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What’s up Sorry Staters?
Another week passes by like a warm breeze on an April afternoon. Or something like that? Gotta say, after Daniel’s announcement about Sorry State’s financial situation last week, the amount of support we received was amazing and more overwhelming than we expected. Pretty crazy, very heartwarming. Hope you all know how much gratitude we all feel for everyone showing their support, whether you were among the flood of in-store customers we had over the weekend, or you made a generous order online. There hasn’t been a dull moment in the last week haha. We’ve been scrambling and moving non-stop to pull records to get your orders together. Thanks for bearing with us!
Sorry, not sorry, but here’s one more mention about the show in Raleigh on April 8th. International hardcore! Indikator B all the way from Croatia! On tour with Totalna Tama from Oakland. Locals Plastique Pigs and Sunyata. By the time this newsletter comes out maybe the show will already be happening. Or maybe the show will already be over, and I’ll be blasting records with the Indikator B dudes at my house.
Speaking of blasting records, for my staff pick this week I’m gonna talk about the Proces / Stengte Dører split 7”. I love 80s Norwegian hardcore. Still, many of the releases on the excellent X-Port Plater label continue to evade me. I’ve got the Bannlyst 7”, but I still need a first press Svart Framtid, the one with the square-shaped center hole punchout. I don’t have any money… but hit me up if you’re holding! I’ll find a way. Haha. Anyway, small tangent there. No Plan Records has done the good work of repressing the Proces / Stengte Dører split, which has never previously been reissued (except for on a boot compilation LP, but that’s beside the point). Finally, I can jam this rager and convince myself I don’t need an og! …Even though I know I still do.
This split EP was an interesting release for X-Port Plater, because while Stengte Dører is Norwegian, Proces was a band from northern Serbia, which at the time of this release was former socialist Yugoslavia. Subotica, the city where Proces is from, is about 4-5 hours east of Zagreb where Indikator B is from (I just had to look it up haha). I don’t know if I have my facts totally straight, but I read somewhere that Proces and Stengte Dører formed a relationship somehow. I assume just by writing letters back and forth. I think Stengte Dører invited Proces to come to Norway to play gigs in 1985, but a member of Proces was denied the ability to leave the country. Crazy to think about. I think Proces might be one of the first Yugo-punk bands to release recorded material, right behind UBR from Slovenia. The Proces side of this EP is really cool. Kinda umpa-umpa 1-2-1-2 drumming style with super scratchy, noisy guitar, with the bass really carrying the melodic structure of the riffs. Good, kinda dark and menacing sounding hardcore. Almost still has a hint of dark post-punk, with chorus on the bass and delay on the vocals. My favorite track by them is probably the last song, “Beirut 83,” which starts with a haunting clip of a woman singing, but then launches into a rager. Ends with bleak sound clips of planes flying and gunfire.
Now, as much as I like the Proces side, Stengte Dører is just absolutely crushing. These 4 songs are maybe some of my favorite 80s Scandinavian hardcore material. The way the intro of the first track “Det Angår Også Deg” begins with that ominous pulsing kick drum, that fast palm muted chugga-chugga guitars before it hits those “WOMP WOMP WOMP” stabbed cymbal clutches, then just diving into barreling fucking raging hardcore. I love the deeper, desperate, raspy style vocals, which have some anthemic call-and-reponse and gang vocal moments. I’d be singing along if I knew any Norwegian. There’s a lot of cool, in-the-pocket rhythmic stuff going on with the drumming, stops and starts, unexpected punches… Super cool. Kinda wonky, jagged, and chaotic, yet groovy and smoothly executed at the same time. The second track, “Generalens Fremmarsj,” might be my favorite. It’s so raging FAST. Then the third track “På Ferie I Libanon” slows the tempo down a bit, and has some dissonant melody in the riff that reminds a lot of the weirdo riffing much like their contemporaries Barn Av Regnbuen, also on X-Port Plater. The last track, “Pålen,” brings the aggression back, one more killer rager to end the record. Stengte Dører released a couple LPs in the late 80s. They have some cool moments on them, even if musically they get a little whacky. Still, none of that material matches the magic of their 4 songs on this split EP.
Alright, that’s all I’ve got. Maybe even less eloquent than usual this time. Would I ever describe my writing in such terms anyway? I dunno, dude. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff