Staff Picks

Hello Sorry State newsletter readers! Another week, another pick. I hope everyone is having a great week, and I’m so happy you made it down to my part of this small but mighty little publication that we put out weekly. My listening habits have been all over the place. I have been checking out a lot of new to me bands. Has anyone checked out that KEXP video of Angine De Poitrine? Wild and really amazing stuff. Check it out if you have a moment.

My pick for this week is the new album from Angel Du$t. I admit I was never into anything before this album. They just did not click with me, but this album is fantastic. Justice Tripp, the founding member of the band and ex-member of the great Trapped Under Ice, seems to be the only consistent thing going for this band. The sound has changed from album to album. The newest album Cold 2 The Touch is just a great hardcore record, well as far as “new” hardcore goes. I would put them up against Turnstile any day. I think they do it better and are more forward-thinking in their songwriting. They combine the best of hardcore with lots of alternative parts that could be plucked from the 90s. Just like Turnstile, this band just has that touch that no one is really doing. Which I think a lot of this newer generation is grasping onto. They want hardcore, but they want it different. Not sure if that makes sense to anyone but me, but yeah. This record rules. It’s fun and different, and it’s one of those records that folks will love in 10 or 20 years from now.

As always, we are listing records and CDs as fast as we can because everyone is buying them up so quickly. Lots of great stuff is added daily!

Hello Sorry Staters! Another week, another pick! Not much has been going on here, just keeping busy by finally inputting my collection into Discogs. It’s a super tedious job, but it is driving me crazy not having it written down somewhere. I’m done accidentally buying doubles! The upside to doing this is that I come across a lot of shit I forgot I had. I also recently saw a YouTube video of someone’s collection and instead of it being in alphabetical order from left to right, it was in order from right to left, so when he pulled a stack out it would go back in order from right to left and this made total sense to me. Though after reading what I wrote back, it makes no sense at all! Oh well! I will have to try it either way.

One record I found buried in my stacks is Mirror Might Steal Your Charm by The Garden. This record was put out by Epitaph Records in 2018 and seems to have been co-released or released by the Vada Vada, which is a label by the brothers in the band, Wyatt and Fletcher Shears. This record is all over the place in the best way possible. This duo is just bass and drums, and the effects they use on the record are super intentional. They know how to build a song and make it sound huge with just two instruments. Listening to this on the way to work again and thinking about what to compare it to, the record that came to mind was the Butthole Surfers’ Electriclarryland, but slightly more chaotic, with the same type of lyrics sung over a million difference effects. This is the only Garden record I own, unfortunately. They have a rabid fanbase that sells out the records and merchandise the moment it gets posted online.

So if you are in the mood for something a little different and very effects and bass line heavy, check them out!

Top 10 Of 2025

Agriculture: The Spiritual Sound 12”

This record was one of the most talked about records of late 2025. Mostly all the reviewers I’ve read and watched on YouTube really praised this record, so I had to check it out as it piqued my curiosity. This record is what I was looking for when I wanted something totally different to blow me away. This just isn’t part of the “blackgaze” sound that is coming out in recent years; it’s that and more. Combining so many elements of so many genres, it just blew me away. My only gripe about that record is the corny hair metal guitar solos. I can get past that, though, which is why I put this record on my top 10 of the year.

Steroid: Chainmail Commandos 12”

I know for a fact I am not the only one putting this record on their end-of-year top 10 lists. This record just came out of nowhere and blew up. War metal plus egg punk is how I guess I would describe it? Daniel wrote about this as his staff pick and it was Record of the Week earlier this year. If you are one of the few people that has not checked this out yet what are you waiting for?

Split System: No Cops In Heaven / Pull The Trigger 7”

The A-side on this single is one of the best protest songs of the year for me. “No Cops in Heaven” is just a fun, catchy pop song speaking its truth with one message: fuck cops they can all go to hell. So I recommend buying this record and blasting it loud at your next ICE protest. Also, FUCK ICE.

Scarab: Burn After Listening 12”

Hardcore death metal with a sprinkle of grindcore? Yeah this record has it all. Clocks in at 12 minutes long, but it’s the most brutal, hate-filled record I heard all year. This one was off my radar as well until I saw that they played FYA Fest in Florida. I checked out their live set on YouTube and was just blown away. This is some powerful, fast music, not for the light-hearted. Granted, this was a late into 2025 listen for me, but it grew on me so much that I had to put it on the list.

Gumm: Beneath The Wheel 12”

Melodic hardcore bordering on some heavier indie rock? Yeah, this one was a must-have when it came out. I fell in love with the first album Slogan Machine when it came out in 2023, and I have been following the band ever since. Convulse Records just keeps finding great bands to sign. I love this band and I love this label. If you're into bands like End It or Angel Du$t, this one is for you.

Hotline TNT: Raspberry Moon 12”

Really bendy, wavy guitar with reverbed vocals and a hint of shoegaze and dream-pop. This was the perfect summer record. This release is the band’s first major label release on Third Man Records and it sounds really polished, like an indie rocker’s dream in the 90s. This record brings me back to listening to the radio when I first got a car. It is just a perfect record from front to back.

TAGABOW: Lotto 12”

Similar to Hotline TNT, but leaning toward more noise pop and shoegaze. This is my album of the year by far; hell the whole catalog is amazing. Is this the best of all their albums? Nah, but it is very close. Fuzzy, heavy guitars into reverbed parts with spoken word to electronic breakbeats. It has it all. I try to tell everyone I know about this band, and everyone who knows me knows that this is exactly what I love about music. It just makes me so excited for what else this younger generation can pump out. Go buy this record! I cannot stress this enough.

Beton Arme: Renaissance 12”

I was very excited when I heard the news of a new Beton Arme record in 2025. I was even more excited to learn that La Vida Es Un Mus was putting it out. For the folks who have been living under a rock, this album is all about the whoa’s and gang vocals, and who doesn’t love that? Great modern Canadan Oi sang in French. There was no doubt that this record was going to make my top records of the year list. If you happen to not own this yet, check it out. I guarantee you will be hooked; this record is just too catchy.

Osees: Abomination Revealed At Last 12”

Osees come out with another powerhouse of a record. Every Osees record gives us something new and fresh. This record is no different. It’s futuristic at times, but also very heavy fuzz punk. Not much more to say about this one. It’s really great, really simple fuzzed-out goodness.

Viagra Boys: Viagr Aboys 12”

I was really skeptical about this record when it first came out. I admittedly did not get it on my first listen. So I shelved it, came back a few weeks later, and boom: it hit me. This record is so dynamic and different, both lyrically and musically, that it just works. To my opinion, that makes it one of Viagra Boys’ best albums so far. It’s fun, thought-provoking and just overall makes sense and at the same time doesn’t.

Honorable Mentions:

C4: Payback's A Bitch

Home Front: Watch It Die

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard: Phantom Island

Puffer: Street Hassle

AFI: Silver Bleeds The Black Sun

Hello again Sorry State newsletter readers! I hope everyone’s holiday breaks have been filled with whatever you wanted them filled with! Not too much has been happening in my world personally; you all have been keeping me busy with all the orders you have been placing for all the new releases we are getting, as well as the used collections we have been listing online. So thanks for that!

I was in a big listening rut for a while. Nothing really sounded that great to me and I was totally not interested in finding or looking up any new music. I finally broke out of that rut and have been listening to some USHC, particularly Boston and New York hardcore. I was pretty excited when we got a 7” in from a band that I have never really heard of. Radio Raheem put out the Enuf 1988 demo. It’s raw, unfiltered and fun New York hardcore. After reading about the band, one of the main reasons I picked it up to listen to it is because Ari from Lifetime played drums in this band. I am a huge Lifetime fan, so this was an instant listen for me. It sounds exactly how you think it sounds if you know the brand of hardcore coming out of New York at the time. We have a few copies left, and it comes in nice solid packaging with a nice big fold-out insert! So as the description on our site puts it, MOSH SUCKA!