Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records newsletter! We have a big one for you this week as we continue to get back in the swing of things post-tour. We have announcements related to long-simmering projects I’m happy to share details on, and I’ve also continued to listen to the massive backlog of incredible music we got in while I was away. Just check this week’s Featured Releases section… it’s full of scorchers!

Horrendous 3D: S/T 7” (Black Water Records) I was looking forward to this EP since Horrendous 3D’s previous EP was one of my favorite records in recent memory. I played that record to death, and I would have been happy with something just as good, but these five tracks are even better. Horrendous 3D leans into their strengths here, pushing the dynamic noise textures I loved on the first EP to even further extremes. What feels new this time around is a similarly meticulous approach to rhythm, the songs twisting and turning with a knotty, staggering quality that reminds me of Gauze. The whole EP is killer, but one track stands out: “Utterly Fucking Useless” is Horrendous 3D’s magnum opus. Starting with a passage of pure noise, a bass riff emerges and you think the song is going to head in one direction, but then the drums and guitar come in and it goes in the opposite direction, knocking me off balance in the best way possible. I’m doing a terrible job of describing it, but this moment gives me chills every time I hear it, and I’ve moved the needle back to hear it again several times. Just like their first EP, this is going to be close to my turntable for a long time. Undoubtedly one of the best records we’ll hear in 2022.

Shaved Ape demo cassette out September 9 on Sorry State

Surprise! Sorry State Records has a new release! Shaved Ape’s demo cassette officially comes out on September 9, but we’re launching a pre-order today and we already have the tapes in stock. That means your order will ship right away and you’ll get to hear the whole tape before the slowpokes in the digital realm. See our description below, then head over to the Sorry State website to secure your copy and listen to a track.

You may know Shaved Ape’s alter ego, Vince, from his time pounding the kit in Sickoids, Loose Nukes, and White Stains, among many others. Vince recorded Shaved Ape’s debut by himself on a 4-track, building it on the same floor plan as Poison Idea’s early recordings: straightforward in conception, virtuosic in execution, and practically vibrating with anger. The lyric sheet gives some insight into why Vince is so mad, with “Worm Food” in particular conjuring enough disgust to make me wanna sneak into the war room and just smash the big red button already. On second thought, riffs like the ones in “Moral Crumbs” and “Lord” are worth living for, so maybe I’ll stick around for at least six minutes so I can listen to this tape again. If the best 80s US hardcore still gets your blood boiling, Shaved Ape is for you.

Paranoid Vinyl Reissues Coming in October / US Distribution by Sorry State Records

You couldn’t have seen this one coming, could you? After reissuing 偏執症者 (Paranoid)’s back catalog on cassette earlier this summer, this October Paranoid Northern Discs will release vinyl reissues of 偏執症者 (Paranoid)’s first four full-lengths alongside The Singles Collection and their EP Destroy Future Less System. Sorry State Records will handle US distribution for these releases, and the LPs will be available both individually and as a limited edition box set. Look for a preorder announcement soon and for the vinyl to arrive on October 12, 2022.

Savageheads LP Finally Available in Finer Record Shops / Official Release on September 16!

You may have caught word of this on Social Napalm’s Instagram yesterday, but after countless delays, Savageheads’ debut LP, Service to Your Country, now exists! In fact, you can buy the LP right now, but only in person at finer record shops. While the LP drops on September 16—there will be no online preorder—select record shops will sell the record early exclusively to in-person customers at their stores. If you want that to happen at your local shop, tell them to reach out to sorrystatedistribution@gmail.com! We’ll post on our social media as the record arrives at shops across the country and the world. And if you can’t make it in early, don’t worry! There will be plenty of copies to go around on September 16.

Invertebrates Tour and New Promo Tape

NOTE: THIS IS A WEEK OUT OF DATE BUT I DON'T FEEL LIKE REWRITING IT. THE PROMO TAPE STILL RIPS.

East coast punkers are blessed with a wealth of touring bands at the moment thanks to Skull Fest happening in Pittsburgh this weekend. Among those roving bands of miscreants are Sorry State’s own Invertebrates, who are doing a little loop around the Midwest as we speak. Check the killer Keith Caves tour flyer to see if they’re coming near you, and even if they aren’t peep the killer new promo tape they dropped on their Bandcamp site just as they were leaving.

My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is this self-titled album from Michigan’s XV! I featured XV as my staff pick a while back, and I still back this record hard. It was difficult to lay your hands on a copy for a while, but you can now grab this copy (which, as you can see, has a little corner damage) for less than most new LPs cost these days.

Just a quick note that HC Knockouts returns next week! Watch our Instagram stories on Tuesday to cast your vote!

1. Nightfeeder: Cut All of Your Face Off 12” (self-released)
2. Liquids: Life Is Pain Idiot 12” (Violent Pest Records)
3. Glaas: Qualm 12” (Static Shock Records)
4. Gripe: Como Acabar Contigo Mismo 12” (Neon Taste Records)
5. Phantasia: Ghost Stories 12” (Beach Impediment Records)
6. Anxious Pleasers: S/T 12” (Neon Taste Records)
7. Stress Positions: Walang Hiya cassette (Open Palm Tapes)
8. Mock Execution: Killed by Mock Execution 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus)
9. Final Conflict: 1985 demo cassette (No Idols Records)
10. Bad Breeding: Human Capital cassette (Iron Lung Records)

Here’s your weekly run-down of the best sellers at Sorry State for the past 30 days! I wish we could get more copies of the Nightfeeder LP, but unfortunately the label is sold out. If you missed it, you’re gonna have to pound the pavement! Same with the Liquids LP, which came and went in a flash. If you missed the official reissue of Final Conflict’s 1985 demo, I have better news for you, since we have a restock of that title on the way.

Solunsky Front: Mali Svet 12” (2014, Ne! Records)

When Scarecrow played a gig at the legendary MKNZ club in Serbia, the first person we met was our host and promoter, Simon. We immediately hit it off, as we could tell right away Simon loves punk and is a giant nerd about it just like everyone in Scarecrow is. The show that night was great. Simon took amazing care of us, fed us great food, gave us way too much booze, and showed us a great time, but I want to focus on here is Simon’s distro.

Simon had a few distro boxes on a table at the club, and I flipped through them, as one does. I flip through a lot of distros, and I could tell right away that this was a very good one. Simon had a lot of the same releases we stock at Sorry State, and you could tell this was the kind of distro where everything that was there only got its space because Simon cared about it and wanted other people to hear it. I already owned about 75% of the records in his distro, so I could tell Simon’s tastes were aligned with mine.

About 1/3 of Simon’s distro was dedicated to music from former Yugoslavia, mostly reissues from 80s bands. I knew a few of them like Quod Massacre, Proces, and Tozibabe, but most of the artists I either knew only by name or not at all. Realizing I was in the company of a knowledgeable person with excellent taste in music, I asked Simon what he would recommend from the Yugoslavian section. I grabbed a few records (and maybe I’ll write about the others later), but the one I’m writing about today is this compilation of two recording sessions (and a few live tracks) from 80s Belgrade hardcore band Solunski Front.

Solunski Front never managed a vinyl release during their original 1981-1985 run, only appearing on a handful of cassette compilations. In 1993, a 7” EP came out featuring four tracks the band recorded in 1984, but it was limited to only 200 copies and quickly became impossible to find. The lack of released material has nothing to do with the quality of Solunski Front’s music, and (presumably) everything to do with the social, political, and economic conditions in 80s Yugoslavia. Much like the great, under-documented bands from Poland, Solunski Front continued to hone their craft despite their lack of access to the bigger and more commercial punk networks in the west.

The 1984 session captured on the a-side of this LP is incredible. According to the interview in this record’s insert, Solunski Front never considered themselves a hardcore band. They were inspired by early punk like the Ramones, the Damned, UK Subs, the Clash, and Dead Kennedys. Of those bands’ records, Solunski Front’s 1984 tracks remind me the most of Dead Kennedys’ Plastic Surgery Disasters album. Like that record, Solunski Front takes catchy, classic-sounding punk songs, adds intense musical chops that only come from years of playing, and blasts it out with a hardcore-informed sense of power and concision. Dezerter is another good reference point, particularly in the way the songs are dense with musical detail, meticulously arranged, yet that core of a memorable, anthemic punk track still shines through. The tracks on the b-side of this album, recorded a year earlier, are rougher and more primal, but still showcase Solunski Front’s immense talent.

So, thank you to Simon for sharing his knowledge and passion for punk. Thanks to Ne! Records for getting this brilliant document to a wider audience. And thanks to records for allowing me to have this incredible souvenir from Serbia that will make me think of our amazing night at MKNZ every time I play it.

What’s up Sorry Staters?

Slowly but surely, I’m starting to adjust back to my normal routine. While Scarecrow was on tour, it was kinda like I was living in a vacuum. I’m really enjoying being back in the store and just being bombarded on a day-to-day basis by new records to check out and digest. Also, seeing friends pop into the shop and chit-chatting has been cool. I missed everybody.

While I’m sure Daniel will bring some attention to it, this week I really wanna talk about this new tape by Shaved Ape. This moniker is the name for a one-man hardcore project. Before Daniel even had sorted out that we were going to release the tape on Sorry State, the first time I heard the tracks on this cassette, my jaw dropped full-force down to the floor. I loved it immediately. Earlier, I just talked about digesting new music—Shaved Ape plays the kind of hardcore that is undigestible and impossible to swallow; it’s more like experiencing blunt-force trauma. Dead silence, and then those quick sticks count off the first song and you know you’re in for a bludgeoning. Ape being in the name of the band feels appropriate. Super raw, uncivilized, primitive… But underneath that gruff, knuckle-dragging demeanor, you can tell this dude knows how to write a damn good hardcore song. Also, he’s just playing his ass off. While unhinged, the playing is so tight and ripping. In some ways, Shaved Ape reminds of the Deaf Mutations 7” from a few years back. Maybe that’s partially due to it being a raw, catchy hardcore solo project, but something about the spirit seems similar. But man, once you open the j-card and read lyrics… Woooooo dawgy this is savage. I don’t think I’ve read lyrics that feel this genuinely fed up and pissed in a long time. “Punchable faces surrounding me… Primate brain tells me to kill. A few more years and I think I will.” The rage is real.

Anyway, I feel like I can only be so eloquent when describing this ripper. Can’t recommend it enough. FFO… uh, good hardcore? Nuff said.

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

‘Til next week,

-Jeff

Greetings everyone. How was your week? All well, I hope.

This week I had a good humbling, learning experience with regards record collecting, proving that no matter how much you know, you really know nothing and to never assume the knowledge you have in your head is in fact correct. What am I talking about, you ask? I’ll tell you and make it my staff pick for this week.

So, anyone who has discussed music with me or flipped through the L section on my jazz shelf will know that I love Ramsey Lewis. I probably have several dozen of his albums, not counting singles. I love his early trio recordings from the late 50s and early sixties, his mid-sixties pop period, and the funk and fusion albums from the late sixties and seventies. They’re all great and because they sold well are easy and cheap to find for the most part. Any visit to the bargain bin of most record stores will turn up at least one of his records. If you see his name on the Argo, Chess or Cadet label and later Columbia, you can buy with confidence.

We have several here at the store as I type this. I thought that I pretty much had everything of his that I needed to own bar perhaps one or two titles. I always check for condition upgrade copies or maybe a stereo or mono variant that I don’t have whenever I am in a store. One title that I always see is a collection called Golden Hits from 1973. I have always assumed that it was a straight-ahead collection of his hits from the previous decade and that because I have all those records, I didn’t need it. Oh, how wrong I was. Yes, the album is a collection of older hits, but these versions are newly recorded versions. Normally when you see a “hits” collection and the words “newly recorded with one or more original members” the rule of thumb is to avoid. That’s worse than “electronically recorded to re-produce stereo”. However, with Golden Hits what we have is Ramsey Lewis with his new rhythm section consisting of Morris Jennings on drums and Cleveland Eaton on bass, who together were in the middle of a fertile funky fusion period and releasing some really good records. I can recommend any of the albums Ramsey Lewis recorded, but those between 1968 and 1976 are all particularly good. He embraced the changes in the culture, the switch to amplified and electric instruments and the move to more Afro-centric music. Along with Herbie Hancock and other progressive jazz players, Ramsey fully utilized the sounds capable from the new electric pianos such as the Fender Rhodes, incorporating the use of multi-plex and wah-wah pedals to imitate the funky sounds of an electric guitar. These new sounds are used to full effect on the reinterpretations of the tunes selected here, making the versions of The In Crowd, Hi-Heel Sneakers and Wade In The Water sound quite different to the originals and much more contemporary sounding. Highlights are many, but the version of Hang On Sloopy is good and almost unrecognizable, and the take on Slipping Into Darkness allows the musicians to stretch out and deliver a real gem. I quite like the tracks Carmen and Delilah that close side one and open side two, respectively. These two covers taken from an opera and film musical really show off the bass work from Eaton and with added percussion and effects are nice slow burners.

I really can’t believe that after all these years I hadn’t noticed the true nature of these recordings. I’m such an idiot. All I had to do was read the title correctly and flip to the rear sleeve to the liner notes, and all would have been revealed. As I said at the top, sometimes you think you know something, but in reality, you don’t. I had assumed the wrong thing and that became my truth. It wasn’t and as a result I had deprived myself all these years from a record that I would enjoy. I guess never too late. I’m taking it as a positive. Now I have a “new” Ramsey Lewis album to enjoy. Bonus. You can’t beat finding a new to yourself album by one of your favorite artists, can you? Particularly if it’s good. You also can’t beat a bargain bin record that punches way above its weight. I know I’ve said that many times before, but I’ll preach that until my dying day. There are several records by Ramsey Lewis that if they had come out on a private label by an unknown artist would now be commanding top dollar based on the musical content. These records were hits however, and because they sold millions are now cheap and easy to find. Those already onboard the Ramsey train know what I am talking about, but for the rest of you, do yourselves a favor and scoop these records up when you see them. Some of my favorite albums, in no particular order are, Sun Goddess, Goin’ Latin, Funky Serenity, Back To The Roots, Mother Nature’s Son, Maiden Voyage, Them Changes, Another Voyage, Upendo Ni Pamoja, Wade In The Water, The In Crowd and Hang On Ramsey. I could go on. Even his couple of Christmas records are good jazz groovers. Ramsey was an incredible musician himself and he had the best playing alongside him. His initial trio was Eldee Young on bass and Isaac “Red” Holt on drums, who themselves later formed their own group, Young Holt Unlimited. Their places were taken up by Cleveland Eaton on bass and Maurice White on drums. White later left to form Earth, Wind & fire and the drum stool was occupied by Morris Jennings. Maurice White came back to produce the Sun Goddess album for Ramsey, and Earth, Wind & Fire play on the record. That’s a nice soul jazz record. It reached number one on the Billboard soul charts in 1974.

Anyway, Ramsey Lewis is brilliant. Up there with Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones, to name two other American icons. You’ll always get a top-notch performance from him, and he is still at it. Over eighty albums along, several of them gold and with three Grammy wins so far, he has had quite a career. Hang on Ramsey!

Thanks for reading. See you next time - Dom

I remember when the first RASHŌMON record came out, I didn’t know anything about the band. At the time I thought it was silly the release was a single sided 12”. Why not just make a 7”? I was working at Sorry State soon after the repress came out, and I found myself packing up copy after copy. Naturally when this happens, I listen to the record right away. And if I’m lucky, I just discovered a new banger to add to my collection. The same thing happened to me with another one of Iron Lung’s releases, HOLOGRAM. Except I was too late to the party on this one. By the time I finally listened to it we had already sold out of our copies. So anyway, I thought it was silly the RASHŌMON 12” was single sided, but that didn’t matter at all to me once I laid that hot ass slab down onto my player. The intensity blew me away. The sound is pretty chaotic, but the instruments are like totally locked in still. It reminded me a bit of some classic Japanese hardcore bands, but it wasn’t totally on the nose by any means. It doesn’t sound like they are trying too hard to sound like certain “style,” and I think that adds to their appeal a lot.

So I’ve been kind of out the loop with stuff since we were on tour for a month on a different continent. I had no idea RASHŌMON had a new release until last night when Jeff was busting open the parcels. Of course, the first thing I did was jam this motherfucker. And of course, it is yet another single sided 12” haha. I like this record a lot. I listened to it 3 times in a row last night. It has an extra pummeling intensity the first one did not. It kind of caught me off guard. The guitarist’s strumming hand is fucking insane. In contrast with the last record, this record sounds more “focused” to me. Instead of a chaotic sound, the guitar playing seems more intentional or something like that. The leads are more melodic and the songs sound more dramatic, rather than having that “wanky” chaotic feel from the first record. Honestly some parts of the new one reminds me of a lead one might hear on a DEATH SIDE record. Do they sound like a Burning Spirit band? No. They still have their unique, organic blend of song writing. This band is excellent. As far as I know, the band is comprised of people from Washington DC and their vocalist is from Japan, where he currently lives. I saw this band some years ago while the vocalist was living in DC. It was insane. They perform so damn good. It was loud, it was intense, it was unrelenting. I think it may have been one of the most packed gigs at our house too, which of course added to the good times. If you ever have a chance to catch this band, don’t fuck up and miss them. Definitely check this record out, and you should probably buy a copy to add to your collection.

Going back to the single sided 12” thing before I go… Over some time, I realized that yes, the record will probably sound better as a single sided 12” cut at 45rpm rather than a double sided 7” cut at 33. But the main thing I thought, they probably saving a great deal of money on the plating of the record, right? Since it’s only one side being actually pressed. Maybe I am wrong about that though. Anyway, thanks as always for reading! And of course, thanks to everyone for the support. Peace!!

Hey Sorry State readers! Hope everyone is doing well. This week has been pretty smooth, but there’s always a lot of cool shit in the works here in Sorry State land to gear up for.

For now, it’s time to talk about the music I’m digging, and it’s an easy one for me this week. If you follow us on the gram, you saw me post about Liquids: Life is Pain Idiot yesterday. I love the album title and that cool ass sticker on the shrink. A subtle yet effective way to elevate the album art. You also get a surprise flexi disc with four bonus songs, bringing the total to 27 tracks. Don’t panic! The songs are all super short, with some clocking in under a minute.

Anyways, the music. I love the snotty vocals and the super fast-paced and unrelenting energy this album delivers. It has that good old classic punk sound, but messier, and with some interesting surprises thrown your way. There are some cool drum beats and unique guitar interludes to mix things up, which the album kinda needs, as it can sound a bit samesy at times.

My very favorites are the first two songs, When You Were Born (You Should’ve Died), and Don’t Wanna Get to Know You. Very classic punk. I think the album is front-loaded, but it’s also possible that I feel that way because I need a breather by around track 14. I think the solution is to start with the latter half of the album next time to determine if I really do prefer the first half.

Like I said, the cool interludes help to mix things up and add interest. Also, the song Tryin is a perfect song to reset your focus. It provides a welcome change of pace and has a retro feel. It may be one of those love or hate songs, but I love it. Lemon Rice (Doomed to Live) is another one of my favorites, and I can see this one being a crowd pleaser at a show. Major singalong vibes. It’s super fast, and it’s just fun to listen to. Liquids also blesses us with a Meatloaf cover! Bat out of Hell, anyone? Trust me, Liquids manages to make it sound good, and thankfully they chopped about seven minutes off the original.

I think you will really like this record. I realize this is the second staff pick in a row where I mention the Ramones, but this record has a messier and overall more unrefined Ramones feel to it, with some power-pop, a dash of retro, and some weird, yet welcomed, additions. And did I mention a bonus flexi? This album has been a steady seller for us, so join the cool kids and grab one!

Thank you for reading! Until next week…

-Angela

https://liquids1.bandcamp.com/album/life-is-pain-idiot

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone had a nice week. As some may know, I’m a lover of all things Memphis, whether it be the food, history, or especially, the music. I’ve been listening to a lot of garage stuff lately and I’ve been bumping this copy of The Legs - AAAA the New Memphis Legs ever since I found it in the store. This album is a group of recordings from 2000 featuring members James Arthur, Forest Hewes, and Eric Friedel, AKA Eric Oblivion, founder and owner of Goner Records in Memphis. This record is meant to be played LOUD. I love the fast, fuzzy sound and there’s a lot of hooks on here that’ll get stuck in your head. The late 90s/early 00s scene in Memphis really produced a lot of amazing stuff, with artists like Jay Reatard, who at the age of fifteen, submitted a demo tape to Goner that caught the ear of Friedel and began his recording career and the rest is history. I could go on all day about how cool Memphis is and the rich musical history of it, but the point is you should listen to this killer album. My favorite tracks are Driving Me Insane and Bill Dakota Knows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6scp0lwHtI

Iron Lung Records is trying to break our poor postal carriers’ backs this week, dropping four new releases and a heap of restocks on us. We’ve been itching to hear these new records from Rashomon and Persona, and for the metalheads among you there are new ones from Doldrey and Gehenna as well. We also have restocks from S.H.I.T., Brain Tourniquet, Slant, and many more!

One of our favorite current labels (and the one who released last week’s Record of the Week from Blemish), Not for the Weak Records, has two new ones from Russia’s Terminal Addiction and a 7” from Self-Inflict.

Feel It Records brings us the brand new fifth album from long-running UK synth-punk band Freak Genes, and as with many recent Feel It releases, we have both the regular black and the limited color vinyl available for you!

General Speech brings us a reissue of some under the radar (likely because most of their previous releases were CD-only) 90s punk from Japan. Slicks were on King’s World Records, the same label that released Confuse and the Swankys, and Total Filth Collection brings together their best tracks.

The vinyl reissue series isn’t the only news from Paranoid this week! We also have copies of their latest 7”, Tatari. This was initially released in only a very small edition as a bonus for buying their digital-only album Cursed, but it’s now available to a wider audience on the band’s own Paranoid Northern Discs.

New York’s Sub Space brings us their debut record, I Walk the Devil.

Violent Pest Records brings us a flexi from Kansas City hardcore band Foil.

Sorry State released the demo cassette from Charlotte, North Carolina’s Tetanus a while back, and now they’re back with a brand new EP on their own label Judgement Tapes.

We also have a new picture disc single from Chubby & the Gang. These tracks were originally released for Valentine’s Day, but I suppose the physical version arriving in August is romantic in its own way.

Bad Breeding: Human Capital 12” (Iron Lung Records) I’ve been a massive fan of Bad Breeding since their first record in 2016, and through each of the four vinyl releases preceding Human Capital, my enthusiasm for the group has only grown. The trend continues with Human Capital, which to my ears is Bad Breeding’s best album. From the start, the most identifiable aspect of Bad Breeding’s sound has been their rhythm section, and they continue to melt my brain across these twelve new tracks. Bad Breeding has always seemed to come at hardcore sideways, their dense and clattering rhythms reminding me more of industrial music than punk rock. There’s the absence of swing, but also this way of finding rhythms inside of rhythms, creating a trance-like state that often gets jarringly disrupted by one of their trademark whiplash rhythmic shifts. Bad Breeding’s guitarist has also always been inventive, finding space in their dense onslaught for earworm licks, but there’s a sense of melody on Human Capital that feels new. Listen to the way he scatters light-as-air, Slint-esque chiming notes in “Community,” or the memorable guitar line in “Rebuilding.” As usual, the lyrics and political stance are also well thought out, with an essay on alienation under capitalism by band collaborator Jake Ferrell occupying the reverse side of the poster insert. Whether you come to Bad Breeding for the innovative take on hardcore punk, the intriguing political analysis, the spot-on aesthetics, or all of the above, you’ll agree that Human Capital is a highlight in the growing discography of one of punk’s most perennially exciting bands.

Mock Execution: Killed by Mock Execution 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) Back in 2019, Chicago’s Mock Execution whetted our appetites with their Reality Attack 7”, and three years later they deliver the full meal. One thing I love about Mock Execution is that while a lot of contemporary bands base their style and sound on one micro-scene or even just one band, Mock Execution draws from a wide range of international punk influences. Faster songs like “Apocalypse Now” and “Stagnant Fools” sound like crasher crust, raw and primal gestalt in the vein of Gloom, Framtid, and early Anti-Cimex. However, Mock Execution is also excellent with a mid-paced song, whether it’s a Kaaos-style fist-pumper like “Insanity” or the more chugging, Totalitär-esque “Calm in the Chaos.” Things can also get pretty metal, as on the epic intro for “Enough Is Enough,” but whatever the tempo and style, everything is wrapped in the raw and urgent production and playing style I associate with the 80s scenes in South America and Italy. While my description probably makes Mock Execution sound scattered, it all adds up to a distinctive voice that sounds like no one else. Inventive songwriting, great musicianship, primal performances, sick artwork… I’m sold.

The Flex: Chewing Gum for the Ears 12” (Lockin’ Out Records) I often write in these descriptions that the label’s official blurb says all that needs saying about a release, and usually that’s because there isn’t much to say. That’s not the case with Chewing Gum for the Ears. It’s a complex record that I have complex feelings about, and the label’s description hits many of the points that went through my head as I’ve listened to this record over the past several weeks. The Flex has a lot of different ingredients in their stew, and some of them are ingredients I typically steer clear of, particularly late 80s / early 90s New York Hardcore. I don’t care for many modern bands who borrow from that era, but with the Flex there are so many other influences I really like—80s US hardcore, UK82 punk, d-beat—that I still love it. Chewing Gum for the Ears is a savage hardcore record, ripping and raw and raging in all the right ways. And even when they tear into one of those crowd-pleasing breakdowns (like in “Lost Cause,” for instance), they do it with a panache I can get behind. At the end of the day, The Flex is just a great band, and the proof is in this record.

Personal Damage: Violent Ritual cassette (Test Subject Records) The third EP from this LA hardcore punk band is yet another ripper. While it’s tempting to compare Personal Damage to the titans of catchy, 80s-style hardcore punk that came from their part of the world, the two bands that Personal Damage reminds me of most are from Boston: Gang Green and the Freeze. While Personal Damage’s demo was more on the Gang Green end, Violent Ritual leans more toward the Freeze’s sound on This Is Boston Not LA and Guilty Face. Like the Freeze, Personal Damage writes memorable tunes, and also like the Freeze they play almost all of them at blinding tempos. The call and response chorus in “Banned From Society” is designed to have you singing along immediately, and it succeeds. The searing, Agent Orange-inspired guitar lead is icing on the cake. The trick with this style is to keep it from sounding like pop-punk, and Personal Damage’s off-the-charts snot factor and their commitment to playing as fast and as hard as possible keep them on the right side of that line. Sadly, this isn’t streaming online anywhere, so you’ll have to take my word about how hard it rips. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, would I?

Romansy: Doves of Peace and War cassette (Cool Death Records) Doves of Peace and War is the debut cassette from this cryptic band from Melbourne, Australia. While I’d call Romansy hardcore, they’re on the artsier, more out-there end of that spectrum, filtering the 80s hardcore aesthetic through black metal rehearsal tapes, low-bitrate G.I.S.M. live sets downloaded from sketchy Russian blogs, and wanting to like noise music but just being bored by most of it. While hardcore is a big part of the mix, Romansy comes off more like an introverted home recording project, layers of various types of distortion and damage deployed artfully in a way that’s not beholden to replicating or simulating something that’s happening live in a room. As you might expect, the packaging is top-notch too; the tape feels unique and beautiful to hold in your hand (the unique packaging is another thing that makes me think of noise music). If you only like your hardcore dumb, you should probably take a pass on this one, but the smartypants among us will eat it right up.

Class: S/T cassette (Feel It Records) Concrete info on Class is scarce at the moment, but from what I understand, the band is based in Tucson, Arizona, and features the vocalist from Rik & the Pigs. With that last Rik & the Pigs record fresh in my memory, I was looking forward to this, but it turned out to be very different from what I expected. Compared to the Pigs’ snot and swagger, Class sounds buttoned up, or at least they’re not laying bare their status as total degenerates. Their music is way poppier, and they’re fucking good at writing and playing pop music. Every song is great, and each one seems like its own little world. “Steady Hands” has the golden hour shimmer of Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and “Into the Night” channels the Flamin’ Groovies’ “Shake Some Action,” while “Wrong Side of Town” could be an outtake from the Dictators’ Blood Brothers. Class makes sense on the same label as the Cowboys, who also seem into classic songwriting, wrapping their carefully constructed pop nuggets in a distinctive cocktail of lo-fi aesthetics and 60s-garage-style workmanlike professionalism. Which is a long way of saying this tape contains five infectious power-pop tunes that maintain Feel It’s status as the label with the golden ears.

RIP Osamu Sueyoshi