Staff Picks

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. We’re finally getting some warmer weather here, and that spring feeling is in the air. I’m welcoming it with open arms; I could use a break from the winter weather. Last week, I made the annual February pilgrimage to Asheville to catch four nights of Billy Strings. It was nice cause they split the shows up to have an off day in the middle. A show Tuesday and Wednesday night and then Thursday off, followed by two more shows on Friday and Saturday night. The break on Thursday night was a nice breather in the middle to keep things fresh. Over the four nights, 96 songs were played with no repeats. That’s what keeps me coming back; no two shows are ever the same and can feel totally different. Lots of originals played and some real choice covers spanning Jimi Hendrix, Doc Watson, Bob Dylan and more. Sydney and I were in agreement that Friday night was our favorite night of the run. The energy was off the charts and the long, psychedelic jams were flowing. My personal highlight from that night was the 22-minute ripping version of his original song Hide and Seek that blasted off into space and then came back down to earth before going into a cover of Ralph Stanley’s I Only Exist. Even with all the shows I’d been to, I’d never heard that one before in person and was happy to finally catch it. A somber song about feeling so down in the dumps you don’t even feel like you’re alive, merely just existing and going through the motions of life. I’m sure that’s a feeling most of us have felt at some point or another. I always love when they play some crazy, long-ass song that sends your mind to another dimension, but then grounds the plane with some good ‘ol fashioned bluegrass. It just feels right. The whole city of Asheville turns into a giant circus of people who came to see the shows, and everyone is in on it. Every restaurant you go to has special menu items, and every waiter is talking about how either they’re going to the shows themselves or someone they know is attending. The damn mayor even came out on stage the final night and gave Billy the key to the city cause they love him so much. Since 2021, he’s played 19 consecutive sold-out shows there, and she talked about what a huge impact he made when he played there last year after the hurricane, bringing a lot of business when the city needed it most. Asheville loves Billy and I think he feels the same way. I think he’ll be playing there for a long time and I plan to be in attendance every time. Thank you Asheville and the band for another wonderful week in the mountains!

This is a public service announcement!

Help make sense of this crazy world by listening to The Clash.

That’s what a lot of us have done for the past fifty years and it’s done us well, I think. Their music was always asking questions and giving you homework to do, but rewarded the listener for paying attention and doing a little bit of research with killer tunes, riffs and hooks. Politics and having a good time can exist together. I was just a kid when they were around, but liked them and bought a few of their records with my paper round money at the time. As the years have gone by, I have steadily grown a huge love and appreciation for them, and I am sure that’s a shared sentiment with many of you reading. One record though that can sometimes even divide fans of the band is their fourth album, Sandinista, released just before Christmas 1980.

The typical complaint being that the three-disc album is too long, blah, blah, blah. Or that it switches style too much and tackles too many genres. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it all before. For most other people, and indeed critics at the time, this eclectic mix of rock, dub reggae, hip-hop and funk was fantastic and highly enjoyable. Sure, it’s a long album, but it plays like you have a cool radio station on or like a curated mixtape given to you by a friend. I love the switches of style and blends of sounds. Bottom line, it’s a great fuckin’ record and doesn’t need me to defend it.

I bought a copy sometime in the mid 80s and mine came with the two zine/newspaper inserts, which are cool and have shots of the band and cartoons and lyrics, etc. I had to buy a CD copy during my travels in the late 80s and 90s, but one way or another it’s been an album that I have never gone without. More recently, with the world situation looming darkly over all of us, I have found myself returning to the record frequently, and it’s never far from the turntable. Sometimes I’ll play the whole thing if I have time, but often I’ll just throw on a side or two and vibe off those tracks. There is a US promo out there that was released at the time that condensed the 36 tracks down to 12 on one LP, and there is an argument that could be a “perfect” version. I have a copy and we had one or two come through Sorry State some time ago.

As a DJ in later years, I regularly included Clash tunes in my sets. The dub and funk they were exploring sound great (especially on some of the 12” singles) and are just as impactful and powerful now. Throw on The Magnificent Seven and/or its dub version, The Magnificent Dance, and watch how the people smile. The song The Call Up is another one that had a profound effect on me as a kid. I had briefly flirted with the idea of a military career, but the impact of the Falklands war, Northern Ireland, and my continued education from music and football quickly put an end to that idea and that song was one that earwormed me at just the right time.

I don’t need to say anything more, really. This was just a, “what am I listening to?” segment of the newsletter this time around. The Clash rule, and that’s a fact.

However, if you haven’t given Sandinista a listen recently, stick it on. It sounds as fresh as the day it was released.

That’s all from me. Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

After writing about the excellent new Modem record in last week’s newsletter, I guess I’m sticking with Finland this week as well. But rather than contemporary beep-boop music, I’m throwing it way back to one of the earliest examples of Finnish punk rock.

I’m not sure exactly where my journey of discovery with early Finnish punk began. At a certain point, I think I started to notice Daniel accumulating lots and lots of cool Finnish punk records all of a sudden. And when I say that, I mean specifically showing interest in bands from that initial late 70s punk wave, and not necessarily 80s hardcore stuff. I would walk into work some days, and he would just bring in a stack of cool European punk records to listen to, some of which I’d never seen before. I’d react like, “Uuuh, holy shit dude, when did you get all of these?” So maybe the Sorry State bossman spear-headed a bit of motivation and inspiration for me to check more of these records out.

Many, many years ago, I randomly stumbled into hearing the first Ratsia LP through the channels of the mysterious internet blogosphere. I think at the time, my young, short-sighted takeaway upon hearing Ratsia was: “Wow, they cover Stiff Little Fingers in a different language!” And it would take me until much later in life to discover how brilliant and ingrained in my memory songs like “Lontoon Skidit” would become. I wasn’t ready yet, I guess. And it would be even many years after that realization before I’d actually get a chance to visit Finland and try to find those records in person, to varying degrees of success. It’s funny that it would take me until my 30s to finally grab a physical copy of that Ratsia LP. Then all of a sudden, it became all about learning more about bands like Ypö-Viis, Pelle Miljoona, Kollaa Kestää, and all the rest.

Now it’s time to talk about another band that’s on par with the bands I mentioned above: As some of you readers know, the fine people over at Svart Records recently reissued the first two albums by seminal Finnish punk band Eppu Normaali. Now, what’s funny is that I only recently learned the information, while reading some random internet article, that Eppu Normaali is like literally Finland’s biggest selling band—like, EVER. Record sales, singles in the charts… Which is crazy, because I had no idea. What I do know is that I heard an Eppu Normaali album from 1990, and let’s just say I was not a fan. A bit too tepid and soft for me. That’s not to say they don’t have other records from their 80s heyday that I might enjoy, but for the purposes of this newsletter, I’ll stick with the first two albums from the late 70s. Both of which, just to be clear, are incredible.

Eppu Normaali’s first LP Aknepop was originally released in 1978. If you think about it, that’s pretty early on as far as punk emerging and infecting other places beyond the US and England. Eppu Normaali and bands like The Clash and Generation X were basically contemporaries. This first record is killer. Kinda raw, high-energy rock’n’roll with great riffy guitar playing. A lot of the super frantic, rockin’ sounding guitar stuff reminds a lot of like Johnny Moped and the like. And I don’t know what it is about Finnish bands, like if it’s something in the culture, but they just leaned so heavy into incredibly hooky, almost folk-esque melodicism. A lot of the bands have such a gift for melody. I remember the first time I heard the song “Poliisi Pamputtaa Taas” off this record. It’s the first song on the B-side, which I accidentally played for the first time thinking it was the A-side haha. That song is just so damn catchy, I thought this must be like the pop hit off the record. Lo and behold, “Poliisi Pamputtaa Taas” was released as a single in 1978 preceding the release of the album. The recording on the single version is different, so naturally my record fiending brain was like I MUST FIND ONE. And of course, it’s expensive haha.

Over the last few years, I’ve spent so much time with Aknepop that I think my attention was diverted away from Eppu Normaali’s 2nd album Maximum Jee & Jee. Lately, I think I might even prefer the band’s sophomore album. They were great musicians from the beginning, but something about the performances, production and songwriting feels more refined on Maximum Jee & Jee. Even by the second track “Njet Njet,” the band incorporates a feeling of melancholy and a sense of longing with washy, jangly guitars you didn’t hear as much on the first album.

I feel like I could write a paragraph on just about every song on this record. I’ll try to refrain as much as I can. As a direct contrast to the melancholy I just mentioned, a song like “Lainelautailevan Lehmänmaha Rock N’ Roll” almost feels like Eppu’s take on Plastic Bertrand-esqu punksploitation with goofy sing-along boogie woogie doo-wop background vocals and stuff. One of my favorite songs on the record, “Pidetään Ikävää,” starts with this Teenage Head “Picture My Face”-paced groove, but then has a super hooky tongue-twisting, multi-syllabic vocal hook with a woman doing backup vocals—which THEN launches into this minor key section with eerie violin accompaniment. Might sound strange, but it’s fucking awesome. The track “Science Fiction” is a gem as well, starting with these pseudo-futuristic atonal synthesizers but then bursting out into one of the most up-tempo, catchy songs on the whole record. Okay, one more: The song “Jee Jee,” from where I assume the title of the album is derived, is also a favorite. Apparently “jee” is how the Finns spell “yeah”, so one of the big hooks in the song is them just singing, “yeah, yeah yeaaah.” It fucking rules. Call me crazy, but methinks Tiikerri might have borrowed this motif for some of their songwriting hehe. I just love how Maximum Jee & Jee pushes boundaries and experiments with songs in a way that feels light-hearted and playful rather than snobby or pretentious. Such a great record.

So maybe me deciding to write about Eppu Normaali from the perspective of a Finnish person would be like deciding to write about Green Day or something. But it must be undeniable even amongst Finnish people that these first 2 albums are all-time classics, right? Seems like the band had some records in the mid-80s into the 90s where they had a much higher level of mainstream success. And honestly, I don’t know much about those records. The Finnish rock/pop genre known as Suomi-rock is a rabbit hole that I’m not prepared to dive into. But it seems like Eppu Normaali’s appeal is something very insularly relevant to Finnish culture rather than the band having success as a big international musical export. Maybe I’m wrong? Interestingly, I find a parallel between the story of Eppu Normaali and the popularity of the band Ebba Grön in Sweden, whom I wrote about in a previous newsletter many moons ago. Or maybe that’s a weird comparison to make? I’m writing about all this stuff like I actually know what I’m talking about. I’m just a humble punk enthusiast trying to draft interesting tidbits for all you readers to enjoy. Or ignore. Either way. There’s always so much more cool stuff to discover.

We’ve still got a bunch of copies of Aknepop and Maximum Jee & Jee in stock. Don’t sleep on these, ya dummies!! If you’ve been hesitating to dive deeper into international punk that you’re unfamiliar with, now is the time to correct that. Don’t make the same mistake I did. These records are no-brainer purchases if you like good, catchy, badass punk rock.

Welp, that’s all I’ve got for you guys. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

This week my staff pick is URGH, the new album by Mandy, Indiana, a group from Manchester, England. I chose Mandy, Indiana’s first self-titled EP as my staff pick back in 2022, and in that piece I wrote about how I first heard them. Basically, I heard them on Radio 6 Music on the BBC. That year I drove alone from Denver to Raleigh, taking about 3 days, and I spent a lot of time listening to Radio 6 on that trip. I think Mandy, Indiana was the flavor of the week because I noted in my staff pick that multiple DJ’s had played tracks from the then-new EP. High on alone time, I remember a track from that EP hitting in that perfect, middle-of-a-long trip way where you totally get a second wind from it. I’ve had a soft spot for the group ever since.

Since that first EP, Mandy, Indiana has been plugging along at a respectable pace. Their first album I’ve Seen Away arrived in 2023 on Fire Talk, the same UK label that released the EP. We stocked both releases at Sorry State (in fact, it looks like we recently restocked that first EP), but I guess I never got around to writing about the full-length… maybe it got a stray mention in the newsletter, but I didn’t write about it at any length. I listened to it a lot, though, and I enjoyed it, though I suppose I haven’t revisited it as often as the EP.

I was pleased to see Sacred Bones signed the group for URGH, their latest album and follow-up to I’ve Seen A Way. Mandy, Indiana’s noisy, arty sound is a good fit for Sacred Bones I think. You know, I was thinking about how a lot of Sacred Bones’ American signings don’t do much for me, but I like a lot of the artists they’ve signed from Europe: Molchat Doma (though nothing will be as good as that first record), The Soft Moon, and my favorite Anika (whose Abyss was one of my favorite records of 2025). I’d be curious to know how those groups go over in their own parts of the world. All those artists seem kind of exotic to me, all of them having an unidentifiable European-ness that I find very intriguing. Would a European see it that way, or would they just sound banal? Is there a context I’m blind to that might kill it for me? Why am I asking myself such a stupid and pointless question?

Whoa there buddy, let’s get back to planet earth. What does Mandy, Indiana sound like? Their songs have the shape and outline of post-punky rock songs, but it’s like someone replaced the bass, then the guitars, and then the drums with something more texturally interesting and rhythmically striking. Pop remade in some kind of post-human, android vision… not slick like Modem or Fatamorgana, but noisy and fucked up… Bladerunner not The Matrix. You get a really good representation of that right at the beginning of “Sevastopol,” the first track on URGH. It has a propulsive post-punk background, but everything is glitching out, awash in noise… alien and slightly threatening. Listen to it at the wrong time and it’ll send your anxiety into overdrive. Danny gave it a shot and his response was, “I don’t think I got it.” I didn’t know there was anything to get!

If you’re looking for a band reference as a point of comparison, that’s tough. This really is not my world. When I wrote about the first EP, I compared them to Rakta’s Falha Comum, and I can see where I was coming from with that… you’ll definitely hear lots of noisy analog synth sounds in both. But listening to URGH so much lately, I keep thinking of the last couple of Whatever Brains records. There’s no way Mandy, Indiana heard Whatever Brains, but both groups have that sense of having the shape of something familiar hovering in the background, yet sounding totally alien, like (as I said earlier) something organic that was torn down and rebuilt by robots. Maybe there’s an entire world of artists that do something similar and I don’t know about them. Or maybe that’s just a standard musical M.O…. it’s what a lot of the Björk tracks I like do, for instance, or even 60s psychedelic pop… finding fresh sounds to cram into the classic format.

Back to URGH. While I love most of it, there are a couple of more challenging moments later in the album that I’m undecided on. First, I don’t know how I feel about rapper Billy Woods’ guest spot on “Sicko!,” the eighth track on the album. He has a rough, staccato delivery, and when you combine that with Mandy, Indiana’s noisy, quasi-industrial textures, it sounds a lot like Death Grips. Which is fine, but it also makes me realize how much I love the interplay between the instruments and the vocals on Mandy, Indiana’s other songs. There’s a sweetness to the vocals that balances out the abrasiveness of the music, and when Woods’ vocals amplify rather than counterbalance the abrasiveness, it’s just too much for me. The other track I’m not feeling as much is the last song, “I’ll Ask Her.” Most of Valentine Caulfield’s lyrics are in French, but “I’ll Ask Her” is in English. When the lyrics are in French, I might catch a word or a phrase here and there, but mostly they’re just sounds to me, and that keeps me in this ethereal, dreamy listening space. The lyrics for “I’ll Ask Her” are coming from a great place politically—it’s about how men (or maybe just people) ignore and excuse sexist, even violent behavior—but something about it feels generic… I wish there was something more literary or poetic about the lyrics I guess… subtler, too, to match the fineness of detail in the music. I could totally imagine “Sicko!” or “I’ll Ask Her” being someone’s favorite tracks on the album, though. They stick out from the rest of the album, and there’s something “pop” about both songs, like they’re aimed at a wider audience than your typical noise group.

So yeah, check it out if you are so inclined. It looks like the indie exclusive color version is still available. It’s listed as “RGB” vinyl, but my copy is just green. I wonder if copies are randomly either red, green, or blue? If so, that’s kinda neat. I love surprises.

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!

Hey there everyone reading! Thanks for giving us your time again this week. As well as can be expected in the world today, how are you doing? Here in the southern part of the United States, we have come out from the other side of our winter storm conditions and as I write, we are back to spring-like weather today. I’ll take it. Enough of the weather and on with the music.

As a lover of so many different musical styles and forms, I never struggle to find something to listen to, but it seems in the last few weeks I have been hit by a tsunami of cool new to me records and new releases. There’s a healthy stack of vinyl in the listening queue at home and at the store I am doing my best to catch up on a ton more. It’s hard to know where to begin.

I’ll quickly mention some records that deserve your attention and that I believe Daniel and maybe Jeff will talk about elsewhere in the newsletter or that we have had in the store. Some may be sold out currently, but we’ll get ‘em back.

The new album from our cool Finnish friends Modem is out. It’s called Interface. If you liked their previous album and love 80s synth-pop and the like, then you’ll love this new one. We were lucky to hear some of these new tunes when the guys visited the States last year and played here in Raleigh. Great stuff.

Staying in Finland, the two albums from Eppu Normaali that Svart Records have beautifully reissued, are amazing. I bought my copies out of the box despite never having heard of them or their music. I was blown away. I’m sure Daniel will describe these albums in a way that will be way more learned and articulate than I can muster, but my first impression on hearing the records was that they sounded like a mix of Doctor Feelgood and Buzzcocks, fronted by a Welshman. I didn’t understand what the lyrics were saying, but I could feel the music. Good times 70s power pop punk with r&b and rock ‘n’ roll roots. Check them out.

Daniel mentioned that we have been trying to beef up our international sections and bring in other interesting rock, pop and soul titles whenever we can find them at a good price for you guys. It’s not as easy as you’d think. There are a lot of reissues and compilation series out there. Some are better than others, and some just end up being too expensive. One series of compilations that never disappoints and is always value for money are those released by Soul Jazz Records. Their latest selection of Cumbia and Latin music originally released on the Fuentes label in the latter half of the last century is pure fire. If you have tried finding original Cumbia and related singles and LPs, you’ll know it is not easy or cheap. You’ll probably be familiar with the Fuentes label and know that it’s a mark of quality similar to what Blue Note is to jazz. Watch out for this one when we restock it.

Another sold-out item that hopefully we’ll restock is the Adverts 45 that featured earlier versions of We Who Wait b/w New Boys, that had remained unissued until being specially remastered for this new 7”. They did a great job; the music sounds awesome, and they come in different random colors matching the sleeves that are inspired by the original single release.

If anyone was inspired to check out the band Dry Cleaning that I mentioned recently and ended up liking them, you might want to investigate their earlier records. 4AD have just reissued their first album and put together a compilation of their EPs which I would thoroughly recommend. They’re not for everyone, I get that, but the deadpan delivery and clever wordsmithery is hitting me in the right spot.

We are always out there trying to buy good record collections, and you our customers tend to bring us the best stuff. It’s a good setup. We sell you cool shit; you sell us cool shit, and someone else buys your cool shit. The music lives on and gets to bring joy or whatever other emotion you look for in music to another person. One recent collection buy brought in a slew of cool records that our local customers have been snapping up. There’s still lots of them left, btw. I did have to do the uncool record store clerk thing and snag a couple. I know, I’m sorry. I feel bad about even talking about it. LoL. Hey, we sacrifice a lot for rock ‘n roll and deserve a few perks. So yeah, I grabbed two records by the Dischord-related band Gray Matter.

Gray Matter was a DC-based band together for a few years in the early to mid-1980s. They formed in ’83, split in ’86 and then reformed in 1990 and lasted another three years. Their first record was the full-length called Food For Thought and it came out in 1985. Originally on the R&B label and recorded at Inner Ear Studios. It’s a fab blast of DC post punk-ish music with a touch of late sixties influence perhaps. It was still the 80s, so bands like MC5 and Stooges were just as much an influence as later 70s punk music. Maybe I get the MC5 thing from the back cover of the album, where one of the guys is wrapped in the stars ‘n bars. The sixties influence is confirmed though by the last track on the record, a cover of I Am The Walrus. Say what you want about The Beatles, but Walrus is a brilliant song. When Oasis started out, they would end their live sets with a version too. Both bands tackle the song well. My favorite track so far on the album is Caffeine Blues. It rips.

In 1986, the band released an EP titled Take It Back. Again, recorded at Inner Ear, but this time released on Dischord itself. This 12” is killer. I’ve been blasting it repeatedly. Six tunes, with Burn No Bridges being a particular banger of a song. Thanks to our Jeff here at Sorry State for pointing me towards this one. I was looking through the records from the collection that Jeff had priced and saw the Gray Matter album. I mentioned that Danny and I had just been playing a reissue we had in the store the other day and that how much I liked it. Jeff, rightly, said that I needed the EP just as much. How right he is. I’ve lost count of how many amazing records and bands he has steered me towards. The man knows his records.

I can’t really say much more about the band that can’t be found on the internet and that you hip guys don’t already know, and I certainly don’t want to sound like a poser and come off like I know all about them. All I know is that I trust my ears, and when I hear cool shit, I want it in my life. Btw, the copy I snagged was the first Dischord reissue and not the first press on R & B, so nerds can untwist their panties, and the EP did not have the insert. So basically, almost suckers’ copies. LoL. Jeff said he’d photocopy his insert for me, though.

Thanks for your attention and reading. Perhaps there’s something I mentioned that you’ll enjoy. Cheers to my buddy John Scott, who is out this week on Billy Strings duty in Asheville. I’ve been watching along on Nugs but haven’t spotted him in the crowd yet.

Cheers and catch up with you next time - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

What can I say everybody? Getting through constructing that year-end write up for the previous newsletter was A LOT. Thank for bearing with me if you actually read the whole thing. My brain is feeling less foggy over the last couple weeks. I’m finding myself enjoying new music lately, which is a relief. Speaking of which, let’s get right into it:

I’m not sure if my staff pick this week will come as a surprise to some of you readers out there. I think I’ve probably mentioned in previous newsletters that beyond my love for raging hardcore punk and low-brow heavy metal, I do have a soft spot for 80s synth pop, new wave, darkwave, freestyle, whatever. Sorry State just got in Interface, the latest album from Modem, and I’ve already listened to this record an unhealthy number of times. I think this record properly came out in the fall of 2025, but Sorry State only just got copies, so it’s new to me.

For those uninitiated, Modem is a duo based in Helsinki, Finland. Tytti is the lead vocalist and handles some additional instrumentation. And then the primary synth arrangements and production are done by Ville, who you might recognize from many Finnish hardcore bands like Kohti Tuhoa and Sorry State’s own Yleiset Syyt. I was lucky enough to get to see Modem play live here in Raleigh of all places. Kings, our local venue where they performed, must be like a 300-capacity room. And to the 20 or so people that actually showed up, Tytti still boldly and commandingly demanded the audience’s attention as if she was playing Wembley Stadium. She was on and off stage at any given moment. They were striking visually of course, in all latex and leather regalia, but they also sounded amazing. My man Ville looked cool as fuck: sunglasses on, not facing the crowd, pumping out killer synth lines, and had a guitar strapped to his back the whole time in case he needed to urgently whip it around and shred a smokin’ hot lead.

There’s been a few groups in the last few years that have faithfully accomplished a modern interpretation on this sound of drum machine and synth-based 80s pop music. I really enjoyed that record Love Lines by Nuovo Testamento from a few years ago, for example. I think that most of these contemporary 80s-style synth-pop groups certainly have no intention of reinventing the wheel. Rather, the intent is to wear their influences on their sleeves—more of an homage, if you will. It feels like the goal is to sonically capture the sound of a record that actually could have been released in the 80s. And I’m totally cool with that. That said, perhaps Modem’s interpretation of 80s synth-based music is one that can only be achieved by manifesting through the lens of isolation in a brutal Finnish blizzard.

Maybe the homie bias does come into play here a little bit, because I’ve interacted with both Tytti and especially Ville, and I think they’re both really cool people. But I just think Interface is a great record. The record has a short intro, and then it’s just 8 tracks, each song better than the one before. Sometimes I dive in blind listening to certain things, and it just hits me like a ton of bricks. I haven’t spent as much time with Modem’s previous LP Megalomania, but even in the couple weeks we’ve had this new LP in stock, it already feels super familiar to me. For one thing, the sound design and production are incredible. Beautifully sculpted. I was speaking to a friend on the phone the other day who plays around with synths and production. I recommended him Interface, and his instant reaction was how great it sounded. Discussing this record, he mentioned how it’s not necessarily easy to nail synth tones and mixes that sound this crisp, sharp and authentic. Juicy soundscapes, babyyy. And for how ominous it appears at first glance, the record is like… really fun. I mean, come on, it’s got fuckin’ handclaps, dude.

The sonic vibe of the record does encase you within a cold, robotic atmosphere. But much like the android concept in the album artwork, Modem captures a vibe that is simultaneously cold and distant, while also warm and approachable with their pop sensibility. A song like “Cowboy” has unexpected twangy surf lead guitar. But it doesn’t feel out of place. All the sonic textures feel methodically, intelligently constructed and intentional. To me, the whole record has an addictive quality. It’s either connecting to some pleasurable brain synapses, or maybe it’s my replicant wiring firing on all cylinders.

Tytti’s vocals are great. I think not understanding Finnish, you might think this would take me out of it. Instead, it makes me appreciate the melody and song construction rather than harping on lyrics I might find corny or whatever. She weaves together syncopated melody lines not unlike the catchiness of the synth parts behind her, but then also additional sweeping, distant and ethereal vocal adornments on a track like “Ave Maria.” I love the “do-do-do’s” on the song “Kulta-aika,” which almost have a soulful, funky kinda thang goin’ on.

Songs that evoke mystery and darkness are supplemented by a song like “Image,” which feels like the most “major key” straightforward pop banger on the record. So much of the record has familiarity to me, like kind of reminding me of later-period Depeche Mode. On the song “Pagliacii,” it’s almost like I’m waiting for the piano melody from “Enjoy The Silence” to start happening… call me crazy, but the vocal melody during the verse of “Passio” reminds me a lot of “Here Comes the Rain Again” by the Eurythmics. Coincidence? I think not. Then again, what do I know? Remember what I said about wearing your influences on your sleeve? And who cares? It’s fucking great.

Modem has released pretty much everything on their own label Modem Age Records in Finland. But on this new record, it looks like they have some sorta deal in the US with Don Giovanni. I think I also saw a picture of Tytti and Ville on a red carpet for some indie awards show the other day. And you know what? Good for them. This feels like a record that should be popular. If anything about the way I described this record sounds like it could be your bag, I highly recommend giving it a shot. You will not be bored for one second. All bangers. A good time and fun listen. Buuuut, you might turn into a robot… but like… a reeeally cool robot.

That’s all I’ve got. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Before I get into my staff pick this week, I want to note that Friday evening (Feb 13) I’ll once again be a guest on Mike from Analog Attack’s YouTube channel, where his What Are You Listening To? podcast meets (most) every Friday. I’ve been on several times, and this time I’m appearing alongside a couple of esteemed guests: Tony Pence from Celebrated Summer Records, Jeff Bolt from Swearin’ and Stupid Bag Records, and of course Mike will host as usual. I’ve been thinking about my picks and wondering if anyone else will have something to say about the weird-ass shit I listen to. You can watch it on YouTube after it airs, but it’s a lot more fun to watch live and interact with the show as it’s happening through the chat.

As I’m sure you know, the Descendents are remastering and reissuing their SST-era catalog on Org Music. So far they’ve done two titles: Milo Goes to College and I Don’t Want to Grow Up (available with either the original artwork or the new Punk Note edition). Milo Goes to College is an all-timer for me… a record I’ve listened to a million times and love to the bottom of my heart. At some point I wisely invested in an original New Alliance Records pressing (which sounds significantly better than the SST represses), so that reissue came and went with little effect on my listening habits. However, the reissue of I Don’t Want to Grow Up has hit me pretty hard. I’ve known the record since I was in high school. In fact, I remember ordering it from the SST mail-order catalog (the little ones that they used to include in copies of every release) on CD along with a t-shirt of the album art. I only wore the t-shirt a couple of times before I realized yellow shirts are not a good match for my complexion, so I cut it up and it became my very first back patch. I still have it sewn onto an old hoodie, but I don’t break it out too often. I stopped wearing hoodies a few years ago after someone pointed out what a marker of our times they are, and how in the future everyone will be able to tell instantly that a photo is from the 2010s or 2020s by the flaccid ballsack hanging off the back of pretty much everyone’s necks. It’s been crewnecks all the way for me since I heard that quip.

Anyway, I listened to that CD of I Don’t Want to Grow Up for many years, and it fueled many a late-night drive over the decades, but I don’t think I ever really understood or appreciated its context. I always knew that Milo Goes to College stood apart from the rest of the Descendents catalog in terms of both production and songwriting, and of course the vibe completely changes when they came back in the 90s (another benefit of being my age and getting into the Descendents as a teenager: I got to see them play an incredible show in a dilapidated movie theatre in Norfolk, Virginia on the Everything Suckstour). But the middle-era SST albums were just kind of an undifferentiated mass to me. Pre-Discogs it was hard to even tell what order they came in, and since LIveage! and Somery did such a good job of collecting the best songs from those albums, I didn’t really spend much time with them individually. This reissue campaign is a great opportunity to rectify that.

I Don’t Want to Grow Up was the Descendents’ second album, originally released in 1985, three years after Milo Goes to College. A lot happened in the interim, but I Don’t Want to Grow Up still feels like a continuation of Milo Goes to College. Original Descendents guitarist Frank Navetta was out, replaced by Ray Cooper, but the rest of the lineup carries over from Milo. Of course Bill Stevenson and Milo are mainstays and it’s not the Descendents without them, but having original bass player Tony Lombardo still on board is huge. I love Tony Lombardo’s playing. I hate when bass players get noodly… I’d way rather they just stay locked in, holding down the rhythm and playing mostly root notes. But Lombardo crafts these perfect lines that are sturdy as bedrock, yet often pull against the rest of the song rhythmically and melodically in a way that’s subtle but significant. Often, Lombardo’s bass line is at the heart of the song… the all-time classic bass line form “Myage” is probably the definitive example, but “Rockstar” from I Don’t Want to Grow Up definitely fits in that category too. Actually, now that I’m looking at the songwriting credits, Lombardo composed the music for the first four tracks on this LP (as well as “Theme” and “GCF”), so his writing really sets the tone for the record. I Don’t Want to Grow Up is the last Descendents with Lombardo on bass, and I feel like they were never the same afterward. (Side note: looking around on Discogs just now I ran across the Tonyall record on Cruz from 1991… I may need to investigate this further.)

While 3/4 of the Milo lineup continued on to I Don’t Want to Grow Up, the change in the guitar chair is significant. Original guitarist Frank Navetta had a distinctive style, with a lot of note-y parts that almost sound more like bass lines than guitar lines, which would weave around Lombardo’s bass in fascinating ways… the interplay between those two is one of my favorite parts of Milo Goes to College. Ray Cooper is a more conventional guitarist. He has more of a traditional “rock” sound with lots of power chords and more familiar, sometimes even slightly metallic, fills and flourishes (interestingly, Cooper also played guitar for a time in Chuck Dukowski’s band SWA… I think concurrently with this time in Descendents? I’d have to listen back to the relevant You Don’t Know Mojackepisodes to be sure). Cooper’s style is totally different from both Navetta and his eventual replacement Stephen Egerton, and while it never really stuck out to me in my first couple of decades listening to I Don’t Want to Grow Up, I have really been digging it as I’ve revisited the album over the past couple of weeks. There are so many parts on I Don’t Want to Grow Up where, had Stephen Egerton composed the guitar parts, they’d be full of weird jazz chords and dissonance… I don’t hate Stephen’s playing (one would be hard-pressed to deny his virtuosity), but I think it’s sometimes too clever for its own good. Ray Cooper is much better at getting out of the way and letting the song shine. The chunky power chords on “Descendents” sound great, and anything more would be trying too hard… better to just keep it kind of a dumb, simple song. Particularly on Lombardo’s compositions, it’s almost like the guitar and bass switch roles, with Cooper’s guitars holding down the rhythm and locking in with the drums while Lombardo’s bass is a little looser and more melodic. I love it when bands do that.

Before I get into full-on raving about the songs I like, let’s pause for a moment and talk about a few of the things I don’t like about I Don’t Want to Grow Up. The first is a relatively minor quibble, and that’s the production. If you’re a fan of 80s SST releases, it’s something you’ve learned to live with. It’s amazing that, despite using numerous studios, engineers, and producers, so many of the records from that first spurt of releases on SST sound so lackluster. I Don’t Want to Grow Up must have been one of Bill Stevenson’s first production jobs (he’s credited as co-producer alongside David Tarling, who was also the engineer and worked on many other SST releases from this era). Thankfully I Don’t Want to Grow Up isn’t over-produced, but I always thought it sounded kind of thin and flat. This new mastering job for the Org Music reissue attacks that problem by boosting the low end-frequencies and adding some crispness in the high end that was missing on the SST CD I grew up with. But man… as with so many SST releases, I can’t help but wonder what this album would sound like with a really great recording.

The other thing that bums me out about I Don’t Want to Grow Up is the casual misogyny you hear in some lyrics. There’s a distinct incel vibe to a lot of the early Descendents lyrics. The most egregious example on this album is “No FB” (which stands for “No Fat Beaver”), which bums me out every time I hear it… all the more so since I really like the music, which feels like a callback to the Fat EP. “Pervert” also feels kind of weird, but I guess it’s defensible in principle… of course it’s fine to like sex. However, I feel like even the “love” songs have this way of flattening the object of the narrator’s affections in this way that feels not just immature, but slightly violent. Like I said… incel vibes. I think some songs on Milo Goes to College are even more guilty of that than I Don’t Want to Grow Up, but I should also note that some of my feelings might be colored by hearing stories from old Raleigh heads about when the Descendents played here on the tour supporting Grow Up. Apparently they came off as major creeps who were only interested in scamming on girls. I assume they’ve long grown out of that, but it’s something that always comes to mind when I listen to these songs.

Back to the actual album. For me, I Don’t Want to Grow Up is a record of two sides. Side one, starting with those four Lombardo compositions and with the fifth, Milo’s “No FB,” also calling back to the band’s earlier era, feels like a bridge from the old to the new. But then side two just takes off. In fact, I think the B-side of I Don’t Want To Grow Up is the best and most consistent side of vinyl the Descendents ever put out. Two of the tracks—“Silly Girl” and “Good Good Things”—almost aren’t even worth talking about at length because they have been so thoroughly canonized as classic Descendents tracks. Surely any die-hard Descendents fan would count them among their favorites, and both appear on Somery. But the other three tracks are excellent too. I’ve really fallen in love with “In Love This Way” during this recent spate of listening. It’s a Milo song with jangly, countrified guitar and some great walking bass from Tony… it wouldn’t be out of place on a Replacements album, and its chorus is divine. “Christmas Vacation” is right up there with “Silly Girl” and “Good Good Things…” just a classic Descendents tune with driving verses (kudos on the simple, chugging palm muted part Ray!) and a super melodic chorus with vocal harmonies that I can’t resist singing along with. And then “Ace” ends the album on this kind of mysterious, atmospheric note. I love Ray Cooper’s arpeggios, the chorus’s haunting melody, and the way the song veers briefly into the super-melodic with the “with all of your mind / and all of your soul” part (is this a bridge? I don’t know about songwriting LOL…), but then retreats back into the unsettling and mysterious when it moves back to the chorus. The song feels like a series of counterintuitive moves, but it just works. It’s one of those closing tracks that makes you want to just sit in the dark for a minute and ponder what you’ve heard rather than immediately throwing on another record.

Holy shit, I did not know I was going to write so much about this record. But, like I said, I’ve been listening to it a lot, and I had lots of thoughts. I’m looking forward to sitting down with Enjoy! when that comes out (presumably it’ll be the next in the series). I know “Wendy,” “Sour Grapes,” and “Get the Time,” but I don’t think I’ve ever owned Enjoy! and certainly haven’t spent much time with it. Maybe it’s the toilet paper roll on the cover, but I always assumed it was weighed down by too much goofiness. But we shall see. If it moves me maybe I’ll crap out another couple thousand words for a future staff pick.

What’s up sorry state readers?! Back it again with another pick for y’all! This week it’s Ultra Violence’s We Hate You 12” on Radio Raheem. This long-lost LP recording is absolutely insane and just what I needed to hear. Continuing their sound, but with some slightly faster songs than their tracks on the Big City comps. It’s the raw, Urban Waste-sounding recordings that I absolutely love. As always, radio Raheem absolutely kills it with beefing up all their releases with so much sick stuff to dig thru upon opening… this includes a 28-page booklet filled with fliers and photos that you can drool at while playing this at max volume with your ear glued to the speaker… go snag a copy of this asap and if you haven’t, go listen to ALL the Big City comps. Thanks for reading. Till next time!

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

What’s up Sorry State readers? I can’t believe it’s already time for another end of the year roundup. 2025 was a pretty solid year. I got to see some awesome live shows and also travelled to some cool new places. What more could you ask for? Anyways, I’ll be highlighting my top releases of last year. As per usual for me, there’s lots of reissues of older stuff that I’ve included, but I’ve tried to limit those to reissues that actually came out in 2025. In no particular order, here are my top ten releases I picked up last year.

Necron 9 - People Die 12”

Probably my favorite new punk release of last year, all killer no filler. Fast and raw as hell. Unlawful Assembly unleashed this beast back in March, and I’ve been blasting it since. A super high-quality release that included a giant poster and a really nice lyric booklet that features some sick art. I’m sure all of you reading this have heard this by now, but if for some reason you haven’t, stop reading right now and play this as loud as you can.

Go-Go’s - Demos and Outtakes 1979-80 12”

I think out of all the records on this list, I’ve listened to this one the most. I never get sick of it; it’s too damn catchy. The version of Lust To Love on here is so amazing. Played way faster than the studio version and the drums are absolutely kickin. Surfing and Spying also sounds incredible here, and Cool Jerk will get stuck in my head every time. I never realized how much I liked the Go-Go’s until I listened to this.

Stereolab - Cloud Land / Flashes In The Afternoon 7”

I was pretty excited to finally get to catch a Stereolab show back in September at the Haw River Ballroom and they did not disappoint. They were selling this tour-exclusive 7” so I had to pick one as a nice memento of the show. This totally sounds like classic Stereolab. If you played this for me blind, I’d say they put this out in the 90s. Great artists never lose a step.

Grateful Dead - All Eyes 12”

Long live bootlegging. The Grateful Dead and bootlegging culture go back a long ways together, and I’m happy to see that tradition continue in the modern day. This double LP features four different versions of the song Eyes of the World, which has always been one of my favorites, spread across different years and eras of the Dead. It includes a nice insert that gives a little rundown of each version and why they included it on there. I just love shit like this, someone taking the time to put this release together and get it out to the people. A true labor of love. Big fan of the ‘78 version on this.

Old & In The Way - Live At Sonoma State 12”

An excellent RSD release from last year, I was pumped to see this one on the list when it was released. Old & In The Way was the bluegrass supergroup that Jerry Garcia was a part of, and they sure knew how to pick. There’s not much of their material available on vinyl so I knew I had to snag this one. This show features an awesome set list with a bunch of my favorites: Catfish John, Pig in a Pen, White Dove, and pretty much everything else on here. Essential listening for any bluegrass fan.

Charles Mingus - Mingus at Monterey 12”

You know I’m a sucker for a great live RSD release and this one fits the bill. Just a great show to sit down and listen to. Excellent sound quality that makes you feel like you’re traveling back in time and right there at the show. Love me some Mingus.

Billy Strings - Live At Rosemont / EP 12” & Live At The Legion 12”

I didn’t want Billy to take up three sports on my list, so I figured I’d kinda just fit them all into one spot. Third Man Records released Live At Rosemont / EP as part of their Vault subscription a couple months back. The live album is a 4xLP release taken from a show back in 2024. I’ll probably buy any live Billy release they put out, so bring em on. I gotta say though, the packaging and everything left a little bit to be desired, but that’s a complaint for another time. What matters is the music on here, and it’s killer as always. The EP that was included with it is the first vinyl release of his debut 2016 EP that was only available on CD, so it’s nice to add it to the collection. Next we have the Live At The Legion album that features a live show recorded back in Nashville in 2024 that I was lucky enough to attend in person. This show was different from most Billy shows as it’s stripped back of any and all psychedelic jams. Just Billy joined by fellow guitar virtuoso Bryan Sutton trading licks back and forth on bluegrass and folk staples. One of the coolest evenings of my life that I now get to hold a physical piece of.

Takaat - Is Noise Vol. 1 & 2 10”s

Another great live show I got to see this past year. I think I heard about them cause I saw someone post a video or something from a show and I thought to myself, “Man that sounds really cool. I’d love to check them out.” I looked at their tour schedule and lo and behold, they were playing at King’s here in Raleigh the very next week. Love when stuff works out like that. Takaat is the rhythm section from Mdou Moctar, and they play loud and fuzzed out. Writing this is making me think I’m gonna have to try and make it to another show of theirs this year cause it was one of my favorites that I attended last year.

Mulatu Astatke - The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965 - 1975 12”

Okay I was thinking this was a reissue from 2025, but upon further investigation it’s not. Nevertheless, I heard it last year, so it’s going on the list. This is the record that sent me on my Ethiopian Jazz journey last year, and I’m better off for it. So many different moods on this one but all pleasant to the ear. I still think Tezeta is my favorite track on here and I stand by that it sounds like the end credit music for a cool ass old movie. Perfect Sunday afternoon listen right here.

Punk Junk VHS

I’m cheating a bit here on my last pick since it’s not actually a record, but I had to get it on my list. It’s got music on it at least! One of the coolest things that I picked up last year was this VHS featuring performances by tons of great bands: Personal Damage, Tozcos, People’s Temple and Rixe just to name a few. I was obsessed with VHS and the culture around it a few years ago, so when this came into the store I was stoked. More VHS shit in the future please!

Well, there’s my roundup for 2025. Thanks for reading, and hopefully you maybe even found something cool here you haven’t checked out yet. Here’s to 2026 being another year full of good music and all the other things that make life worth living!

2025? Did that happen? It sure did and now we are a month deep into 2026. Time for the mandatory look back on the year past and to pick out a few of our highlights.

I think I can speak for everyone here by saying that this hasn’t been an easy task this year. I am struggling to find positives in a long year of horrors. However, as the saying goes, life goes on, and there were still a lot of cool and interesting things happening in the world of music and the arts in general. I’m going to stick to the music for my best of the year round up. To make things simpler, I divided my list into a few categories. I’ll give you my top pick and one or two notable runners up. As with any of these types of things, it’s all subjective. I know I have forgotten loads. In fact, whilst looking over releases for the year I found several albums by artists that I like that I had not even known about. Shame on me. And I work in a record store. LoL. Just shows that no matter what you know, there is still way more that you don’t.

Favorite New Artist

The Cords: S/T LP – There comes a time when you must let the younger generation just get on with it, but it is always nice when a record comes out that has cross-generational appeal. The Cords are a couple of young ladies from Scotland who have made an enjoyable pop record. On Slumberland Records, which has a whole roster of bands in love with the sound of UK DIY and C86.

Honorable mentions:

Annie Achron: Never Paradise LP. Cool synth-pop.

K9: Thrills LP. Post Punk, jangly, lo-fi from Richmond.

Autocamper: What Do You Do All Day LP. More C86 and 80’s Scottish pop inspired indie from Manchester.

Puppet Wipes: Live Inside. LP. Lo-fi post punk from Canada.

Added Dimensions: Jane From Preoccupied Europe LP. More cool lo-fi indie post-punk from Richmond.

Favorite New Record from an established artist

Pulp: More LP. Sheffield’s finest (there’s stiff competition for that title) return after twenty-four years since their last studio album with a banger. Touring and playing shows like it’s 1995 all over again. Jarvis for president/prime minister.

Honorable mentions:

The Lemonheads: Love Chant LP. Everyone’s favorite rogue pop star Evan Dando returns with his Lemonheads and a new album. Like hearing from an old friend after many years.

The Liminanas: Faded LP. The French psych duo return with a great record aided by some friends, including Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream.

Gruff Rhys: Dim Probs LP. Welsh hero and Super Furry Animal main man delivers another fine solo album. Clever, witty pop of the highest order.

Lady Wray: Cover Girl LP. Her third album and another produced by Leon Michels for Big Crown Records. Great mix of retro-inspired soul and R & B with modern pop and hip-hop influences.

Stereolab: Instant Holograms On Metal Film LP. Another fine return from a group that has been out of the spotlight for some time. The ‘Lab came out with an album that sounds just like vintage Stereolab from the 1990s. Really good. John Scott went to see them when they came to North Carolina and said they were ace.

Best single.

Psychoactive: S/T 7”. L.A. punk featuring members of Rough Kids, who Sorry State released records by. Two blistering, classic old school punk blasts. Limited single, but there was a second pressing. Get one.

Best cassette tape.

The Ancient Pulse: S/T Totally brilliant horror soundtrack-inspired music. If you dig John Carpenter, then you owe it to yourself to get a copy of this cassette. For added authenticity, the same keyboard used by Carpenter was utilized for these recordings. Up there for release of the year in my opinion. I had this on repeat over the Halloween period.

Honorable mention:

Canned Snakes: Live At Budgetcan. Local supergroup of sorts casually releases a cool tape. Hard to put a tag on it, genre wise. Indie/post punk/rock? I don’t know. We liked it around here.

Best compilation.

All The Young Droids LP. Terrific compilation of synth-pop and post-punk, mostly from the U.K. and released between 1978-1985. A well put together comp with great liner notes and information. You’ll discover a lot of new favorites on this one. Highly recommended.

Honorable mentions:

Chiswick Records 1975-1982 Seven Years At 45 RPM LP. Nicely put together collection of punk, pub rock and pop singles from the great Chiswick Records label.

Secret Superstar Sounds LP. Cool compilation from the folks at Soul Jazz Records concentrating on more obscure British DIY, punk, power pop and new wave singles released between 1977 and 1980.

Best Live Album.

Johnny Marr: Look Out Live! LP. The coolest guitar slinger out there gave fans another fun live album taken from his more recent solo career outings, but with some Smiths songs for good measure. Highlight of the autumn, if not the year, was travelling to Norfolk, Virginia to catch the man play live. He did not disappoint. An absolute legend and so cool and friendly.

Reissues and rarities from older artists.

Dennis Bovell: Sufferer Sounds LP. Top-notch U.K. reggae and dub from the late 1970’s. A brilliant-sounding collection of prime-period productions from Dennis Bovell. A must-have for dub fans.

Sister Nancy: One, Two LP. Reissued for Record Store Day, this is the much in demand reggae album that includes the classic Bam Bam. Always tough to find, so nice to have available again.

Vince Guaraldi: You’re A Good Sport, Charlie Brown OST LP. We’ve been loving the Charlie Brown TV special soundtracks that have been getting released recently. All filled with cool, mostly unheard music from the great Vince Guaraldi. This one was released as a zoetrope record, so you get to see Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown and other animations as your record spins. Nice.

Longineu Parsons: S/T LP. Rare and hard to find funky and righteous jazz originally released in 1980 and never fully reissued until now. Another good Record Store Day release.

Best used record score.

Eugene McDaniels: Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse LP. Saving the best and most special one to the end. I have known about this jazz grail for decades and have had a reissue LP and CD to keep me satisfied over the years, but finding an original copy in the wild has proved tough. In the stores that I have worked at, it has come in once or twice and I have seen it for sale at record shows, but either the price or the condition wasn’t right. Finally, in 2025, a beautiful copy still in the shrink with the lyric sheet came into my possession. How, you ask? Well, whilst rummaging through one of our dusty storage lockers looking at mostly junk records, Daniel found this one and a few other decent titles that we could easily sell at the shop. When he saw how hyped I was over the Headless Heroes record, he simply gave it to me. Wow! Amazing. That’s the sort of thing our Doctor D does. He is the best boss, the best friend and best person ever. If you aren’t familiar with this record, do yourself a favor and go check it out. You’ll recognize some of the sounds, as they were sampled by, among others, A Tribe Called Quest. Total banger of a record and just as meaningful and relevant now as it was fifty years or so ago. Thank you, Daniel.

Okay, that’s a small sampling of highlights of the year for me. Loads missing and still more I need to hear and catch up on. Fun homework.

Thanks for reading, thanks for supporting our store, thanks for ordering from us and thank you to all the artists and bands that made all this fantastic music for us to love and enjoy. 2026 might well be a shit show in the making, but let’s hope we’ll all be here this time next year to review the top sounds and good things that happen this year. Fuck you know who.

Cheers - Dom