is So Why Not ?” comps, so that’s even better!

Then I asked the main mane Jeff behind the counter if he knew what the heck was up with Artistic Decline. He couldn’t say much but did acknowledge this’un was another of those Meat House Productions reissues. Since Meat House’s Hated, Child Molesters and Wuffy Dogs rereleases already received a ton of fanfare in my household, pretty much every sign now points to “YES.”

And, well, yeah… this thing is great! Despite its original 1983 release date and Mystic Studios credit, Artistic Decline’s “Four Song E.P.” sounds more like like an old Dangerhouse record than one would rightly expect. It’s choppy and nerdy and pleasantly lacking the machismo carried by many California contemporaries at this juncture in the 80s. In short, it’s PUNK.

The songs are punchy, quick and deceptively intricate, using all kinds of wild turnarounds and cutoffs in quirky ways that one may not catch on first listen. It’s kinda like the Minutemen doing the Dils or vice versa. Upon our initial store spin, aforementioned SSR employee Jeff also noted that it reminded him of the incredible Modern Warfare, which I think is a very apt comparison.

I could listen to this kinda stuff ALL DAY LONG, so keep up the good work, Meat House!

(I subsequently read Daniel’s Artistic Decline writeup and noticed he said a lot of the same things I just wrote. Great minds, huh?)

XV: S/T 12” (2019)

I was super excited to get my copy of this LP by Michigan’s XV in the mail this week. About a year ago, perhaps a little more, I was driving around listening to the Dynamite Hemorrhage podcast when they played a song from this album. I can’t remember which one, but it stuck out enough that I had to irresponsibly tap out a note to myself on my phone to look up the band when I got home. After a little searching (XV is not a very Google-friendly band name), I found XV’s Bandcamp page only to learn their LP was limited to 100 copies and had already sold out. I checked Discogs and copies were already selling for around $70, not that any of the 100 lucky souls who picked it up would part with one. So, I bought a digital copy via Bandcamp and added it to my Discogs want list in case a copy popped up.

Despite not having the vinyl, I listened to the album a lot in the coming months. XV reminds me of a lot of music I already love—particularly the rougher and more ramshackle end of the Rough Trade / UK post-punk scene and the most chaotic and lo-fi songs by the Fall (“Spectre vs Rector,” “Papal Visit,” etc.)—but they doesn’t really sound like anything else. The playing is so loose and chaotic that the music seems to dissolve in front of you, yet there are loads of hooks that I look forward to every time I listen. The vocals are distinctive too, with the main singer employing this nasally valley girl kind of sound and more disaffected-sounding backing vocals from the other members. The lyrics deal with the typical banalities of modern life, like the catchy opening track “Lamp” (my copy of the record came with a pencil emblazoned with the song’s chorus, “I would like a lamp.”). While most of the record is steeped in the artiest, most lo-fi end of the punk/DIY spectrum, the record ends with an extended period of silence and then the most shambolic cover of Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown” I could imagine. Like XV’s own songs, it drifts in and out of focus, Black Flag’s teenage frustration recast as a wandering, medicated haze. It is glorious.

Information on XV is scant. Some Discogs searching revealed a connection to fellow Michigan band Tyvek and several other projects whose names I’d never heard. Despite being very unconnected to XV’s world, when I bought the digital version of the record I was added to their list of Bandcamp followers. A few months later I got a notification when XV released a cassette of ephemera called Basement Tapes, which I bought immediately, and then during last month’s Bandcamp Friday I got a notification there was a new pressing of the album, this time on Gingko Records. I could not hand over my PayPal bucks fast enough, and now that the LP is in my hands, once again I can’t stop listening to it.

Unfortunately this repress seems to have disappeared as fast as the first version, otherwise I would have tried to get copies for Sorry State. However, XV’s Bandcamp site lists some distros and shops that are carrying the record, so if it moves you, you can try reaching out to those places to find a copy.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Let me preface what I’m about to write by saying that I’m a DUMBASS. Here comes some serious embarrassment…

Earlier this week, Daniel and I were both working at our warehouse location. Daniel typically plays music in his office while he’s working. He asked if I would mind if he played the Michael Monroe solo record that I wrote about in my staff pick from a few weeks back. I was stoked that my glowing endorsement made Daniel wanna give the record a closer listen. I asked him what he thought about the record. Daniel said he liked it, but he thought the cover of “Shake Some Action” is not as good as the original… I sat there for a second, stunned, and asked, “Wait… ‘Shake Some Action’ is a cover?”

Like I said, I’m a dumbass. For those of you that read my staff pick where I talked about Nights Are So Long by Michael Monroe, I pointed out “Shake Some Action” as my clear favorite song on the record. I definitely wrote about it as if Michael Monroe wrote the song. I very much appreciate all you readers who noticed this for not calling me out and making me feel embarrassed for not knowing that it’s like THE most well-known song by Flamin’ Groovies. At this moment of realization, my palm hit my face with full force. I even asked Daniel, “in all the years I’ve worked at the store, how have I never heard this before?” With a big smile, he just responded, “I have no idea, it’s a pretty famous song.” Hilarious. Then Daniel told me that if I’ve really never heard it, I should cue it up.

I went and sat at my work computer and put my headphones on so I could shamefully give the original version a listen. The track started playing, and almost immediately, I felt a tumor-sized lump develop in my throat. Even having heard the Michael Monroe cover and having a previous awareness of the melody and structure of the song, all the elements that make this song so great stood out so much more in the Flamin’ Groovies version. The ear candy was hitting me like a sweet ton of bricks. I almost felt emotional. Have you ever had one of those moments where you hear a song for the first time and you almost feel angry that you’ve never heard it before? As I was sitting there silently while the sound that was hitting my ears isolated me from all other stimuli, it literally felt like one of those moments where you hear your favorite song for the first time.

While I love my hardcore, metal and “extreme” music in general, I’ve always had a weak and mushy patch of flesh that is vulnerable to the syrupy pop tunes. Not unlike the subtle melodic mastery of songs I love like “Hangin’ On the Telephone” by The Nerves or “Black and White” by The dB’s, “Shake Some Action” scratches that itch perfectly. Every moment of this song is a hook, right down to the perfectly arpeggiated guitar melody. But the songwriting rides the line perfectly, because it’s not so sweetly poppy or corny in a way that makes you feel like you’ve got a mouthful of saccharine bubblegum. It’s also funny because while I’ve admittedly never listened to Flamin’ Groovies, it also seems like none of their other songs measure up to how well they nailed it on “Shake Some Action?” Even weirder that this song came out 1976 and the band already had records out in the late 60s. You can totally tell that Flamin’ Groovies still had a foot in the Byrds-influenced sounds of the 60s, but to me, this song fits along with proto-punk and hints at what’s to come. Everyone who already loves Flamin’ Groovies is probably thinking “Duh Jeff.”

I feel like a big dork now. Is my face red?

Thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Here at Sorry State Towers, we listen to all sorts of music during our shifts. It’s quite a choice deciding what goes on the turntable next. Something we all agree on and love are the original Two-Tone groups that spearheaded the Ska revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Recently, through some connections made in Japan by Usman, we were able to bring in very cool Japanese pressings of early singles and albums by The Selecter and The Specials. I will never tire of hearing these records and the quality of those pressings was superb. Plus, the Obi strips and inserts made them extra cool. Duly inspired by the voice of Specials frontman Terry Hall, I came home and pulled out a record he did in the early 00s in collaboration with another artist and it is that one that I am choosing as my pick for this week.

Terry Hall & Mushtaq: The Hour Of Two Lights. Honest Jons. 2003

When The Specials were active, I thought they and Terry Hall were the coolest people on the planet. Against the backdrop of the political landscape, threat of a Third World War, racial injustice and union bashing, groups under the Two-Tone umbrella along with others really meant something and were a beacon of hope for the new generation. It was a sad irony that a movement that was built on racial diversity and socialist ideals was almost derailed by right wing fascists that had co-opted the skinhead movement. Early gigs were tremendous fun, but there was always a sense of danger in the air from some sections of the crowd. Anyway, when things began to break apart and Terry went on to form Fun Boy Three with Neville Staples and Lynval Golding, I followed them also. It can be argued that the FB3 records aren’t as good as the records made with Specials, but I would say that they are different and certainly more pop but still good records. It was a changing time and people were experimenting and bringing different aspects of sound and culture into their music. Some corners hated what Paul Weller was doing with the Style Council for instance or how The Clash had changed. I went with the flow. All of this set the ground for the post second summer of love and the mixing of the tribes that was the 1990s, I think. The 80s has a lot to forget for sure but I think in the world of music a lot of the changes were for the good and helped to expand people’s views and tastes.

Terry Hall put out a couple of solo records in the 1990s, Home from 1994 and Laugh from 1997. I wouldn’t say either of these are essential but for fans of his there are moments. Of the two I probably enjoy the latter more. The production is a little fuller and it has a retro 60s pop feel in places. Certainly, don’t expect anything hard or heavy on either of these records.

Fast forward to the new millennium and we find Terry partnering up with Mushtaq for this one-off project that is labelled as Electronic, Tribal and Downtempo on Discogs. I guess some of that is true but like all decent records that stand up years later, it almost defies categorization and doesn’t sound that dated. I’ve dropped tracks from this record when DJing to good reactions. People recognize Terry’s voice but can’t place the music. It makes for good transitions into other styles also.

The artist Mushtaq is mostly known as being a member of the group Fun-Da-Mental, where he was known as MC Mushtaq. Fun-Da-Mental were popular during the 90s and were the perfect example of the tribes mixing. They combined hip-hop sensibilities with Indian and Pakistani elements through use of clever samples and were quite political with strong civil rights and Islamic messages in their lyrics. It is this Middle Eastern/Asian aspect that Mushtaq brings to the project and I think it works out brilliantly.

Lead track Grow sets out their stall perfectly and is worth the price of admission alone. The blend of sounds from the Middle East provides mystery and hooks in equal measure. Hearing Terry’s distinctive vocals amongst these sounds is a cool juxtaposition. Being as the record was released on Honest Jons, it is not really surprising that Damon Albarn makes an appearance. He lends his voice to tracks and plays Melodica. On the song Ten Eleven hearing his voice does remind you of his other group, Gorillaz , which may be a good thing or not depending on how you feel about those records. I don’t think it distracts and fits in with the vibe of the rest of the record.

Elsewhere, title song The Hour Of Two Lights is a highlight along with lone promo single They Gotta Quit Kicking My Dog Around which came out as a single-sided 10” for all you collector nerds out there. Second song A Gathering Storm predicts the future with uncanny accuracy. I wish I could write more eloquently about the music itself and describe it better for you in detail, but that’s not my strong suit. All I can do is point you in the direction of stuff that may or may not float your boat. I do stand behind all my choices though and will never pick a record because it is rare and obscure or because it is expensive or the hip new thing as the only deciding factor. These are albums that I have built a relationship with since discovering them and my primary thought is always that someone else might like to hear them if they haven’t already.

Here are a couple of links to get you started. I hope you like ‘em.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to give a shout out to my DJ buddy Matt Pape whose Brazilian inspired mixtape I had on the other night as I watched the Man Utd Vs Liverpool game. I enjoy watching matches with the volume off and music on and there were moments where it blended perfectly, especially when Bobby Firmino scored twice. It was the perfect soundtrack and had me dancing around the room in celebration. We might not have had a great season this year but beating Utd in their place is always worth cheering about. The Brazilian magic carried over on to the next game when our Brazilian goalkeeper scored a last-minute winner and kept our hope of a Champions League spot alive. Thanks again Matt. You can find his show, Worldy, and his mixtapes in the archives of TheFaceRadio.com

As always, thank you for reading and enjoy listening to your records. Until next time - Dom

Irreal “Demo 2018” (Manic Noise 04)

This demo originally came out in 2018 on Spanish label Sangre Azul. I don’t think I had heard of this label until this week. Since they originally released this killer demo, I decided to dig deeper into their catalog that dates back to 2014. The sound is pretty much all over the place but each release is killer. I haven’t found a band I disliked yet. If yer looking for raw HC Maquina Muerte was pretty sick, it reminds of 90s Disclose. Pantalla was really cool too, raw as fuck, but in a different kind of way. Desenterradas was fuckin excellent, but be warned they are not hardcore. It reminds me of Crete, my literal all-time favorite local band. There were a few bands in the catalog who I enjoyed who share this like all-encompassing mid-tempo vibe. The riffs and rhythms are great, but the songs don’t like ever “take off.” I think most bands who do this would turn me off, but what I heard sounded really good. Nine times out of ten when a band plays mid-tempo HC it is too tough for me or just like rocked out shit, and that is a line that is easily crossed for me haha. The only rocked out shit I like is Skitkids. No I do not like Thin Lizzy. Anyway, Irreal plays lots of mid-tempo HC but they never cross that line. When they play a “hard” part it’s more like teeth-grinding outta yer head style, not like, “Now I will punch the nearest person in the FACE!” kinda vibe. I didn’t know who Irreal was until the EP that came out last year on LVEUM. It immediately caught my ears with their primitive but compelling song-writing, the perfect combination. Sorry State has some copies of that EP in stock if you slept on it. I try to pay attention to everything we got in the shop, but it’s easy to fall behind. I didn’t realize we got copies of the Irreal demo or the Hellish Inferno tape like three weeks ago! Hellish Inferno was a Staff Pick of mine back in January when the band had just released the tape. They were limited to 50 copies only, so of course they went fast. Manic Noise has done as all a favor by putting more tapes from these killer bands into circulation.

Doug Kershaw - Ragin’ Cajun (from the collection of Miss Veola McClean)

I’m keeping this week short and sweet. Especially because I’m talking about a record that’s sealed (again) and have no plans of popping that shrink off. I always make these arbitrary rules for myself and end up breaking them. After my first tattoo I told myself I’d get no color tattoos...third tattoo was full color. I should know by now not to hold weird expectations for myself!

I really thought my last SSR Pick would be the only record in my collection that would never be opened. But then, as I’m sure you’ve seen on our social media, we acquired an absolutely insane collection from Southern Pines NC native Miss Veola McClean. There was a lot of talk about where a lot of the records came from. We assumed she acquired a lot in her quest to collect all things relating to Black culture, just picking up more artifacts without a ton of consideration. None of us had the pleasure of meeting Miss Veola before she passed, but I think we are getting to know an interesting side of her through these records. Before anyone dug into the boxes, there was a handwritten list of a lot of the collection, leading us to believe she acquired the majority of the records from someone else’s curated collection. But now we’re finding SIGNED RECORDS! Some are just signatures from the artist but Daniel found a Richie Havens record actually addressed to Miss Veola. Now, we’re learning that a lot of this music IS her curation. Not only that, but now we know she met a lot of cool artists in her lifetime.

ANYWAYS, I mention all of this because I purchased my first record from her collection. I say first because I’m sure there will be WAY more. I hope at least one of you read my pick about Cocaine and Rhinestones and started listening to it! One of my favorite episodes is about the Kershaw Brothers, Rusty and Doug. Definitely one of the more fascinating episodes from the first season of that podcast. LISTEN TO IT! As I was trying to find something on our Discogs for a customer, I, of course, found a record I had to buy. Doug Kershaw’s Ragin’ Cajun album is a country cajun classic so I’ve been looking for it anyways. This copy, though? SIGNED! And from Miss Veola’s collection; I logged into my personal Discogs account so quick and bought that shit up.

Sealed records, though. That was the whole point of this. This signed copy is sealed in the shrink and signed ON the shrink. I thought about carefully opening the record and trying not to ruin the signature, but I know it’d happen over time. Even putting my fingers over the Sharpie marks made me nervous, so I took the record home and immediately grabbed a frame off my wall and put ‘er in there. I always thought it was silly to get 12x12 frames to put records in but look at me now. I love that I have this artifact from country music AND this amazing woman’s collection.

Go on our Discogs and come to the store to shop Miss Veola’s collection. I know you’ll find something you just have to pick up!

Il Balletto Di Bronzo: Ys (Italy, 1972)

After a few years of searching I nabbed a copy of this album, so why not brag about it in my staff pick?

Il Balletto Di Bronzo were from Naples, Italy and were around from 1969 until 1973. They released their first album, Sirio 2222, in 1970, and while I haven’t heard that record, my research tells me it’s more in the psychedelic / blues rock vein than their follow-up album Ys, which critics regard as their masterpiece.

Il Balletto Di Bronzo tend to be classified as an Italian prog band, and I’ll tell you right off the bat that’s a genre I know nothing about. From what I’ve read, the Italian prog sound is marked by pastoral motifs, lots of flute, and acoustic guitars, which sounds of a piece with the British prog groups who were working around the same time. Ys, however, doesn’t sound pastoral to me at all. It is a loud, rambunctious, beast of an album, more in line with the side of prog that bleeds into proto-metal: think early King Crimson or post-Syd Pink Floyd’s heaviest moments. While these references are more obscure, Ys also reminds me a lot of Flower Travelin’ Band’s great Satori album and Amon Düül II’s classic Yeti, though the compositions here are even wilder and more complex than either of those.

I wish I could tell you more aboutYs, but it’s something you really need to listen to in order to appreciate. It’s not for everyone; the layered keyboards, high-pitched vocals, and dense, classically inspired rhythms are the opposite of the punk rock most of you came here looking for. However, there’s always a place in my collection for records that sound like nothing else, and Ys fits that bill.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

The other night, I went on a beer-fueled record spinning marathon, as I often tend to do. There are many punk records that I’ve had in my collection since I was a teenager, but I don’t often revisit. On the other hand, there are certain records that I’ve had for a long time and have remained in constant rotation. One band that I always come back to, and that remains just as killer as when I first heard them, is Skitkids.

I honestly can’t remember when I first heard Skitkids. I think when I first started learning about the band, it was while they were still active. I’m pretty sure I bought their last record, Besöket Vid Krubban, around when it first came out. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see them. I’m pretty sure they toured USA at least once. I always associate my discovery of Skitkids with my venture into expanding my horizons and learning about more international hardcore in general. I don’t know if any of y’all reading this will understand where I’m coming from, but the timeline of my mind routinely being blown by new and exciting bands is not so segmented. Like, it’s not like I was singularly into American hardcore for a while, and then I moved onto the next thing. The influx of constant exposure in my late adolescence was just like an uninterrupted wave of energy, and really, it all kind of blurs together. Not to say I’ve heard everything there is to hear already, but I do sometimes miss that feeling of being overwhelmed by all the new stuff I was hearing on a regular basis.

Anyway, back to Skitkids. I think I’ve listened to every single one of their records a few times over the last week or so. (Except for the 12” version of their first tape, Skitfucked By The State, which somehow has still eluded me.) I remember sending a photo to my buddy Chris of a bunch of records I’d been listening to, and in reference to Usman and myself, he just responded: “Damn, y’all some Skitkids lovin’ mofos.” And rightfully so! I remember getting exposed to many other early Swedish hardcore on the crustier end of the spectrum around the same time. But while you can sense some dirt and crustiness lurking beneath the surface, Skitkids had a different vibe to me when I first blasted Onna For Pleasure at maximum volume. It’s like taking the most raging, gnarly aspects of Swedish hardcore, but mixed with Motörhead. It’s perfect. Even having said that, I don’t want that description to mis-categorize the way the band sounds. Skitkids doesn’t read as a punk-metal band like Inepsy or something. They still manage to stray from the herd, coming across as pure fucking hardcore. I wish I had a way to articulate this better, but what Skitkids has going for them is just HUGE rocked-out riffs. Like, for days. It’s insane. Maybe this is kind of dorky to say about a band that was still current when I was listening them, but I remember the guitar playing being hugely influential on me. I wanted my bands to have riffs that were that just as badass and memorable. And what’s interesting, is I feel like I’ve noticed people lump Skitkids in with other Swedish hardcore bands and tag them with the “D-beat” moniker, which to me is not only totally inaccurate, but also pretty diminishing. Skitkids are a unique and raging beast. I posted about them on social media the other night and a lot of the homies messaged me and were still showing them some serious love. Still killer, and always will be.

That’s all I got. Thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Greetings all. I hope you had a good week. This one began for me with getting my second Covid-19 vaccination and like a lot of folks I felt some aftereffects. I was pretty out of it Tuesday and still feeling achy yesterday. As a result, I am not very prepared with my staff pick for this weeks’ newsletter. This one will be short and sweet as I don’t have too much time to get into too many details.

I thought I would choose a record that I just received in the mail. It’s been on my want list for a while and I had always thought I would find a copy one day in the wild but being as it was released in 1992 and only on vinyl in the UK and Europe, Brazil and South Korea, it hasn’t been that easy. Flush with stimulus money, I decided to search for a copy in Europe and to hell with the shipping costs. That transaction ended up being more complicated than it needed to be – record graded NM/NM and actually more like VG/VG. The dealer and I exchanged our thoughts, and the matter was resolved. I probably will upgrade to a better copy if one comes by but until then I can make do. It was disappointing, however, opening the box and not finding a beautiful copy. We are very much aware of this at Sorry State and try to ensure all our dispatched orders are as they should be and will always make right any mistakes that might happen. So do order with confidence. In fairness to my guy, he did provide a full refund which I wasn’t asking for or expecting, so kudos to him for the customer service.

The record I am talking about is Homebrew from Neneh Cherry, released in 1992 on Circa, a Virgin label. This was her second solo LP, her breakthrough coming a few years earlier with the big hit being Buffalo Stance. Cherry was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and an African musician father from Sierra Leone who was in Stockholm studying engineering. Her parents separated early, and her mother married jazz musician Don Cherry who raised her and from whom she took her name. Career wise, Cherry began in London providing vocals for among others, The Slits and Rip Rig + Panic and New Age Steppers. She also ingratiated herself into the Bristol scene, making connections with Massive Attack with whom she worked and apparently helped bankroll. The Bristol connects featured on Homebrew with some production credits going to Geoff Barrow of Portishead. Whereas debut album Raw Like Sushi from 1989 sold well and produced hits, Homebrew was not as commercially successful. That seems a little odd when you look at it. The record features guest vocals from Guru of Gang Starr and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., who were both big names at the time. The album also featured a song, Move With Me, that was in the film Until The End Of The World. That is a pretty interesting movie if you are not aware. Directed by Wim Wenders, it is a long sci-fi type film that wasn’t that well received at the time but did get better reassessments years later. The soundtrack features not only Neneh Cherry but a whole host of other top names. Lou Reed, Can, Talking Heads, Nick Cave, R.E.M. Patti Smith, Depeche Mode and U2 who provided the title song. It’s a good collection of songs and the majority of them were all unique to this film or the versions used were different to other released versions. In the director’s cut of the film, which is over four hours, plenty of other artists are used that didn’t make it to the released soundtrack. I recommend checking out the film if you get an opportunity and the time.

As an artist, Cherry has tried to resist being pigeonholed but on Homebrew you could say that the style is Trip-Hop with strays into Jazz and Funk territory. One tune called Buddy X ended up getting a remix that featured Notorious B.I.G. and fans of his seek out this particular 12” claiming it to be one of his rarest appearances. I’m not so sure about that but it is a dope single and I’m glad to have a copy.

After all these years listening to my CD copy of the album, it has been great to finally own an LP version. I would say it is my favorite album of hers although I am a fan of her other work and to my ears listening again recently, I would say it has held up pretty well. It’s certainly her most accessible album and should appeal to young and old listeners alike. I’ll leave you with links to a couple of cuts and hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

The rest of the album is well worth listening to and I encourage you to do so if you liked these two songs. That’s my lot for this week. See you next time. Peace and love – Dom.

Yo what up,

Once again, I’m not really writing about a specific record. Or this time a specific band even, so don’t bother reading if you don’t wanna read me blabbing with not much of a foundation.

I like 90s shit a lot. There are some bands I like that started in the 80s and kept it up through the decades, but not a lot come to mind. There are plenty of killer bands who started in the 90s, who took clear influences from great bands from the decade before. And then there were a lot of bands who sucked in the 90s too, haha. In the 80s it’s like damn near every band rips, but when the 90s came along there is a lot of shit to wade through to find the gems. When I say there was a lot of bands who sucked, I do legit mean I think some bands straight up sucked but mostly I mean there were a lot of bands who were expanding/experimenting and pushing the boundaries of what is considered “punk.” That’s cool; I respect that. I still don’t want to watch or hear the shit, though. No Security was a fucking killer band. The started in the mid 80s (in Sweden) and were active into the mid 90s. They put out only killer records, and I think the records just got better and fucking better as time went on. Totalitär is a band just like that too, of course.

I’ve been spending a lot of time watching live videos of bands. Maybe I said that some Staff Picks ago? I can’t remember. I guess I’m just missing gigs a lot. Scarecrow got offered a few outdoor gigs. I guess we will see what happens. Outside seems safe, but I’m still apprehensive about the idea. Haha anyway, this video is absolutely killer and I watch it frequently. Over the weekend I poked around that account and they have some fucking killer videos!! That No Security link I dropped has a lot of views, but there are some other vids that only a few hundred views that are really cool to see like this 16 B.U.H. video and fuckin especially this D.T.A.L. video! You can’t watch those videos on yer phone though; they will sound like complete shit. The next stuff I wanted to mention has great sound though.

S.O.D. was another killer Swedish band. Both their EPs are full-throttle killer fuckin hardcore. I always thought it was interesting the second EP is just recordings from the same session as the first EP that had not been released. Which is not out of the ordinary to do, but they decided to release in 1990 which is what I found interesting. In 1990 I’m pretty sure S.O.D. was not active, but I could be wrong. The vocalist, Göran, had moved to South Africa and started a band called Surf or Die. I know he was definitely back in Sweden by the 90s cos this account has several videos of them tearin’ it the fuck up, this one is my favorite. It’s important to note that I think the only OG member from the initial line-up in these vids is the vocalist, Göran. I could be mistaken, though. I do know the drummer in those vids is the one who uploaded all this shit though! Also, here is an autographed picture of me being a total nerd holding my S.O.D. 7"s! Hoehnie from HöhNIE Records was super cool and hooked me up with the autograph cos he and Göran are close friends.

Another killer Swedish band who I love from the 80s that continued on (well past the 90s) is Asocial. Their first EP was released in 1984, and later repressed in 1992. I remember when I learned it was repressed in the 90s I was surprised haha but then I found this fucking sick video of them playing all the 80s hit tracks, but the gig is from 1997. It makes me wonder if they were active that whole time and I just had no idea, and that’s why they repressed the EP 8 years later. Man, that gig in the video was with Extreme Noise Terror and S.O.D. What a fuckin line-up! I was watching a video of ENT playing in the 90s over the weekend. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it again today! Hearing them playing all the early songs, but with even more brutality and tightness, was fucking insane. They played shit off Phonophobia too, which I really enjoy. They played a song or two from Damage 381, which is when I trail off on the band’s timeline... the 00s ENT shit sucks, eh I don’t know maybe... I remember jamming Law of Retaliation a lot when it came out haha.

Alright back to work. I hope I have left you with something of interest. Poke around that account’s videos, because there are a ton of cool bands I didn’t mention. Oh, I guess I never mentioned why I used that Kuro EP as my Staff Pic. This is another example of an 80s band who continued to put out killer shit in the 90s (haha even though this EP only has 2 studio tracks.) A note about 90s Kuro though; the only OG member was the guitarist. I think the vocalist may have passed away by that point? But I am not sure. I do know that the guitarist and vocalist both have since passed away. Ah, one more thing... if you happen to have the 1992 pressing of the first Asocial EP, would you please email me so we can compare the covers??? haha, my email is in.decay@yahoo.com. Alright, that’s it for real now. Thanks for reading. ‘Til next time...

Not much to say this week other than:

1. Holy shit there’s an OFFICIAL Screamers record?!
2. Daaang, these first five Pat Garrett demos sound GREAT. I’ve been bumping bootlegs of this stuff for years, but Superior Viaduct has it sounding markedly better than ever before. That crispness! That panning! I’m verklempt!
3. Y’all ever bumped the No Dogs In Space podcast? They have a two-part series documenting the history of the Screamers AND followup interviews with drummer KK Barrett and late-era keyboardist Jeff McGregor. It’s very well-researched and very un-snooty. Highly recommended.
4. Booya.

While I have a big record collection, I work diligently to keep it in order. I see a lot of collections as part of my job, and some of them come to resemble hoards more than collections. My attitude is that I try to be thoughtful about the analog media I bring into my life, but I give myself free rein to hoard digital photos, documents, and especially music. I have hard drives upon hard drives full of rips and downloads, more music than I could listen to in ten lifetimes.

While our buddy John handles it every other day of the week, on Fridays it’s my responsibility to take Sorry State’s mail to the post office and the DHL depot on the far edge of Raleigh. This means I spend a lot of time in the car, and since it’s Friday, I’m usually feeling ready for the weekend. Especially during springtime, I like to blast music with the windows down and enjoy some time when I’m not staring at a computer or stressing about some issue or another. With such a big digital music library, I like shuffle mode, but I prefer to shuffle full albums rather than individual tracks. While Apple removed the album shuffle function from their music app a long time ago, there’s an app called Smart Shuffle that restores that functionality.

Here are a few things that came up on album shuffle while I was driving around last week. Recurring feature? Maybe?

In School: Cement Fucker 7” (Thrilling Living, 2016)

What. A. Ripper. I loved this 7” when it came out, and five years later it sounds even better to my ears. In School’s music was so dense and complex that I think it went over many people’s heads at the time, but it’s so angry and raw. Nowadays I hear more bands taking influences from the quirkier end of the 80s hardcore spectrum, but In School was already nailing the tightly sprung rhythms and intricate guitar/bass dynamics of the early Die Kreuzen material. This is such a killer record.

D.L.I.M.C.: July Cassingle (self-released, 2015)

D.L.I.M.C.’s series of cassingles were blowing up on YouTube around five years ago as well, and this is another one that still sounds great to me. I don’t know much about D.L.I.M.C.; I believe it’s a solo project from Mark Winter of Coneheads / CCTV, but aside from Discogs, I don’t have any info to verify that. Anyway, what I like about D.L.I.M.C. is that it has a lighter, breezier tone than Coneheads or CCTV. The project reminds me of the Dead Milkmen, particularly the way the vocals and lyrics are the focal point, which contrasts a lot of the other music I listen to, where riffs are the focal point and vocals and lyrics can feel like an afterthought. Speaking of lyrics, “Fest Punk” is great, the kind of spot-on, sarcastic critique of the punk scene you don’t see enough of these days.

Heresy: 20 Reasons to End It All CD (Toy’s Factory, 1992)

20 Reasons to End It All compiles several vaguely non-canonical Heresy releases: the Whose Generation EP, 20 Reasons to End It All (which itself is a comp of two BBC sessions), and Live at Leeds. Napalm Death’s Peel Sessions LP was my last staff pick, and Heresy also benefitted from the BBC’s habit of bringing non-commercial music in for high-fidelity recordings. Some people prefer Heresy’s earlier material, but I’ve always loved the later stuff too. While the material isn’t as immediate (and is pretty all over the place stylistically), the dodgy recordings that plagued their earlier releases aren’t as much of an issue.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

I’m gonna try to keep this one short and sweet, but y’all need to hear about this record!

Last week, we got in 2 new releases from Alonas Dream Records, a label that usually reissues a lot of punk and hardcore from the greater Chicago area. Initially, because the Assault & Battery LP was so mesmerizing, my tunnel vision diverted my attention away from the OTHER killer record that came in.

Evil I was a band from the Chicago suburb of Lombard, IL. It seems like their existence as a band was a short-lived, because as far as I can tell, not much is known about them. This LP that Alonas Dream just put out is a recording from 1983 that was originally only released on cassette. The tape seemed to have poor circulation, mainly distributed by the band at gigs. At first I wasn’t so sure about the bright orange cover art… I found it a bit off-putting, but I decided to give this record a listen anyway. And DAMN, the moment I dropped the needle on this platter I was blown away! This recording is one of those unsung hardcore gems that I imagine if it had been released on vinyl back in the 80s, it would probably fetch big bucks these days.

Charmingly and somewhat humorously titled Official Bootleg, this collection of tracks just has so many elements that I love in my hardcore. The vocalist Carol is amazing and a huge part of the band’s sound. Her vocal style kind of reminds me of Sin 34, but with so much more intensity that is sometimes tuneful and catchy, but still dripping with seething rage and character. That said, the music is amazing as well. The guitars are sonically dense and heavy, almost like SS Decontrol, but also the sound changes and morphs into a high-pitch, noisy tone that catches you off guard. Classic sounding riffs weave into noisy, chaotic moments that are certifiably Midwestern kinda like Mecht Mensch. Honestly though, these sections also bring to mind the most disgusting and dissonant moments of Black Flag. But don’t let that comparison deter you, because for the most part Evil I plays raging fast. The band is so tight and has so many cool songwriting ideas where a charging hardcore song will be broken up with complicated punches and rhythms. I wish I had the vocabulary to convey what a crime I feel like it is that no one really knew about this band until now!

If you’ve been sleeping on Evil I, then you’re missing out. Do yourself a favor and check out this LP.

That’s all from me. Thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Green Day: You Know Where We’ll Be Found 12”

Alright, this is a fun one for me. Yada yada yada I’m a big Green Day nerd yada yada yada who cares, but I think there are a couple of neat anecdotes about this unofficial live record from Mind Control Records. For starters, the first set on this record is an acoustic set, and after a bit of research I discovered that this performance was part of the Bridge School Benefit Concert that was put on by Neil and Pegi Young. But something didn’t add up for me: the jacket for this record says this concert was in 1996, but their setlist included lots of songs from their album Nimrod which wasn’t released until 1997, and even (what I believe was) the live debut of the song “Warning” which was released on the album Warning in 2000. It seemed strange that a 1996 set would have so many unreleased songs. So, after a bit more research I found out that Green Day did not play this benefit concert in 1996; this is totally their set from 1999 (which I think you can find footage of online). The jacket has a typo, a pretty obvious typo, which seems like a big thing to miss! Maybe it’s intentional in order to throw off anyone who would object to the release of these songs because it’s an “unofficial” release? I don’t know, man. It’s also easy to believe that someone just fucked up.

One more cool thing about this performance is that I believe it was Jason White’s (Pinhead Gunpowder, etc.) first show with Green Day. Billie Joe introduces him as a friend who is playing with them that night right before they play “Warning”, and he has been a part of their live show (for the most part) ever since.

The second set is a classic loud Green Day set (not acoustic) at King’s College in London. The jacket says this concert was in 1996 too… Once again, not true, this concert was in 2000. In some of Billie Joe’s stage banter he even makes a joke about Napster and Metallica (y’all remember that, right?). Once again, seems like a really big thing to miss when laying out the credits and details on the jacket, but whatever.

Overall, I don’t care for listening to live records except for Green Day and The Ramones. You can really hear the intensity of their live show, even on wax. And if anyone has ever seen Green Day (especially back then) they always had some sort of whacky stage banter or crowd interaction. This record ain’t for everyone, but as someone who collects any all Green Day, I dig it 100%.

Greetings everyone in Sorry State land. Sorry we missed you last week, but we got buried in work and work for us means records and that means good news for you guys. Whether it be through our webstore or in person at the store, there is a ton of great shit available and in styles and price points to suit almost everyone. The racks are heaving.

These past few weeks have had me listening to a lot more Jazz than normal with April being Jazz Appreciation Month and this past Friday being International Jazz Day. Sorry State has always had a good jazz section and it is nice to see these records sharing breathing room with all the punk and metal that the store is known for. Doctor D has always been making good connections over the years, and a series of great collections has come through the store. Locals like myself were treated to seeing hen’s teeth rare slabs alongside good solid staples whenever we went in. This tradition has continued since I have started working there. We have had so many killer records pass through it really is awesome. In addition to the high-ticket items, there is a good middle ground selection and the bargain bins always reveal a nugget or two for those prepared to bend a knee. Definitely keep your eyes and ears open for news of a very deep and cool jazz and soul collection coming soon but, in the meantime, get yourself down to the store and have a rummage. We put out a good collection of soul, jazz and r & b titles that won’t break the bank with particular focus on late 70s and early 80s era releases.

That being said, my pick this week is not soul, jazz or even psych, but a good ol’ slab of ’77 punk. For the past few weeks, in between everything else, I have been giving a good rinse to a record that Jeff turned me on to one day in the store. It’s Raxola and their self-titled LP from 1978 on Philips. I can’t believe I hadn’t heard it before, as it is exactly the type of punk/rock ‘n roll record I love. Just another reason working at Sorry State is so damn cool.

All you seasoned punks out there are likely very aware of Raxola, but briefly, here are some details. I won’t try to come off as all knowledgeable on this one as I only just discovered them. Raxola, standing for Revolution Axis Open Lights Ahead, were from Brussels, Belgium and formed in 1977 by guitarist Yves “Eef” Kengen. He had previously been in proto-punk band Bastard alongside Brian James who by this time was off doing a similar thing with The Damned. Raxola’s sound is total 1977-1978 punk in all the best ways. They, along with The Kids and Hubble Bubble, were one of the first local Belgian bands on the punk scene to record an album. Not an opportunity so easy back then. If you dig The Kids (why wouldn’t you?) then there is plenty to love about the Raxola album. In fact, if you like pretty much any punk band active during that golden period, you will love this record. I hear the aforementioned The Damned, early Wire – especially vocally, The Undertones, The Saints, The Heartbreakers, the list goes on. Raxola sits comfortably with any of these guys, and I feel like a total newbie for only having just discovered this record. If you are like me, we can be slightly forgiven as originals of the album have been rare and pricey for a good while now and reissues didn’t appear until the late 00s. The version I grabbed was the 2017 pressing by Veals & Geeks on pink vinyl. Nice.

Most of the tracks stick to the classic two-minute pop format but there are a couple of longer cuts and in particular the song Thalidomide Child, which clocks in at over six minutes. This song is noticeably different and almost sounds like an American group from the Mid-West or something. Much darker and twisted. That song closes side one and when you flip over to side two and the song Anxious begins, you may again hear familiar reference points both contemporary and future. Second to last track, I Can’t Sleep, is the other tune to go over the three-minute mark and in the music, I hear a strong Wire type sound. Closer, Am I Guilty, wraps everything up superbly and again, could have been a song from the first Wire or Damned LPs. I don’t know, but this whole record sounds like the blueprint for so many bands that came after and I wonder whether it was influential or not. You always hear in interviews bands talking about seminal records that shaped them and informed them, so I am interested to know where copies of Raxola ended up in the years after its release.

The band reformed a couple of times over the years and released a second LP back in 2017. Visit Raxola.net for more information.

Anyway, I sure am grateful to Jeff for putting this on the turntable that day and I heartedly encourage you to seek out a copy for yourselves if you are like me and new to them and to take a listen on the old internet. Thanks for reading and happy listening.

-Dom

Yo what up,

Daniel decided not to do the Newsletter last week, which is cool with me cos I was so overwhelmed with all the Rudimentary Peni orders I woudnt’ve even known what to write about. I think Daniel was swamped with Rudi P too and that’s why he wanted to skip, rather than having a sub-par Newsletter. I’m not kidding, including wholesale I have shipped out around 1,000 copies. And that’s just me. Jeff and Daniel have shipped out a shit ton, too. Ahhh...

I got into punk like age 13, middle school. I’m pretty sure The Casualties were the very first “hardcore” band I ever heard. Being young and so new to punk, I didn’t understand the cliques in “the scene.” At that age my listening sessions would include my Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Casualties, A Global Threat, Discharge, GBH, Antischism, Dead Kennedys, Rudimentary Peni and Crass CDs. It’s funny how some of that stuff I almost never listen to anymore and some of the stuff I still listen to on an almost weekly basis. I still have every one of those CDs. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the booklets anymore. When I was about 15 my parents were completely fed up with my punk shit. My dad came into my room with trash bags, ripped all my posters off the walls and stuffed ‘em into the bags with all my clothing and CDs. He then took it all outside and lit that shit on fire. Haha that sounds kind of insane, like a movie. I hated them for a long time after that. I remember crying and yelling at him like, "You think this is gunna change who I am?!?!!" Look at me now...I was lucky that all my actual discs were in one of those CD binder things, so they were safe from the fire.

I’m pretty sure Antischism was my doorway into Rudimentary Peni, with their cover of Sacrifice. I do remember that the first Rudi P song I checked out was Cosmetic Plague. It’s insane that they can have a song that plays the same fucking riff the entire time and it still sends chills down my spine to this day. That is my favorite Rudimentary Peni song. In the lyrics, Nick Blinko addresses what the real, deep-rooted issue is with humanity. And then he even explains how to overcome this behavior. With what seems like simple wording, he delivers extremely complex concepts and understandings. It blows my fucking mind he would shout like a mad-man like that and still have the ability to play guitar.

I guess my Staff Pick isn’t actually directed at an album in specific this time, although I have a lot of anticipation for the Death Church reissue coming out next on Sealed Records. I originally picked up Death Church and Cacophony on CD at the same, with some of CDs I listed earlier. It was my first time at a record shop; unfortunately I can’t remember the name. And even more unfortunately, I bought the damn CD versions cos I didn’t start buying records for another handful of years. Ironically, my dad was cool enough to buy me those CDs that day (I don’t think I had a job quite yet, haha but my dad did demand I get a job at age 13 cos that was the earliest age you could legally work at in Indiana at the time.)

Cacophony fucked me up. It was like too “scary” for me, haha. It certainly grew over time, but I don’t throw it on as often as other records they did. Death Church instantly drew me in. While I have been a Rudi P fan for over 15 years, regrettably I don’t have a whole hell of a lot of their record pressings. Discharge was like that for me for a while. The records were so commonly found that I just kept putting off getting myself a copy. Luckily I do have all those now, but I only had both Rudi P EPs and a bootleg of Death Church (until the other day!). I was talking to Daniel sometime in the past year and discovered the first pressing of Death Church came in a fold-out sleeve. It killed me that I didn’t have this, and it killed me even more that even I didn’t know this already. Haha and I died again when I saw what price they go for now. If I would’ve just grabbed one ten years ago, or even just five years ago... I expected to wait a really long time, or end up having to pay out the ass to secure myself a copy. But I can’t even tell you how lucky I was to find this first pressing recently for about a 1/3 less than it goes for now, and it was already in the US.

Alright, I’m not really talking about much of any importance, so let me touch on these links below to wrap it up. Please click the first link and watch. I’ve watched so many times. It is so fucking funny. I love Nick Blinko, and seeing footage of him is rare enough as it is. The second link is really fucking cool, I’m sure a lot of people have heard it though. It’s an interview that took place just before Cacophony was released with a person from the US and Grant the bassist of Rudi P. You’ll hear some cool info about the band, as well as some “rumors” debunked (some of the rumors I had never even heard haha.) It was really fucking cool to hear they went to a Discharge gig and decided to start a band. Thanks for reading my friends, much love. ‘Til next time...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nexBhIsVfQ

Patrick Magee: Selections from The Marquis De Sade

This, um, might be a weird one. I’ve been going a little Discogs crazy, and it led me to do something I’ve made fun of in the past: pick up a sealed record without the intention of opening it. I found this record with a selection of the Marquis De Sade’s writings and smashed that buy button way too fast; I couldn’t say no to a sealed copy! Let me explain myself, though, because I’m sure those of y’all that recognize his name are wondering why I’m writing about him.

(For those of you that don’t know him, the Marquis De Sade is the namesake of the word “sadism.” He was a French nobleman and writer in the 1700s who was known for his radical views on sex, violence, and religion. His writings are as bad as you’d expect; full of non consensual acts, degradation… ya know, the works. Maybe you were a weirdo in high school like me and sought out the most fucked up media you could consume and it led you to the Italian movie 120 Days of Sodom that’s based on, yep you guessed it, De Sade’s writing.)

Why would I bring this up? Why am I admitting to buying that record as soon as I saw it on Discogs? I mean, I’ve already admitted an undying love for My Chemical Romance and country music, why not keep it going? I watched the 1975 movie based on De Sade’s writing in high school and had to find out more about the mind that created it. I was interested in him in the same way John Wayne Gayce and Richard Ramirez interested me...how could someone that fucked up exist? Fast forward to junior year of college and studying abroad in a tiny, idyllic village in the south of France, one of only two abroad options my college offered, and finding out two weeks in that castle ruins at the top of the town housed none other than De Sade himself. I had no idea when I applied to the abroad program and only realized after teachers kept making jokes about his writing not being available in the school library.

Okay, anyways, I keep going on tangents. Back to what I was originally saying. I found this record from 1965 where the actor/director Patrick Magee reads some of Marquis De Sade’s work. I didn’t really think twice about purchasing a sealed record; it was the best price and grading combo. I’ve bought a ton of sealed records for the same reason and have had no qualms ripping open that shrink and putting the record on my player. But not this one. Do I really want to sit there and listen to Marquis De Sade’s writing? I’m not sure.

The back of this record touts De Sade as one of the greatest minds of all time, ignored because of the subject matter he wrote about. That... makes me want to listen to the record even less. I’m glad I own another weird facet of history, but I can’t say I condone De Sade as one of the greatest writers of all time and all that jazz. You can write as fancy as you want, but horrible things are still horrible things. And, holy shit, did he do some horrible things (pun not intended but, I’m definitely going to point out that it’s there).

I wonder how many times you’ve already read the words “Electric Chair” in this newsletter? Five? Ten? Twenty? (Note: how about zero? We ran out of stock on these so fast that I decided we’d wait until the repress arrives to heap on the much deserved praise. —Daniel) You’re probably all real smart cookies who skipped straight to MY section, so I’ll just assume this was the first.

Anyway, Electric Chair… the Olympia band… let’s talk about ‘em. The four-piece’s first EP, “Public Apology,” dropped via the Stucco label in 2018. The sleeve had a cute little drawing of a masked executioner pulling a power switch, and the record within boasted the most convincing take on early 1980s American hardcore we’d heard in a minute. Jerry’s Kids, Final Conflict (MN), Adolescents… it was all in there. The music was tough, but it was catchy as hell, and it was PUNK. Opener “Roll the Dice” may even be the best PUNK song released in the past decade. It still gets stuck in my head at least once a week. Great shit!

Then, in 2019, Electric Chair got picked up by vanguard monolith Iron Lung Records for its “Performative Justice” EP. The band went with a snazzy full-color sleeve this time (a real-life punk hand pulling a power switch) and upped the production a bit from “Public Apology”’s suitably rough basement-quality sound. The group got faster and snottier, too. Poison Idea became a much bigger point of reference, and so did The FU’s. Basically, it was REAL RAGIN’. I saw the Chair perform at the Bunker (RIP) here in Raleigh around this time, and boy howdy was it awesome. The band nestled in that sweet spot between slop and precision that made everyone in the room come ALIVE. Man, what I wouldn’t give to be back in that room right now.

So, now it’s time for Electric Chair’s much-anticipated third EP. It’s called “Social Capital” and was also released by Iron Lung. I have it on the desk in front of me, but I haven’t listened to it yet. It looks cool. It’s shiny. And, of course, there’s another power switch being pulled by a punk on it. Oh, and hey, there’s a fancy foldout lyric sheet, too. Check out that cool poster side with band pics! It’s a buncha street toughs poking holes through a pretty orange wall with their own body parts. OH MY!

I’ve purposefully avoided listening to this thing until I could get a hard copy on the turntable. The anticipation has grown too large. How can they possibly do it again? I’m dropping the needle now. BOOM. (my head exploded)