Featured Releases: July 1, 2024

Jalang / Unsanitary Napkin: Split 12” (Bad Habit Records) (So-called) Australia’s Jalang and Aotearoa’s (New Zealand’s) Unsanitary Napkin make a well-matched pair on this split 12”. Many of you are familiar with Unsanitary Napkin from their 2022 full-length All Billionaires Are Bastards, and their 6 songs continue in that bulldozer style, combining metallic riffing with a street-punk-ish knack for hooky melodies. The vocals are mile-a-minute political tirades in the tradition of MDC, with the heavy delay effect creating this woozy, swirling effect when the syllables wind around one another. It’s catchy, high-energy, and doesn’t sound like anyone else, so if you enjoyed the previous LP, don’t miss this one. As for Jalang, their vocalist has a similar sound to Unsanitary Napkin’s, but even more shredded-sounding. Jalang also keeps the energy level just as manic as Unsanitary Napkin, though their nods to Discharge and Cimex are more straightforward than Unsanitary Napkin’s sub-genre-obliterating racket. Interestingly, while each band covers one of the other’s songs here, both covers fit perfectly on their respective sides. A powerhouse record from two bands who were made for one another.

Rearranged Face: Far Green Arcade 12” (House of Tomothy) I really enjoyed this LA band’s 2021 LP, A Rare Caged Fern (which is still in stock!), and this new album is an excellent follow-up. While I probably reference turn-of-the-80s art rock / new wave bands like Suburban Lawns, Talking Heads, and the B-52’s in descriptions of contemporary bands relatively often, few of them evoke that vibe as strongly as Rearranged Face. Perhaps it’s Rearranged Face’s crisp production style, which is a marked contrast to the lo-fi egg punk bands who share a similar set of influences (particularly Devo, whose criss-crossing robotic rhythms are all over Far Green Arcade). Uranium Club is a contemporary band that does something similar to Rearranged Face, but whereas Uranium Club’s music often stretches to psychedelic lengths, Rearranged Face’s songs are snappy and dense with ideas. I’m a sucker for bands like this who wrap toe-tapping melodies in an arty and slightly obtuse aesthetic, and Far Green Arcade definitely scratches that itch.

Direct Threat: Endless Siege 7” (Iron Lung Records) You might remember this Denver band’s 2021 demo (which Iron Lung put to vinyl), and three years later we have their proper debut EP, a co-release between Iron Lung Records in the US and Quality Control HQ in the UK. Three years seems like a long gap between a demo and a first EP, but the extra time in the oven paid off with this batch of tunes. At first glance, Direct Threat sounds a lot like other oi!-infused hardcore bands of recent years, with their fuzzy, analog-sounding production and barked, 86 Mentality-style vocals. But behind the primitivist production are interesting and even subtle songs. I love the Negative Approach-esque drum parts on “The Violent Dawn,” which sound so classic, but the most striking moment is “Hammer of Reality,” a song built around this unique, bouncy rhythm that might seem like a slight stylistic detour, but I think it really works. Endless Siege is full of moments like that, and it’s worth a listen even if you’re feeling a bit worn out by all the new jack oi! boys.

Sin Tax: Abnegation 7” (Miracle Cortex Records) Debut EP from this dark and punishing hardcore band from Melbourne, Australia. I’ve seen Sin Tax compared to several outsider-y 80s hardcore bands, but the comparison that keeps coming to my mind is Septic Death. The guitar player is mega-speedcore fast, playing in a death metal-ish style on the fast parts, but the drumming is pure hardcore, with simple and punishing beats and a rhythmic restlessness. While Sin Tax’s music can feel manic when there are a lot of fast parts in a row (and there often are), the band settles into heavy grooves on the mid-paced parts, notably “Faces of Death,” whose intro touches on some supremely Flag’d out Eye for an Eye-isms. Abnegation has an introverted, artsy feel that takes a minute to warm up to, but the band’s ambition pays off in tunes packed with compelling musicality.

Prisão: EP 2 7” (11PM Records) Denmark’s Adult Crash Records released the first EP from this Swedish hardcore band in 2022, and now they’re back with their second, which fortunately has a North American pressing on 11PM Records. There are a couple of things you need to know about Prisão if you aren’t familiar with them already. First, while they’re a Swedish band, their singer is Brazilian and sings in Portuguese, and I’m guessing the band also works to channel the raw and ugly side of early South American hardcore. Second, said Brazilian singer is Lucas who plays guitar in Vidro, and while I don’t know how much he contributed to riff-writing on this EP, if you’re a fan of Vidro’s hooky, groovy hardcore, you should definitely check out Prisão. The heavy, mid-paced grooves that make me want to smash my head through a wall also make me think of Golpe, particularly since Prisão lets these great riffs and grooves breathe, their songs taking time to unfold, which stands in contrast to the compressed, manic vibe of so much similarly ugly hardcore. Of course I like the fastest song the best, as “Foda-se” rips with a catchy, Minor Threat-ish main riff. A top-notch hardcore punk EP.

Cartoon: Nyuck Nyuck Boing! 12” (Human Headstone Presents) This Philadelphia avant-punk band delivers their first vinyl after dropping a demo tape (also on Human Headstone) back in 2022. Cartoon’s songs are mostly instrumental (though vocals with fractured, imagistic lyrics pop up a few times over the course of the record), drawing from diverse strands of instrument-focused (rather than vocal-focused) music like jazz fusion, post-rock, and Krautrock. But while the compositions sound like they’re based on influences from outside punk and hardcore, Cartoon plays like a punk band, keeping the intensity high and the tempos up, leaning hard into the grooves that form the backbone of these seven tracks. Nyuck Nyuck Boing! isn’t going to be for the majority of people reading the Sorry State newsletter, but if you hang with the post-Paganicons Saccharine Trust material, you’re gonna love this. If you enjoy Jaco Pastorius, 70s Miles Davis, and 80s King Crimson, you’re even better suited for this wild musical journey.