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Hi Sorry State readers! Welcome to September! How ya doing? There's actually a lot of fun stuff coming up this month. Namely, Hopscotch is this weekend! I haven't gone to Hopscotch in a long time but this year feels like it was almost hand-crafted for teenage me. I'm basically still teenage me, just older. I can't believe that Pavement will be in my own back yard in a few days. I had the great fortune of seeing them in Washington DC not too long ago (which means I can't remember if it was 2021 or 2022) and it was like no time had passed. I hope to catch some of the late night gigs at the smaller venues, so that festival will be consuming most of my weekend. And then at the end of the month there are some kick ass punk shows here in Raleigh. Poison Ruin is playing at the end of the month and a couple days after that is the Nightfeeder show with Scarecrow and Mutant Strain. That one is gonna be killer.
And right around the corner is the 10th anniversary of Sorry State Records, which I gotta say is an amazing accomplishment for any small business, but Sorry State is a true labor of love built from the ground up. What started as a small distro run out of Daniel's house has grown into this amazing entity. It's not just the best record store ever (and for the record I already thought this before I started working here), a distro, and a record label, but it's this great punk pushing community that works hard to keep punk going. It's just nice to know there are businesses that are driven by passion and not profit, and that such businesses are not only still around but continuing to grow ten years later! So naturally, this milestone will be marked by a celebration! Mark your calendars for Sorry State Fest on October 20 and 21! Official lineup to be announced soon, but you may have noticed on the recently circulated flier for the Golpe/Electric Chair tour, that the SSR Fest is their first stop!
OK, let's get down to it. I wanted to write about the Powerplant Grass EP when we first got it, and then we took a little break from the staff picks so it sort of fell off my radar. But it's back on it. You really never know what you're going to get with Powerplant (Exhibit A: Stump Soup). But I have grown to appreciate this about them. I really liked their People in the Sun LP (2019) and I really really liked their Spine / Evidence EP (2020). The Grass EP sounds like it's kind of making its way back to their debut sound, while also expanding on the weirder parts of the 2020 EP, and throwing in some freshly unique stuff, making it both accessible and weird. It works.
Powerplant itself is an experience. That's what comes to mind when I think of this latest EP. It's kind of like moving through one of those funhouses that you only really ever saw in movies or a Goosebumps episode but never experienced in real life. Where each room is different than the next and you don't know what's around the corner or when something is gonna jump out.
That said, Grass, the opening track, is one of the most structured and balanced songs on the EP. It sort of eases you into the sonic journey that awaits, with a cool 80's post-punk feel with its low brooding vocals. As the song moves along, they begin to pepper in the weirdness with random sound effects, which adds a cool dynamic that isn't too far out there. The catchy chorus is what adds the balance to the song, as we have plenty of time to visit other rooms in this proverbial funhouse. Like in the very next track, Bloodmother. We've entered the doom and gloom room that has a dungeon synth style. The vocals are grizzly and almost cartoonish. Certainly an interesting track. Theres a great synth melody in the song Walk Around (Hang my Head) that pairs well with the demented vocals. This time not cartoonish, but still creepy. The closing track Beautiful Boy really comes in clutch with a more traditional structure, swirling synth, and high-energy infectious chorus. It's a chaotic tornado of sound that is still very melodic and harmonious. Needless to say, Grass and Beautiful Boy are my favorites.
When I think about this EP in its entirety, it feels like the opening and closing tracks are like the book ends for the circus in between. The track order is laid out perfectly in that sense. I think if you liked People in the Sun and/or the Spine/Evidence EP, you will like this latest release. One thing is for sure, Powerplant will never deliver something boring, and they always add something new and fresh to each release. This one is no exception. Give it a go!
Thanks so much for reading, as always. Until next time.
-Angela