Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! Once again this week, I’m scrambling to finish the newsletter before rushing off to a gig. Tonight Fried E/M is rolling through North Carolina and playing with hot locals DE()T and Bug E.M.S., then tomorrow Scarecrow is traveling to Virginia Beach to play with Fried E/M and Reckoning Force there. Hologram and Fashion Change came through on Sunday and crushed… if you love Hologram’s records like I do, they will not disappoint you live. North Carolina’s Tetanus and Image of Man also did our home state proud by ripping it up at that gig. I hope you’ve been seeing some good bands live if that’s your thing, but if you’re still sticking to homebound rage-outs, we have some items that may interest you below.

Rigorous Institution: Cainsmarsh 12” (Black Water Records) I make no bones about loving Portland’s Rigorous Institution. I loved all three of their singles, and two of them were Record of the Week here at Sorry State. For me, Rigorous Institution is one of the most exciting and original-sounding bands in contemporary punk, and my expectations were sky high for Cainsmarsh. On the first listen, it was clear Rigorous Institution had not only met, but exceeded those expectations. Cainsmarsh does precisely what you want a band’s debut LP to do after you’ve loved their singles: it gives you a little of what you expect but expands their sound and challenges their listeners. Tracks like “Fever (City)” and “Laughter” are in line with Amebix-influenced post-apocalyptic punk of their three singles, but other songs caught me off guard. “Criminal Betrayers” channels the heavy industrial clatter of early Swans, while “Feral Dogs III (The Feral Hunt)” sounds like harsh noise or power electronics, yet still somehow carries forward Rigorous Institution’s grandiose, medieval-sounding aesthetic. Even the album’s shortest non-instrumental song, “Tempt Fate… and Win!” feels like something new and unexpected, an upbeat and triumphant punk anthem that no one but Rigorous Institution could make. My favorite track on the album, though, is “Nuclear Horses.” This song floored me the first time I listened to the album, and subsequent listens have not dulled its impact. The song’s lyrics address the domestication of horses, and the originality of the topic and the vividness with which the lyrics explore it hit so hard for me… I’m not sure if they intended “Nuclear Horses” as an animal rights song, but I’ve heard a thousand of those and few have stirred the emotions I feel when I listen to “Nuclear Horses.” During the song’s outro, where they sample sounds of horses whinnying uncomfortably, it’s all I can do not to cry. While “Nuclear Horses” is the standout for me, Rigorous Institution’s lyrics are fascinating throughout. They established their aesthetic early in their tenure as a band, channeling some period of history that might be before or after the collapse of our current civilization… or maybe that’s not what they’re doing… whatever it is, their lyrics and music have an utterly distinctive and immersive vibe that I can’t get enough of. Every lyrical topic gets filtered through this aesthetic, so a song like “Ergot,” which seems to be about heroin, feels like it’s written from the perspective of the gods scoffing at humanity’s folly. Maybe some of you won’t want to visit the world Rigorous Institution’s music transports you to—it’s fucking bleak and frightening—but few bands can send you somewhere else as effectively as Rigorous Institution can.

Listen here!

Thanks to everyone who picked up the preorders for the three new Sorry State releases we announced last week! As I write this, there is one copy of the Hüstler LP on pink vinyl left, and after that the limited color versions for all three releases will be sold out. The good news is that there’s plenty of black vinyl available, and hopefully you’ll see these popping up on the shelves at your local haunts soon as well. Speaking of which, the jackets for all three records are scheduled to arrive on Monday. Hopefully the remaining inserts aren’t far behind and many or most of you see your order ship before the release date.

Everyone has to swallow the world’s shit, but Cleveland’s Woodstock 99 regurgitates it in technicolor. Their nihilistic and antagonistic take on hardcore punk can recall the Kings of Punk in their prime, but this band is too fucked up to focus on their rage… sometimes they’d rather wander away after a psychedelic riff or poke around in the trash for scraps of 90s pop culture. On Super Gremlin, Woodstock 99 examines the void from all angles, and while it might look frightening or intimidating from some vantage points, from other angles all you can do is laugh. One pill turns you into Jerry A (“La Casa De Fuck You”), and one pill lands you at the denouement of a French noir film (“Budget Inn”), and another one summons DJ Lethal to lay down some sick scratches (“Beatboxing in Viet… Nam!!”). Down them all, chase them with a couple shots of cheap whiskey, and follow Woodstock 99 down the rabbit hole.

The first pressing of Super Gremlin is 500 copies with a full-color jacket, black-and-white inner sleeve, and an 8”x10” color photo print of the band. 150 copies are on clear vinyl.

Invalid’s cassette-only debut, Do Not Resuscitate, came out on their hometown label Cruel Noise Records early in 2020 and, for me, it was love at first listen. Invalid plays hardcore in the tradition of Black Flag’s Damaged, deploying sophistication and craft not to show off, but as tools that allow them to go further and deeper as they exorcise their demons. Invalid’s bulldozer intensity is the first thing that grabs you, but the great riffs and songs keep you coming back, every track containing an improbable hook like the martial chant of “Wake up / eat / shit” in “This Life,” the primal howl of “wasting away” in the chorus to “Escape,” or the instant-classic intro riff to “Stupid Pills.” Fans of records like Direct Control’s first 7”, C.O.C.’s Eye for an Eye, and Unseen Force’s In Search of the Truth are perhaps best primed to appreciate Invalid’s punishing yet catchy and energetic style of hardcore. This self-titled LP contains all eight tracks from Do Not Resuscitate plus six new ones cast from the same mold.

The first pressing of Invalid’s self-titled LP is 500 copies with a black and white jacket, two-sided lyric insert, and 24”x36” poster insert. 400 copies are on black vinyl and 100 clear red vinyl copies include an additional screen printed cover.

Both of Hüstler’s cassette releases for Sorry State Records sold out almost instantly, so compiling those two cassettes for Hüstler’s first vinyl record was a no-brainer. Hüstler burst through the gate on their first tape with one of the most distinctive voices in the contemporary underground, smashing together elements of punk, death rock, and metal into a sound that is both anthemic and intense. Their second tape only upped the ante, widening their stylistic scope while leaning into the crowd-pleasing choruses and mosh parts. We’re very proud to present Hüstler’s early years on the format that matters.

The first pressing of Hüstler’s self-titled LP is 500 copies with a full-color jacket, full-color insert, and 24”x36” poster insert. 150 copies are on clear pink vinyl.

Lasso’s European tour starts TONIGHT in Frankfurt, Germany! They’re in Europe for a couple of weeks (see the poster above for dates), so go see them if you have the chance.

This week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts matches up two more 80s Japanese flexis. While I’ve contributed a few photos to Hardcore Knockouts, most of the records pictured belong to Usman. Whenever I own both of the records in a Hardcore Knockouts, I give myself a little mental high five. I got one this week.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

1. Rudimentary Peni: S/T 7” (Sealed Records)
2. Woodstock 99: Super Gremlin 12” (Sorry State Records)
3. Hüstler: S/T 12” (Sorry State Records)
4. Invalid: S/T 12” (Sorry State Records)
5. Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records)
6. Valtatyhjio: Lukko cassette (Sorry State Records)
7. Straw Man Army: SOS 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
8. Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State Records)
9. Rigorous Institution: Cainsmarsh 12” (Black Water Records)
10. Violent Apathy: 11/29/81 7” (Radio Raheem Records)

Here’s your weekly roundup of the best selling releases of the past 30 days at Sorry State. Not a lot of changes from last week… thanks again to everyone who is picking up all the new Sorry State titles!

Prank Records just reissued the Grimple / Logical Nonsense split 12” with upgraded packaging, and while we were picking up those, we also restocked a bunch of other classics from Prank, including Christ on Parade’s Sounds of Nature, which I was just listening to the other day.

Phobia Records has four new releases this week, including new 12”s from Vancouver’s Phane and Sweden’s Parasit and Utrota, and a new 7” from Komplex Viny from the Czech Republic.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! This week is big, as we have launched pre-orders for our next three vinyl releases on Sorry State Records. We put them up at 8AM this morning and they have been flying off the shelves. The eagle eyed among you will note that there are only 100 copies of Invalid on red vinyl, making it the more limited of the three limited versions… that’s almost sold out as I type this, so rush over to the site to grab one if you want a copy and haven’t secured yours yet. It looks like the Woodstock 99 and Hüstler limited versions won’t be too far behind, so don’t dilly dally on those either.

Last week I mentioned I was racing off to the Chisel gig in Richmond after I finished the newsletter. It was great! Sadly, I stuck around work too long and missed Public Acid, but got there in time to see Quarantine level the place. What a fucking band! Dark Thoughts were great as always and the Chisel brought it… go see them if you have the chance, as they don’t disappoint. Fortunately, there isn’t a gig tonight, but there is a pretty killer one coming up on Sunday with Hologram here in North Carolina that I would advise you not to miss if you’re in the area.

There’s a lot to write about this week, so let’s get to it!

Maraudeur: Puissance 4 12” (Feel It Records) The first time I listened to Puissance, the debut record from Germany’s Maraudeur, I liked it immediately. It’s a style that feels like comfort food to me, bass-forward post-punk with nervous, herky-jerky rhythms, deadpan vocals, and an assortment of plucked guitar notes and synth swooshes occupying the higher frequency range. Not everything I hear in this vein sticks with me, but I kept returning to Puissance 4. There was a complexity there, something I couldn’t grasp with a few cursory listens. Further examination revealed a clear climax at Puissance’s center, with the last track on the a-side, “Slow Dress,” and the first track on the b-side, “T.W.Y.W.Y.S.,” standing out from the pack (though, in retrospect, I wonder if these songs just stood out to me because their lyrics are in English). Maraudeur builds “Slow Dress” around a slinky bass groove that sounds straight off of Wire’s 154, but it’s the lyrics that intrigue me. The singer keeps repeating, “slow dress… where is the slit?” (at least I think that’s what they’re saying… they don’t include lyrics with the LP). I find that lyric so evocative. What is a slow dress? Is it a dress without a slit that forces you to walk slowly? I love that this little slice of life detail is transformed by repetition into a strange incantation, a strategy the Fall (perhaps my favorite band ever) leaned on often. A restrictive dress that makes it hard to move makes me think the singer is at some sort of formal event, and I can’t help but wonder why is this punk singer wearing a fancy ball gown? None of this is in the song as far as I can tell, but it indicates how Maraudeur gets my mind racing. “T.W.Y.W.Y.S.” also leans on repetition, with its refrain of “the way you wear your scarf” forming the backbone of another evocative tale of what happens in a person’s mind as they find someone attractive and then wrestle neurotically with the implications of that feeling. The music is just as evocative as the lyrics, too. “T.W.Y.W.Y.S.” stands out as the brightest and poppiest song on Puissance 4, but when you listen, you realize the chords are not what you expect them to be… they’re fucked up and unexpected, yet that pop sugar rush still finds its way through the dissonance. I’m bummed that I don’t speak French well or German at all, because it probably means I’m missing out on great lyrics for the songs in those languages, but at least I can understand what Maraudeur is saying in the universal language.

Listen here!

We’ve only mentioned it about 75 times now, but below we’re gonna tell you about the three new Sorry State releases up for pre-order now! Artwork and descriptions below, and you can head over to the Sorry State Records Bandcamp site to hear a track each from the Invalid and Woodstock 99 records. You can order the vinyl via our Bandcamp site too, but remember the limited color versions are exclusive to the Sorry State website.

Everyone has to swallow the world’s shit, but Cleveland’s Woodstock 99 regurgitates it in technicolor. Their nihilistic and antagonistic take on hardcore punk can recall the Kings of Punk in their prime, but this band is too fucked up to focus on their rage… sometimes they’d rather wander away after a psychedelic riff or poke around in the trash for scraps of 90s pop culture. On Super Gremlin, Woodstock 99 examines the void from all angles, and while it might look frightening or intimidating from some vantage points, from other angles all you can do is laugh. One pill turns you into Jerry A (“La Casa De Fuck You”), and one pill lands you at the denouement of a French noir film (“Budget Inn”), and another one summons DJ Lethal to lay down some sick scratches (“Beatboxing in Viet… Nam!!”). Down them all, chase them with a couple shots of cheap whiskey, and follow Woodstock 99 down the rabbit hole.

The first pressing of Super Gremlin is 500 copies with a full-color jacket, black-and-white inner sleeve, and an 8”x10” color photo print of the band. 150 copies are on clear vinyl.

Invalid’s cassette-only debut, Do Not Resuscitate, came out on their hometown label Cruel Noise Records early in 2020 and, for me, it was love at first listen. Invalid plays hardcore in the tradition of Black Flag’s Damaged, deploying sophistication and craft not to show off, but as tools that allow them to go further and deeper as they exorcise their demons. Invalid’s bulldozer intensity is the first thing that grabs you, but the great riffs and songs keep you coming back, every track containing an improbable hook like the martial chant of “Wake up / eat / shit” in “This Life,” the primal howl of “wasting away” in the chorus to “Escape,” or the instant-classic intro riff to “Stupid Pills.” Fans of records like Direct Control’s first 7”, C.O.C.’s Eye for an Eye, and Unseen Force’s In Search of the Truth are perhaps best primed to appreciate Invalid’s punishing yet catchy and energetic style of hardcore. This self-titled LP contains all eight tracks from Do Not Resuscitate plus six new ones cast from the same mold.

The first pressing of Invalid’s self-titled LP is 500 copies with a black and white jacket, two-sided lyric insert, and 24”x36” poster insert. 400 copies are on black vinyl and 100 clear red vinyl copies include an additional screen printed cover.

Both of Hüstler’s cassette releases for Sorry State Records sold out almost instantly, so compiling those two cassettes for Hüstler’s first vinyl record was a no-brainer. Hüstler burst through the gate on their first tape with one of the most distinctive voices in the contemporary underground, smashing together elements of punk, death rock, and metal into a sound that is both anthemic and intense. Their second tape only upped the ante, widening their stylistic scope while leaning into the crowd-pleasing choruses and mosh parts. We’re very proud to present Hüstler’s early years on the format that matters.

The first pressing of Hüstler’s self-titled LP is 500 copies with a full-color jacket, full-color insert, and 24”x36” poster insert. 150 copies are on clear pink vinyl.

Lasso’s European tour starts TONIGHT in Frankfurt, Germany! They’re in Europe for a couple of weeks (see the poster above for dates), so go see them if you have the chance.

This isn’t on our label, but we’re pretty excited about it, so we’re giving it prominent placement in this week’s newsletter. Sealed Records’ reissue of Rudimentary Peni’s landmark first 7” is in stock and shipping now! This reissue is mastered from the original tapes and meticulously recreates the original issue’s layout, including the rare booklet full of Nick Blinko drawings that you only had if you were as big a nerd as I am.

We’d hoped the debut LP from Savageheads (to be released on Social Napalm Records and distributed by Sorry State) would be out by now, but the release has hit a pretty big snag. Social Napalm posted an update explaining the entire situation on their Instagram, and here it is below. We’re still looking forward to getting this LP in your hands as soon as we can!

We’re back in Finland for this week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts. I suppose I’m not surprised Kansan Uutiset took this one… the music rips, and it has one of the coolest covers ever, plus I think it’s a little more well known than Massacre.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is this 7” from Beauregarde. Who is Beauregarde, you ask? He was a professional wrestler from the Pacific Northwest in the early 70s. More to the point for the Sorry State crowd, when he branched into the record industry, he enlisted the services of a young guitarist named Greg Sage. These were Sage’s first recordings, though they weren’t his last, because a few years later he started the Wipers. A cool piece of arcana that Jackpot Records reissued back in 2014. You can pick it up from us for just a couple bucks.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Rudimentary Peni: S/T 7” (Sealed Records)
2. Straw Man Army: SOS 12” (D4MT Labs)
3. Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records)
4. Hüstler: S/T 12” (Sorry State Records)
5. Woodstock 99: Super Gremlin 12” (Sorry State Records)
6. Invalid: S/T 12” (Sorry State Records)
7. Valtatyhjiö: Lukko cassette (Sorry State Records)
8. Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State Records)
9. Violent Apathy: 11/29/81 7” (Radio Raheem Records)
10. Rutto: Ei Paluuta 7” (Final Doomsday Records)

The latest Sorry State releases just went up for pre-order a few hours ago and they’re already in our top 10 sellers for the last 30 days. Thanks for picking them up y’all!

Possessed’s (proto-?) death metal classic Seven Churches just got a new Record Store Day exclusive pressing on limited green vinyl and we have copies in stock now.

Open Palm Tapes brings us two new releases, an EP from Chicago d-beat band Weak Pulse and a split cassette from two Chilean bands, Sindrome De Abstinencia and Niño Viejo.

From Gutteral Warfare Records we have two ripping new releases from Realm of Terror, a cassette EP called Loss of Hope and a very limited vinyl version of their Accelerated Extinction demo, plus a cassette EP from Desertion.

If you picked up the first two volumes of the Wright Copy series, which compiles gems from Pat Wright’s cassette archives, we have two more volumes in stock now.

We also have the new LP from Macedonian noise rockers Arlekin (Арлекин), which has an insane multi-page illustrated booklet sleeve that you just have to see. (Note: these got dinged in transit, but not too badly.)

You might remember Bay Area hardcore band Sterile Mind from a few years ago, and we have a posthumous release from them featuring unreleased recordings from 2018.

Just in today we have two new releases on Lavasocks Records: a reissue of the classic Bay Area punk compilation The Thing that Ate Floyd and a vinyl reissue of demo recordings by Corrupted Morals.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! This week’s edition was a little tougher to get together because Usman has been out sick all week and I’ve been trying to cover his responsibilities besides my own. I’ve also been training a new team member this week. Angela has joined us as our new mail order fulfillment person and gives us her first staff pick this week, too. Doing mail order at Sorry State is a big job, so please make sure she knows how much you appreciate her work! As far as records, we have the phenomenal debut album from Peace de Résistance, a much anticipated new EP from Neutrals, and plenty of other stuff to tell you about. So let’s do it!

Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records) I actually wrote the “official” blurb for Peace de Résistance’s debut LP so you can consult that for my super objective take on the record. For the Sorry State newsletter, though, I can let my guard down and effuse about how much I love this record. I’ve been listening to Bits and Pieces for months (a perk of helping them with distribution), and with each play, I only love it more. I’d been a fan of Moses’s previous projects and the things I loved about those bands—his lyricism in Institute, the rawness and intensity of Glue—are there in Peace de Résistance’s music, but the framework is totally different. When I say that Bits and Pieces sounds like glam rock I don’t mean the more formulaic bootboy glam that’s been a minor trend in the underground for a few years. Instead, Bits and Pieces reminds me of the more fleshed-out and self-consciously artistic sound of landmark 70s rock records like David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World or Lou Reed’s Transformers. This isn’t someone cracking the code of a particular sound or style and reiterating the formula with minor adjustments; these are songs, and great ones at that. But despite how sophisticated the songwriting is, the record is also raw as fuck, with blistering tones on all the instruments and the same sort of DIY charm that we in the underground need to hear in order to take something seriously. I love Moses’s lyrical approach on Bits and Pieces, which avoids cliches and generalizations, summoning a straightforwardness that the Clash would envy. I’d never guess you could write a great song about a tax form, but “Don’t 1099 Me” proves you can. Oh, Peace de Résistance’s secret weapon might be Moses’s bass playing. Maybe it sticks out more to me because I play bass, but the grooves behind every song are so powerful and infectious. I’m sure he’s a busy guy, but someone should get him in as a ringer on the bass. Maybe I’m crazy and this is just striking some particular chord with me, but I’ve already listened to Bits and Pieces so much that it’ll be inextricably tied to this part of my life. Maybe you’ll like the album that much, or maybe you won’t. If you don’t, I hope you can find something else, because to love an album like this is what it’s all about for me.

Yes, it’s that time of year again! Record Store day 2022 is Saturday, April 23, and Sorry State is participating once again. As usual, we’ll have a big smattering of Record Store Day exclusive releases, some of which this newsletter’s readers will care about and a lot more you won’t. You can see a list of everything we ordered here. If you’re in the area, we’d love it if you stopped by, but if you aren’t, we put all our remaining inventory of Record Store Day exclusives online at 8AM on Sunday, April 24.

Tomorrow is the official release date for Straw Man Army’s second album, SOS, on D4MT Labs! We’ve been shipping the vinyl for a minute now, so the official release date doesn’t mean much to the diehards, but I assume the rest of you will be able to listen to SOS in its entirety starting tomorrow. Enjoy, because this album is a stunner.

We’re not ready to put it up for sale yet, but I thought we’d tease Sorry State’s next release: a US pressing of the Lukko cassette from Finland’s Valtatyhjiö! The original Finnish version sold out and few, if any, copies made it out of the country, so we’re excited to share this release with a wider audience. You can listen to the whole thing on Valtatyhjiö’s Bandcamp site, and you’ll be able to order the tape from Sorry State soon.

Speaking of upcoming Sorry State releases, the vinyl just showed up for Sorry State’s next three LP releases! We’re still waiting for the print so these won’t be for sale for a minute, but look forward to new releases from Invalid, Hüstler, and Woodstock 99! As you can see, we made limited color versions of each and they make a nice set.

Sorry State is proud to distribute Final Doomsday Records’ reissues of both 7”s by 80s Finnish hardcore punk band (T.H.E.) Rutto. Both reissues are in stock now, and they included expanded liner notes and bonus tracks. If you run a store or a distro, note that Sorry State is the main US distributor for this release, so hit us up for copies!

This has to be one of the biggest blowouts in the history of Hardcore Knockouts. It would take a mighty opponent to take out United Mutation’s first EP, but c’mon… this is fucking Pick Your motherfucking King we are talking about here.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is Forward’s 2014 LP, Against Their Insanity. Forward has a lot of records, but you can’t go wrong buying any of them. As the years go on, Forward’s records only get harder and faster, which is something I can get behind. Like a lot of Forward’s records, this one is pretty cheap, so if you don’t have it already, grip it now!

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Straw Man Army: SOS 12” (D4MT Labs)
2. White Stains: Blood on the Beach 7” (Neon Taste Records)
3. Rutto: Ilmastoitu Painajainen 7” (Final Doomsday Records)
4. Rutto: Ei Paluuta 7” (Final Doomsday Records)
5. Invertebrates: demo cassette (Sorry State Records)
6. Varaus: Tuomittu Elämään 7” (Larmattacke Records)
7. Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records)
8. Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
9. Erupt: Left to Rot 7” (Static Shock Records)
10. Peace Decay: Death Is Only… 12” (Beach Impediment Records)

Hardcore punk is the order of the day on Sorry State’s list of best sellers for the past 30 days. Don’t you folks ever get bored with hardcore? Why isn’t there ever an acid folk or flamenco record at the top of these charts? Are you narrow minded or something?

We’ve been fielding questions about when the new Neutrals 7” on Static Shock Records, Bus Stop Nights, would hit our shelves. Now is the time! Our initial order sadly got cut down, so these aren’t likely to stick around long.

I’m always stoked when a new issue of Maggot Brain arrives, and when Lux and Ivy from the Cramps are on the cover that’s cause for extra celebration. Get your copy now!

The ‘ol fan club brings us a few items of dubious origin this week, including represses of a couple later Ramones albums that are impossible to find on vinyl, a reissue of the Plugz’ great first album, Electrify Me, and a vinyl pressing of Slayer’s covers record Undisputed Attitude, on which they try their hand at several punk and hardcore classics.

We’ve been carrying all the Earthless reissues that have come out, but it seems like people are particularly excited about Sonic Prayer, which is in stock now.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! Man, we are SWAMPED here at Sorry State at the moment. Since last week’s newsletter the new Lasso 7” and new LPs from Straw Man Army and Peace de Resistance all arrived at our HQ. We had a bazillion preorders across those three titles, and since the Rutto 7” reissues on Final Doomsday also arrived this week we’ve had a high volume of new orders as well. I know most of you are used to seeing your orders from us ship within a day or so, but that’s looking more like 2 or 3 days while we take care of these preorders. Don’t let that discourage you from ordering, though! We’re going to work our butts off today and tomorrow, and things will be back to normal before you know it. And baby Jesus knows we have some killer new shit to sell you on, so read on for all the info!

Erupt: Left to Rot 7” (Static Shock Records) Static Shock Records brings us the debut from this Australian hardcore-tinged thrash metal band / thrash metal-tinged hardcore band featuring members of heaps of other bands you already know and love. As Static Shock’s description notes, Erupt makes the lines between extreme punk and extreme metal very blurry. When I listen to Left to Rot, I keep thinking this record is like the perfect amalgamation of Voivod and Septic Death. Erupt reminds me of Voivod in the speed and technicality of their playing. Not just that the riffs are more complex, but that the playing and the arrangements are full of odd timings and twists and turns that only an extremely capable band could execute. Maybe one day Erupt will evolve into a prog band like Voivod has? They have the chops for it. The other standout element of Erupt’s sound is the menacing nightmare vibe, which is what reminds me of Septic Death. While the music is dense and the playing is accomplished, they compress the maximalisminto a fuzzy, 4-track style recording that seems like it’s bursting at the seams, straining to contain Erupt’s pummeling power. More than just raw, though, Erupt sounds scary… legitimately evil a la the first Bathory album. I’d recommend Left to Rot to any punk or metalhead who pursues the extreme in all its manifestations.

After a couple of minor delays, Lasso’s new 7”, Amuo is shipping! I believe we’ve shipped all the preorders that were just for the Lasso 7”, but there are a handful of orders that were waiting on the Straw Man Army and/or Peace de Resistance LPs. Both are here now, so those orders should be out the door soon too.

We still have a few copies left of the limited white vinyl version of Amuo, but they’re running low!

And if you’re in Europe, don’t forget that Lasso will tour your continent in May. Go see them if you can!

Sorry State is proud to distribute Final Doomsday Records’ reissues of both 7”s by 80s Finnish hardcore punk band (T.H.E.) Rutto. Both reissues are in stock now, and they included expanded liner notes and bonus tracks. If you run a store or a distro, note that Sorry State is the main US distributor for this release, so hit us up for copies!

The incredible new LP from Straw Man Army also landed at Sorry State this week! The official release date is April 15, but we have copies in stock now and your order will ship right away. As with the Rutto records, Sorry State is the main distributor for this release, so hit us up for copies if you run a store or distro!

Another LP that comes out next week, Peace de Resistance’s debut, Bits and Pieces, is also in stock! Bits and Pieces drops on April 13, but we’re shipping copies already. This was the last of our three preorder titles to arrive, so we’re still shipping out orders that included this title, but we’ll get them all done today and tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can hear two tracks from Bits and Pieces on Peace de Resistance’s Bandcamp site (they’re also available on streaming services) and you can hear a new interview with Moses on Australia’s Teenage Hate Radio here.

If you’ve been dragging your feet on picking up Invertebrates’ demo tape on Sorry State, you’d best get into gear! We’re down to fewer than 10 copies of our 150-copy run. They won’t last too much longer, so don’t say I didn’t warn you when they’re all gone!

Usman gives us a bonus round for this edition of Hardcore Knockouts. I wonder why he didn’t ask me to wheel out my OGs instead of using the compilation for Knockouts? You’ll have to ask him. PS: I voted for Youth Brigade. I’m not sure I could give a coherent argument for why. Just shooting from the hip, as usual.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is this collection LP from Japan’s Etae on La Familia Releases. I was always partial to Etae. I remember picking up their two 7”s from Hardcore Holocaust distro in the early 2000s and I’ve continued to play them since then. I remember I also had an Etae shirt (I think maybe that was from Hardcore Holocaust too?) but the ink was so thick I couldn’t wear it in the North Carolina summer. Southern punks know what I’m talking about!

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Straw Man Army: SOS 12” (D4MT Labs)
2. White Stains: Blood on the Beach 7” (Neon Taste Records)
3. Invertebrates: demo cassette (Sorry State Records)
4. Varaus: Tuomittu Elämään 7” (Larmattacke Records)
5. Rutto: Ei Paluuta 7” (Final Doomsday Records)
6. Rutto: Ilmastoitu Painajainen 7” (Final Doomsday Records)
7. Lasso: Amuo 7” (Sorry State Records)
8. Peace de Résistance: Bits and Pieces 12” (Peace de Records)
9. Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
10. Golpe: La Colpa É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)

Lots of shake-ups in our list of best sellers this week! New bands, old bands… all of it rules, so it’s unsurprising this is what y’all are buying over the past few weeks.

Besides the Erupt 7”, which is this week’s Record of the Week, we also have the new cassette-only Powerplant album from Static Shock Records in stock now. And for all of you asking about the Neutrals’ Bus Stop Nights 7”, we should have that in stock soon too!

We have the new full-length from New Zealand’s Unsanitary Napkin, titled All Billionaires Are Bastards, in stock now. I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about this record online and I’m pretty sure Sorry State is the only US distro with copies. We also have some for wholesale, so if you need copies for your shop or distro get in touch!

Mexico’s ESTARIA CHIDO PODER VOLAR brings us two flexis featuring content from two very obscure early Mexican punk bands: Size and Satelite City Punk Rockers.

This week we got in a few more copies of the ever-popular Retaliation album by the Chisel on La Vida Es Un Mus (like our previous batches, these are flying out the door) and we also restocked another LVEUM hot seller: Taqbir’s debut 7”.

My War zine is back with a new issue, their eleventh. As usual, this has a killer full-color layout and features interviews with hot punk/hardcore bands from all over the globe.

Dead Tank Records brings us the new album from Ohio powerviolence band Body Farm.

Convulse Records has a new release, a 7” from Wyoming’s Dirt Sucker. We also restocked a bunch of older Convulse Records titles, so dig in the catalog to find those.

We got a nice package from Japan this week featuring volume 2 of the books compiling content from the Japanese punk / skinhead zine Zero Magazine, and we also grabbed some dead stock copies of Discharge’s Propaganda Feeds 7”, which was originally sold on their 2011 Japanese tour.

Finally, we have the Death Instructions tape from Seattle hardcore / d-beat band Instruct.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! I feel like my head is spinning this week because so much is happening in my world. Some of it I can tell you about, some of it I can’t yet. The biggest deal to me is that I got married on Tuesday! I’ve been with my partner Jet for like 12 years, so it’s about time. Jet is a huge part of why Sorry State can function, making sure I get fed and sleep every day, being very patient with me when I take on way more than I can do, and bringing sunshine to everyone whose life she touches. She even made vegan banana bread for everyone at Sorry State today. Yay Jet! In the midst of getting married and whisking my bride up to Richmond for the evening to see Riki, Sorry State has been getting pummeled with packages full of new releases, with many more on the way still. This week two of our featured records, the White Stains 7” and the Inyeccion LP, are among my favorite things I’ve heard this year, and there’s plenty to talk about besides that, including a pre-order for the incredible new Straw Man Army album. So buckle in, folks, and let’s get to it!

White Stains: Blood on the Beach 7” (Neon Taste Records) White Stains’ first record was one of our favorites of 2020, so I had high expectations going in, but Blood on the Beach more than lives up to them. It sounds to me like White Stains backs off the throttle just a hair on Blood on the Beach, dialing back the rapid-fire slingshot rhythms and leaning into the more melodic and song-oriented aspects of their sound. In other words, it’s a little more Adolescents, a little less Group Sex. The melodies are infectious too, with moments like the chanted chorus of “2021” and the epic outro of “Laughing Gas” (ripped pretty much straight out of the Rikk Agnew handbook) standing out on this short but memorable record. Despite its brevity, Blood on the Beach feels composed and fleshed out; the songs are like little punk rock symphonies. White Stains can cut things down to the bone when they want to, but these brilliant songs prove they’re just as good at making punk rock that’s more composed and deliberate. Four total anthems, surely one of the best records that will come out in 2022.

We are pleased to announce Sorry State will distribute the new Straw Man Army LP, SOS. Like their phenomenal first LP, Age of Exile, the record is a co-release between D4MT Labs (US) and La Vida Es Un Mus (UK), but Sorry State will handle the physical distribution so the D4MT folks can do what they do best, which is make more music! We launched a pre-order for SOS on our website already and while the release date is April 15, the vinyl is en route to us now and will ship as soon as they arrive.

You can hear two tracks over at the D4MT Labs Bandcamp site, but I’ve been lucky enough to hear the entire album and I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s even better than Age of Exile, which is saying something, as that’s one of my favorite records of the past several years.

New York’s Straw Man Army return with SOS, the follow-up to their 2020 debut LP, Age of Exile. Emerging from the D4MT Labs group that also includes Kaleidoscope and Tower 7, Straw Man Army’s delicate musical touch, embrace of melody, and rapid-fire, clearly articulated vocals separate them from the louder and noisier end of New York’s fertile punk scene. While Age of Exile examined the legacy of colonialism through the musical milieu of melodic anarcho-punk, SOS turns its attention to the increasingly bleak prospects for the human race and planet earth. While Straw Man Army’s lyrical approach remains dense and thought provoking on SOS, their musical scope grows wider, encompassing Age of Exile’s melodic take on anarcho, bleak and brooding post-punk, psychedelic instrumental excursions, and even the wistful pop of album highlight “Beware.” SOS is everything Straw Man Army’s fans could have hoped for in a follow-up and so much more, cementing the band’s status as one of the most original, exciting, and important groups in the contemporary punk underground.

Also shipping a little early (isn’t it great when that happens?) is the new Romero LP on Feel It Records! We ran a pre-order for this a few weeks back and the release date is April 8, but Sam at Feel It Records got us our copies earlier this week, so we’ll be shipping them out a little early. Even better, we still have copies of the limited cream vinyl in stock!

Romero just released a video for “Halfway Out the Door,” the second single from Turn It On!. Watch it on YouTube here.

Another pre-order we launched a few weeks ago was for Peace de Resistance, the solo project by Moses Brown of Institute and Glue. This week Moses dropped another preview track on his Bandcamp site, and there’s also a new interview about the project on Jane Pain’s website. (Jane took the album’s incredible cover photo.) You can still preorder Bits and Pieces on Sorry State’s website and it’s looking like we should have the vinyl in hand by the April 13 street date.

We’re pleased to announce Sorry State is now distributing Under the Gun Records! UTG’s latest release is the new 7” from Power Flower, but they’ve also released titles by Sorry State favorites like Erik Nervous, MAZE, and many more. We have stock on all of UTG’s in print titles and we’ll have their upcoming releases as well, including a much-anticipated LP collection from Ignorantes due in the next few months.

Your weekly update on Lasso’s Amuo 7”: the jackets and inserts have been dispatched to us and, according to the tracking information, they appear to be somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now. That means we’re expecting them in the next few days, at which time we’ll start shipping your pre-orders right away. Speaking of which, we still have copies of the limited white vinyl version available on our website, so getchu one now!

Sorry State is proud to present the debut cassette from Richmond, Virginia’s Invertebrates. Featuring two members of Public Acid as well as North Carolina legends Wriggle (amongst numerous other groups over the years), Invertebrates’ punk rock bona fides make it no surprise the initial self-released version of this cassette sold out immediately. Sorry State offered to slap our logo on a new run of pro-printed tapes (the j-cards and inserts are still hand made by the band), and lucky for us they agreed! Invertebrates’ sound is pure hardcore punk that finds the perfect balance between catchiness and power. The bouncy rhythms and earworm riffing give off UK82 / oi! vibes, but the shredded vocals, blistering tempos, and jackhammer playing style are rooted in classic US hardcore. Four hardcore punk rippers for fans of Bloodkrow Butcher, Bootlicker, and the Fix.

Oh man, Usman got me with this week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts, which returns once again to Japan. I went with Kuro because… honestly, I can’t rationalize it. I just went with my gut. Both Kuro and Zouo are fuckin’ classics, though!

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is this 7” of unreleased material by the Bags on Artifix Records. The Bags didn’t leave a wealth of recorded material behind, and this 7” collects a few songs from studio demos and live sets that didn’t appear on their legendary Dangerhouse Records EP. All Bags is good Bags, so grab this long out of print EP if you need it!

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Varaus: Tuomittu Elämään 7” (Lärmattacke Records)
2. White Stains: Blood on the Beach 7” (Neon Taste Records)
3. Lasso: Amuo 7” (Sorry State Records)
4. Golpe: La Colpe É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)
5. Invertebrates: demo cassette (Sorry State Records)
6. Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
7. Peace Decay: Death Is Only... 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
8. Torso: Sono Pronto a Morire 12” (Sorry State Records)
9. Agoni: En Röst För Fred 12” (De:Nihil Records)
10. The Chisel: Retaliation 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Here’s your weekly rundown of what’s selling at Sorry State! The Varaus and White Stains records shot right to the top of the list… which makes sense because they’re both fuckin’ great!

As I write this, we have four copies left in stock, but I still want to mention that this week we got in copies of the reissue of Varaus’s Tuomittu Elämään 7” on Lärmattacke Records. We had a Sorry State exclusive pressing on white vinyl, and with only 100 copies pressed they flew out the door pretty much immediately when they arrived earlier this week. Sorry to those of you who rely on the newsletter rather than social media to keep apprised of what’s in stock… this one sold way faster than we expected.

I’m not sure how widely known this is, but Crass Records has started a reissue campaign where they are pressing their legendary catalog of 7” releases as 12”s. This week we got in the first titles in the series, the 12” reissue of Honey Bane’s great You Can Be You single and Jane Gregory’s Do Not Go, a piece of classical music that was the very last Crass Records release during the label’s original run.

Roach Leg Records is back with two new cassette releases. We carried an earlier version of the Semtex-87 tape self-released by the band in Australia, but that’s long sold out, so now we have the Roach Leg version. And we also have the demo tape from New York’s Xero.

Our copies are almost gone already, but we got a few copies of the new live tape from Destruct. This features live versions of tracks from their first LP and their upcoming, yet to be released second LP. Even better, Sorry State’s own Usman designed the artwork for this tape!

The new issue of Razorblades & Aspirin zine is out now, featuring cover stars the Chisel, an interview with Sorry State faves Public Acid, and much, much more.

This week we restocked all the essential Discharge reissues on Havoc Records because we are a punk record store and this is fucking Discharge we’re talking about.

Iron Lung Records has two new 7”s out this week, a flexi from Australia’s No Future and a hard vinyl 7” from Japan’s Klonns.

Dig! Records brings us the debut LP from Christian Blunda, the solo alter ego of Mean Jeans singer / guitarist Billy Jeans.

California’s No Solution Records brings us two new demo tapes from Rifle and SoCal’s Parishioners… that Parishioners is a good grip if you’re also picking up the White Stains 7” this week.

YOFC brings us a new LP from Australia’s Cutters and a new pressing of this ripping UK hardcore classic from Ripcord, Harvest Hardcore.

Phobia Records has several new releases in this week, including a new compilation called Demons Inside Us, a new full length from Burning Flag, a cassette collection from Warcollapse, and a cassette version of Exploatör’s Avgrundens Brant.

This week we also grabbed the latest several releases from London’s Upset the Rhythm Records, including the new 12” EP from Clear History and the new LP from Nicfit.

From Adagio830 Records we have a new double LP compilation of non-album material by Australia’s the Shifters and a new 12” from Berlin post-punkers Liiek.

We also got in a live cassette from 90s hardcore band Fuckface recorded in 1996 as well as two volumes of a compilation series called Wright Copy, which compiles auditory ephemera from the massive tape collection of Bay Area punk Pat Wright.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! This is a great week for ripping hardcore if you ask me. We have the new Invertebrates demo tape on Sorry State (featuring members of the almighty Public Acid), a killer Record of the Week from Mercenary, a Featured Releases section packed with gems, and new arrivals from White Stains and Bombardement that we haven’t written up yet. If you’re in our part of the world where spring is springing, the move is to open all of your windows and crank this shit in the fresh air. But hardcore works whatever your environment, right? Feel free to test my theory with any of the rippers we delve into below.

Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records) Beach Impediment Records brings us the collected works of Mercenary, an Atlanta hardcore band that existed briefly—according to the liner notes, not much more than a year—around 2013 and 2014. I knew Mercenary’s members from their previous bands (including Bukkake Boys, who released a couple of records on Sorry State) and the hardcore scene in the Southern US is small and pretty tight-knit, but even for someone like me who was paying attention, Mercenary felt like a blip on the radar, bubbling up and fizzling far too quickly. This collection adjusts my perspective, making me realize what a fully formed and powerful band Mercenary was. Listening to this collection in the year 2022, I’m struck by how ahead of their time Mercenary sounded. This sound—frantic and complex, Totalitär-style riffing with some extra Shitlickers / Cimex heft—is all over the place in today’s punk scene, and if you’re into bands like Public Acid, Scarecrow, and Extended Hell (guitarist Jesse’s band after Mercenary), you’re gonna love this. The LP collects Mercenary’s 2013 demo, their track from Beach Impediment’s Hardcore Gimme Some More compilation, and five songs from an aborted LP session. The 2013 demo sounds even better to me now than it did at the time. Vicious hardcore with some progressive, squealy noise bits that are a bit like what Public Acid has included on their recordings. However, the aborted LP tracks (which were released on cassette under the title Atlanta’s Burning) are the real treat here. These tracks strip away the noise elements and the riffs get more focused, more complex, and even meaner. It’s fucking killer. Mercenary’s vocalist Ruby (whom you almost certainly know if you were involved in the east coast DIY hardcore scene in the late 00s and 2010s) passed away in 2021, making this LP special for those of us who were lucky enough to know him. (The inserts feature a bunch of photos that make me laugh and cry at the same time.) Regardless of your personal connection with the band, this reissue makes a convincing case for Mercenary as one of the most underrated hardcore bands of the 2010s.

We promised this last week and we’re stoked to deliver today! The demo tape from Richmond’s Invertebrates is out now on Sorry State! Give it a listen on the Sorry State Bandcamp and then head to our website to order. The tape is in stock and shipping NOW!

Sorry State is proud to present the debut cassette from Richmond, Virginia’s Invertebrates. Featuring two members of Public Acid as well as North Carolina legends Wriggle (amongst numerous other groups over the years), Invertebrates’ punk rock bona fides make it no surprise the initial self-released version of this cassette sold out immediately. Sorry State offered to slap our logo on a new run of pro-printed tapes (the j-cards and inserts are still hand made by the band), and lucky for us they agreed! Invertebrates’ sound is pure hardcore punk that finds the perfect balance between catchiness and power. The bouncy rhythms and earworm riffing give off UK82 / oi! vibes, but the shredded vocals, blistering tempos, and jackhammer playing style are rooted in classic US hardcore. Four hardcore punk rippers for fans of Bloodkrow Butcher, Bootlicker, and the Fix.

March 25 is the release date for Headkicker’s self-titled cassette on Sorry State! Our copies are running low, so pick this up soon before you hit the website only to be greeted by the dreaded “OUT OF STOCK” notification. You can still listen to one track on Sorry State’s Bandcamp site and the rest will be streaming tomorrow.

Also, if you’re in the Raleigh area, Headkicker’s release show for the tape is Saturday night at the Wicked Witch in Raleigh.

Last Friday was the release date for Lasso’s second EP, Amuo, a co-release between Sorry State and Static Shock Records from the UK. The printer screwed up the jackets so we didn’t have the vinyl in time for the release date, but they assured us they’ll be in our hands next week. The limited white vinyl version is already running low, so grab it soon if you want one.

Usman serves up another Japanese conundrum for this week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts. Which one did you choose? I was so tempted to choose the Execute, but in the end I went for G.I.S.M. I miss G.I.S.M. feeling more like a secret, but even now that it’s more accessible, it’s still the wildest shit ever.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is the 12” from Atlanta’s Hyena. This pick ties into this week’s Record of the Week, since Hyena was the band that Ruby sang in after Mercenary. This record was limited to only 300 copies and I remember Sorry State sold out of them instantly.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Golpe: La Colpa É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)
2. Lasso: Amuo 7” (Sorry State Records)
3. The Chisel: Retaliation 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
4. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
5. Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State Records)
6. White Stains: Blood on the Beach 7” (Neon Taste Records)
7. Agoni: En Röst För Fred 12” (De:Nihil Records)
8. Peace Decay: Death Is Only... 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
9. Headkicker: Headkicker cassette (Sorry State Records)
10. Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records)

Here are the best sellers for the past month at Sorry State. Death Church is finally dethroned from the top spot, but comes in at a respectable #4. The White Stains 7” unsurprisingly shows a strong debut and we continue to be thankful to all of the people picking up the releases on our label.

The big news this week is the much-anticipated new 7” from Pittsburgh’s White Stains is in stock now! This has been streaming for a while, so you know how killer it is already, but now you can spin the vinyl. More on this one next week.

We have three new releases on Spain’s Discos Enfermos this week. Many people have been waiting on this new LP from South American (Chile / Argentina) punks Inyeccion. Sadly, their US tour that was meant to coincide with the release has been postponed due to visa issues. We also have the debut 7” from Mexico’s Electrika and another debut 7” from Spain’s Total Nada (this is a split release with Sin Temores).

Discos Enfermos also hooked us up with copies of this excellent melodic punk 7” from EVA… fans of Rata Negra should take note.

The new releases from France’s Symphony of Destruction Records just landed today! I am very stoked that there’s a new LP from Bombardement… their previous 7” was one of my favorite records of 2020. We also have a killer new full-length from Portland’s Destripados and a ripping, crusty demo from Portland’s Hope?

We have copies of two new records (one new release, one reissue) from psychedelic surf band Cosmic Sand Dollars. Check out Dominic’s staff pick for more info on these.

We just got in copies of FOAD Records’ release of the 90s raw Colombian punk band Ex-Kombro.

I haven’t heard Gasmiasma’s name in a minute, but we just got in this new cassette release from the New Orleans crust band and it is a crusher.

We got in the demo tape from new Philly punk band the Dissidents, which features Bill from Caustic Christ and the Pist. We also restocked the demo tape from Bill’s old 90s band Devastation.

We just got in a 12” and a 7” from snotty Canadian punks FLQ.

Dirt Cult Records has two new releases from the Roxies and Dead Years. We also restocked the Schedule 1 LP that sold out super quick last time, but it looks like y’all have already snapped up the restock as well!

We just got in a big package from Sweden’s Halvfabrikat Records, including new releases from Socialstyrelsen, Aftermath, Illvilja, Distress, Irritation, and more!

We have a few key restocks in this week as well, including the ripping 12” from Arizona’s Sycophant, Tankcrimes’ new pressing of Dystopia’s The Aftermath, and Merge Records’ reissue of Red Kross’s classic first EP.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! This section is always the last part of the newsletter I write, so every week I end up commenting on the timing. Once in a while I’m on the ball and get it done super early, but this week is perhaps the latest I’ve ever turned it over to Rachel for formatting. Sorry Rachel! Everyone reading should give her a round of applause for burning the midnight oil every Thursday to make this happen. Looking at this week’s new arrivals, we’re all pretty excited about the new Agoni reissue and you can read about that in a few different parts of this week’s newsletter, but as always there’s plenty more than that to talk about. Dig in and enjoy!

Agoni: En Röst För Fred 12” (De:Nihil Records) Sweden’s De:Nihil Records brings us the collected recordings of this early Stockholm d-beat / hardcore band. While Agoni later changed the spelling of their name to Agony and released a thrash metal record on the UK’s Under One Flag Records, they’re perhaps best known to punks for touring the UK with Anti-Cimex in 1986. I knew their name from flyers for that tour, but they released two demos in their earlier d-beat style and appeared on a couple of very hard to find cassette compilations. Actually, the second of these demos is so obscure they believed it lost, but a friend of the band turned up a copy and it appears here, where most people will hear it for the first time. If you’ve heard that first demo, you’ll be pleased to hear the second demo is just as ripping. In fact, the two sessions are so similar that it’s easy to miss when it switches from the first tape to the second on this LP. This is raw, Discharge-inspired hardcore in the vein of Agoni’s contemporaries like Mob 47, Anti-Cimex, and Shitlickers… the good shit. If you’re a Swedish d-beat fanatic, you’re going to want to hear this… I’ve had side A playing on repeat since this arrived earlier this week. The b-side features their third demo, where they transition toward their thrash metal style (I like these tracks, but they’re not the main draw here) and a live set from the d-beat era with a rough but listenable recording that captures the band sounding ferocious. The sound on the LP is great, and the gatefold features liner notes in Swedish. If you take the time to translate them (here is a link to an official translation the label provided us!), you’ll glean some interesting tidbits, like how they were frustrated with their drummer for not playing the d-beat exactly like Discharge, how they recruited their guitarist when they spotted him at a pub with Discharge painted on his leather jacket, and how the bass player (who writes the liner notes) turned up to the second demo session to find the guitarist had already recorded the bass tracks (he quit the band in protest). If you live for unearthed obscurities like this, you won’t want to miss En Röst För Fred.

That’s right, we have yet another new release for you! We’re stoked to bring you this demo tape from a new Richmond band called Invertebrates. Invertebrates features two members of Public Acid (as well as two members of much-loved North Carolina / Sorry State band Wriggle) and this demo tape knocked us out when the band released a small batch on their own a few months ago. Since that initial batch sold out so quickly, we asked the band to let us press up a new batch on Sorry State and they were down. Watch for this one to go up for sale next week!

Tomorrow, March 18, is the release date for Amuo, the second EP from Brazil’s Lasso. We have the vinyl in stock now and the sleeves are en route to us, so preorders should ship next week. You can listen to a track on Sorry State’s Bandcamp site now and pre-order the record (we have copies on limited white vinyl) here.

Less than a year after their debut, Brazil’s Lasso returns with their second EP. While Lasso’s razor-sharp riffing and songwriting remain intact, this time around the sound is thicker and meaner, as if what was presaged in the first EP’s foreboding, ominous sound has finally come to pass. Indeed, as the world has slid into previously unthinkable depths of darkness and brutality, Lasso’s sound has evolved to match, a hard-won sense of steadiness now augmenting the anguish so palpable on their first record. Lasso also introduces a few new musical wrinkles here. A surf-y, Dead Kennedys-esque lead guitar elevates tracks like “Fechado Em Copas” and “Atarantado” to even higher levels of catchiness than their already-infectious debut, while “Mendaz” closes the record with an apocalyptic, mid-paced stomp. Desperate times call for desperate music, which makes Lasso the perfect soundtrack for 2022.

Lasso will be touring Europe in May 2022. Look for a full announcement with dates soon!

We are stoked to launch a pre-order for the next release on Sorry State: the debut cassette EP from Raleigh’s Headkicker. While this is technically a pre-order because the tape doesn’t come out until March 25, the cassettes are in stock and shipping NOW with no wait. If you’re in the Raleigh area, Headkicker is playing a gig on March 26 at the Wicked Witch that will serve as the release show for the tape. Check the description below (and note the awesome packaging, which the band designed themselves) and head over to Sorry State’s Bandcamp site to hear a track.

Sorry State is proud to present the debut cassette EP from Raleigh, North Carolina’s Headkicker. Headkicker’s intense yet eclectic sound glides elegantly between several different punk styles and scenes. Opening track “The Law” is built around a sinister bass riff, the song’s punk rock snarl recalling Hank Wood & the Hammerheads’ garage bounce, while “Future” is a furious pogo tailor-made for Raleigh’s chaotic basement shows. Standout track “Televise” recalls classic 77 punk bands like the Saints and the Damned with its meaty, driving riff and infectious chorus hook, and the pop jangle of “Crafty” serves as a respite from the non-stop intensity. Through all the subtle variations in style, Headkicker’s confident playing and the EP’s crisp, warm production keep the energy level in the red, just where you want it to be. Like the best bands from Raleigh’s long tradition of punk and hardcore, Headkicker stitches the best parts of their inspirations into a sound that is classic yet wholly their own.

The Headkicker cassette is professionally duplicated with an imprinted silver cassette shell and features a lyric insert, full-color j-card, and an obi strip embossed with the band’s name in braille. Limited to 100 copies.

We are also very stoked to be handling distribution for the debut LP by Peace de Résistance, the solo project from Moses Brown of Institute and Glue. There’s one track streaming on PDR’s Bandcamp site now, but I’ve heard the entire record and it’s a total stunner… I have been listening to it constantly since Moses sent it to me and I am completely in love with it. Read the full description (written by me) below, and head to Sorry State’s site to place your pre-order. Vinyl should ship well before the official release date of April 13. Also, Sorry State is handling all distribution for the record, so if you have a shop or a distro please get in touch with us for wholesale copies.

Moses Brown of Texas punk bands Institute and Glue released his first cassette under the name Peace de Résistance - a solo project where he plays all the instruments - in October 2020. That cassette found Brown bouncing his growing songwriting chops off the fuzz-drenched Zamrock sound of Paul Ngozi, Witch, and Amanaz. However, Bits and Pieces - Peace de Résistance’s first full-length and first vinyl release - has a wider vista. Brown describes the sound as “demented glam rock,” and while you can hear remnants of the Zamrock influence in the sinuously melodic fuzz guitar, the more pertinent frames of reference are Diamond Dogs -era Bowie, 70s Lou Reed, and Iggy’s The Idiot and Lust for Life. Bits and Pieces recalls those records’ potent combination of artistic ambition, street-level rock and roll swagger, and pop charm, but filtered through the DIY punk aesthetics of Brown’s previous work. Lyrically, the album documents life on the fringes in a hyper-surveilled 2020s America, with songs like “Don’t 1099 Me,” “We Got the Right to Be Healthy,” and “Exploitation” wrenching plainspoken poetry from an existence that will be all too familiar to anyone at odds with capitalism. After nine timeless art-rock songs, Bits and Pieces lets us down gently with “Sitting in Disguise.” This motorik-inspired instrumental offers a rickety, dilapidated update of Neu!’s seamless futurism, implying that the only appropriate response to our predicament is to keep moving forward.

That’s right, Sorry State is hiring! We’re looking for a full-time employee to work primarily in our mail order department. Responsibilities will include:

• Packing and shipping online orders
• Responding to customer support requests
• Managing inventory at our warehouse and retail store
• Sharing your love of music through Sorry State’s social media and email newsletter
• Other duties as assigned (we’re a small company so everyone pitches in with everything)

Our ideal candidate will:

• Work 40 hours / 5 days per week (we’re somewhat flexible on the exact hours / days, though)
• Have strong attention to detail (this is VERY important for this position!)
• Have strong basic computer skills (email & office apps)
• Have strong communication skills (in person and electronic / written)
• Have reliable transportation
• Be able to lift 30 pounds
• Contribute to a positive, upbeat work environment

Since you’ll be working mostly in our mail order department, which primarily sells punk and hardcore, it would be great to find a candidate who is passionate about that music.

Starting pay is $12/hr.

To apply, email a resume and cover letter to sorrystate@gmail.com. Either in the cover letter or the body of the email, please tell us about some of your favorite music (of all time or just lately).

We will accept applications through Sunday, March 20. Sorry, you must be in the Raleigh area to do this job!

We’re back in Finland again for this week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts. I voted for Kolla Kestää because I love them, but I must admit I haven’t spent enough time with 013. Based on the votes, it seems like I should rectify that.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is Ugly Pop’s repress of a Canadian punk classic, the Fits’ Bored of Education EP. This one is right up there with the Viletones for ripping first-gen Canadian punk.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

• Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
• Golpe: La Colpa É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)
• Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State Records)
• The Chisel: Retaliation 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
• Lasso: Amuo 7” (Sorry State Records)
• Terveet Kadet: 1980-1984 photo book (Finnish Hardcore)
• Agoni: En Röst För Fred 12” (De:Nihil Records)
• Headkicker: Headkicker cassette (Sorry State Records)
• Reckoning Force: Broken State 12” (Not for the Weak Records)
• Peace Decay: Death Is Only… 12” (Beach Impediment)

This week’s chart of the best selling releases at Sorry State is dominated by our own label releases. I’m glad y’all are digging the new stuff we have coming out!

This week Beach Impediment Records released two brand new hardcore smashers. We have the demos collection from Atlanta’s Mercenary and the debut from Texas’s Peace Decay. More on these next week!

I know Usman has been waiting for the US pressing of Warchild’s new LP, A Question for Today… Not Tomorrow to drop, and the time has finally come! This comes to us courtesy of Portland’s esteemed Black Water Records, and it’s a ripper that fans of classic Swedish mängel will love.

Speaking of esteemed labels of the Pacific Northwest, Iron Lung dropped FOUR new ones on us this week. We have a new EP from DC power violence kings Brain Tourniquet, a new promo cassette from Innumerable Forms, a killer hardcore demo from Australia’s Gaoled, and a split cassette Iceland’s Daudyflin and Sweden’s X2000.

Last week I told you we would restock copies of the Rapsodie En France compilation reissue that sold out super quick, and we have made good on that promise. In the meantime, World Gone Mad also released a new demo from Philly band Soft Torture, so we grabbed copies of that too. Soft Torture features YDI bassist Chuck Meehan and they play some wild and spastic, stop on a dime hardcore for fans of Die Kreuzen.

We got in two rad new tapes from Montreal bands this week: demos from The Sex and CPU Rave.

After months in postal purgatory, Erste Theke Tonträger’s new release from Dramachine has arrived! We also restocked the excellent Powerplant LP on Erste Theke and some older titles, too.

Also in the restocks department, we got in another batch of the second single from BOSS, the glam supergroup featuring Maxime from Rixe and Jonah Falco from a million great bands. Our first batch sold out instantly, so get this while it’s hot!

Another key restock: Barren Soil’s demo tape, which we named Record of the Week a few weeks back. FFO Amebix and Axegrinder. Killer shit.

I know we mentioned this last week, but it’s worth reiterating the new Star Party LP is out now on Feel It, and as of right now we still have copies of the orange/white swirl colored vinyl in stock.

We give them a full write-up in the Featured Releases section, so please consult that for more details, but we’re stoked to have the debut 7” from New York’s Church Clothes in now.

If any of you were intrigued by the Mandy, Indiana record I wrote about in my staff pick a few weeks ago, we have copies of that in stock now. It’s on nice-looking seaglass colored vinyl too.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! Last week’s edition felt a little slim on content, but we make up for it this week with a real behemoth. Whether you’re looking for a lot of words to read or a lot of great records to hear, you’ll walk away satisfied this week. Check out that LP by the Drin… I think it’s pretty special. And grab the Terveet Kadet book and the Socialcide discography tape quick if you want either of them! We’re also launching preorders this week for TWO new releases on Sorry State and a new release we are distributing exclusively (and very, very stoked on). Alright folks, let’s get into it.

The Drin: Engines Sing for the Pale Moon 12” (Drunken Sailor) I’d noticed a few people I trust hyping up this record by the Drin on Drunken Sailor, and I’m glad I took the time to check this out, because it’s a fantastic record. Originally released in a small cassette edition, Drunken Sailor plucked this gem from potential obscurity and gave it the wider release it deserved. Describing the Drin’s sound is difficult, because they don’t sound quite like anything I’ve heard before. I’ve seen a few people (including Will Fitzpatrick in the label’s official blub) mention Joy Division, but I feel like that does the Drin a disservice because they sound so completely different from the legions of Joy Division wannabees that have populated the punk scene for the past forty-odd years. Thankfully, you won’t hear any faux-Ian Curtis baritone vocals here, but you will hear a couple of tracks that have chord progressions that are familiar from Joy Division songs as well as some of the subtler elements of Joy Division’s sound, such as the heavily processed drum sounds and the steady motorik rhythms that powered so many of their greatest songs. But there are other ingredients in the stew too. I hear plenty of UKDIY pop in the Drin’s scrappy but accessible sound, and there’s a palpable (and non-cheesy) reggae influence that you hear in some of the heavy bass lines (see the standout track “Down Her Cheek a Pearly Tear”) and the frequent use of the melodica. It all adds up to a record that’s dense with distinctive atmosphere. Engines Sing for the Pale Moon really transports you to another place, and it’s a place I’ve been addicted to visiting ever since the first time I put this record on.

We are stoked to launch a pre-order today for the next release on Sorry State: the debut cassette EP from Raleigh’s Headkicker. While this is technically a pre-order because the tape doesn’t come out until March 25, the cassettes are in stock and shipping NOW with no wait. If you’re in the Raleigh area, Headkicker is playing a gig on March 26 at the Wicked Witch that will serve as the release show for the tape. Check the description below (and note the awesome packaging, which the band designed themselves) and head over to Sorry State’s Bandcamp site to hear a track.

Sorry State is proud to present the debut cassette EP from Raleigh, North Carolina’s Headkicker. Headkicker’s intense yet eclectic sound glides elegantly between several different punk styles and scenes. Opening track “The Law” is built around a sinister bass riff, the song’s punk rock snarl recalling Hank Wood & the Hammerheads’ garage bounce, while “Future” is a furious pogo tailor-made for Raleigh’s chaotic basement shows. Standout track “Televise” recalls classic 77 punk bands like the Saints and the Damned with its meaty, driving riff and infectious chorus hook, and the pop jangle of “Crafty” serves as a respite from the non-stop intensity. Through all the subtle variations in style, Headkicker’s confident playing and the EP’s crisp, warm production keep the energy level in the red, just where you want it to be. Like the best bands from Raleigh’s long tradition of punk and hardcore, Headkicker stitches the best parts of their inspirations into a sound that is classic yet wholly their own.

The Headkicker cassette is professionally duplicated with an imprinted silver cassette shell and features a lyric insert, full-color j-card, and an obi strip embossed with the band’s name in braille. Limited to 100 copies.

We are also very stoked to be handling distribution for the debut LP by Peace de Résistance, the solo project from Moses Brown of Institute and Glue. There’s one track streaming on PDR’s Bandcamp site now, but I’ve heard the entire record and it’s a total stunner… I have been listening to it constantly since Moses sent it to me and I am completely in love with it. Read the full description (written by me) below, and head to Sorry State’s site to place your pre-order. Vinyl should ship well before the official release date of April 13. Also, Sorry State is handling all distribution for the record, so if you have a shop or a distro please get in touch with us for wholesale copies.

Moses Brown of Texas punk bands Institute and Glue released his first cassette under the name Peace de Résistance - a solo project where he plays all the instruments - in October 2020. That cassette found Brown bouncing his growing songwriting chops off the fuzz-drenched Zamrock sound of Paul Ngozi, Witch, and Amanaz. However, Bits and Pieces - Peace de Résistance’s first full-length and first vinyl release - has a wider vista. Brown describes the sound as “demented glam rock,” and while you can hear remnants of the Zamrock influence in the sinuously melodic fuzz guitar, the more pertinent frames of reference are Diamond Dogs -era Bowie, 70s Lou Reed, and Iggy’s The Idiot and Lust for Life. Bits and Pieces recalls those records’ potent combination of artistic ambition, street-level rock and roll swagger, and pop charm, but filtered through the DIY punk aesthetics of Brown’s previous work. Lyrically, the album documents life on the fringes in a hyper-surveilled 2020s America, with songs like “Don’t 1099 Me,” “We Got the Right to Be Healthy,” and “Exploitation” wrenching plainspoken poetry from an existence that will be all too familiar to anyone at odds with capitalism. After nine timeless art-rock songs, Bits and Pieces lets us down gently with “Sitting in Disguise.” This motorik-inspired instrumental offers a rickety, dilapidated update of Neu!’s seamless futurism, implying that the only appropriate response to our predicament is to keep moving forward.

Next Friday, March 18 is the release date for Amuo, the second EP from Brazil’s Lasso. The vinyl is en route to us now and we’re hoping to have it by next Friday’s release date, but if not it should be very soon after. You can listen to a track on Sorry State’s Bandcamp site now and pre-order the record (we have copies on limited white vinyl) here.

Less than a year after their debut, Brazil’s Lasso returns with their second EP. While Lasso’s razor-sharp riffing and songwriting remain intact, this time around the sound is thicker and meaner, as if what was presaged in the first EP’s foreboding, ominous sound has finally come to pass. Indeed, as the world has slid into previously unthinkable depths of darkness and brutality, Lasso’s sound has evolved to match, a hard-won sense of steadiness now augmenting the anguish so palpable on their first record. Lasso also introduces a few new musical wrinkles here. A surf-y, Dead Kennedys-esque lead guitar elevates tracks like “Fechado Em Copas” and “Atarantado” to even higher levels of catchiness than their already-infectious debut, while “Mendaz” closes the record with an apocalyptic, mid-paced stomp. Desperate times call for desperate music, which makes Lasso the perfect soundtrack for 2022.

Lasso will be touring Europe in May 2022. Look for a full announcement with dates soon!

Zorn’s big South / Midwest tour continues! Tonight they’re playing with Sheer Mag at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, though this newsletter will arrive in your inbox too late to tip you off for that show. There are still a few more dates, though, so don’t miss this opportunity to see one of the best live bands in today’s underground!

That’s right, Sorry State is hiring! We’re looking for a full-time employee to work primarily in our mail order department. Responsibilities will include:

• Packing and shipping online orders
• Responding to customer support requests
• Managing inventory at our warehouse and retail store
• Sharing your love of music through Sorry State’s social media and email newsletter
• Other duties as assigned (we’re a small company so everyone pitches in with everything)

Our ideal candidate will:

• Work 40 hours / 5 days per week (we’re somewhat flexible on the exact hours / days, though)
• Have strong attention to detail (this is VERY important for this position!)
• Have strong basic computer skills (email & office apps)
• Have strong communication skills (in person and electronic / written)
• Have reliable transportation
• Be able to lift 30 pounds
• Contribute to a positive, upbeat work environment

Since you’ll be working mostly in our mail order department, which primarily sells punk and hardcore, it would be great to find a candidate who is passionate about that music.

Starting pay is $12/hr.

To apply, email a resume and cover letter to sorrystate@gmail.com. Either in the cover letter or the body of the email, please tell us about some of your favorite music (of all time or just lately).

We will accept applications through Sunday, March 20. Sorry, you must be in the Raleigh area to do this job!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is the debut 7” from Pittsburgh’s EEL. We carried a version of this record with a Mind Cure Records generic sleeve when it came out, but this is the version with its own custom sleeve. EEL was such an insane band. Sadly, I never got to see them live… seems like it was a trip.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
2. The Chisel: Retaliation 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
3. Golpe: La Colpe É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)
4. Terveet Kadet: 1980-1984 photo book (Finnish Hardcore)
5. Rudimentary Peni: Great War 12” (Sealed Records)
6. Low Life: Dogging 12” (Alter Records)
7. Superchunk: Wild Loneliness 12” (Merge Records)
8. Chain Whip: Two Step to Hell 12” (Neon Taste Records)
9. Various: Rapsodie En France 12” (World Gone Mad)
10. Illiterates: S/T 12” (Kill Enemy Records)

Wow, this week’s chart of Sorry State’s best sellers shows quite a shake-up from last week. Some older titles have gotten a new wind, and local celebrities Superchunk even make it into the rankings with a version of their new LP only available in North Carolina record stores (of which we are one). Oh, and if you missed that Rapsodie En France reissue (a predicament you share with a few of Sorry State’s employees), we’ll have more copies in stock next week!

This week we got in the new Terveet Kadet photo book on Finnish Hardcore Records! The book is beautiful, with great design and reproduction of these photos, which offer a glimpse into the scene in their hometown of Tornio in the far north of Finland. The book even features text in both English and Finnish. These are already flying off the shelves, so I encourage you to jump on it now if you want a copy.

Speaking of flying off the shelves, we only got a few copies of the discography tape from Virginia hardcore legends Socialcide on Not for the Weak Records. We’ve sold more than half our allotment already, so these will be gone soon. Fun fact: Sorry State would have released the next Socialcide record, but the band broke up before that happened. Besides the discography cassette, we also have a few more dead stock copies of Socialcide’s Unapproachable LP. All the copies have corner dings and light storage wear, but they’re super cheap.

Besides this week’s Record of the Week from the Drin, we also have another new release on Drunken Sailor Records: a reissue of the self-titled record by Australia’s Stiff Richards.

We have three new cassette releases on Chicago’s Foreign Legion Records. We cover the Nabat and Cenobite tapes in the Featured Releases section below, and we also have a demo cassette from Society’s Bane.

Poland’s Refuse Records has two new releases: a discography LP from 80s German punk band Skeezicks and a demo collection 80s Polish punks Rekrut.

We have a few copies of the new Mikey Young LP, Curtains, on Australia’s Lulu’s Sonic Disc Club. Of course you know Mikey from his bands, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Total Control. Our copies are even on limited blue vinyl!

Tomorrow sees the release of the new Star Party LP on Feel It Records. That will go live on the site tomorrow. While we were picking up the Star Party LPs, we also restocked a ton of older Feel It Records titles and those are all on the site and ready to order now.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! I feel like I’m running on fumes this week as I moved two large, thousand-plus LP collections multiple times yesterday, which put a big hurtin’ on my body and my back in particular. Still, the new releases keep coming in, and thus the newsletter must keep coming as well. This week I’m very excited to once again plug a new record from Scott Plant, and there’s a ton of great new stuff in besides that. Read on for your weekly dose!

Scott Plant: Alone / With Us 12” (Ordinary Weirdos Records) Alone / With Us is the second solo EP from Scott Plant, following a lathe cut 10” from a few years ago. Through projects like Civic Progress, Broken Prayer, Droids Blood, and Canal Irreal, Scott has made some of my favorite music of the modern punk era, and his turn toward pure electronic music has not dampened my enthusiasm one bit. Indeed, it seems like Scott’s music evolves one step ahead of me, with him experimenting with new styles just as they’re coming onto my radar. Indeed, I’ve been listening to more and more electronic music lately, and Alone / With Us fits in with artists I’ve enjoyed (like Mandy, Indiana and Rakta, for instance) while carrying forward the things I love most about Scott’s previous music, namely his brilliant lyrics. The title of this EP is the name of the first two songs, and they seem like a matched pair here, the first song presenting a portrait of a loner who “hustles” in the “dog eat dog world,” while the second track shifts the perspective to a group (religious? professional? something even more sinister?) that targets those loners by offering them the sense of belonging they insist they don’t want but secretly crave. The music, like all of Scott’s music, is just brilliant. There are no guitars here, just driving electronic drums and a symphony of synths playing off one another with the deftness of a well-seasoned band. I’m not articulate enough to explain what is so distinctive about Scott’s music, but it’s instantly identifiable here and I’m as in love with it as ever. If you’re a card-carrying member of the Scott Plant fan club like I am, you need this, but I can’t imagine any hardcore punk kid with a curiosity about electronic music won’t love this.

You may have caught wind of this on our social media accounts last week, but Sorry State is about to release the debut cassette from new Raleigh punk band Headkicker. The cassette is beautifully packaged, featuring elegant design and an obi strip with the band’s name embossed in braille. How cool is that? You can listen to a preview track on the Sorry State Bandcamp site right now. Watch for a preorder to go up on the site soon!

Yep, we’re going to keep reminding you as long as it’s going on, but Zorn is still on tour! Their set in Raleigh was blazing, and judging by what I’ve seen on Instagram (seriously, you gotta follow @zorn_philly), their shows only seem to get bigger and wilder. Right now they’re in Texas, where they’re hooking up with Ninth Circle (a great pairing), and will swing through the Midwest on their way back to Philly.

Social Napalm Records revealed the artwork for Savageheads’ debut LP, Service to Your Country, which Sorry State will exclusively distribute! The vinyl is in stock now and the jackets are at the printer, so hopefully we’ll have this available for you soon! Sorry State will be the spot to grab Service to Your Country (that goes for wholesale copies too if you do a shop or distro), and in Social Napalm’s words:

No pre-orders.

No limited versions.

1100 black vinyl only.

More news on this soon!

This week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts is yet another tough one! Even though these records are only three years apart, I think of them as being from very different eras. Both total ragers, though!

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is this 12” from Japan’s Assault. This pick goes out to my friend Osamu. He didn’t introduce me to Assault, but we used to talk about them all the time. Even though they have a little “epic crust” in their sound, they still rage. Grab this 12” from our Discogs for just a couple of bucks.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
2. Golpe: La Colpe É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State)
3. Axe Rash: Contemporary Ass 7” (Not for the Weak Records)
4. Alienator: demo cassette (self-released)
5. Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State)
6. Reckoning Force: Broken State 12” (Not for the Weak Records)
7. Necro Heads: Mindless 7” (Kill Enemy Records)
8. Insect Warfare: World Extermination 12” (Iron Lung Records)
9. Thatcher’s Snatch: S/T 7” (Hardcore Victim Records)
10. Chain Whip: Two Step to Hell 12” (Neon Taste Records)

Here’s your weekly roundup of the top sellers at Sorry State! Hardcore punk is the order of the day! With Scott Plant’s solo 12” getting Record of the Week, we’ll see if we can shake things up a little for next week.

The Chisel’s Retaliation LP is back in stock! Our first round of copies sold out in a day, and now we have another small stack for you. It’s already flying out the door, so be quick if you don’t want to wait until the next repress.

Also on La Vida Es Un Mus, we have the new Fatamorgana album in stock!

Speaking of restocks, we sold out of our initial allotment of the North Carolina exclusive edition of Superchunk’s new album, Wild Loneliness, but we got just a few more copies. Grab them while you can, because after this batch, they’re gone for good.

Philly’s World Gone Mad dropped three new international ragers on us this week. We have two LPs from Yakutsk, Siberia’s Crispy Newspaper and a vinyl reissue of the legendary French compilation tape Rhapsodie En France. See Jeff’s staff pick for more info on that one.

Speaking of staff picks, Usman wrote about Sycophant’s new 12”, and we have that in stock too. Some of you bought the tape version we carried a while back, but you probably need the vinyl too, right?

Denver’s Convulse Records continues their fire streak with two new ragers from Colorado’s Televised and Oakland’s Urban Sprawl.

Everyone was talking about that Smirk 12” EP on Total Punk last year, and now we have a new split tape with them and the ever-prolific Zhoop.

Finally, we have two new releases from Ozzuario. When they hit us up, they said they were like a combination of GISM and DJ Screw… how can you not fall for a description like that? It’s pretty apt too!

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State newsletter! When I walked into the office today, the first thing Usman said to me was “you look really tired.” You may have seen this on our social media, but Sunday morning I flew out to Denver to buy a record collection and immediately drove it all the way back to Raleigh by myself. It was nice to spend a good chunk of solitary time like that, but I am pretty tired! Despite all my waking hours being devoted to driving, I still got together a newsletter for all you freaks. And if anyone reading this is sitting on records they want to sell us, get in touch! Denver is my current record for longest distance traveled for a collection, but I’m happy to beat it or just log more miles here in the eastern half of the US.

Barren Soil: self-titled cassette (self-released) Barren Soil is from Vancouver, but those of you with an eye for graphic design will notice the Celtic knots and other medieval imagery and realize that Barren Soil draws musical inspiration from the 80s UK crust and stenchcore scenes. Crust and stench are two styles I didn’t have a taste for in my younger days, but I’ve come to love them in recent years, and Barren Soil carves out an interesting niche within that universe. They bring together elements of faster crust a la Doom or Extreme Noise Terror with heavy, mid-paced parts in the vein of Amebix or Axegrinder, sometimes alternating between those styles and tempos within the same song. The production is heavy and huge-sounding, with guttural vocals that are on the nose for the style yet highly effective. While tracks like “Illusions of Progress” flirt with a straightforward crust sound, others like “Throne and Altar” lean more toward thrash metal with complex riffing and more interesting rhythmic dynamics. There’s even an ultra-short Heresy-style thrasher, “Earn the Dirt.” And then there are the crushing, mid-paced stench parts, which are peppered throughout the tape but come to a head with the epic closing track, “Commodified Neurons.” With powerful production, great songwriting, and a fresh-sounding style, Barren Soil captures something special on this tape.

Zorn’s Southern / Midwestern tour starts TOMORROW, Friday, Feb 25, 2022 in Richmond Virginia! They’re making a big loop through the South and Midwest, so if you’re in those parts of the country, check the flyer for dates! If you need info about a particular show, consult your local punk oracle or maybe hit up the band’s Instagram (@zorn_philly) if that doesn’t work.

I’m jealous of anyone who was at Zorn’s gig in New York last week… judging by the short videos I saw on Instagram, it seems like it was a wild night. No doubt there are more of them in store for this tour, and I’m particularly looking forward to Saturday’s North Carolina gig.

Zorn fans may also want to know that the band has completed their debut LP for Sorry State! We’re going to do our best to get it into your hands and ears as soon as possible.

This week Social Napalm Records revealed the artwork for Savageheads’ debut LP, Service to Your Country, which Sorry State will exclusively distribute! The vinyl is in stock now and the jackets are at the printer, so hopefully we’ll have this available for you soon! Sorry State will be the spot to grab Service to Your Country (that goes for wholesale copies too if you do a shop or distro), and in Social Napalm’s words:

No pre-orders.

No limited versions.

1100 black vinyl only.

More news on this soon!

You may remember me being super into the debut single from Australia’s Romero back in 2020. It was one of my favorite records of that year, two perfect sides of power pop. Now Romero is back with their debut album, and our buddies at Feel It Records are putting it out here in the states! Better yet, they’ve allotted us a chunk of the limited cream-colored vinyl, and it’s up on Sorry State’s site for preorder now. The street date on the album is April 8, but Feel It is hopeful the vinyl will be in at least a little before that. Sam at Feel It was kind enough to hook me up with an advance test pressing of the record, and I can confirm it lives up to expectations!

If you’d like a taste, check out the band’s video for the title track, “Turn It On!”

If you preordered the indie exclusive variant of the new Superchunk album with the Ron Liberti art print, we just received our stock from Merge today (thanks Dave!) and we’re shipping them out right away. It looks like we might get them all shipped out this evening, but there might be a few stragglers that don’t go out until Friday. Regardless, we’re on it!

This week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts pairs up two Japanese heavy hitters. Like most of you, I voted for Gauze, but as usual I’m happy to live in a world where I don’t have to choose.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is by krautrock group GAM. GAM was helmed by Günter Schickert, and this LP features a “live studio rehearsal jam session” recorded in Günter’s studio in 1976. I’m a big fan of Schickert’s work… it’s zoned-out yet texturally rich in all the right ways. This GAM LP is solid and I own a copy, but my favorite Schickert LP is his debut, 1976’s Samtvogel. Check that one out if you’re a fan of the spacey end of krautrock.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
2. Axe Rash: Contemporary Ass 7” (Not for the Weak Records)
3. Golpe: La Colpe É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)
4. Insect Warfare: World Extermination 12” (Iron Lung Records)
5. Necro Heads: Mindless (Kill Enemy Records)
6. Torso: Sono Pronto A Morire 12” (Sorry State Records)
7. Alienator: demo cassette (self-released)
8. Thatcher’s Snatch: S/T 7” (Hardcore Victim Records)
9. Chain Whip: Two Step to Hell 12” (Neon Taste Records)
10. Personal Damage: Ambush EP cassette (1753 Recordings)

Here’s your weekly roundup of the best sellers at Sorry State for the past 30 days! Rudimentary Peni’s reign continues, with the rest of the charts populated by a good cross-section of the stuff we’ve been hyping.

We just got in copies of the new SSRI 7” on Repressed Records. The label describes their sound eloquently: “SSRI are/were a relatively short lived Sydney Hardcore Punk band that blur the imaginary line between “straight ahead” and “outsider” HC. Or to put it another way, you can imagine they have an appreciation for both Negative Approach and No Trend.” Note also that this release is extremely limited, so don’t sleep!

We also just got in the Demo 7” from Germany’s Suspect, who plays the early 80s-style USHC we all love here at SSR.

BDR just reissued recordings by long lost St Louis proto-punk band the Welders, and we have copies in stock now.

We stocked Supreme Echo’s reissue of 80s Canadian band Kradle a couple of months ago and it flew out the door. Thankfully, we could get a restock and they’re in now.

Speaking of restocks, we also restocked the reissue of the first Cock Sparrer 12” that y’all keep snapping up and the Suicidal Tendencies demo collection among a heap of other recent reissues.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! We’ve had a busy week shipping out tons of Rudimentary Peni records, getting things together for the many upcoming releases on our label, and pricing up big used collections for all of you. We’re just having your typical good time here at Sorry State HQ. There’s plenty of cool news for you, so keep reading to get it all!

Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records) Sealed Records has gotten Rudimentary Peni’s first album, Death Church, back into print and the world is rejoicing. Writing a description of Death Church feels a bit like trying to write something about Damaged or Walk Among Us or Never Mind the Bollocks… it’s all but universally heralded as a great album, so what can I add to the conversation? Probably nothing, so I’m not going to try. The album is available on the Sealed Records Bandcamp site and all streaming services, so if you haven’t heard it, it’s easy to rectify that problem. The record will blow your mind. However, those of you who are novices in the world of Rudimentary Peni might wonder why the album’s re-release has gotten so much fanfare. The short version of the story is that Rudimentary Peni is a band that people care about deeply. But why? One thing that separates Rudimentary Peni from most of their underground punk peers is their talent for building an immersive world around their music. There are some bands—Black Flag, Misfits, the Stooges, the Ramones—whose music, lyrics, visual aesthetic, and everything else surrounding the art clicks together so perfectly that it almost seems like a world you can step into. Indeed, many people try, listening to these bands’ music obsessively, trying to dress, talk, and write songs like them. Rudimentary Peni, though far less well known, has a similar thing going on. Rudimentary Peni’s world seems like it was ahead of its time, even better suited to 2022 than 1983, when Death Church came out. Singer Nick Blinko’s engagement with mental health / mental illness in particular seems prescient, since not only has the discourse around mental health become so much bigger in the decades since then, but nowadays it seems like everyone is on some mood-altering drug or another (I’m a Lexapro person, myself). The changing informational and economic landscape has also helped to balloon interest in Rudimentary Peni. As far as I know, Rudimentary Peni had no domestic releases in the US in the 80s and, hence, no promotion. Even in their native England, the band only played live a few times and remained a mysterious presence. The grand digitization of the 21st century has done little to remedy the sense of mystery that surrounds them. (I remember Usman excitedly showing me a radio interview with the band that surfaced on YouTube a few years ago.) Since Rudimentary Peni was pretty hard to find out about and really good, the people who found them in the pre-internet era developed a profound reverence for them. I remember when someone put “Teenage Time Killer” on a mix tape for me when I was a teenager… it sounded so weird, but so interesting, that haunting lead guitar line drawing me in like a siren’s song. On the rare occasions when I would come across one of their records in the years after that, I would always buy without question, exploring the group’s discography haphazardly as I came across the records. I’m certain I heard The Underclass and Archaic well before I ever scored a copy of Death Church. Speaking of which, the internet era has made Rudimentary Peni’s records extremely collectible. Much like G.I.S.M., Rudimentary Peni was a band that was pretty hard to hear before the internet. Once people could hear the music, it made them want the vinyl, but the records had been out of print for years, occasionally appearing as bootlegs but largely unavailable. The value of Rudimentary Peni’s vinyl went through the roof, and over the past few years I’ve seen copies of Death Church sell for hundreds of dollars. It’s unsurprising that someone stepped into that gap in the market, but I’m very glad that it was Sealed Records who did so. Their reissue of Death Church satisfies both the intense fan and the astute record collector, the vinyl having been cut from the original master tapes (it sounds great) and the packaging a meticulous reproduction of the original record’s incredible fold-out poster sleeve. Because what would a Rudimentary Peni record be without a pile of incredible Nick Blinko artwork to feast your eyes on? So, whether you’re a collector who needs something to keep a spot on your shelf warm while you hunt for an original, or you’re just a punk fanatic who wants to experience this landmark record in all its glory, now is the time.

Next week Zorn is going on tour! They’re making a big loop through the South and Midwest, so if you’re in those parts of the country, check the flyer for dates! If you need info about a particular show, consult your local punk oracle or maybe hit up the band’s Instagram (@zorn_philly) if that doesn’t work. Zorn’s live show is not to be missed, so I encourage you to jump on the opportunity if you have it.

If you’re in New York, Zorn is playing at Trans Pecos TOMORROW, February 18, with Melissa and Dieja.

Zorn fans also may want to know that the band has completed their debut LP for Sorry State! We’re going to do our best to get it into your hands and ears as soon as possible.

You may remember me being super into the debut single from Australia’s Romero back in 2020. It was one of my favorite records of that year, two perfect sides of power pop. Now Romero is back with their debut album, and our buddies at Feel It Records are putting it out here in the states! Better yet, they’ve allotted us a chunk of the limited cream-colored vinyl, and it’s up on Sorry State’s site for preorder now. The street date on the album is April 8, but Feel It is hopeful the vinyl will be in at least a little before that. Sam at Feel It was kind enough to hook me up with an advance test pressing of the record, and I can confirm it lives up to expectations!

If you’d like a taste, check out the band’s video for the title track, “Turn It On!”

Golpe’s La Colpe É Solo Tua is back in stock! This pressing is 400 copies on clear red vinyl and 100 copies on clear red and black swirl that are only available from Sorry State. The first pressing sold out so quickly that we weren’t able to devote many copies to wholesale, so if you have a store or a distro and want wholesale copies please get in touch! And if you haven’t heard the record yet, what are you waiting for? Get over to the Sorry State Records Bandcamp and check it out.

There is a new 7” by Brazil’s Lasso! We’ll be co-releasing this new EP with our good buddies in the UK, Static Shock Records, and we’re hoping to have the vinyl in time for the March 18 street date. Lasso will also tour Europe in May, so watch for info on that soon!

For this week’s edition of HC Knockouts, Usman gets back to his roots with some good old-fashioned Swedish hardcore. This one is tighter than I expected. I fuckin’ love Headcleaners, but the Shitlickers 7” is untouchable. One of the greatest records in the history of hardcore.

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is this collection LP from Mourning Noise. This is the same version that we have for sale on Sorry State’s site, but since I never got around to writing about it for the newsletter, I figured I’d give it a nod now. Mourning Noise was from the Misfits’ home town of Lodi, New Jersey, followed in that band’s footsteps, and features a young Steve Zing, who later played in Samhain and Danzig.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
2. Axe Rash: Contemporary Ass 7” (Not for the Weak Records)
3. Necro Heads: Mindless 7” (Kill Enemy Records)
4. Insect Warfare: World Extermination 12” (Iron Lung Records)
5. Reckoning Force: Broken State 12” (Not for the Weak Records)
6. Dissekerad: Inre Strid 12” (Desolate Records)
7. Golpe: La Colpe É Solo Tua 12” (Sorry State Records)
8. Tempter: S/T 12” (Quality Control HQ)
9. Nag: Observer 12” (Drunken Sailor Records)
10. Bootlicker: S/T 12” (Neon Taste Records)

Here’s your weekly rundown of the best sellers at Sorry State! It’s unsurprising that Death Church sits atop the list; it’s probably going to stay there for a minute, at least until we run out of copies. There are some shake-ups elsewhere in the chart too, as y’all are excited about the new Axe Rash EP and the Insect Warfare reissue on Iron Lung.

This week we have an expanded reissue of the lone 7” by 80s Finnish punks Sekaannus, filled out with six additional tracks. Check out Usman’s staff pick for more info on this one.

We have three new titles this week from Open Palm Tapes: a new EP from Chicago’s Deodorant, a tape from Northwest Indiana punks Counter Control, and a ripper from Germany’s Ex-Dom.

The Bad Brains’ official reissue campaign continues with 1989’s Quickness. This may be past the Bad Brains cutoff point for many, but there are plenty of people who ride for it. I know I’m pleased to see it back in print and on the shelves.

Philadelphia d-beaters Instinct? have a vinyl pressing of their Pray to Death cassette, which had a few releases, including a US one on Jeff and Usman’s label Bunker Punks.

We also just got in Red Eye Reprisal, the second album from Ventura, CA crust band Hidinginsidevictims.

Finishing up with a couple of cool hardcore punk demos, we have a tape from Kansas City’s Foil and a ripper from Hattiesburg, Mississippi’s Fumes.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! There’s some big news this week as we have both the official reissue of Rudimentary Peni’s Death Church in stock and a fresh pressing of Golpe’s La Colpe É Solo Tua LP on two different colors of vinyl. We’ve been packing orders like crazy all week, but we’re ready for more! Besides all that, we have this scorching demo tape from Alienator and a bunch of other goodies too, so read on for all the details!

Alienator: demo cassette (self-released) Alienator is a new hardcore band from Portland springing from the same well as Suck Lords and Reek Minds. This won’t surprise you if you’re familiar with those bands, but this tape is a total scorcher. Stylistically, Alienator lives at the intersection of fast, Discharge-inspired hardcore and thrash metal, with former’s density and ferocity and the latter’s technicality. They sound kind of like Within the Prophecy-era Sacrilege or Forward Into Battle-era English Dogs, but at Shitlickers speed and with a level of meanness that’ll remind you of Siege or YDI. It’s brutal shit, to where it’s easy to get lost in the intensity and miss how fast and technical the playing is. I’m generally wary of breakdowns, but Alienator are masters of the art, and that holds true whether they’re doing a pretty traditional-sounding thrash metal mosh part (as in “You Wish”) or one of their sludgier breakdowns, like in the crushing opening track, “Born to Die,” whose mosh part has a Sabbathian swing that brings to mind Corrosion of Conformity’s classic Eye for an Eye. Those C.O.C. vibes might cause some people to put Alienator in the same bucket as Tower 7 (admittedly, a pretty good bucket to be in), but Alienator’s speed and viciousness place them in a league of their own.

Golpe’s La Colpe É Solo Tua is back in stock! This pressing is 400 copies on clear red vinyl and 100 copies on clear red and black swirl that are only available from Sorry State. The first pressing sold out so quickly that we weren’t able to devote many copies to wholesale, so if you have a store or a distro and want wholesale copies please get in touch! And if you haven’t heard the record yet, what are you waiting for? Get over to the Sorry State Records Bandcamp and check it out.

The mystery release we teased in last week’s newsletter is a new 7” by Brazil’s Lasso! We’ll be co-releasing this new EP with our good buddies in the UK, Static Shock Records, and we’re hoping to have the vinyl in time for the March 18 street date. Lasso will also tour Europe in May, so watch for info on that soon!

Read the description for the record below and check the Sorry State Bandcamp site to hear a track now!

Less than a year after their debut, Brazil’s Lasso returns with their second EP. While Lasso’s razor-sharp riffing and songwriting remain intact, this time around the sound is thicker and meaner, as if what was presaged in the first EP’s foreboding, ominous sound has finally come to pass. Indeed, as the world has slid into previously unthinkable depths of darkness and brutality, Lasso’s sound has evolved to match, a hard-won sense of steadiness now augmenting the anguish so palpable on their first record. Lasso also introduces a few new musical wrinkles here. A surf-y, Dead Kennedys-esque lead guitar elevates tracks like “Fechado Em Copas” and “Atarantado” to even higher levels of catchiness than their already-infectious debut, while “Mendaz” closes the record with an apocalyptic, mid-paced stomp. Desperate times call for desperate music, which makes Lasso the perfect soundtrack for 2022.

We approved test pressings for two upcoming Sorry State 12”s: the debut from Pittsburgh’s Invalid and the vinyl collection of Hüstler’s two sold out cassettes! Both test pressings sound great. We hope they’ll be out soon, but as you know that’s hard to predict these days. As we firm up a release date, we’ll share artwork and preview tracks with you, so keep an eye out for that.

Our longtime pals at Social Napalm Records asked Sorry State to be the main distributor for their label’s releases, and we couldn’t say yes fast enough! Going forward, Sorry State is going to be the source for releases on Social Napalm and their sister label for reissues, Negative Insight Records. If you run a store or distro, you can also hit up Sorry State for wholesale copies of these label’s releases.

The first release under this new arrangement is the long-awaited debut LP from Savageheads, titled Service To Your Country. We don’t have a firm release date yet, but the vinyl is in now (as you can see in the above pic) with the jackets and other print coming soon. After that, Social Napalm will release a 12” by Isolant, an industrial crust project featuring a member of Morne. There are a few more very exciting projects on deck after that, but we’re not quite ready to take the lid off them. Keep an eye out for more info.

This week is a rare oi! edition of Hardcore Knockouts. I guess I understand why Cock Sparrer dominated this, but it bums me out that there isn’t more love for the Rejects. I fuckin’ love ‘em, though I’ve always insisted that Volume 2 is better than its predecessor. How fucking sick is it, though, to name all of your albums “Greatest Hits?”

Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is the Bonfire box set from AC/DC. I remember when this came out… it was a pretty big deal. The star of this box is the complete Back in Black album with Bon Scott’s vocal takes rather than Brian Johnson’s. Which makes me realize I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to those. Maybe I should get on that before someone scoops this set.

Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!

1. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records)
2. Necro Heads: Mindless 7” (Kill Enemy Records)
3. Reckoning Force: Broken State 12” (Not for the Weak)
4. Dissekerad: Inre Strid 12” (Desolate Records)
5. Insect Warfare: World Extermination 12” (Iron Lung Records)
6. Tempter: S/T 12” (Quality Control HQ)
7. Axe Rash: Contemporary Ass 7” (Not for the Weak)
8. Game: Legerdemain 12” (Quality Control HQ)
9. Nag: Observer 12” (Drunken Sailor Records)
10. Personal Damage: Ambush EP cassette (1753 Recordings)

Lots of shake-ups on the list of best sellers at Sorry State this week! As expected, after we placed our oh-so-important seal of approval on Necro Heads by naming their EP Record of the Week it got a big bump, but not enough to compete with Rudimentary Peni’s legendary Death Church LP.

The big news this week is the reissue of Rudimentary Peni’s Death Church LP on the almighty Sealed Records. We list this on our site as a preorder because the official street date is Monday, February 14, but our copies are in stock and shipping now, so no need to worry about those pesky manufacturing delays. This is one of those records that should be in every punk’s collection, and if you’re not trying to pony up for an original, Sealed’s version is the next best thing, reproducing the amazing original fold-out poster sleeve and cut from the original tapes.

While we were getting a big stack of Death Church, we also restocked a bunch of titles from La Vida Es Un Mus, so grab your Disclose, your Chisel 7” (new pressing with yellow cover), your Kohti Tuhoa, and your Karma Sutra (we even have some white vinyl this time!) from the site now.

We just got in two new releases on Denmark’s great Adult Crash Records: the new LP from Planet Y and a new 7” from The War Goes On, which as you know features former members of No Hope for the Kids and Hjerte Stop.

Chain Whip’s Two Step to Hell 12” was one of the most popular releases in our distro in 2021, but if you missed out, it’s back in stock now, this time on grey vinyl.

Pittsburgh’s Kill Enemy Records is back with more hardcore punk, this time from God Plutonium. They also just repressed Illiterates’ LP, and we grabbed more of those, too.

We also got in cool new demo tapes this week from Canada’s Barren Soil (Amebix-influenced stenchcore) and LA’s Traumer (ripping hardcore).

Esos Malditos Punks has a couple of new items: a new reissue from 80s Argentine punks Todos Tus Muertos featuring rawer versions of songs that appeared on their first album and a double 7” from 80s Spanish hardcore band IV Reich. These are dead stock copies of a release from 2007… these copies sat without covers all that time, so Esos Malditos Punks printed up some new sleeves and hooked us up!

We also got in a few fresh represses of titles on the great reissue label Radio Raheem. Agnostic Front’s No One Rules demo collection has been out of stock for way too long, so we’re glad to have that one back. Antidote hasn’t been sold out for too long, but we’re always happy to have that classic on the shelves. We also grabbed a few more copies of Radio Raheem’s book of Detroit Punk ephemera, so grab that if you missed it the first time.

Last but not least, we have copies of the latest 7” from Nashville’s Snooper, which comes to us via the Australian label Computer Human Records.