Our take: There’s this pattern I’ve noticed where a lot of times my favorite song by a particular Sorry State band won’t actually appear on a Sorry State release. I remember Rough Kids had this song called “Into the 00s” that I really loved—that song is one of the main reasons I wanted to work with them—and despite the fact that they re-recorded a couple of older tunes for their debut LP that wasn’t one of them. My favorite track from the sessions for Skemäta’s first album ended up on the Sanctioned Genocide 7” on Solar Funeral. And now you can add Natural Causes to the list of bands who have dangled their very best track in front of me like a carrot, only to snatch it away at the last second. “Deidre” comes from the same sessions as Natural Causes’ great new LP on Sorry State, but it’s better than any of the songs on that record. It’s just one of those perfect songs… the triumphant main riff reminds me of a bigger-than-life punk song like “Autonomy” by the Buzzcocks or “Soldier’s Requiem” by Naked Raygun even if it doesn’t sound like either of those at all. And then there’s the little middle Eastern-sounding guitar part that I tease the band members by calling “the Offspring part,” and while it has evoked some gentle teasing it’s one of the most memorable riffs the band has come up with. Man, what a track! On the flip side you get a remix of “Fashion Device” from the Sorry State album done by North Carolina noise / dance freaks Spongebath, and it certainly takes that track to a very different place than Natural Causes’ version. This split strikes me as a rather low-key affair, but the brilliance of the content totally belies the understated presentation.
