Staff Picks

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Full transparency, I feel strange trying to muster any enthusiasm to assemble a “year in review” or a “top 10” list of any kind about 2025. In preparing to do this, I decided to revisit my entry from this time last year, when we did our “Best of 2024” write-ups. By comparison, it seems like my tone was full of hope and excitement at the beginning of 2025, still feeling pretty pleased about the year 2024 behind me. I even made a collage with all my favorite photos of places I visited and people I love. Unfortunately, I just do not feel that same way right now. The end of 2025 delivered such a blow that it has overshadowed many of the positive experiences I’ve had this past year. Right now, I think I could more easily come up with a “Top 10 Worst Things of 2025” list…

BUT—There’s also a part of me that understands that many of you readers don’t come here for that. While I appreciate this forum as an opportunity to express myself, the newsletter shouldn’t necessarily be my vehicle to cause you all to ingest more negativity. Especially now, as all of us are certainly being bombarded by negative shit constantly—whether it’s the horrifying state of the world at large, or maybe some of you are dealing with difficulties in your personal life I that I don’t even know about. It’s an extra scary time—only adding weight, feelings of existential dread, and heightening anxiety surrounding our moments of mundanity. So, in 2026? Resist. Take care of each other. And try to experience and appreciate what you love amidst all this madness.

Corny? I dunno. Anyway, here are some records I liked this past year:

1. Necron 9: People Die 12” - I think I made this call early on. But yeah, this is the best record released in 2025 for me. Ugly, grimy hardcore for outsiders. Delivered with ferociousness, a lot of heart, and not one ounce of pretense. A record that restores one’s faith. Inspires one to shout up to the sky: “Hardcore LIVES!” Too bad they broke up already. Cool that they left behind this little perfectly documented moment for all of us. Gut the pigs.
2. Ayucaba: Operación Masacre 12” - I already wrote a lengthy description about my feelings on this record, which you can read here if you want to. Based out of Barcelona and featuring members of Muro and Inyección, Ayucaba plays a triumphant, raw, inventive take on hardcore that’s just oozing with character. Metallic guitar leads, demonic vocals, epic songwriting, feeling very powerful and grandiose but still anarchic, earnest and approachable. Amazing record.
3. Kaleidoscope: Cities of Fear 12” - I think this band has reliably delivered me more goosebumps than any other band over the last 10 years. For real. But from record to record, they really shift sonically. Volume 3, released on Feel It in 2017, feels like a totally different band. Maybe they came across more post-punk? Less dense, more austere and otherworldly with an artsy sensibility. And while I love their previous records, they just aren’t HEAVY in the same way as Cities of Fear. I think maybe the void left behind after the inactivity of Tower 7 just caused Kaleidoscope to get reflexively heavier. The opening track “Burning Alive” is just like blazing hardcore. And it fucking rules. The band still evokes that off-kilter, weirdo punk vibe, but they just feel more driving and pissed off on this record. Seems like the genre descriptor du jour of the mid-2020’s is to describe a band as influenced by “heavy anarcho punk” or whatever, which Kaleidoscope surely is… buuuut straight up, a song like “Controlled Opposition” sounds like the dirgey moments of Bl’ast… And maybe it’s uncool to say a band sounds like Bl’ast or Black Flag anymore in the year 2026. I don’t give a fuck. I mean it as the most sincere compliment. Maybe their best record yet?
4. Save Our Children / Stunted Youth: Split 12” - 2 bands, both from Texas, and they share members. These guys clearly think Gang Green and Deep Wound are infinitely cooler than Disclose. 36 songs split between 2 sides of an album in 33 minutes. Never relents, never gets old. All killer all the way through. Another couple of bands that kept the faith, flying the flag for true blue oldschool US hardcore. But sadly, yet another fire that has already been extinguished. Came and went, exploding like a bottle rocket. Hardcore rules, dummie.
5. Ultimate Disaster: For Progress… 12” – The homies in Richmond delivered an absolute crusher with this 12”. Just 3 dudes, power trio style. Discharge-inspired hardcore? Well, yes. But I think the approach is like if you refined the elements of Discharge-inspired punk to its most pure form of brutality. A lack of epic crust influence. No drawn-out pondering experimental passages or melodic interludes. Trim all the fat. Full impact. Not to mention the excellent recording… big loud guitars and riffs played with airtight execution, like a battering ram assault on the ears. The intensity of the tight, sawblade-like riffing with a brutal, metallic edge brings to mind the Swedes’ take on the Discharge formula. To me, For Progress… sounds like Disfear’s Soul Scars way more than it sounds like it’s trying to perfectly replicate Why. Killer record.
6. Exploatör: Apokollaps 12" - A project comprising the 3 original members of Totalitär playing the style of punk I love so dearly. This could sound like hyperbole, but this is the band’s 4th LP and I think it’s their best yet. Just diving into the record, the production sounds crisp and bright and fresh. Maybe I didn’t realize this originally, but Kenko, the recording engineer aficionado who played in great bands like No Security and Dischange, now plays second guitar alongside Lanchy. This particular style of Swedish hardcore just gets the hair on the back of my neck standing up like nothing else. And just when I think I’ve heard it all, Exploatör still surprises me with their songwriting, bringing musical and rhythmic ideas I didn’t expect. No one does it like the OGs.
7. Lame: Lo Que Extrañas Ya No Existe 12" - Probably one of the most unique records I experienced this year. How do I even describe this band? Lame plays this driving but restrained-by-straight-jacket form of hardcore. Like a chaotic and anxious, yet intelligently orchestrated dirgey mess. Like if Killing Joke took too much speed before they took to the streets to fight cops. The glowing feature of Lame’s sound is the vocals though. I remember meeting Sally behind the bar at the pizza place one of my bands played in London. Now hearing the vocals, I’m like hoooooly shit. The lyrics are delivered like a (with all due respect) psychotic breakdown – erupting like an intense, terrifying stream of consciousness. I can’t believe how many syllables Sally crams in there. It sucks my Spanish isn’t better. I really feel like if I understood every word when listening, then this record would feel even more overwhelming. I really feel like I go through something when I listen to this record. I get like all sweaty ‘n shit. Nah, just kidding. So powerful.
8. Tàrrega 91: Ckaos Total 12” - Sometimes I almost feel guilty when I talk about so many records on La Vida Es Un Mus. But they put out a lot of great stuff, what can I say? I took home a copy of this Tàrrega 91 record, liked it a lot, but it didn’t really hit me until I’m now revisiting it at the end of the year. I thought to myself, this is like easily one of the most raging hardcore records I’ve heard in ages. Paco’s description mentions Discharge and MG-15, both good reference points. But damn man, 2 seconds into the first track “No És Cava Teva” and this band sounds so much like early Cimex and Shitlickers it’s not even funny. Maybe I’m trippin’, but that’s how it feels to me. I was a fan of the band’s previous 7” as well. But I love that when they graduated to the full-length format, they reduced their brutal take on hardcore to leaner, more explosive 1-minute-long bursts. I learned that the band’s name is a reference to a series of riots that occurred near the small town where they come from in Catalonia. Devastating, intense hardcore with a sincere and radical agenda. Doesn’t get much better.
9. Nisemono: S/T 12” - 偽者 aka Nisemono from New York. I remember loving this band’s demo a couple years back. I don’t have anything eloquent or any funny anecdotes to describe this record… I just think it kicks ass. Whether it’s Nisemono or his old band Nomad, I think I really gravitate toward singer/guitar player Tye’s style of riffing. He’s got that slippy-slide all-over-the-place approach to käng punk guitar vibe going on. There’s kind of a spiritual link between his style and a band like Infernöh, I think. Love the vocals too. Sang in Japanese, which is unique because I think his vocals really stand out over this type of hardcore. Adds another level of dimension for me. Naideu from Warthog’s drumming is absolutely insane as well. I’m not sure if this project was originally just Tye and Naideu, only intended to be a recording project. Recently, I’ve seen that they’ve added a bass player and are now playing gigs. Yet another power trio in my top 10. Hope I get to see them play later this year.
10. No Victim: S/T cassette - I originally didn’t intend to give attention to any cassettes for my year-end list. But I just wanted to shout this tape out one more time. I just love it. Another band from Richmond, Virginia. The guitar player may have been in a band that I already mentioned above. Young punks playing urgent, immediate, no-frills hardcore. Groaning, aloof and detached yet pissed lyrics and vocal delivery in a snotty Anti/Wasted Youth kinda way. I’m tellin’ ya man, “Short Haired Rednecks” might get my vote for hardcore punk song of the year. And much like Necron 9, Save Our Children and Stunted Youth, I think this band might have already imploded. Man, bands need to take a note out of Kaleidoscope’s book and just not break up. Be friends and make hardcore. I selfishly at least want No Victim to record a 7” as good as this tape before they call it quits. That way, I don’t have to get up to fucking hit the rewind button if I wanna listen to it again.

---SORRY, BUT NO HONORABLE MENTIONS---

There were plenty of other records I enjoyed or found interesting this year. Including stuff on Sorry State, like the Plasma LP. But I just don’t have the energy to write about 15 more releases.

I’ll try to keep this next section brief, but I usually like to include a “top 10” of my favorite moments or events of the year. This feels more difficult to do than usual, but I’m trying to look back fondly at some of the times I had that made me smile:

1. Keith’s art show - My buddy, singer of Meat House, and talented illustrator Keith Caves had a gallery showing in Richmond back in March. I’m sure you’ve seen my dude’s gnartwork everywhere in the current punk world. It was so rad to see Keith’s art on display being appreciated by the freaks and cretins he caters too. He displayed a bunch of original pieces he had for sale that I instantly recognized, some of which were commissions from me and my bands. I was half tempted to buy a couple. Then there was an afterparty gig with a bunch of sick bands playing. It was fun to rage side by side with my dude Eric, both of us just drooling over the homies Invertebrates destroying the place.
2. Municipal Waste weekend - 2 nights, one weekend in April, all celebrating the Waste’s 25th anniversary as a band. Public Acid played night one. Pretty rad getting to hang out while side stage and watch Annihilation Time. The big gig the following night at The National was pretty wild. That’s a big ass stage. But I must say, the impromptu after show on Saturday night was a rager to remember. Richmond’s most gnarly slammers with the least amount of self-preservation threw the fuck down that night.
3. SLC - Meat House went and played this insane festival in Salt Lake City that our boy Conrad put together. I kinda had forgotten what SLC was like. Upon arriving and being reminded, I was like wow, this huge ass valley surrounded by mountains is kinda beautiful. Turns out the fest was outdoors on an open-air stage in this alley right by a kickass punk market in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. Killer Mexican food everywhere, many Palomas were consumed, and it was killer hanging with homies like Cesar from Bloodstains, who flew out just to kick it with us.
4. The Damned - I finally got to see one of my favorite bands of all time. I took the train by myself to DC and had the best time ever. 3 original members in the lineup, including Rat Scabies back on drums, plus Paul Grey from the Black Album/_Strawberries_ period (my ideal era). They played absolutely incredible. The set list was damn near perfect, closing with “Curtain Call” and playing a few deep cuts from the Friday the 13th EP. Then I briefly interacted with Ian MacKaye outside the venue, but I was basically unable to form words. I was floating on cloud 9 that night.
5. Noise Annoys - Public Acid embarked on our month-long tour around Europe, and it all began at the amazing Noise Annoys festival in Sheffield, UK. Bry and all the crew in Sheffield are the coolest people and hosted one hell of a good time. Highlights of bands I saw include Rat Cage (of course), our lads in Tramadol, Muro, Indikator B, fucking GEFYR played one of the most raging live sets I’ve seen in years, plus so many other great bands.
6. K-Town – It was my third time experiencing the magical weekend festival in Copenhagen. Quite possibly THE best hardcore punk festival? I just feel more at home every single time I go. It’s like a big punk family reunion. Public Acid was the very last band of the entire fest. Still pissed I accidentally missed Lame’s set, especially with their LP being one of my favorites of the year. Ugh. But I did get to watch so many amazing bands: Kriegshög was devastating, Necron 9 absolutely destroyed, the homies in Cicada brought the house down, Futura from LA was great, Sorry State’s own Plasma and Lasso… and then along with all the music, so many great memories just hanging out with a bunch of friends. I plan to go back to Ktown in 2026 if I can swing it.
7. Halloween - It’s always my favorite day of the year. I decided to have myself a ghoul’s night out. So, what did I do? I made myself look dead (bolo tie and all), drove up to Richmond, went to a gig to see a Dead Boys cover band because it was Night of the Living Dead (Boys) after all, got covered in fake blood, and partied with all the homies at Chubb’s house afterward. Pretty solid.
8. New Public Acid - Public Acid has a bunch of new songs in the tank. We went up and recorded in Philly a couple months ago, and I must say I’m very proud of how the recording turned out. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. There’s still work to be done, but expect a fresh slab o’ wax to be released at some point later this year. More PubAss news to be announced in the months to come.
9. Totalitär - This is probably the most difficult thing for me to talk about. I’ve barely had time to reflect on me and Usman’s trip to Sweden. But when I sit and think about it, it really is pretty amazing and a full circle moment that me and my best friend got to go see our favorite band play in the flesh while we were together in fucking Stockholm. And they played excellent. I never expected anything like that to happen when we were hanging out listening to records in my apartment when we were like 22 or whatever. Sounds silly, but it’s wild because us both loving Totalitär has been a big focal point of our bond since the beginning of our friendship. And once again, we got to visit our friends in Vidro (Melody, Lucas, Vendela and Staffan) as well as Wilhelmina, Christoffer, and many other people who travelled for the gig. I’m very grateful for that. I think I’ll mostly remember just the two of us riding the train all around Stockholm.
10. This year in record collecting - As always, I like to end things with records I managed to pick up over the course of the year. Last but not least, I suppose. Because let’s face it, in present company, we’re all just a bunch record fiending lunatics, aren’t we? Honestly, I did get quite a lot of records this year, but nothing totally bonkers. No brickwall 1st pressing Nervous Breakdown this year. Some of the coolest records I got were actually gifts. Between the Wretched 7” from Usman and the Kohu 63 12” that Daniel gave me, I’m a pretty happy camper. Still need to get back at Daniel with something equally cool because he knew how badly I wanted that Kohu 63. Believe it or not, it’s hard to find records for one of your best friends when he’s the owner of Sorry State Records haha. Feels like he has everything sometimes, but there’s ALWAYS more. So yeah, like I said, I got a lot of stuff this past year, but some of the more run o’ the mill stuff I decided not to squeeze into this photo. But anyway, here’s a quick glimpse at some of my favorites I got this year:

Alrighty, I guess I’ll bring it to a close now. Thanks for reading. Hope 2026 ends up being a better year for all of us.

Much love,

-Jeff

So, this is the Sorry State newsletter’s Best of 2025 edition, but as has been the case for the past few years, I won’t spend a ton of time talking about my favorite new releases from last year. Most of them I’ve talked in the newsletter already throughout the year, but once again I’ve also shared my picks outside the Sorry State ecosystem. I blew the deadline for Maximumrocknroll’s year-end lists in the fog of grief after Red’s passing, but I did get together with Mike from Analog Attack and Eric Anderson (from MRR, Cvlt Nation, and several other publications) to talk about our favorites of 2025 on Mike’s YouTube channel. You can watch that video here if you haven’t seen it already… it’s worth it not just for my picks, but Mike’s and Eric’s too! Here’s my list:

• Steroid: Chainmail Commandos 12” (Crypt of the Wizard)
• London Clay: Private View 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• Necron 9: People Die 12” (Unlawful Assembly)
• Kaleidoscope: Cities of Fear 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• Ultimate Disaster: For Progress… 12” (Grave Mistake)
• Anika: Abyss 12” (Sacred Bones)
• Haram: Why Does Paradise Begin in Hell 12” (Toxic State)
• Tàrrega 91: Ckaos Total 12" (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• Ayucaba: Operación Masacre 12” (Metadona)
• The Massacred: Nightmare Agitators 12” (Active-8)

Those are in no particular order, except for the Steroid LP, which is without a doubt my favorite record of 2025. There are few other records in my life that have given me as much joy as this one. I go into detail about all these in the video (and also drop a few honorable mentions at the end), but I’ll give a quick shout-out to London Clay and Anika, two new releases I didn’t get to talk about much in the newsletter. Anika’s LP sounds kinda like Nico singing for Dinosaur Jr while they’re covering the Bad Seeds, and it’s totally brilliant. London Clay tiptoes along the line between hooky UK post-punk/DIY and super experimental UK post-punk/DIY, with just the right mixture of each for my tastes. We’re down to our last couple of copies, but if I can get a restock from LVEUM, I might make it Record of the Week sometime soon and talk about it at greater length. As for the rest, you probably don’t need me to tell you how great Necron 9 or Ultimate Disaster or Ayucaba or the Massacred are… they’re on everyone’s lists for a reason.

With that out of the way, let’s get to my main topic: my 2025 in record collecting. I mostly write about older records in my staff picks, but I don’t get too nerdy about record collecting throughout the year. I’ve always seen myself as more of an accumulator than a collector, but looking back on my acquisitions every year is a nice opportunity to reflect on the state of my collection.

First things first, in last year’s piece I identified three main wants I hoped to acquire in the near future, and I nabbed two of them. Not bad!

I picked up both on Discogs, though I have to give a shout-out to Eduard from Mendeku Diskak, who provided a much-needed assist when Trump’s dumb-ass tariffs suspended all shipments from Spain (among other countries) to the US. The record I didn’t get last year was the Nerorgasmo 7”. I was planning on featuring that on my want list this year, but now that I see I’ve been fiending after it for well over one cycle around the sun, it has officially achieved the status of TOP WANT. If you can help me get one of these bad boys into my hands, please get in touch.

One collection I’ve been actively working on this year is my attempt to get every record by the Finnish band Vaavi. I’ve been meaning to write a staff pick about Vaavi forever, but 1. I don’t have much info about them and 2. I was reluctant to blow up the spot before I got all their records. But fuck it, here’s where I’m at right now (one or two of these might have been acquired in 2024… I don’t really keep track of that and can’t remember off the top of my head):

So now I’m mainly missing two Vaavi 7”s: EP:n Nimi and Kun Rakkaus Kuolee. I suppose I’ll also eventually want Ei Palata Voi Eiliseen, which the band released during a brief reunion in 1986, but that’s not a high priority. I also picked up a copy of the double LP collection Tytöt Hymyilee while I was in Finland this summer, though I didn’t include it in the photo since it’s not an OG artifact. It’s pretty alright and has a bunch of tracks from all of Vaavi’s eras.

Speaking of my trip… last summer I was lucky enough to visit Finland and Sweden again, and that’s where a majority of my record-buying happened. (I’m still paying off my credit card… ugh!) Let’s start with Sweden, since (despite a visit to Trash Palace), I went considerably less crazy there:

Actually, come to think of it I didn’t buy either of these 7”s in Sweden. D.T.A.L. was a hookup from a friend (I can’t remember but I think he might have had a double?!?!?!), and the Headcleaners I actually got from Sorry State. Jeff had a little hoard of rare records he was saving for a special occasion, and when I saw it, I was like, “I need that Headcleaners!” I still need Extrem P and the Picnic Boys split… one day. Ebba Gron completes my collection for the band, which I started on my first visit to Sweden in 2009, when I picked up their first LP, We’re Only In It for the Drugs. It’s all about the long game, folks!

And now Finland… whoa mama, I got some Finnish jams this year:

So, the heavy hitter 7”s in the photo I kinda got hooked up on. Terveet Kadet and Lama were more friend hookups… a homie upgraded their copies, and I was lucky enough to get the cast-offs, which is a-OK with me. Kaaos is the blue vinyl first pressing, and it was definitely a splurge at Trash Palace. Pohjasakka my friend Markku got for me for a great price when it turned up in a shop in his town. Most everything else, though, I got from shops in Helsinki. I love 77-style Finnish punk, and that’s most of what you see here. Nolla Nolla Nolla and Kollaa Kestää I knew but never really had any hope of owning, while a lot of the others are relatively new discoveries… some I bought semi-blind, just from seeing them on Discogs and other lists of Finnish punk classics. Fucking Pelle Miljoona! I think Jeff picked up a copy of that while he was in Finland this summer too.

I’ve been collecting Japanese hardcore records for at least 20 years, but I haven’t been able to add much to that collection lately. Still, I nabbed a couple of heaters:

I’m the third person in Raleigh to own that copy of the Geizz 7”… the other two passed it on because there’s a small jump on one track, but it doesn’t bother the king of the beater copy, i.e. me. And when that Juden Souchi flexi showed up in the mail, it included an original, unpublished photo of the band the seller hadn’t mentioned. Score!

Next up, a handful of heavy hitters I NEVER thought I’d own:

These bear some explanation. I always tell people I don’t fuck with original Misfits records, but there are exceptions. I own 3 Hits from Hell because, amazingly enough, we had two copies for sale in the shop at the same time and I figured I should keep one of them. This copy of Beware was on the wall at Academy when I visited New York this summer. As with most of my records, it was kind of a beater, yet it still sounded great to me and was priced such that I literally could not walk away without it. One perk of owning a record store is that I know, should buyer’s remorse strike, I can offload it pretty easily. No Thanks popped up on Discogs for an extremely attractive price and I smashed that buy button. It’s not the rarer red vinyl, but it’s minty as hell. And Urban Waste… I could write a novel (or at least a novella) about that one. It came from a store in Greenville, North Carolina, that acquired a collection of EXTREMELY cool records. The problem was they were totally trashed… most were water-damaged, torn covers, nary an insert to be found, etc. They looked like a pack of wild dogs had gotten to them, yet they were all priced as if they were NM collector’s pieces. Somehow I lucked out and nabbed the Urban Waste for a price I was willing to pay. No insert, a little scuffy, but it still sounds great and I ain’t gonna pony up for a NM copy any time soon.

Here’s a stack of rando 7” acquisitions:

Zmiv I think was another hookup… though I can’t really remember at this point. (I buy too many records!) Shout-out to newsletter reader Marko, who hooked me up with the KGB single after I mentioned it in my staff pick about the Punk Que? Punk comp LP… this record is fucking GREAT! Johnny Concrete I’ve wanted for years, but literally never saw a copy for sale… friend-of-a-friend Dee Dee hooked me up with that one and the Eyes, making Rhino 39 the only significant gap in my Dangerhouse collection. Nasty Facts I’ve wanted forever… this is a UK pressing, though, and honestly I was disappointed with the sound. Does anyone out there know if the US pressing sounds significantly better? It’s funny, after hunting for that 7” for well over a decade, I’ve seen several copies pop up on Discogs since I picked up this one. The sleeveless 7” is Silver Chalice’s “Wasted” single, which was Jeff’s staff pick just last week! If Jeff is holding out for a copy with the sleeve, he’s likely in for a long wait. (If anyone out there wants to photocopy theirs for me, I would be happy to do something nice in return.)

And now stray 12”s:

I’ve been looking for an OG of Abwarts’ first album for years, and one finally popped up (alongside a similarly minty copy of their second album) from a US seller on Discogs, and I was stoked. Essential Logic and Kommunity FK were from the same collection as Urban Waste, and both are trashed. Kommunity FK skips a bunch and I paid way too much for it, so I’m kinda bummed, but Beat Rhythm News finally completes my Essential Logic collection, and a beater is fine because I’m pretty sure I own 3 different reissues of that record already. A.O.A. / Oi Polloi I’ve been after for a few years… as you already know, Sealed Records reissued it late last year, and then of course an OG copy (a beater once again, but totally playable) walks in the store with a collection like 2 weeks later. The Gladiators is my cool reggae find of 2025… I seem to get one cool reggae record per year. Most of the rest is from eastern Europe (aside from La Broma De Ssatán, which I already wrote about in a staff pick). My friend Markku—he of the Pohjasakka hookup—introduced me to these two Greek records, and that Stress LP is my favorite new-to-me old record that I have discovered in many years. I have listened to it like a bazillion times since I got it. And the Διατάραξη Κοινής Ησυχίας compilation is the 2013 reissue… probably the most recent pressing included in this entire roundup, but it was hard enough to find that I have little hope of owning an original.

So yeah, there you go. One year in the life of a certified lunatic. I realize how completely insane I am, and I hope everyone takes this in the spirit it I intend, i.e. sharing my love of punk rather than bragging about shit I bought. I live a pretty spartan lifestyle, and aside from the constant takeout meals that keep me fat, I spend almost all my money (and then some) on records. I don’t think I’ve bought a new pair of underwear in like 5 years, but got forbid I suffer the indignity of listening to 80s Greek punk on YouTube. I love a deal, too, and as I’ve mentioned many times, I’m perfectly happy with a beater copy that plays through halfway decently. Here’s hoping plenty more of those are in store for me in 2026.

But before I go, I must update the want list for 2026!

• Nerorgasmo 7” (as I mentioned above, this is now officially a TOP WANT)
• Various: Navidades Radioactivas LP (Dro, 1982)… and the other Dro compilation while we’re at it!
• Pekinška Patka: Bolje Da Nosim Kratku Kosu / Ori, Ori 7” (with picture sleeve, please!)
• Various: Great Punk Hits LP (I’ve been holding out for one with an obi… it’s absurd that I don’t have this record by now)

Of course there are plenty more I’d love to have, and a lot more than that I won’t even get my hopes up about, but that’s what’s currently in my sights. If you can be of help with any of these, please hit me up through Sorry State! And to the rest of you: please don’t rob me! These records are all I have LOL.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a good week. Depending on where you’re reading this, you may be preparing for some winter weather this weekend. I wouldn’t mind getting snowed in for a couple days, just chilling out and listening to records and watching movies all day, but we’ll see what fate has in store for us here in Raleigh. The city shuts down from half an inch of snow, so if the predictions are even half correct, it could get crazy around here. Stock up on beer, whiskey, and herbs now! I’ve picked up enough new records lately to keep me entertained as long as we don’t lose power. Last week, I wrote about that live Bill Evans record I picked up this past Black Friday, and today I’m writing about another live record I snagged that same day, B.B. King - Broadcasting The Blues: Live From Germany and Sweden. This double LP features two live recordings: one from Germany in 1968 and one from Sweden in 1973. Not too huge of a gap between shows, but 5 years is enough for them to have their own unique flair to them. The first show featured is actually from a TV studio in Cologne, which is pretty cool. I just imagine some German kid going with his parents to this television studio and just getting his mind blown by the King of the Blues and it opening his whole world up. You can hear the German crowd clapping along the whole performance, so you know they’re digging it. How could you not tho? I could probably sit around all day and listen to live B.B. shows. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to one and not loved every minute of it; it just always hits the spot no matter what. This is another high-quality RSD release, a nice gatefold jacket and insert that features some cool-ass photos from the shows and interviews, including one with Derek Trucks that I thought was pretty awesome. Of course, most importantly, the records themselves sound amazing… real crispy. Like I said earlier, every song on here is just amazing and worth your time, but if I had to highlight one of my favorite tracks on this release, it would be the 16 minute version of That’s Wrong Little Mama on the first side. You know I love me a long jam, and this one delivers on all fronts. If you’re needing some more blues in your life, this release is definitely worth seeking out. That’s it for this week. I hope everyone stays warm and safe this weekend wherever you are!

What’s up everybody? Thanks for clicking on our newsletter this week.

Well, I don’t think you needed to be Nostradamus to predict that this year would not be a great one, but who had America starting a war with our NATO allies on their bingo card? Crazy, man. So, with the threat of WW3 and the collapse of the world order imminent let’s talk about music. Yeah!

January has been dubbed a month to appreciate all things jazz music by the internet, and indeed the radio station that I am on, The Face Radio, has been celebrating “Jazzuary“ as much as possible. I’ve certainly had fun spinning jazz records on air this month and thought I probably should pick one for y’all here. However, with the way of the world and my mood, it couldn’t be too straight. Therefore, my recommendation for you this week is to listen to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1981 album on Arista called Reflections. Yes, I know the 80s aren’t considered prime jazz years, but GSH was still pumping out bangers, and this record, although concentrating on the political situation of the Reagan era and before, is just as relevant today as then. Perhaps even more so, considering our current situation. We all need the righteous poetry and words of GSH spoken over good music. Don’t we?

Gil does more than just provide the words and voice for the record, though. He plays a variety of instruments, keyboards, and horns across the album. He’s assisted by a strong band, including Kenny Powell on drums to name one musician, and fine background vocals from the Waters family. Should those names mean anything to you.

The songs are all fire, although for me, perhaps the weakest is the opening song called Storm Music. The words and meaning of the song are fine, but the music is a sort of reggae-inspired groove everyone had to inject into their music back then. Bob Marley, Jamaica, and reggae music were boss then, and everyone had to have a reggae song on their record, even GSH. Not that the song is full-on reggae or that bad, just not the strongest start to the album in my humble opinion. However, I would never dream of criticizing a legend, and when you listen to the lyrics, it makes sense why an element of reggae and World music would be in the song. The side continues with a Bill Withers song and one that literally asks, Is That Jazz Music?

The real heat on the record comes on the second side. Beginning with an updated cover of the Marvin Gaye classic Inner City Blues, which is great, and then followed by a song titled Gun, the message is clear, and sadly still applies to today as much as it did then. The masterpiece of the album, though, is the closing cut, “B” Movie, a twelve plus minute monster of a groove and spot-on commentary from GSH. It’s a must-listen-to song. The other week whilst on our radio show Worldy, my partner Matt played it, and it went down very well with the listeners. His version was taken from an Underworld compiled compilation for the Back To Mine series. Apparently they sourced an even longer version of the song than the album version with more music at the end of the track. They might have given the song a little sonic polish also, as it sounded great. Either way, the power of the song still comes across. I am curious to get hold of the 12” single version at some point, though. I’m not entirely sure where the Underworld boys got their version from, but it is out there. Maybe on a UK-only 12”? Answers on a postcard, please. Regardless, it’s the words and the message of the song that count, and GSH delivers one of his best with “B” Movie. Go check it out here. Cool album cover art too, with Gil’s sunglasses reflection showing us different aspects of life in America.

Okay, that’s all I have for you. Thanks for reading and supporting us.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Sitting down to write for the newsletter again right now feels surreal. I think that devoting any energy toward acknowledging the time that’s elapsed since my last entry, and explaining where I’ve been mentally and emotionally for the last few months… I’m just not sure I can do that right now. And for those of you reading who are in the dark, I’m not even sure you care to read what I have to say about all that. Needless to say, I’ve been having a very difficult time. My most sincere gratitude to everyone who has reached out or given support.

I’ll be honest, for a while, I hadn’t really been actively listening to music at all. I think I’m finally turning a corner around that barricade. But forgive me if I’m foggy on anything new that’s been released over the last couple months. I’ve got some catching up to do, I suppose.

I don’t even know why I decided to talk about this record exactly. I guess just because I’ve been listening to this song constantly within the last few days. Consider this less of a well-constructed “staff pick,” and rather more of a conversational write-up just to get myself back into the swing of things. We must get back on the horse.

For some reason, the song “Wasted” from the 1979 single by LA punk band Silver Chalice has become my recent obsession. I guess it all started with a conversation when a friend and I were texting back and forth about deathrock bands the other day. Upon revisiting the song, I was just like, “goddamn it’s SO good.” It’s like addicting. For those unfamiliar, I think the single remains fairly obscure and original copies are quite a rarity. It was reissued by Munster a little over 10 years ago, but it also appeared on the Bloodstains Across California comp. It’s interesting, because strictly speaking, this song precedes “death rock” being clearly defined by many years. So why is this single often included in the deathrock conversation? Is it the name? “Silver Chalice” does sound pretty spooky. Is it the austere, mysterious-looking cover art? I don’t know!

Silver Chalice seems to be the brainchild guy named Kim Komet, who I don’t know much about. He’s the frontman and songwriter. I’ve seen a few Ed Colver photos of him, but he still seems to be a rather mysterious character. Geza X also played guitar in Silver Chalice and was the producer/engineer. You can totally hear that signature sonic palette Geza X brought to many other early LA punk singles on “Wasted”. For all intents and purposes, “Wasted” is a pretty straight rockin’ tune with great vocal melodies. I’ve also heard this single described as “heavy glitter trash”, so I guess we’ve got that vibe goin’ on as well. As far as drawing a spooky vibe from the record, it does feel sonically veiled with murky production. I also interpret the lyrics to be a sort of a lament, sang with this mournful delivery which gives the song a haunting quality: “All my broken dreams… where are they? I’m wasting away. I’m goooone”. Beautiful, catchy, wailing backing vocals on the word “gone,” it’s awesome. Also, I think that this single remaining relatively obscure, like not being released on Dangerhouse for example, contributes to its feeling like a true outsider record – even for punk. Apparently, in an interview, Komet self-described Silver Chalice as “dead-crude rock”. So perhaps this influence made waves in the LA punk scene before you had the bands on Hell Comes To Your House like Christian Death, 45 Grave and Super Heroines. Is Silver Chalice like The Stooges of their kind? – are they proto-deathrock??

In 1985, Silver Chalice put out their only other release, a 12” EP called Evil Birds. By this time, Rob Graves from The Bags had joined the band, along with Don Bolles, who was probably doing 45 Grave around the same time. On this record, it seems like Kim, Geza and the gang had embraced the deathrock thing completely, both visually and musically. Evil Birds is a cool record, but still nothing quite does it for me like “Wasted”. I really am not a fan of the alternate artwork on the Munster reissue, which I think is a photo Kim holding a passed-out naked woman on stage (yikes). I would love to have a proper first pressing with the original picture sleeve, so if you’ve got one in okay shape for not stupid money, bang my line.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week. Truly the best I could do I think, haha. Hope you at least found it interesting. Check out the song if you haven’t before. Missed you guys, hope you missed me…

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Siouxsie and the Banshees took a long time making their way onto my list of favorite bands. I’ve been aware of them since before I can remember, but during the self-education on 70s UK punk I gave myself in my 20s, they never really registered. I knew songs like “Hong Kong Garden” and “Love in a Void” and I thought they were alright, but they didn’t knock me out the way “What Do I Get” or “One Chord Wonders” or “Neat Neat Neat” did. I basically thought of Siouxsie and the Banshees as ’77 also-rans who had a fluke pop hit way after the fact (1988’s “Peekabo,” which I remember being all over MTV).

Then, sometime in my late 20s, I picked up 1981’s Once Upon a Time: The Singles and fell head over heels. The punky “Honk Kong Garden” and “Love In a Void” where there, but what blew me away were the batch of singles that came after that: “Happy House,” “Christine,” “Spellbound,” etc. It’s those singles from 1980 and 1981 that made me a fan and made me curious to explore the Banshees’ discography further. After picking up the first four albums, the shape of that discography and the band’s story became a little clearer. Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin were the creative core, and they played with many musicians before a lineup with drummer Kenny Morris and guitarist John McKay solidified around the time they signed with Polydor. That lineup did the first two albums and a handful of singles, but imploded in September 1979 when Morris and McKay quit the band mid-tour. Budgie, recently off playing drums on the Slits’ phenomenal Cut, joined on drums and became the group’s third creative pillar. The trio then worked with a succession of guitarists (most of them incredible) for the rest of the band’s run, their music continuing to change and evolve until the very end.

So, it’s spring 2025. I’m chilling, living my life as a Siouxsie & the Banshees fan, and YouTube serves me a video called Siouxsie and the Banshees: Ranking the Albums from “The Scream” through “The Rapture.” I feel like I know my Siouxsie records pretty well, but the three guys in this video totally outclassed me with their knowledge, and I was learning so much that I ended up watching the whole 90-minute video. The guys in the video rate some of the Banshees’ later albums more highly than I do, which made me want to spend more time with those records, but the video’s big revelation for me was learning about a record they kept bringing up called The Thorn.

The Thorn came out in 1984, and it is the sole EP Siouxsie and the Banshees ever released. Which is kinda weird, right? The Banshees were students of the craft of making both singles and albums, so why did they neglect the humble EP? I love EPs. I like that you get a little more than a single with an EP, but it’s not as weighty as an album. Perhaps for that reason, I think a lot of bands’ best work is on their EPs, which have a way of catching artists at transitional stages. Napalm Death’s Mentally Murdered, the Fall’s Slates, and the Clash’s Black Market Clash all come to mind as great EPs in that transitional vein.

And Siouxsie and the Banshees were, indeed, in a period of transition when they recorded The Thorn. Guitarist John McGeotch (formerly of Magazine, and later of Public Image Limited) quit the band in 1982, and Robert Smith from the Cure (who had also filled in for a spell in 1980) joined the Banshees as his replacement. However, the Cure was hitting their own creative stride during this period, and eventually Smith left the Banshees to focus on his own band. The Banshees then recruited journeyman musician John Valentine Carruthers (whose most recent gig was in Clock DVA) as Smith’s replacement. The Thorn is the first thing Curruthers recorded with the group, and it served as an introduction to the Banshees’ new lineup.

How do the Banshees choose to kick off the Carruthers years? Curiously, by revisiting some old tunes. Not the greatest hits, mind you, but a motley collection of album tracks and b-sides from several lineups before (including three from the Morris / McKay lineup that had disbanded four years prior… the lineup that recorded the not-as-great earlier stuff). They chose four tracks: “Overground” originally appeared on the first Banshees LP, The Scream, while “Placebo Effect” was on the second album, Join Hands. “Voices” was the b-side to 1978’s “Hong Kong Garden” single, while “Red Over White” backed up 1980’s “Israel” single. If someone forced you to make a list of the worst 10 songs the Banshees had recorded up to that point, these would almost certainly be on it. They all sound unfinished, but some of them sound barely started. I guess bands do this all the time—revisit old material that didn’t quite work the first time around—but most bands are better at relegating those early attempts to the cutting-room floor. I think it’s rare for a band to reclaim and revise their earlier material like that, and particularly rare for them to do it successfully.

All four tracks on The Thorn are completely reworked, reimagined really, as Banshees circa 1984. The minimalist sketches that sat on b-sides are now ambitious, orchestral, dramatic as all fuck… they shine. Earlier this week I was driving around listening to Twice Upon a Time, the sequel to Once Upon a Time that covers the rest of the Banshees’ career, noting how many covers appear on that compilation. I thought to myself that perhaps where the Banshees were really in a class of their own was as arrangers. They constructed these massive, layered soundscapes that sounded like nothing else (well, at least until Robin Guthrie ripped it off and turned it into a whole subgenre). Though the bones of the songs on The Thorn are not great, they are still captivating in these versions. However, when the Banshees took their power as arrangers and welded it to truly great _songs_—whether covers of classics like “The Passenger” and “Dear Prudence” or their own compositions like “Cities and Dust” and “Swimming Horses”—they achieved highs very few other artists ever matched.

So yeah, The Thorn kicks ass, but sadly it ain’t easy to get. It came out on vinyl only in 1984, wasn’t released in the US at all, and has never been reissued. Aside from Overground appearing on Twice Upon a Time, the only place you can get these tracks digitally would be as part of 2004’s Downside Up CD box set (Discogs median price check: $133.50… also, I hate to be a bummer, but the rest of the box is kind of a slog). Since I learned about _The Thorn_’s existence a few weeks before I went to Europe last summer, I made a mental note to keep my eye out for it. I actually found it at the very last shop I visited on the trip. It wasn’t expensive… there are a ton of copies on Discogs for $15 (or less, if you’re willing to skimp on condition), but you’re gonna have to pay that international shipping.

And speaking of Twice Upon a Time and un-reissued Banshees records, get that back in print! Twice Upon a Time came out in 1992, and they only pressed vinyl in continental Europe (not even the UK!). I do not want to pay several hundred dollars for that record, but give me a halfway decent reissue and you can have my $50.

What’s up Sorry State readers?! It’s my first time in the newsletter, so let me introduce myself! I’m Trevor. I just moved back to Raleigh after 10ish years or so, and I found myself lucky enough to have joined the Sorry State team! My pick for this week is Unidad Ideológica: Choque Asimétrico. Man…. This record absolutely RIPS front to back. Choque Asimétrico is a follow-up to their last s/t LP that also should be played at full volume, waking up your entire neighborhood. The recording on Choque Asimétricois a bit more raw and heavier than the first LP, but still sticks to playing raw and fast as fuck… I love it and could talk about this record for hours! Go check out Unidad Ideológica from Bogotá, Colombia!! If you dig this you should absolutely go check out Salvaje Punk from NYC! Fast as fuck Latino punk, mi gente! Alright, till next time, thanks for reading!

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!

What’s up Sorry State readers? It’s been quite some time since the last staff pick! I hope everyone had a nice end to their 2025 and has been enjoying the new year. The demo cassette from local rippers Plastique Pigs came out and, as expected, it’s killer. Definitely snag one of these bad boys if you haven’t already. RSD Black Friday also came and went, which brought some cool new releases. Per usual, I picked up a couple of the live releases cause there are always some cool ones in the mix. The one I wanted to highlight today is Bill Evans’ Portraits At The Penthouse, a live recording from 1966 featuring Eddie Gomez on bass and Joe Hunt on drums. I wasn’t really planning on picking this one up, but at the end of the day, there was still a copy or two left, so I decided to grab it, and I’m glad I did. An excellent release with lots of love put into it. It has a nice gatefold jacket with a cool photo on the inside, the track listing and other info, and a really nice booklet that has a ton of awesome photos, posters and interviews. I’ve had some pretty lackluster, barebones new releases lately, so this was very much appreciated. The music speaks for itself: an incredible-sounding recording that makes it sound like you’ve been transported back in time and are sitting right there at the Penthouse in Seattle. It’s hard to highlight a specific track on here cause I kinda just like to take it in as the entire show but I love any version of Nardis and I also really enjoy Detour Ahead on the B side. The perfect soundtrack to a chilly winter evening. All around, a great release. If you’re a Bill Evans fan, this one is worth adding to your collection. That’s all for this week. I have some other records I’ve picked up over the last two months that I’m sure you’ll see me writing about here. Thanks for reading everyone. It feels good to be back!

Hello Sorry Staters. Welcome to 2026. It’s already getting a good start on being an even shittier year than 2025. Last year was an awful one for us, as most of you are aware. Grief over tragic loss is never an easy thing to deal with. To all of those who have sent us condolences and had us in their thoughts, we thank you.

It feels weird writing about anything these days with all that has happened and is going on in the world, particularly here in America. These are very troubled and scary times we are living in. It’s hard to enjoy anything when such terrible things are happening all around us. Music, film, TV, sport, you name it, all seems so trivial in comparison. The arts serve a purpose though, and often when times are tough, they come to the rescue when we need them most. Music in particular can heal, soothe, inspire and bring joy. It does for me. We just need to make sure we aren’t allowing “entertainment” to distract us from the fascist takeover that is going on around us. Perhaps we’ll see some serious music that speaks of the times we are in. That would be a good thing. Even pop music can be on the right side of history and let’s hope we see more pop, rock, country and hip-hop stars, among others, using their platform to promote positive messages and to make a stand against the evils of the world.

I thought for my first one of these this year I would try to write about something new, or relatively new. I know I am the king of the oldies around these parts, but every now and then I like to listen to new stuff. LoL. One band whose records I have been digging for the last year or so is Dry Cleaning. They come from London and are on 4AD. I liked their sophomore album Stumpwork, which came out at the end of 2022, and now to kick off 2026 they have a new one out called Secret Love.

The band formed prior to the pandemic and were on the brink of a breakthrough of sorts, but their momentum was halted, just like so many others, when the lockdown took effect. The group is built around a trio of musician friends who had all aged a little and taken full-time jobs and were only viewing playing music as a hobby when they began Dry Cleaning. However, when college arts lecturer Florence Shaw was asked to join them, things got serious quickly. Initially unsure about whether she was the right fit for the job, Shaw was encouraged to just recite her poetry and to talk about whatever came into her mind. It is this dry, talking style that she uses that makes the band different, and it makes them sound cooler than if she were attempting to sing instead. The music palette is that of post-punk. Fans of The Cool Greenhouse, another London group that formed around the same time, might find a lot to like in Dry Cleaning. Critics have bandied around phrases like, “imagine The Fall fronted by Annette Peacock” to describe their sound. They’ve been compared to Magazine also, and certainly on album opener Hit My Head All Day you can hear a nod to them in the guitar sounds, I think. Another name that comes to mind when trying to describe Dry Cleaning is Baxter Dury. Son of Ian, who has been putting out cool and interesting records for a couple of decades now. Those are all big artistic boots to fill for sure, but there is a bit of truth in that comparison. I love The Fall, naturally, and here at Sorry State we also have a lot of time for The Cool Greenhouse, so it was almost a forgone conclusion that Dry Cleaning would appeal to me, but judging by the critical praise the band is getting for this latest record, a lot of others feel the same. In fact, their label 4AD has re-released their debut album New Long Leg, along with a reissue of their first EPs to satisfy the increased interest in the band. Their popularity probably wasn’t hurt by opening up for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds on that group’s 2024 arena tour. A good choice of support and I am sure many of those attending those shows became new fans.

For Secret Love, the producer’s chair was occupied by Welsh artist Cate Le Bon, whom they had befriended after a meeting in Chicago back in 2022, facilitated by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, who was recording with Le Bon at his Loft studio there. Cate Le Bon is also credited with various synth and drum machine programming on the new record, and some recording was done in Chicago at The Loft, but they recorded most of the record in France. On this new album, their sound is like previous outings but slightly more polished and Shaw does sing here and there, mostly on choruses. I didn’t see a credit for anyone else providing back-up vocals, so I assume it is her voice we hear singing. Also, not a lot should be made of the dry, talking-singing thing really. It’s not exactly a new style. Go listen to Marlene Dietrich, Nico, Brigitte Fontaine, and Grace Jones, for more examples. Beat poets, jazz singers and rappers will tell you they’ve been doing it for a fair while also. It’s just a style, and it works well here.

If, like me, you are finding boppy, poppy, bubblegum music doesn’t quite fit the mood right now, then give Dry Cleaning a chance. Being on 4AD, their album art is also a big part of the package, and this one, like the last one, tells you that something might be a little different within. Check out Secret Love here.

Thanks for reading and for supporting music and our part in that.

Cheers - Dom

Alright, I guess it’s time to shake off the cobwebs and write my first staff pick in a couple of months. Do I still know how to do this? We’ll see, I suppose.

A couple of weeks ago we flipped the calendar over to 2026. In early January in years past, Jeff has always quoted Embrace’s song “End of a Year:” “It’s the end of a fucked up year… and there’s another one coming.” I’ve never stopped to think too much about that lyric until this year. While I had some great times in 2025, the latter half of the year was one of the most grueling times I’ve ever lived through. It truly was a fucked up year. And, as Ian said, there’s another one coming. No respite, no turning the clock back, just keep plowing ahead into the shit.

I was thinking the other day about how I haven’t heard the term “new year’s resolution” once this year. Admittedly, I’ve been doing my best to spend as little time as I can with both mass and social media, but I don’t think I’m that disconnected. My theory is that the world has grown so fucked up that no one has the energy to do anything but console ourselves about all the trauma we’ve endured. For the past few years, social media around the new year is a unified chorus of people exclaiming what a shit year it was, and virtually no one expressing hope the next year will be better, much less determination to make it so. I know that, in the past, I’ve dismissed most of the negativity I see about the state of the world as catastrophizing, or at the very least (foolishly) buying into the tendency in mainstream political discourse to treat every moment, every controversy, as THE MOST IMPORTANT CRISIS WE HAVE EVER FACED. But lately when I watch the news I see so much cruelty… so much evil. Our government in the United States is run by a coalition of gangsters, sadists, and people who are happy enough with whatever tiny piece of the pie they’re getting to remain complicit. I’ve always thought this was more or less true of national politics in the U.S., but there’s been a concerted effort in recent years to remove all good-hearted people from positions of power and replace them with the aforementioned gangsters, sadists, and stooges, right down to the humblest, smallest arms of local government. My mom works for the school system in the tiny town in Virginia where I grew up, and she’s told me about how a small group of right-wing activists have taken over the school board and enacted a regime that is basically the local equivalent of Stephen Miller’s wet dream. The world is getting worse, just about everywhere, for everyone but a tiny subset of people whose greed will never be satisfied.

I almost always stick to music in my pieces for the SSR newsletter, but I’ve been thinking about politics a lot lately… not Republican versus Democrat bs, but politics broadly defined, as in how we live together as humans and try to get along. Maybe I’m worried about losing my political compass without Red in my life. They were so passionate and so relentlessly empathetic, and I feel like they served as a bulwark against my natural tendency toward defeatism and apathy. But I also owe a lot of my thoughts about politics to being immersed in the world of Poison Girls for the past few weeks. Which leads me to my double staff pick for this week:

Poison Girls: Where’s the Pleasure 12” (Xntrix, 1982)

Rich Cross with Alec Dunn & Erin Yanke. This Is a Message to Persons Unknown: The Story of the Poison Girls book (PM Press, 2025)

While I’ve had Poison Girls records in my collection for many years, the band never truly clicked with me until I picked up a copy of their 1982 album Where’s the Pleasure sometime this fall. I can’t even remember where I got the record. It must have been during one of my trips out of town. Whenever I travel, and particularly when I travel alone, I tend to come home with a giant stack of vinyl, which I then spend the next few months going through. I did not know what I was in for when I dropped the needle on Where’s the Pleasure. First, it’s not what you would think of as an anarcho-punk record. Poison Girls had released several records by the time they recorded Where’s the Pleasure, and they’d long left behind any interest in catering to the middle of punk’s road. Where’s the Pleasurebuilds a world much wider than punk, taking in a range of styles across its thirteen tracks. The ones that first caught my ear—like the title track that begins the record—feature a crack rhythm section that lives deep in the pocket, and the album’s crystalline recording makes you feel like you’re plonked down in the middle of the studio as the band records. While Poison Girls’ connections to punk were fraying by this point, there’s still a punky sense of energy and directness, and I hear a lot of what I love about more “sophisticated” anarcho bands like Crisis and Zounds on Where’s the Pleasure.

The music pulled me in, but it wasn’t long before Vi Subversa’s lyrics captivated me. Subversa was 47 when Where’s the Pleasure came out, and I’m 46 now, so perhaps I’m in the right place in my life to appreciate where Vi was coming from. There are a few songs on Where’s the Pleasure that deal with “topical” issues: “Take the Toys” is, broadly, about war, while “Rio Disco Stink” is an invective against Rio Tinto, a multinational mining corporation with a long list of sins against the earth and humanity. But most of the songs on the album are about “personal” issues: love, romance, sex, aging, family… the stuff of human life rather than political broadsheets. And of course these “personal” and “political” issues intersect, which Vi has clearly thought about plenty. Take, for instance, the declamation in “Take the Toys (Reprise)”: “for all the money they spend on nuclear weapons, there is still not a safe and effective form of contraception.” Vi is an incredible lyricist, cuttingly direct one moment and oblique and evocative the next, and I am certain I’ll be pondering her words for the rest of my life.

Having been so blown away by Where’s the Pleasure, when I got an email announcing a Kickstarter / pre-order for a Poison Girls book on the long-running radical publishing imprint PM Press, I smashed that buy button without a second thought (and added in a “Take the Toys from the Boys” t-shirt for good measure). I just knew Poison Girls’ story was going to be riveting. I knew a few scattered facts that were intriguing—that Vi’s children were punks and had played in Fatal Microbes and Rubella Ballet, and that Poison Girls had frequently shared the stage with Crass—but listening to Where’s the Pleasure assured me whatever time I spent with Poison Girls, their art, and their story would be well-spent.

This Is a Message to Persons Unknown was all I could have wanted and more. As a punk rock book, it is top-notch. I love punk books, and the crisp graphic design and the reproduction of so much of the group’s paper ephemera—zines, flyers, photographs, press clippings, record sleeves and inserts, badges, and plenty more, all of it in vivid detail and full color—would have been enough to leave me a satisfied customer. But that’s only the beginning. The writing and editing are also top-notch… I try not to be an asshole about it, but as a former English teacher, the sloppy writing and copy editing on a lot of underground and small-press books really bug the shit out of me. Rich Cross’s research is exhaustive, but his writing is skillful enough not to lose the forest (the band’s story) in the trees (all those captivating details). The whole thing is executed to a much higher standard than any other book I can think of, even impressive ones like Crass: A Pictoral History.

And then there’s the story, which just blew my mind. I don’t want to summarize too much because this is already way too long, but my intuition that the Poison Girls were interesting characters was 100% accurate. And more than just being interesting, Poison Girls’ story is inspiring. The group’s key members—vocalist Vi Subversa, but also drummer Lance D’Boyle and guitarist Richard Famous—were dyed-in-the-wool radicals, people who looked at all the fucked up shit in the world and refused to take part. They didn’t just critique the world around them; they imagined how it could be better. And then they tried to make what they imagined a reality, despite an entire world working against them. They were human and had flaws and some things they tried worked out better than others, but they fucking tried. They had hope. The members of Crass found them so inspiring that, from January 1979 until early 1981, Crass refused to perform unless Poison Girls was also on the bill. Crass thought it was that important that their audience heard what Poison Girls had to say.

So yeah, Poison Girls has been my little island of hope in the sea of shit that was the latter half of 2025. I was honestly sad when I reached the last page of the book, but thankfully there are a bunch more Poison Girls records I haven’t yet spent enough time with. So at least I have something to look forward to as the world crumbles around us.