News

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. We’ve had some beautiful weather here in Raleigh recently and it’s finally feeling like spring a little bit. As I’m writing this, it’s about 75 out and I’ve got my windows open, so I can’t complain too much. Sometimes you wanna just listen to something short, sweet and fun, so this morning I’ve been listening to the Rotary Club - American Tower 7”, which clocks in at under four minutes, one song on each side. Sometimes that’s all you need though, some crisp vocals and some catchy lyrics and riffs, all delivered to you faster than you can say “damn this is good who is this?” I’m a big fan of the B side on here, Planet 67, as someone who made many prank phone calls when I was younger with the ol’ reliable *67 trick.

Honestly, it might not have anything to do with that, but with the telephone imagery on the cover and the name Rotary Club, I’m gonna choose to believe that’s where it comes from. I was lucky to snag a copy as we sold out almost immediately when we put them up, but you can listen on streaming services or their bandcamp.

Hi Sorry State readers! How’s everyone doing? We’re going through early summer in February over here and I’m not a fan. Other than that, things are pretty decent.

My pick this week is the Nacht und Nebel EP from the Dutch band, Indirekt. It’s my favorite thing I’ve heard from the band. It just hits differently. Start to finish, it meets my personal criteria for a pretty perfect EP. I’d love two more songs, but I still feel really satisfied after a spin. All in all, it’s mid to fast tempo punk with really confident and dynamic vocals.

Nacht und Nebel is the opener and one of my favorite tracks on the record. It’s vying for top spot. There is an absolutely infectious riff that anchors the song. The song opens with that riff and it chugs along throughout the song and speeds up when appropriate. It’s a really straightforward but meaty riff that could work as a jumping off point in a million different songs. You could add some distortion to it and throw it on any L7 record and it wouldn’t sound out of place. I now realize that was a very wordy way to say it’s a great, versatile riff.

The vocals are fantastic on that track and there is an unexpected, very high-pitched scream that could break glass. Or maybe it’s a whistle and I’m totally wrong. I love the way the song picks up a lot of speed and aggression, and then seamlessly returns to the mid-tempo intro it started with. There is also a quick little bass melody at the very end of the track that leaves you wanting more.

On the second track, you do get more. Prose C opens with a much longer and more melodic bass riff. I love a thoughtful transition. The drums lock in perfectly with the bass, which becomes much faster and more intense. It sounds so cool. The vocals oscillate between aggressive and poppy. Trust me, it works. The seamless tempo and style changes are wild on this one. I like this track as much as the first one.

I really can’t get enough of this bass player, and I love how prominent the bass is on most of the tracks. The singer is not messing around on the third track. She comes right out of the gate with anthemic style vocals and plenty of attitude. It feels like she’s right up in your face. Well, my face. I can’t speak for your face. Trust me when I say this record finishes just as strong as it starts. It feels like an understatement to say it’s a solid EP, but all four tracks hold their own. No lulls, no duds, no filler.

I think we’re all digging Indirekt around here. I’m probably the only one hearing them for the first time, but I love that for me. That said, check out Indirekt’s Op Oorlogspad. Jeff crafted a nice lil’ write-up on that record last week.

Couldn’t find them on Bandcamp, but there’s a link to the EP on YouTube below.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Angela

https://youtu.be/yTzgEybR1xw

Hello and thanks for reading! I’m so busy today with Sorry State and my own label BPDT and unfortunately, I have don’t have the time or mental capacity to formulate a staff pick today! Instead of writing nothing, I thought I could at least write about what has been taking up so much of my time! I’m sure as you saw already, SSR has just announced the KORO re-issue! I am so excited for this. If you have the first reissue SSR did, don’t fuck up and think you can pass on this. To me, this reissue blows that one out of the water. The discs sound amazing, and the packaging is like a replica. So close that we had to stamp Sorry State inside since there is no mention of the label, haha. When Daniel first mentioned doing this once again, he agreed to give me and Jeff’s label our own special color, hehe. I guess it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but fuck it, Jeff and I think it’s so cool cos KORO fuckin’ rules. We spiced it up a bit by including an extra hand-stamped cover! We are very happy to announce this pre-order is available from us alongside the SCARECROW “Crisis EP” repress. Sorry State will have copies of those available on Monday online, but we will have some in-store starting Friday—so if you are a local, no need to buy it online from BPDT, just come on down to the shop! I’m not sure how many people reading this are that big of SCARECROW fans who also are looking for the EP still, but I will let you let you know since you are reading this; there will be a special cover available with the BPDT pre-order. That’s a secret though, so don’t tell anyone. Alright, back to stapling these Network of Friends zines! Cheers and thanks to everyone for the support!!

What’s up Sorry Staters? Thanks for dialing us up on your internet viewing device. I hope you are all having a good week out there.

We’ve been busy as usual here on the Sorry State ranch and I have been knee-deep in dusty and cobwebby boxes assessing a nice classic rock collection, which hopefully by the time you read this we will have closed the deal on. As a result, I have not dedicated much time to my staff pick for this week and, coupled with another restless night caused by my various ailments, I find myself here on Thursday morning staring at a blank screen. So, it’s going to be a short one from me this week.

Next week is St. Valentine’s day and regardless of your stance on Hallmark holidays, there’s no real escaping it, and although I’ve tended to make a dog’s dinner of my past relationships, I am not “against” love. I might just be a bit more jaded than the average person. I certainly have always been drawn to tragic love songs in music and the anti-love songs that exist. I like the she loves you yeah, yeah, yeah stuff too, but when there is a darker edge to things, it appeals and makes sense to me. One such song that probably tops the heap in the love songs with depth category is Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division. Everyone loves that song, and you don’t need me to tell you about it, but certainly the circumstances in the life of Ian Curtis that influenced his writing of the song make for a classic on par with a Shakespearian or Greek tragedy. If you are unfamiliar with his story, hit the Wiki.

Naturally, with any great song come the cover versions, and there have been a few of Love Will Tear Us Apart. Pop singer Paul Young had success with his version in Europe, for instance. The one that I like, though, is by Swans. This version seems to divide the room. Some like it and some not. Swans fans have different opinions for sure. Their version appeared on an E.P. released in 1988 that also featured different versions of tracks from their album Children Of God, released the previous year. I won’t profess to being a huge Swans fan, but their story is an interesting one, and I did get to see them at the famed Limelight club in New York City back in the early 1990s. My memory is hazy of that night, but I know I had a good time. I was working on the ships back then and we were in port after just crossing the Atlantic and out on the town. As luck would have it, our liberty coincided with the gig.

On their version of the song, there are apparently different vocal takes that appear on releases featuring either Gira or Jarboe on lead. College radio loved it, and the E.P. was a minor hit. Regardless of the views of the members of the band who recorded it or the fans. I’ll be honest I didn’t follow Swans’ career too closely after seeing them, but do remember checking out this cover version and liking it, and years later I did find a copy for myself. It’s not super hard to find or that expensive, but still collectable. My version is the red one with Michael Gira’s lead vocal.

On my radio show last week as teaser for next week’s Valentine’s show, I gave it a spin and enjoyed hearing it again, and so did some of our listeners. If you are unfamiliar or just want a reminder, you can click the link here.

Okay, I must get back to work and get all these records worked on. Have a great week and we’ll see you here next time. Cheer everybody.

-Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It’s 70-some degrees in February here in Raleigh. Maybe it’s because of the heat emanating from this Koro repress we have available for all you HardcorePunkMetalFreaks! Very exciting. You’re about as likely to find an original copy as a pot of gold under a rainbow, and it will cost you about the same as a used car. So considering that, it’s pretty rad that this 80s hardcore gem is finally back in print with a loving attempt to capture the feel of the packaging and sound of the real deal. On clear vinyl no less! While you’re at it, me n’ Usman will have a special version of the Koro 7” available through our Bunker Punks webstore. AND Scarecrow’s 2nd EP, Crisis, is back in print! If you missed out on the first round, we’re happy to say that now you’ll have a chance to grab a copy. If you’re local to NC, Sorry State will also have a good amount of copies for sale in-store :)

This was already several weeks ago (oh how time flies), but a little while back Sorry State got in just about every single you could ever want from English punk group Chelsea. I’d heard a couple of their early songs like “Right To Work” from 1977, which I always lumped in with UK bands from that era like Menace or even Sham 69. Kind of that gruff, street-wise, working class kinda punk that to me still kinda sounds like it has a foot in pub rock. Almost like the English version of proto-punk. We’ve sold a good amount of them now, but when we first got all these singles, a big stack of 10 or more, Dom and I stood at the counter at the store and listened to every single one of them IN ORDER. I did not realize that I genuinely like Chelsea until this day. It seems like a few years later in the band’s career, once it got to be like 1979 or 1980, that Chelsea’s sound really evolved. The 2 singles I have pictured above that I decided to take home for myself, “No One’s Coming Outside” and “A Look At The Outside” (guess these guys like talking about the outside haha), really blew me away. Since I’ve taken them home, I’ve listened to them constantly. I didn’t realize that they exchanged their rough-edged rock’n’roll for this lush, melodic, anthemic sound. Great production, beautiful jangly guitar work, background vocals with lots of oohs and ahs, intelligent and catchy vocal melodies. Just great, great songs. And even so, it’s still TOUGH. It almost kinda reminds of the direction that Stiv Bators went in on Disconnected. Somewhere between early mod influence, Johnny Thunders, The Damned and like… I dunno, Badfinger? I just can’t get enough.

I even posted a story on Instagram basically saying, “Why didn’t yall tell me Chelsea was good?” I had several people message me, including this cool ass dude from Montreal that I follow who was shocked I’d been missing out. Apparently, French Canadians love Chelsea. Who knew? So, if you haven’t checked out this era of Chelsea and the comparisons I’m drawing tickle your fancy, I highly suggest you check these singles out. Little melodic punk gems. Whenever I make discoveries like this, I always start to wonder if there are cool periods of other band’s discographies that I’m missing out on. Time will tell on that I suppose. But that’s part of the fun, right?

Welp, that’s all I’ve got this week. As always, thanks for reading.

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

The other day I was standing by the stage at a gig, chatting with my friend Billy as Flower set up their gear. Talked turned to the band Nausea, and Billy mentioned he first heard Nausea when he picked up one of their Punk Terrorist Anthology CD collections on a school field trip to Florida. That made me remember that, coincidentally, I also discovered Nausea on a school field trip to Florida. My senior class trip was to Disney World in Orlando. On the way back to Virginia, we stopped for a day in Daytona Beach, and since I went to the beach all the time back home, I skipped out on frolicking in the sand with my classmates and went looking for something more interesting. I ended up at some kind of record store or another and bought a copy of Nausea’s Extinction on CD. I didn’t like it then, thinking it was too metal. I can’t recall hearing it since then, so maybe I would like it now. I’ll get around to that one day, perhaps if a reissue comes through the distro.

Remembering how I found that CD unlocked a bunch of memories about school field trips. As I’ve noted many times, I grew up in an isolated environment. “Small town” doesn’t even cover it… soybean fields surrounded my house for at least a mile in every direction, and the nearest city was Norfolk, about 50 miles away. As a teenager into punk rock and skateboarding, I took every opportunity to get out of there. Whenever there was a school field trip, I signed myself up. I’m not sure if it was still the case, but it was a tradition at my school that, every year, the 9th grade class went on a field trip to Washington, DC. I figured out that you could sign up for the trip even if you were no longer in 9th grade, and I’m pretty sure I went on the DC trip all four years I was in high school. The bus would drop us off at the National Mall, right in front of the Smithsonian Museum, and while the rest of the class filed in to the attractions there, I ventured out on my own, looking for punk. This being pre-internet, I didn’t know where to look, and sadly I never made it as far as Georgetown, where Smash Records was at the time.

Another field trip I signed up for was when the French club went to a French restaurant. After years of studying French culture, the teachers had the idea to treat us to some French cuisine, but the closest French restaurant was four hours away in Alexandria, Virginia. I remember liking the meal, though the only dish I remember was a bright green soup the color of the walls at Sorry State.

After our meal, we had a small block of unstructured time in Old Town Alexandria, where I found a small record store. I don’t remember what it was called. In my mind, it was on the second floor of a building, though I may be mixing it up with one of the other hundreds of record stores I’ve visited in my life. While I remember little about the store, I remember exactly what I bought: a single by the Holy Rollers (which I bought because it had the Dischord logo) and this single by the Clash.

I haven’t listened to any of my Clash records in years, though I have a lot of them. I have mixed feelings about them as a punk band, but it would be hard to argue they didn’t have talent as songwriters, and their tunes got hooks into me early. Exploring punk in the pre-internet days, they were one of the biggest names associated with the genre, and (some of) their music was easy to find. In high school I thrifted a cassette of Combat Rock that I listened to all the time. To me, it seemed at least as punk as Black Flag’s Slip It In or 7 Seconds’ Soulforce Revolution, other releases I stumbled upon in my early days. The Clash also rivaled the Sex Pistols in terms of the attention they received from mainstream media, so I read several books about them back when the only punk bands that featured in libraries and bookstores were them and the Pistols.

Whenever I get a hankering to listen to the Clash, as I did the other day, I end up spinning this single. As many great songs as there are on the Clash’s albums, many of their best ones only appeared on non-album releases like the The Cost of Living and Black Market Clash. This single features two songs from The Cost of Living, which was never released in the US. This single was never available as a stand-alone item… it was only sold as a bonus item that came with initial US pressings of the Clash’s first album. As a single, it’s a monster, with a Strummer song on one side and a Mick Jones song on the other. The Strummer song, “Groovy Times,” is good. It’s a lot like the material on Give ‘em Enough Rope, which makes sense because the Clash first demoed the song during the sessions for that album.

Truth be told, though, I’m a sucker for the Mick Jones songs, and “Gates of the West” is one of his best. From what I can gather, the song is about the Clash’s desire to break it big in America, a task they’d only started to tackle when they wrote this song. They pack the song with great melodies, and I love how the music has a similar mix of swagger and trepidation as the lyrics, with Mick belting out the chorus but more hesitant, almost mumbly in the verses. It’s crazy to me they never put this on an album, as it’s one of my favorite Clash songs.

That’s a rather roundabout way to recommend you a single tune, but if you haven’t heard it, here it is. Here’s to field trips!

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice week. This week I’d like to talk about something you probably never expected to read about in the newsletter, gospel and folk music. Specifically, I’d like to talk about this tape, Who’s This Living In My Soul?, a compilation of songs from artists ranging from North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. This tape was lovingly put together by friend of Sorry State, Grant Bisher, with the tracks taken from his extensive collection of gospel, folk, and bluegrass records. Something I really love about this tape is that it includes an insert with all the track listing info, complete with the artist’s hometown. I really enjoy knowing where the music comes from when I’m listening to it, as it adds a lot of insight, especially when it’s from local artists in small mountain towns around North Carolina. It sounds amazing too. Even though a lot of these songs are pulled from records that are 50+ years old at this point, it still sounds crisp. There’s some really great banjo and fiddle playing on some of these tracks, which I’m always here for. The title for this tape is pulled from the lyrics of a song on here I’m particularly a fan of, If God Is Dead by Peggy Caudill. Most of this music isn’t even available to listen to anywhere online, so it’s nice to have a tape compiling all these rare deep cuts you normally would never hear. I’ve really enjoyed listening to this in the morning while having my coffee. It’s a real peaceful start to the day. Something about it just feels good. If this sounds like anything you would be interested in at all, I highly recommend you pick up a copy while we have some. I promise you won’t be disappointed by it.

Hi Sorry State readers! How ya doing? Things are pretty chill on my end. Hope you guys enjoyed our Best of 2022 newsletter. We had a lot of fun with it. Big props to our fearless leader Daniel for putting that beast together.

This would have been my staff pick last week if it were a normal week. I’m talking about the Blatant Dissent 1985-1986 LP. The Chicago-area band made its mark in the mid-80s, with their major influence being Naked Raygun, and also Minutemen, Trial by Fire, and the Replacements.

The record sounds really good, quality-wise, and that’s probably because the ‘85 tracks were produced and engineered by Jeff Pezzati (singer for Naked Raygun) and Iain Burgess, respectively. The ‘86 tracks were recorded by Steve Albini. I love Albini’s recording style, and he’s just such a great character in this whole rock machine.

Ok let’s get back on track. This is a solid midwest 80s hardcore punk record. If you like that style, you will probably like this. Because it really is likable. For lack of a better description, it’s the “woahhh-ohhh-ohhh” kind of punk. You know what I mean. When you hear it, you picture young punks in the 80s with their arms over one another’s soldiers swaying back and forth chanting that very phrase.

It’s really melodic hardcore punk, and fairly straightforward. But they throw some curveballs every once in a while. It’s mostly mid-tempo, but there are some well-timed tempo and structural changes, and some unexpected riffs and guitar solos. Catalyst (They, They, They) includes some classic rock and roll style guitar and even some funk.

The songs are very hooky and high-energy.

Songs like How Can I Lose show their artsy punk side, and some of their fun and bouncy choruses remind me of the Ramones’ “let’s just have fun and not kill each other” style of punk. On the flip side, there are songs like Status Quo which really picks up speed and leans more hardcore. In fact, the whole record goes back and forth between 80s midwest punk and melodic hardcore.

I prefer side two because it has more attitude and I think it just sounds tighter, musically. A good example of this is The Man in Black, which is one of my favorite tracks.

I also have to highlight The Beast, because I love the music in that one. There is a darker sounding riff that stands out from the rest. I might botch this description, but it sounds like something you’d hear in an 80s movie whenever a group of teens is preparing for some kind of mission. Picture the vampire and civilian showdown in The Lost Boys or something.

The last track, (My Hands are Tied), caught me off guard. The music starts out sounding like a gloomy early Metallica song, but with off key emo vocals. But like 40 seconds in, they remember they’re a punk band and bring it home. After hearing the song a few times, I think it’s amusing. Especially for the closing track. Maybe the band didn’t mean for it to be funny, but it is.

Blatant Dissent sounds like what I imagine Sluggo may have sounded like all grown up. I brought up Sluggo only because I just wrote about them a couple staff picks ago, but Naked Raygun is a better comparison.

You get your money’s worth with this record. You get a ton of tracks on quality vinyl, and the color is a really cool deep ocean blue. We only have a handful left, so grab one and see what you think!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Angela

Hello and thanks for reading! I am doubting we will have copies of my Staff Pick in stock as this is being read. Every time I look back at our stock it is less than before. I have been trying to hit up all my friends to ensure they get a copy though, so each time I check back usually it’s going to be one copy less by default haha. We saved a few for the shop too… so if you are a local, you might have a chance to get the last copy this weekend if you come by. I never really thought this stuff would get reissued. Of course, when the same label did the EP last year, I had a feeling this would come later down the road. I think this reissue is significant cos it’s the first time since the original release where the complete track list is included. The 90s VARAUS CD compilation omitted three tracks, the same three tracks the Feral Ward 1/1 LP also omitted. I mean, the LP was made with the same sound source as the CD, I am pretty sure anyway. I heard those tracks were not included on the reissue cos of the sound quality. I don’t know if they were made from master tapes or what, but I thought the sound was very good on the CD. I read online the original 12” did not have very good sound in general, so I was pretty excited to hear this pressing since it was advertised as the original “lo-fi” mix. Comparing it to the Feral Ward LP, there is an obvious difference in the sound. One could argue the re-master had better sound than the original. It’s much more powerful but not in a terrible compressed way. Speaking of the Feral Ward LP (slash CD reissue), I think this is the way I have always listened to VARAUS. Maybe I have a 1/2 LP rip on my computer somewhere, but it felt like my first time listening to these three songs that were left off the later reissues. That was pretty sick. Those Feral Ward LPs are not easy to come by, and you’re probably going to have to pay up a bit to get one. So, it’s great that there is another version that is in print! I hope it remains in print for some time. Alright, that’s all for today. Thanks for the support!!!

Greetings friends, I hope you are all doing okay out there and surviving. It’s been another tough week as far as music legends departing us is concerned. Tom Verlaine of Television and Barrett Strong of Motown leaving this world will leave a massive void, but their greatness and genius lives on in the music they created. That music will reverberate around the world for many, many years to come. If you haven’t read it, Patti Smith wrote a beautiful eulogy for Tom, which you can link to here. The best way we can remember them is to play their records. I’m sure a lot of copies of Marquee Moon got the needle dropped onto them this week, and Barrett Strong wrote so many great songs that almost any of the classic Temptations records, for instance, bare his stamp of class and genius. Just stick on Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today) for confirmation of that. Rest in power, gentlemen.

After last week’s newsletter and our review of some of our favorite releases of 2022, we have all been thinking about things we forgot, missed, should have mentioned etc. I’m glad Daniel wrote so well about The Cool Greenhouse because that is technically a 2022 release although we only just received our copies, as I would have certainly included it as one of my picks for the year. The CG has appeared on our best of lists before and rightfully so. This latest is one you’ll want to hear, so go check it out if you haven’t already.

Another record that I am really digging that had a 2022 release date, although didn’t appear here in physical form until the new year, is the debut by Philly’s The Ire titled What Dreams May Come. So, to put things right I would like to make that my staff pick for your consideration this week.

As the official old guy on staff here, I was a teenager in England during the 1980s and discovering bands and a scene of the sort that The Ire are clearly in love with. Namely Siouxsie & The Banshees, Bauhaus, Joy Division, The Cure and the Goth/Darkwave sounds that were to be found on labels like 4AD. I wasn’t a Goth myself, but have always appreciated the music from that scene, and back then in my small town if you were in any of the youth cults and an outsider, there weren’t many places to hang out and go where the normies weren’t in full strength and likely to give you trouble, so the punks and goths and rockabilly kids etc. tended to find themselves sharing the same pubs and late-night spots. Mostly we got along. Anyway, it was a great period for music, and I am thankful to the friends and DJs who turned me on to a lot of great stuff. Getting back to The Ire, from the moment I touched the needle down on the record and heard that full bottom end and crispy shimmering top in their sound, I felt a comfort and nostalgia for those times. They definitely nail that deathrock type of sound but without sounding like a covers band or a bunch of poseurs. Importantly, they add a good amount of American punk to the mix to give their sound some edge and most importantly can write a tune with decent lyrics. Kudos to the recording engineer and producer for a nice sounding recording.

Jeff and I were listening to the record in the store the other day and he was telling me who played what on the record. He knows them better than I do and from previous bands that members have been in. Regardless, everyone puts in a full shift in this band. Great bass playing, great drum sound, beautiful shimmering guitar tones contrasting with heavier riffs and terrific vocal performance. Plus, they look suitably cool and moody in their band photo. What more can you ask? I’ve played this record a few times now and haven’t tired of it yet, enjoying hearing it each time. I’ll be honest, a lot of the time I don’t find myself that impressed with new bands playing in an older style. There’s too much reenactment and not enough imagination, typically. The Ire seem to back up their knowledge of music from another era with a style and coolness that is their own and still contemporary. That’s good to see and hear. Nice job chaps.

My favorite tracks on the record are probably the first two full songs after the short instrumental introductory track, namely The Chariot and Crisis. Both songs ably show off the band in full flight and are worth your time and money investigating. Call it post-punk, goth rock or just good. Make sure though not to confuse them with another Ire from Pittsburgh, PA who are doing a whole other schtick though.

Okay, that’s all I have for you this week. Have a good one and we’ll see you next time.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters?

It’s been wet and cold as a freezer in Raleigh the last couple days. Good time to sit inside and write about punk. Things have been extra busy around Sorry State HQ lately. We’re holding off on announcing anything just yet, but expect some news from Sorry State, but also some exciting news from me ‘n’ Usman’s label Bunker Punks next week:)

Anyway, time to talk about records:

Thanks to the good people at Lärmattacke Records, Sorry State has been able to stock a killer batch of European punk reissues. Some of these titles have been out of print since the 80s. And while everyone is freaking out about Varaus (rightfully so), I gotta say that these Indirekt reissues got me excited. Indirekt is one of those bands that I can’t even remember how I first discovered. Their LP Op Oorlogspad is one of those records that I had on my iPod back when I had one of those, so I feel like it’s in my DNA after hearing it sporadically over the years. Probably a random addition when on my nerdy voyages into trying to discover more and more international hardcore.

Indirekt is from the Netherlands and was active as far back as 1982. Most notably what stands out about Indirekt’s sound is that they had a girl singer and her vocals are super tuneful and melodic. For a long time, I didn’t realize that the band had 2 different eras with 2 different women singing. The band’s first 7” from 1984 was when they had a singer named Marjolein, and then as of 1985 Anneke took over vocal duties, which is honestly the era I’m more familiar with. I mainly wanna talk about Op Oorlogspad, their sole full-length. Musically, the band plays that umpa-umpa 1-2-1-2 drum beat at ripping fast tempos with soaring, energetic melodies. The guitar sound is perfect in my book. It sounds like a cranked Marshall, and just great, anthemic sounding riffs. I love songs like “Nomen Scio,” which is like a total ’77 style classic punk tune, almost sounds like The Avengers or something. But then interspersed within the hardcore, every few songs or so, the songwriting gets quirky—and I mean like SUPER quirky. When it’s straight hardcore, then it’s great, but sometimes, the vocals are sing-songy to the point of almost sounding folky. It’s almost like a speeded out, Dutch take on Trallpunk, kinda like Asta Kask or something. But don’t let that put you off. I remember the first time I heard this record I was almost put off by the strange, goofy moments. Operatic vocal outros, rockabilly yee-hoos, reggae breakdowns… So yeah, it gets kinda wild. But upon further analysis, I get the impression that Indirekt was more light-hearted and had a real sense of humor. These unexpected musical ideas that kinda make you go “huh?” actually function like brief and welcomed moments of levity. I mean, really the cover art is pretty silly. But the hardcore contained within is killer.

This reissue has awesome goodies with the packaging, and all our copies are on green/yellow/blue mix vinyl. Each copy looks totally unique. The record comes with a poster, stickers and a nice full color booklet with photos, scans of flyers, a biography and interviews with the band. Whereas you might see photos of the Dutch Agent Orange wearing leather jackets, the photos in this booklet indicate that Indirekt’s vibe was more like Minor Threat t-shirt over a hoodie, lookin’ like a member of 7 Seconds or some shit. Not that Indirekt sound totally USHC or anything. They definitely exhibit musical influences that sound distinctly European. But they definitely sound more like Sin 34 than they do like Sacrilege. In my nerdy research, I tried to figure out if Indirekt played with other bands from the Netherlands like Nog Watt or BGK. Looks like Indirekt was from a town called Hoorn, which is many miles north of the Holland/Amsterdam region. And where Nog Watt and BGK sang in English, Indirekt actually sings in Dutch. Interesting distinction.

So yeah, there’s a little write-up about me re-experiencing Indirekt. Really, it’s my first time getting to check it out in a physical format, which was super fun for me. I highly recommend you give this record (or their 1986 7” Nacht Und Nebel) a shot if you’re feeling froggy.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Lately the grind of running Sorry State has been weighing on me. We’ve been busy and I feel like I’m falling behind on essential tasks. When I get overwhelmed, it’s hard for me to enjoy music. The problem is compounded because listening to music is part of my job for Sorry State, and sometimes it can feel like an endless treadmill of getting new releases in, giving them a few listens, and moving on to the next thing. Last weekend I blocked off a few hours of unstructured time for decompression… no plans, nowhere to be, no pressure on myself to take care of anything on my to-do list, just a little time to feed my soul whatever it needed in the moment. So, of course, I ended up listening to records.

I’m not sure what prompted me to pull out these two Fairytale records. They might have been at the front of my mind because I’ve been hearing rumblings they have an LP in the works. At any rate, I had that feeling that these are the records I wanted to hear in that moment, and since I had the time, I threw them on. And they sounded great!

I just re-read my descriptions for these two records I wrote when I named them Record of the Week in 2020 and 2021, and I don’t think I hit the nail on the head as to what’s special about them. As I wrote, Fairytale’s foundation is in noisy d-beat hardcore in the tradition of Swedish bands like Anti-Cimex and Shitlickers, and it wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe them simply as a noisy d-beat band. But there’s so much more to their music, particularly on their self-titled 5-song EP on Desolate Records. Whereas a lot of d-beat bands aim for a heavy sound with a robust bottom end, Fairytale’s sound is like phyllo dough, a bunch of thin layers that feel substantial together without losing that sense of delicacy and complexity. I swear I hear phantom sounds emerging from the mix, poltergeists of feedback, echo, and distortion that dart through the music but evaporate before you can pin them down.

“Fantasy,” the first song on the 5-song EP, is my favorite track on these two EPs. Starting with a single guitar playing a simple, vaguely bluesy riff, inevitably the song erupts into a straightforward d-beat assault. However, there’s so much expression and subtlety to the playing. I love the way the guitarist accents the higher strings in part of the main riff rather than just banging away on the power chords. The riff creates an intense dynamic, interacting with the inventive vocal cadences and rock-solid rhythm section to create that alchemical magic I wrote about above. I also love the song’s coda, where the rhythm section continues barreling forward while two lead guitar tracks explode then wander away from one another, the rest of the band coming in for a final thump before the song lands and kicks up a pile of dust.

Sunday afternoon I posted some photos of my weekend playlist to Sorry State’s Instagram stories, and Fairytale’s guitarist Dan responded and offered to share recordings of their upcoming album. They were in my inbox when I got online Monday morning, and I listened to the record at least five times in a row. After that, I put it away, because I like to save some excitement for when the record arrives with its complete artwork and packaging. It was tough to stop listening, though, because it’s so killer. It picks up right where the EPs left off, leaning in to that ephemeral magic that is such a distinctive aspect of their sound. Of course, when it’s out we’ll do our best to get copies for Sorry State, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say about it in the other parts of the newsletter.