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What’s up Sorry Staters?
Like seriously, what the fuck is up? How long has it been? Weeks? Months?? I feel absolutely certain it’s been at least a few months. In part, because I’ve been outta town so much lately. I’ve been on a whirlwind of an adventure over the last several weeks, lemme tell ya. Firstly, flying with Usman and Daniel to Sweden for our friend’s wedding. Then I came back to the US so Public Acid could haul our asses up to New York in order to play at the Bowery Ballroom with Warthog. THEN, I hopped back on a plane to fly to Copenhagen for K-town Hardcore Fest. Psychotic behavior. And guess what? In less than 2 weeks, Public Acid and Invertebrates are hitting the road together for a full US tour. So we’ll catch up in August. Can you believe it? Jah, give me strength. I ain’t complaining, though. It’s all good things. These commitments require just denying myself rest or proper time at Sorry State.
While I was at K-Town, I was happy to see my friends from Croatia. Indikator B totally ripped. I kept running into the dynamic duo of Carlo and Ticija quite a few times throughout the fest. If you’ve had the pleasure of meeting this pair, you’ll know they’re both hardcore punk record maniacs, just like me. It was funny sitting next to them while watching a showing of the Anti-Cimex documentary, and us all having the same nerdy reactions to moments onscreen. While I was hanging out with them, they were singing the praises of the latest release on Autsajder Produkcija, which is the new 7” by Ljubljana punk band Poguba entitled Noč.
Daniel told me that he thought he remembered me doing a write-up for the newsletter about Poguba’s previous cassette. Now, perhaps my mind is failing me in my old age, but I have no memory of this haha. I even went back and searched the newsletter archive and could not find anything. But if I’m totally wrong and am just having a brain fart, someone please send it my way! I’d love to know what I wrote lol.
Unsurprisingly, I love this new Poguba record. First impressions, the recording sounds incredible. The thick, blown-out, super fuzzy guitars sound so fucked up and powerful. The texture of the guitar tone tickles my ear follicles. They sound raw and organically captured, completely undigital. Totally gross but still captured in a way that sounds sonically lush and huge. Pulsating and alive. The sleeve has a cool looking presentation as well. Stark black and white, using crosses as imagery. Midway between the visuals of Die Kreuzen and Eastern European punk… Coincidence? I would say no.
I think one comparison I would draw between Poguba and their peers Indikator B is that in the context of fast hardcore, it feels like the band puts effort into writing actual songs. I know that may sound like a silly concept, but this approach to creating hardcore music feels in short supply these days. They’re riff machines. Guitar parts and song structures strung together in a way that feels meaningful – the exact opposite of a mediocre collage of riffs just tossed against the wall. But to me, the sense of dread I draw from Poguba’s music feels much more unhinged than Indikator B. Like it’s exploding. The singer and the emotion of the music has a sense of desperation. There’s an inexplicable feeling of darkness just underneath the surface. But it ain’t gothic or post-punk… even if they do sneak in a cover of an early Cure song. Even so, it’s fucking hardcore, dude.
There’s a lot of kinda (for lack of a better term) “weird” moments on this record. The song “Maximum Rokenrol” has these jerky stops ‘n’ starts with kind of aloof, disinterested spoken vocals in between, only to then break into this slow, dirgey section. Makes me think of weird ass parts on a Barn Av Regnbuen record or something. I think it’s cool. Unique ideas like this stick with me, assuming I’m not totally turned off by them. I think more bands should venture outside the constraints of their genre-confining box. I’d rather hear raging hardcore with whacky moments than anymore fuckin’ “whoa-ohs,” that’s for damn sure.
I feel like a lot of current records coming out are boasted with descriptions comparing them to borderline buzzword-y, but admittedly super cool 80s hardcore records which I hold near ‘n’ dear to my heart. However, I often feel like these records sound nothing like the comparisons the writer of the review throws out there. Poguba does sound special in the same way a lot of these great records sound to me. Not so much because the recording sounds authentically “old” or whatever. It’s moreso that this record gives me the same FEELING that a great, classic 80s hardcore gives me. Mean, chaotic, noisy, powerful, memorable. Fucking killer.
Anyway, I’ll stop right there for now. Seems like we’ve already sold a few copies of this record. And that’s killer. Perhaps long gone are the days where people in the US sleep on an under the radar DIY hardcore release from Europe. It’s a beautiful thang. That said, if you haven’t checked out Poguba yet, I highly suggest you check it out.
That’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff