Sutras The Crisis of Existence cassette
SUTRAS have gained a new fan! Their new cassette The Crisis of Existence combines so many elements I love. With art that looks like a gorgeous cave relic with what I am hoping are cherry blossoms exploding joyfully, they’ve taken the DC spiritual punk vibe and woven in silvery guitar and vocals that sound like being on the verge of tears, ENVY-style. “Welcome, Kingdom Kids” is a perfect song—it makes me feel nineteen and like my friends and I can fight back to save the soul of a sick world. Their Bandcamp says SUTRAS understand suffering, and I believe it. With the meditative hum of LUNGFISH and the urgent cry of early ’00s New Jersey screamo, they are a welcome salve in a world in which I truly feel the crisis of existence. They also remind me of a quote I heard recently that said something to the extent of if you are heartbroken and hopeless at the human suffering and injustice around you, take solace in the fact that multi-trillion dollar industries had PR campaigns to try to make you not care—and they failed. This is a set of songs all ripe to put on a mixtape for the cute person you met at the protest, truly. I’m not kidding. Do it. And roll down the windows of the car when you are blasting “Being Nobody, Going Nowhere.”