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What’s up Sorry Staters?
Have I now taken a couple weeks off doing my staff pick? Sorry about that. I haven’t given a personal update in a while. Not that any of y’all care. Or maybe you do. If not, forgive me while I shout into the void:
I’m feeling even more exhausted than usual. Yet somehow, also more motivated than usual as well. I think constantly being on the move with a sense of purpose is healthy for my brain chemistry. I’ve been in the process of moving stuff out of my apartment. And it’s funny, because as I’m sitting here writing about that I’m doing this, I don’t even think I’ve discussed it with Daniel at all haha. There’s just been a lot going on, so maybe it hasn’t come up naturally in conversation. My landlord has arbitrarily raised the rent at my place each year I renew my lease. And this time around, I really just can’t afford to live there anymore. So yeah, somewhat related to the whole situation with Daniel finally buying the store, FUCK landlords.
Anyway, I don’t mean to complain. I’ll basically be flying by the seat of my pants for a while. Which is kinda scary, but I’ll also be traveling a lot in the next few months, so it’s all gravy. But all this kinda ties into what I want to talk about for my staff pick. We’ve had quite a few local people who reached out to us to unload a big chunk of their record collections. Which got me thinking a lot. I remember within the last year or so, I would take a look at my records and have thoughts to myself like, “Man, I think I’ve reached a point where I just CAN’T get rid of any more of my records. I need ALL of these.” Haha. But lemme tell ya, as I was stuffing my LPs into boxes and lifting these things, I was like goddamn… I wish I had less records. They’re so damn heavy. And moving those things fucking SUCKS.
In one of the collections that Sorry State just acquired, the guy had a bunch of punk and hardcore stuff from 10 or 15 years ago. A lot of bands which I still own records by, but have not revisited in quite a long time. The other day when I was working the counter at the store, I decided to grab a big stack of these records and throw them on the turntable. For many of those records, as I was blasting them in the store, I just thought to myself, “Damn, this STILL rips!!” I was jamming Vaaska’s Ruido Hasta La Muerte, Omega’s Blasts of Lunacy, and not to mention modern classics like the Herätys LP. Listening to some of these late 00s/early 2010s Swedish punk records has got me feeling extra hyped about seeing Skitkids this summer. Yeah baby. All these records scratched that itch, and still got me raging in the same way they did over a decade ago. Not sure what that says about me. It’s probably just because they’re great records. That said, there are several hardcore LPs from that era that just really don’t hold up for me.
Funny enough, in not just one, but two of the used collections that Sorry State purchased recently, each dude had purged copies of both Total Control LPs. It’s weird timing, because Iron Lung has just reissued both of these records and sent a big ol’ stack of each to Sorry State. Probably to piggyback off the release of the Station Model Violence LP, which is good thinking. Henge Beat is great, but particularly Typical Systemwas a record I listened to death around the time it first came out. It’s one of those records I heavily associate with Sorry State first opening. The record came out midway through 2014, feeling like it was just months after the store first opened its doors, and it functioned almost like my soundtrack for that period of time in my life.
In some ways, even more-so than raging hardcore records, records that are more pop-oriented can either age really well or really poorly. Listening to Typical System again now, all the songs feel fresh to me again. More ethereal, contemplative synthwave soundscapes are accompanied by huge, energetic melodic hooks. The record makes me feel nostalgic to some degree, but (do I dare to say?) it also feels pretty timeless. I’m really enjoying the Station Model Violence record, especially because I love how guitar-forward it is. The jangliness is ever-present. But there’s something uniquely non-rock’n’roll and atmospheric about Typical System that I really enjoy. Granted, I know that Total Control and SMV are not the same band. I’m just making a point of comparison here. There’s a lot of peaks and valleys on Typical System, but I’m walking around downtown Raleigh on this gloomy afternoon with the last track “Safety Net” stuck in my head. I’m sorta feeling like I need one of those at the moment. But it’s all goose, as a dear friend of mine would say.
Anyway, not the most in-depth analysis I’ve ever written, but maybe this will be at least somewhat interesting to some of you readers. Those Total Control records are available from Sorry State on our webstore as we speak. So, if at some point you were like the local folks I mentioned and decided to purge those records from your collection, and now regret it, today’s your chance to get reacquainted. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff