Skip to content
Hey there Sorry Staters, how’s your summer going? Enjoying those triple digit temperature heat waves? Perfect for vinyl records, right? So, we’ve been away from your inbox these last few weeks, but with good reason as half the staff make up three quarters of Scarecrow and they were of course on tour in Scandinavia with our favorite Swedes Vidro. No doubt their sections of this newsletter will entertain you with stories of that adventure. The rest of us here at Sorry State are so proud of the band and we hope that some of you reading could catch them at these shows.
Back here at Sorry State the wheels kept turning and the records kept coming as well. As any of you who follow our socials and order from us online or shop in the actual store can testify, there have been some damn good records coming through here. We work hard sourcing these gems for you and although not alone in this endeavor, I think we do okay at it. I’ve worked at some good stores and probably like you all, have visited some great ones across the world too, but I can honestly say I have seen just as many cool ass records come through here as anywhere else. I’m proud, happy and honored to be a part of Sorry State and absolutely nothing makes me happier in a professional sense than when a customer scores a record that means something to them. Whether it’s an expensive collector type record or just a $5 bargain bin record, it doesn’t matter. If they are happy and will enjoy the music, that’s all that matters. In all the jobs I have done in the past, this is the one that gives the most satisfaction as far as providing goods and service is concerned. It means way more than providing a nice cocktail or a steak dinner to someone. Music means more. It’s the most important part of many people’s lives and so when someone leaves here with cool shit that they love it’s the best feeling.
Meanwhile, around the world, so much is happening. Let’s leave politics and war aside for the moment and rather revel in other things that bring us happiness. For sports fans there’s lots to cheer about and watch this summer. Ongoing as I write are the Euros and Copa America for the football fans and the Olympics are about to begin too. Certainly, for football (soccer) fans in the US it’s a good couple of months because you might well have one of your favorite teams or players in a stadium near you. Manchester City will be here in Cary, North Carolina, playing Celtic for a pre-season game. My Worldy DJ partner Matt is excited about that. My Reds will be in South Carolina, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. As of now I don’t have tickets, but who knows, perhaps I’ll make it to one game.
For the radio show these past couple of weeks, Matt and I have been spinning as much music as we can from countries involved in the tournaments. Whilst going through my French section for a selection or two I pulled out an Air 12” to play on the show. This 12 has the songs Casanova 70 and Les Professionals on it and came out in France a year before their classic debut album Moon Safari in 1997. I remember having to special order it as an import. Air, along with other French artists at the time like Kid Loco and Etienne De Crecy, were starting to get a lot of attention and I was all over it. Moon Safari remains one of my favorite records from that time. Shortly after I moved to New York City in 1998, Air came over and played a great concert at the Town Hall, which I attended. Also, around the time of Moon Safari’s release they visited the BBC and recorded a DJ set for the essential mix program. I recorded it and still have those tapes somewhere. They played a lot of cool stuff and set me on the search for a whole bunch of records. What is great about the Casanova 70 12” is that there are two mixes by British producer Brendan Lynch of the title track, who beefs up the drums and adds some samples, noticeably from the Aphrodite’s Child 666 album. They sound great from the loud cut pressed into the 200g vinyl. My favorite of the two mixes is The Secret Of Cool. Take a listen here. Brendan Lynch is one of my favorite producers. He has made some terrific dubs and mixes with Paul Weller and Primal Scream to name two of the bigger names he has worked with. For Deejays, his name on a mix is guaranteed to give a little something extra and that special touch is nicely applied to the Air track. For a few years, this 12” was rarely out of my record bag for gigs. I haven’t spun it recently and so it was fun busting it out for Worldy and even now it gets folks asking about it.
If you check your local listings, you might be lucky to catch Air live, who are out there currently performing Moon Safari in its entirety.
In other cool record news—no doubt one of my colleagues has picked the new record by The Dark called Sinking Into Madness, but let me jump on the praise bandwagon and steer you towards this monster slab of hardcore punk metal thrash awesomeness. These guys could be described as an L.A. punk supergroup as they have in their ranks members of Tozcos and Personal Damage. That should be enough to get your interest alone, but do yourselves a favor and check them out.
I’m still loving the New Town Dream album from Neutrals. So many great tunes on the album. It’s a bit of an easy comparison, but imagine The Jam crossed with Television Personalities and Belle And Sebastian and you’ll be in the ballpark. If those bands do it for you, then I think you’ll like Neutrals.
Okay, back to work. There are more records that need pricing, cleaned and to be listened to. The biggest challenge I have each week is trying to listen to all the ones I want to. Just not enough hours in the day. Sigh.
Thanks for checking in with us and have a great July 4th weekend next week.
Dom