{"title":"Sophomore Lounge","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"quilt-boy-i-am-somebody-7o","title":"Quilt Boy - I Am Somebody 7\"","description":"Screwed up, vaped-out, borderline demonic cassette confessionals arranged and performed by head All Gone-er Chris Durham (Roachclip, The Bibs). Another clue of recorded output from Detroit's greatest oddball, basement-dwelling, idiot-prog outfit QUILT BOY -- a one-man band coming off like Robert Wyatt's Matching Mole and\/or \"Man Who Sold The World\"-era Bowie bent by early Trux slop and slackerisms.\n\nAfter a string of self-releases (one of which was fittingly described by Volcanic Tongue as \"lonely power tape crying of a Sentridoh crossed with what could almost have been a demo tape that fell into a vat of oil outback of the Takoma HQ circa 1968\"), this killer five-song EP \"I Am Somebody\" -- QB's first for Sophomore Lounge -- is also his long-awaited vinyl debut.\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 307px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=560817687\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/quilt-boy-i-am-somebody\"\u003eQUILT BOY \"I Am Somebody\" by Quilt Boy\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743716022,"sku":"SL080","price":12.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0784912651_10.jpg?v=1613727906"},{"product_id":"spider-bags-a-celebration-of-hunger-lp","title":"Spider Bags - A Celebration Of Hunger LP","description":"Limited-edition reissue of Spider Bags' 2007 debut classic \"A Celebration of Hunger\" housed in screen-printed jackets w\/ liner notes by Patrick Stickles (Titus Andronicus).\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=787333121\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/spider-bags-a-celebration-of-hunger\"\u003eSPIDER BAGS \"A Celebration of Hunger\" by Spider Bags\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743748790,"sku":"SL088","price":34.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a3501392269_10.jpg?v=1613727907"},{"product_id":"warren-winters-band-crossbar-hotel-lp","title":"Warren Winter's Band - Crossbar Hotel LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eOFFICIAL 2019 REISSUE of the 1988 biker\/loner-country classic \"Crossbar Hotel\" -- limited edition of 500 copies on black vinyl, housed in hand-printed, hand-cut jackets w\/ both original and alternate inner-sleeve artwork.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4228878497\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/warren-winters-band-crossbar-hotel\"\u003eWARREN WINTER'S BAND \"Crossbar Hotel\" by Warren Winter's Band\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743814326,"sku":"SL097","price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0815498100_10.jpg?v=1613727910"},{"product_id":"dj-hank-traffic-ctrl-12o","title":"DJ Hank - Traffic Control 12\"","description":"On his debut 12\" EP, Chicago producer and bike messenger DJ HANK captures the feeling of racing against traffic and, as he puts it, \"trying to make it out alive with the chaos of the city going around you.\"\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743847094,"sku":"SL104","price":34.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a3332666415_10.jpg?v=1613727912"},{"product_id":"people-skills-former-january-ending-through-52-weeks-lp","title":"People Skills - Former January Ending Through 52 Weeks LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eSophomore Lounge gifts us a vinyl reissue of People Skills, Former January Ending Through 52 Weeks, which was quietly released by Saga House in 2016. Inzane Johnny called it 'the best tape of 2016', hunting them down is akin to finding an application to an avant ballet on the rings of Saturn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=154256551\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/people-skills-former-january-ending-through-52-weeks\"\u003ePEOPLE SKILLS \"Former January Ending Through 52 Weeks\" by People Skills\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743879862,"sku":"SL102","price":34.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0908076074_10.jpg?v=1613727913"},{"product_id":"bill-direen-a-memory-2xlp","title":"Bill Direen - A Memory Of Others 2LP","description":"2xLP (edition \/ 500) vinyl version of the official soundtrack to Simon Ogston's recent Bill Direen documentary \"A Memory of Others.\" Comes w\/ downloadable full-length film.\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=234093034\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/bill-direen-a-memory-of-others-ost\"\u003eBILL DIREEN \"A Memory of Others\" OST by BILL DIREEN\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743912630,"sku":"SL100","price":49.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a3255845692_10.jpg?v=1613727914"},{"product_id":"equipment-pointed-ankh-live-lp","title":"Equipment Pointed Ankh - Live LP","description":"Prefigured by a couple years worth of (mostly) solo recordings from Jim Marlowe (Tropical Trash, Teal Grapefruit, occasionally Crazy\nDoberman), this debut LP finds three other grown men willingly engulfed in the same avalanche of lateral humming and sub-soaring dice rolls.\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 208px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1949187643\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/equipment-pointed-ankh-live\"\u003eEQUIPMENT POINTED ANKH \"Live\" by Equipment Pointed Ankh\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062743945398,"sku":"SL096","price":27.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0005930128_10.jpg?v=1613727916"},{"product_id":"home-blitz-all-through-the-year-12o","title":"Home Blitz - All Through The Year 12\"","description":"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLook I’ve gotta get back to new item data entry so this isn’t going to get the energy it truly deserves but since its arrival 24 hours ago this new Home Blitz 12” has not left my mind. New music is enjoyed as much as ever, but it’s not often I’m this baffled.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWe start off in familiar Home Blitz territory of an over-too-quickly power pop number that alludes to The dBs or The Real Kid. Then it’s onto new and unknown territory for the group, while still definitely being Home Blitz. Woozy folk time signatures meet Trap-ish triplets in a bizarro world would-be top 10 hit.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe record is sprinkled with field recordings, tape manipulation, allusions to another song and other editing techniques to keep you on your toes, then the EP finishes with the undefinable 9 minute magnum opus ‘Real Green’. It’s a high point of the entire HB catalogue.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOn ‘All Through The Year’ I’m reminded of those post-minimalist figures that fused the avant-garde with popular music: Robert Ashley (circa Perfect Lives), ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny and Elodie Lauten as well as Shirley Collins, Alex Chilton, Scott Miller (Game Theory, Loud Family) and maybe even a bit of Meatloaf.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIt feels like Daniel DiMaggio is fully embracing himself and his eclectic artistic interests. If they haven’t already I’m sure a few fans of the early singles will be ready to jump ship. But it’s their loss, Home Blitz is #1!!!! - Nic\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062744076470,"sku":"SL105","price":24.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2232110182_10.jpg?v=1613727921"},{"product_id":"mordecai-what-is-art-7o","title":"Mordecai - What Is Art 7\"","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 274px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=997724076\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/mordecai-what-is-art-2\"\u003eMORDECAI \"What Is Art\" by Mordecai\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38062744240310,"sku":"SL085","price":9.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2387520307_10.jpg?v=1613727925"},{"product_id":"cross-die-forever-lp","title":"Cross - Die Forever LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eWarmer Milks founder Ma Turner and visual artist R Clint Colburn formed CROSS in summer 2008 as a means for friends to express themselves both live and on tape through a total freedom of rock 'n' roll improvisation. Amidst a series of defining moments and wild\/nomadic lifestyle choices, Turner \u0026amp; Colburn hit the road two weeks into being a band, going on a nationwide tour (with Asthmatic Kitty recording artist Castanets) where the skeletons for \"Die Forever\" initially came to life. Upon returning home (Lexington, KY), they added Case Mahan (Street Gnar, Jovontaes) on drums, and soon after, Jamie Adkins (Rat King, Tiny Fights, Idiot Glee) on bass, giving CROSS a proper rhythm section and a deeper understanding of their mission.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Direct","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39269957697718,"sku":"","price":24.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a4130401852_10.jpg?v=1614500148"},{"product_id":"footings-annihilation-lp","title":"Footings - Annihilation LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Footings is the long-running\/rocking outgrowth of Peterborough NH's great ruralist duo, Redwing Blackbird. Initially formed as a trio in 2012 by Eric Gagne on guitar and vocals, Footings' sound embraces a sort of inner light derived from folk music, but surrounds it with a variety of rockist tropes. This rock action can take many forms, especially on this new album, which features their most expanded\/expansive line-up yet.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOriginal trio member Elisabeth Fuchsia (frequent Pile collaborator) is on viola and long-time collusionist Candace Clement provides guitar, synth and vocals. Jordan Holtz (from Rick Rude) supplies vocals. Ben Rogers (Eric's bandmate from Death to Tyrants) adds drums where needed. Will Killingsworth (Ampere\/Bucket Full of Teeth) adds pedals and tambourine as required. The latter pair were also responsible for engineering the album, but their musical additions are sonically notable.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGagne's songs and deep vocals, often the core of the band's operation, combine the literary qualities of a heavy reader with the observational data of a poet. In this, Footings might occasionally be mistaken for one of Will Oldham's multifarious projects. But the band has a distinct way of scrambling their eggs, and that\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewas never clearer than it is here. Full songs are interspersed with fragmentary shards in a way that reminds me of how Michael Hurley faded out “Rat Face” after its intro, on Hi Fi Snock Uptown. I mean, “Sleeping” sounds tantalizingly close to a Neil Young penned out-take from Deja Vu for the 35 seconds it runs. But that's all there is!\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis outré editing process works quite well. By allowing themselves to create slivers of textural similarity to Sonic Youth (“Ordinary Night”), Crazy Horse (“Sleeping”), and even Heldon (“Wouldn't It Be Something”), Footins display wide possibilities while maintaining their primary focus on creating a kind of avant garde American roots music with the brash complexity of Yo La Tengo and the stately depth of Wilco.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAnnihilation is the best Footings record to hit the planet yet. And that is saying something.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e- Byron Coley\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2952386835\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/footings-annihilation\"\u003eFOOTINGS \"Annihilation\" by Footings\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40495259320502,"sku":"","price":37.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a1882960957_10.jpg?v=1630717954"},{"product_id":"styrofoam-winos-styrofoam-winos-lp","title":"Styrofoam Winos - Styrofoam Winos LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAre Styrofoam Winos Nashville’s answer to Dick Diver? I reckon!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eI was tipped off about the Styrofoam Winos earlier in the year by a couple of friends in the US and have been hooked since. A band with a straight up democratic approach where all three core members of the group swap songwriting\/vocal\/instrumental duties, creating a set of varied but cohesive songs that range from short folkier tunes to sprawling tracks with references to urban gentrification, mundane jobs, or more allegorical\/oblique writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAn album that draws from country tinged songwriting with hints of kraut a la Yo La Tengo or 90s-00s Wilco but is more than just another indie rock LP. One to play alongside contemporaries like Rosali, Goon Sax, State Champion, Simon Joyner, even those Dutch groups like The Avonden.\u003cbr\u003e-Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3772209826\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/styrofoam-winos-s-t\"\u003eSTYROFOAM WINOS \"S\/T\" by Styrofoam Winos\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40495295135926,"sku":"","price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2045053489_10.jpg?v=1630718374"},{"product_id":"little-gold-wake-up-die-right-lp","title":"Little Gold - Wake Up \u0026 Die Right LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eChristian DeRoeck wasn’t sure he’d ever make another Little Gold record.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Athens, Ga. country-rock band was broken up, and the frontman was feeling like the project had run its course. But then the songs started coming. As he started writing the collection of tracks that would become the group’s first new material in five years, DeRoeck noticed they all felt tied to a very specific time in his life — part of a period he’d need to get the band back together to properly revisit.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe result is \"Wake Up \u0026amp; Die Right,\" out Nov. 20 via Sophomore Lounge and Science Project Records. It’s a warm, nostalgic record that tackles the way we tend to romanticize the past, even when the past wasn’t so great. The band identifies as “bummer basement country” on their bandcamp page, and a quick listen proves that’s pretty on the nose. Fans of Silver Jews, Teenage Fanclub, Wooden Wand, etc. will find a kinship here. It’s deeply personal for DeRoeck, whose late parents appear on the front and back covers, about a time in his life over a decade ago when he needed to heed the title’s advice and get it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etogether.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e-Bonnie Stiernberg\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 439px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1057498707\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/little-gold-wake-up-die-right\"\u003eLITTLE GOLD \"Wake Up \u0026amp; Die Right\" by Little Gold\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40495308374198,"sku":"","price":32.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0330201808_10.jpg?v=1630718568"},{"product_id":"wren-kitz-early-worm-lp","title":"Wren Kitz - Early Worm LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Having explored a lot of Southern Vermont-based artists over the past decade and a half, it now seems time to cast our gaze northward. From the cold shores of Champlain comes the music of Wren Kitz, a singer and guitarist from Burlington VT. Unlike much of his earlier work, which falls into what might be called a “progressive\/experimental folk bag,” Early Worm documents a harder sound. As Mr. Kitz says, “It's my rock n roll album.” And he ain't kidding. While some of the tunes were initially developed in a solo setting, their final realization was accomplished by a four piece band with cellist Lauren Costello, bassist Ross Doree and drummer Rob Voland.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe sound on Early Worm is a natural and louder progression from Wren's most recent album, the NNA cassette, Dancing on Soda Lake. One notable point of departure is Rob's drumming -- more formidably rockoid than his predecessor's. The wailingness-factor of Wren's guitar tone has also been upped by the gift of a new wah-wah pedal. His guitar now has a stuttering rawness that makes for a beautiful contrast with the sweetly flowing vocal melodies, which bear vestiges of Valentine, Vile and Young. The sound of Early Worm careens around wildly. Parts of the songs are tightly controlled\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecompositions with traces of folkier times, but these often dissolve (eventually) in an acid bath of wonderfully berserk guitar chaos. Trying to reconcile the pieces can make your brain overheat, so don't try.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eJust sit back and enjoy the rich madness of Early Worm. Its roll is not something you've heard before. Get used to it. Or get burned.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e- Byron Coley\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2116519801\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/wren-kitz-early-worm\"\u003eWREN KITZ \"Early Worm\" by Wren Kitz\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40495332229302,"sku":"","price":32.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2308984009_10.jpg?v=1630718813"},{"product_id":"roadhouse-supernatural-xs-lp","title":"Roadhouse - Supernatural XS LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eBonkers beats-meets-bedroom-band blasts from da mysterious ROADHOUSE! More words about this one soon. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLimited press, screen-printed cover etc. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=931697077\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/roadhouse-supernatural-xs\"\u003eROADHOUSE \"Supernatural XS\" by Roadhouse\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40847966798006,"sku":"","price":37.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0631066958_10.jpg?v=1636436922"},{"product_id":"roadhouse-aladdin-sales-lp","title":"Roadhouse - Aladdin Sales LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eBonkers beats-meets-bedroom-band blasts from da mysterious ROADHOUSE! More words about this one soon. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLimited press, screen-printed cover etc. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3798954269\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/roadhouse-aladdin-sales\"\u003eROADHOUSE \"Aladdin Sales\" by Roadhouse\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40847980462262,"sku":"","price":37.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a3231336130_10.jpg?v=1636437242"},{"product_id":"equipment-pointed-ankh-without-human-permission-lp","title":"Equipment Pointed Ankh - Without Human Permission LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOriginally the brainchild of Jim Marlowe (Tropical Trash, Teal Grapefruit, etc), Equipment Pointed Ankh has been churning out material since 2016, with a handful of tape releases, a previous LP, \"Live\" (Sophomore Lounge, 2019) and a dozen or so digital releases.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSince forming, EPA has focused on a sort of long-form blown out raga, noise, drone vibe with a rotating cast of players joining Marlowe at varying intervals. Within the past 2 years, we've seen this core group of five come together as a unit - Marlowe with Chris Bush (Flanger Magazine, Caboladies, Flower Man), Ryan Davis (State Champion, Tropical Trash), Shutaro Noguchi (Feeding Tube artiste) and Dan Davis (Tropical Trash).\u2028\u2028\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eSometimes it can be a bit cliche to harp on \"their new album is a game changer, new direction, etc.\" I'll admit, I'm guilty of this. But seriously, \"Without Human Permission\" is an absolute game changer and new direction for Equipment Pointed Ankh. Go listen to as many of their earlier albums as you'd like (it's worthwhile). You still will not be prepared for the record at hand.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"Without Human Permission\" was recorded in Pawtucket, Rhode Island at Machines with Magnets with engineer extraordinaire Seth Manchester in August 2020, fresh off a 16-hour van\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eride from Louisville. EPA locked themselves in a studio for an entire week - no riffs were written ahead of time, not even a single conversation was had regarding who would play which instruments or what they would record.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eMarlowe describes the experience:\u2028\u2028\"The biggest challenge off the bat was that Dan couldn't make it up there with us on a more-or-less last minute change of course. We did manage some live jamming with him through Zoom\/Pro Tools until his internet went out in West Virginia. We would send him works in progress and he'd send overdubs. Conversely, he would then email us tracks blind and we'd sort through them each morning and pick out what we'd work on or just go off in our own direction. Chris had to unexpectedly leave early too so the second half of the record got Ouija-boarded into place by myself, Shu, Ryan and Seth. Russ Waterhouse of Blues Control showed up one day but was too hungover to jam on anything so we just drank some beers. We pretty much ran around hitting bongos and shit for the next three days, laughing and letting the music run downhill. We recorded until about 6 pm on the last day and Seth mixed it all in about three hours. Insane. Ben and Laura from Load Records had us over for a lobster boil the next day and then we drove home.\u2028Fin. Just like how the Beatles did it.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"\u2028\u2028Without Human Permission\" is what I envision whenever I see the \"New Weird America\" phrase (and no it doesn't sound like that). Synths, woodwinds, drum machines, pianos, bongos and more vying for space in these uncharacteristically sparse and patient tracks. Largely eschewing the \"wall of sound\" of some previous EPA releases, melodies abound, from the synth in \"Rainforest Cotillion\" to the piano lines of \"Olympics III.\" But just wait until you flip the record. Side B's opener \"Pioneer Chairs\" jumps out with its \"Absolutely Free\" era Zappa meets the midwestern art-rock lens of MX-80 Sound. From there, it just spirals out in so many weird and wonderful ways - think ZNR meeting Pram at the skatepark to roast one with Gastr Del Sol. One of the more exhilarating \u0026amp; exciting sides of a record I've heard in ages, unadulterated sounds created by five brilliant Midwestern weirdos using the studio itself as an instrument, pieced together masterfully by friend and capturer of spirits Seth Manchester.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3885381558\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/equipment-pointed-ankh-without-human-permission\"\u003eEQUIPMENT POINTED ANKH \"Without Human Permission\" by Equipment Pointed Ankh\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40848878436534,"sku":"","price":34.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a3488019459_10_1.jpg?v=1636456191"},{"product_id":"ace-of-spit-ace-of-spit-lp","title":"Ace of Spit - Ace of Spit LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eI strongly endorse the St. Louis group Ace Of Spit and think you'll also be a satisfied customer if you're interested in a rock 'n' roll that's \"timeless\" but seemingly free from the concern of being timeless (gnome what I'm saying?).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\nTo fully reduce what's going on here I guess they're a garage group with surf and spaghetti western chops but with a rag tag unruliness that'd certainly have them barred from the retro themed drinking establishment in the metropolitan cities cultural precinct.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\n\nThanks for bringing this one into the world Sophomore Lounge! Brings to mind Long Hots, The Index, Rocket From The Tombs, True Sons Of Thunder, Cheater Slicks, Birds Of Maya and Matrimony in a roundabout way. - Nic\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAce of Spit has been playing regular gigs around South St. Louis for the last five years. Typically you’d find the band inside a basement, burned-out warehouse, or one of the dive bars that still permits smoking, mangling a Sanford Clark or Link Wray cover – perhaps closing out a punk bill because the city ran out of 80s-style hardcore bands. “Oh, it’s that Spaghetti-Western band again...”\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAll that went away in 2020, so Ace of Spit hid out in a basement and wrote this, their self-titled debut full-length (following a scant scattering of home-dubbed, hand-distributed demo cassettes in editions of don't-even-try), which probably would’ve stayed buried deep inside The Sinkhole if their cohorts at Sophomore Lounge hadn’t fortuitously (if not bizarrely) decided to take interest in the sessions' unbridled stink 'n' spirit.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe songs on \"Ace of Spit\" chug with a free-wheeling swagger, swaying loosely on the rails and yearning for a time of tweed Fender amps and warbled tape echo. Dragged through the decades, hamstrung by digital distortion and the band’s musical ineptitude (perhaps \"enhanced\" with the help of available studio substances), small fragments of these undefined and impressionistic eras still shine through from the cracks in the tracks.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWas any of it real, or just a nostalgic dreamland? Some imagined place and time you long for while being punished by a Dumpers super-fan in the Arizona desert? Dreaming of Apollo Bay as you climb back inside a duct-taped E-350 and drive half-asleep to the next job. - Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 439px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4002176475\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/ace-of-spit-s-t\"\u003eACE OF SPIT \"S\/T\" by Ace of Spit\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831678083254,"sku":"","price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a1637799530_10.jpg?v=1664421487"},{"product_id":"doc-flippers-human-pork-lp","title":"Doc Flippers - Human Pork LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"The good doctor is finally back to flip us on our backs and give us the old one-two-three-four, following a cassette I only knew about and listened to death and onto rebirth after hanging with the boys in Marseille.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThese new-age space cowboys take us to the other side of the galaxy with a space shuttle of punk-fuelled psychedelic country… and drop you off into a black hole. The riffs bring the good news of the apocalypse to the new world from the one they left behind. US Maple lightsaber guitars fighting in a Uranium Club? Singer running out of oxygen.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReferences aren’t required anymore, just like when you hired VHS from the local video store. Take the risk, take the plunge, form an opinion yourself… get your money’s worth, tell me to go to hell and stop reading this.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf Captain Beefheart kept playing punk music and joined Marbled Eye or something, wearing modern, youthful clothes with an iPhone to hang out with some of the deranged, loveable, lust-for-lifers of Leipzig, maybe it would sound like this, but only after pulling him apart and putting him back together as Robocop with a Country Teasers bumper sticker on his\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emetal arse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhy hire VHS when you can see their amazing video clips, which look like they’ve been directed by Giuseppe Andrews... Doc Flippers are trailer trash cooking bratwurst on top of flaming oil drums... crazy homeless, performance art punk rock.\" - Nathan Roche\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=241603248\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/doc-flippers-human-pork\"\u003eDOC FLIPPERS \"Human Pork\" by Doc Flippers\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831682310326,"sku":"","price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2156862592_10.jpg?v=1664421623"},{"product_id":"dan-melchior-cb-odyssey-lp","title":"Dan Melchior - CB Odyssey LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eI'm going to be real here, I am generally not a fan of prolific recording artists in the modern age. I could go on about how I think it's an unfortunate symptom of the attention economy, where remaining in the news feed is more important than making a worthwhile artistic statement, but I'll stop there and say that Dan Melchior is an obvious exception.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eI think it's because he embodies a dignified \"working musician\" approach that's much closer to The Fall than 'rise \u0026amp; grind' culture. Dan joins the dots between some of my most beloved worlds and traditions in music, and all of his records (at least the ones I've heard) seem to have some subtle concept or set of parameters that make it feel like a purposeful addition to his discography.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eCB Odyssey is a clever, resourceful and straight up delightful collection of songs. It's not at all similar to 'Like Flies On Sherbert' or Henry Flynt avant-hillbilly music but it demonstrates that utilising those formative stages of rock 'n' roll music as a rough set of parameters can make something unique and communicative (i.e. not a period peice) - Nic \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3362505187\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/dan-melchior-cb-odyssey\"\u003eDAN MELCHIOR \"CB Odyssey\" by Dan Melchior\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831693418678,"sku":"","price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2897607584_10.jpg?v=1664421852"},{"product_id":"ned-collette-jokes-trials-lp","title":"Ned Collette - Jokes \u0026 Trials LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\"What a pleasure it is to bring you the first vinyl version of Jokes and Trials, the 2006 solo debut by Melbourne's Ned Collette, whose incredible song cycle \"Old Chestnut\" and brilliant instrumental album \"Afternoon-Dusk\" have been widely and correctly lauded as classics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Mark Harwood explains in his excellent liner notes, Ned emerged from the Melbourne improv underground along with people like Will Guthrie and Joe Talia. Indeed, it was Talia who turned Ned onto Jim O'Rourke's 2001 classic, \"Insignificance\" as a way of demonstrating possible connections between pop song form and avant garde strategies. Ned's own first moves in this direction built around loops. But by the time he was ready to cut Jokes and Trials, he was eager to try more traditional musical structures, infused with subtle tendrils of experimentalism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe songs on this album use elements like pedal steel, cello and a vocal chorus to create a set of music with a timelessness rooted equally in early '70s singer-songwriterism, and subsequent avant garde variations on the form. There is something at the base of Ned's guitar and voice here that put me in mind of Bert Jansch's work for the Charisma label. The vocals and words bespeak a knowledge or the same deep well of sorrow, although whether this is truth or\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e artifice I cannot claim to know.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSeveral of the tunes on Jokes and Trials point directly towards the richness of Ned's evolving style, and his ability to use small changes to instrumentation in ways that feel radical. The more I play it, the more the detailing reveals itself. This album may represent an early step in Collette's stylistic journey, but it is a sure and beautiful one. Certain to massage the souls of those who came to his music later in the game.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA good one for sure.\" - Byron Coley, 2022\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831700234422,"sku":"","price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0059850077_10.jpg?v=1664422012"},{"product_id":"lantern-rock-n-roll-rorschach-lp","title":"Lantern - Rock 'N' Roll Rorschach LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eRisen in the form of neon fume from Philadelphia side-street sewer lids come LANTERN. Orbiting around the songwriter duo of Zachary Devereux Fairbrother and Emily Robb (with the auxiliary addition of Montreal-import Christian Simmons on skins, also of Sheer Agony), Lantern is what rock 'n' roll was - loud, oozy, inspiring, perspiring, pummeling directly forward yet cloaked in the arcane.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eOver the course of three years and an impressive handful of releases (six EPs and a 7\", for those of you studying the horses) on labels like Bathetic and Night-People, Fairbrother \u0026amp; Robb have spawned a sonically relentless dark-force, twisting, perverting, and penetrating open ears with the scent of rotten, sultry soul, fanged fuzz \u0026amp; wah, boogie-downers, jungle night-moves, exercises in exorcism, black leather, and sex. Inspired by their idols: The Rolling Stones, Stooges, Bo Diddley, Cramps, MC5, Bowie, and all the originators of R\u0026amp;B and blues, Lantern are taking their own whack at the punching bag that is the great American folk tradition\/condition\/religion -- Rock 'N' Roll music.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis summer, they fold it in on itself with the release of their latest album (and 12\" vinyl debut), Rock 'N' Roll Rorschach into the stinking hot heat of early July A.D. With the help of fellow\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ePhilly engineering magick-maker, Jeff Zeigler (Purling Hiss, Kurt Vile, Clockcleaner) behind the boards, the record marks a shift in sound from the blown-out hiss of lo-fidelity, four-track home recordings toward a more balanced and discernable breed of raw, unflinching power.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLantern's sound melts genres together, rockabullying weirdo blues into a frenzy of fuzzed-up soloing and glammed-down dance beats, ultimately resulting in a mound of grooves garnering moves from the '80s\/'90s garage-rock rattles of Dead Moon, Gibson Bros, and Billy Childish to the '60s\/'70s pre-punk lore of Hasil Adkins, Flaming Groovies, or even The Velvet Underground. Rorschach is a testament to the age-old odyssey of rock 'n' roll, searching for something \"advanced\" (dare we say \"futuristic?\") in paying homage to its primal whims and primitive-earth foundation.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe true treasure is the exploration itself. And with that, what are you waiting for? Let the needle dig into this slab of cold-black wax, bang your head unconscious, and wake to realize that boogie is a fuckin' bodily instinct, not an activity choice. - Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2924598917\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/lantern.bandcamp.com\/album\/rock-n-roll-rorschach\"\u003eRock 'N' Roll Rorschach by Lantern\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831803584694,"sku":"","price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a2959108033_10.jpg?v=1664425355"},{"product_id":"lantern-black-highways-and-green-garden-roads-lp","title":"Lantern - Black Highways And Green Garden Roads LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLantern's second full-length album is a diverse and sophisticated collection of 14 songs that were recorded and mixed entirely analogue at The Bottle Garden in Montreal. More so than any of their previous albums, it was the result of collective studio experimentation, with the band actively seeking out new sounds, exploring unusual recording techniques, and patiently crafting beautiful arrangements. \"Black Highways and Green Garden Roads\" is Lantern's most immediate record yet, blending textures of psych, surf, and soul on a distinctly 60s-inspired rock 'n' roll canvas. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3262234436\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/lantern.bandcamp.com\/album\/black-highways-and-green-garden-roads\"\u003eBlack Highways And Green Garden Roads by Lantern\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831806075062,"sku":"","price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a0486511128_10.jpg?v=1664425495"},{"product_id":"soft-gang-soft-gang-lp","title":"Soft Gang - Soft Gang LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSoft Gang are a group of four non-threatening individuals with a combined age of over 160. They are based in New York City, though that fact is largely inconsequential to the sounds they make. Dahm Cipolla (Phantom Family Halo, Sapat) plays the drums. Charlie Hines (Dichroics, Sabers) plays the bass guitar. Darin Mickey (Dichroics) plays the electric guitar and sings a little. Kaori Nakamura (a descendant of the original axis of evil) gets the important messages across with her voice and shakes various percussion instruments when moved to do so.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe full-length at hand serves as a perfect first glance into Soft Gang's cauldron, conjuring whiffs of early-1990s indie art-pop, stirred with witchy long-form free-rock\/psychedelia, playful post-punk, and an herbal dash of Plastic Ono's experimental entrada. Kaori croons, howls, and rhetorically ponders with the grace and ease of an evening's reflection, stretching out over the rhythm section's tugs from routine to expressive chaos, while Darin's guitar transmissions decorate the stage -- simple, subtly alienating, yet all the while infectious. - Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3463614328\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/soft-gang-s-t\"\u003eSOFT GANG \"S\/T\" by Soft Gang\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41831818559670,"sku":"","price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/products\/a1044346638_10.jpg?v=1664426043"},{"product_id":"coffin-prick-laughing-lp","title":"Coffin Prick - Laughing LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the cover I envisioned tape loop tomfoolery, but landed on a domestic take on XTC or Station To Station era Bowie (minus any of the post-Britpop hair-and-cheekbones over ideas that you may get from overt Bowie wannabe's).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThink Itchy Bugger and Bobby Would if Talk Talk and Thomas Dolby influences spoke louder than The Cannanes and Cleaners From Venus. In prioritising both songwriting and soundwork, embracing physical and synthesized sounds, utilising modern equipment and garbage gear, Coffin Prick has made something that's... really something. - Nic\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2359225018\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/coffin-prick-laughing\"\u003eCOFFIN PRICK \"Laughing\" by Coffin Prick\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"The first solo album by Ryan Weinstein is truly a world of its own. Under the name Coffin Prick (the singular version of Coffin Pricks, his group with Chris Thomson), Weinstein has built a musical ecosystem filled with rhyming sounds, hypnotically hermetic production, and a rhythmic gravity that keeps everything in orbit. Crafted entirely at his home in Los Angeles, Laughing is simultaneously isolated and welcoming, as if Weinstein is both reflecting his environment and opening it up for everyone to explore.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo many compelling sights and sounds await if you choose to accept Weinstein’s invitation and enter the universe of Laughing. Fiery guitar accents, spaced-out synth patterns, random sounds captured while dog-walking, and the echoey missives of Weinstein’s voice all dart around the stereo space like electrons circling a nucleus. That nucleus consists of his dazzling bass and drum structures, which form the heart of nearly every track here. He consistently finds loops that stick in your brain, sometimes sounding like post-punk from outer space, other times evoking classic dub shot through with helium or doused in gasoline.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTake a ride on “Ricochet in Limbo,” a piston-firing workout in which Weinstein’s slashing guitar cuts through synth\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003edetonations like a motorcycle in a minefield. Slide down “Smooth Rubber Ailment,” a funk-skimming jam whose chilly beat and blurry vocals suggest a haunted house dance party. Climb the rising stairs of “The Guild of Cowards,” a slow-burning instrumental that evokes the 1980s without sounding the least bit dated. Jump on the swing of “Laughing,” whose title signifies both the humor of Weinstein’s absurdist soundscapes and the way, as he puts it, laughing is “a sort of involuntary tell that humans can’t really hide behind.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHumans actually were hiding a bit when Weinstein made Laughing, and in one sense that helped. As streets outside of his apartment emptied, he heard coyotes howling, and those sounds inspired him. As a result, there’s a sense of nostalgia here for open spaces, for places where sounds echo rather than getting drowned out. But ultimately Laughing feels outward and connective. By creating his own musical time and space, Weinstein has given us a new place to hang out.\" - Marc Masters\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42311137198262,"sku":"","price":42.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0216534273_10.jpg?v=1689731251"},{"product_id":"greymouth-parked-up-lp","title":"Greymouth - Parked Up LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe duo of Mark Anderson (Bancho Taste \/ Mysteries of Love) and Mark Sadgrove (Mazda Hatchback \/ Mysteries of Love) take the wheel and don the louvres to serve up a paean to landlocked listlessness, hoons in souped-up saloons and wide-eyed, drunk teen wandering. Recorded both on the road and in typical bramble-brained fashion at Dom Studious in Koenji (with help along the way from Leighton Craig), this LP was mastered by Forbes Williams and follows on from recent releases on Kasual Plastik, What Lies Beneath and Cost of Living. - Sophomore Lounge \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 208px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2445866019\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/greymouth-parked-up\"\u003eGREYMOUTH \"Parked Up\" by Greymouth\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42312825241782,"sku":"","price":42.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a3357958328_10.jpg?v=1689739557"},{"product_id":"arbor-labor-union-yonder-lp","title":"Arbor Labor Union - Yonder LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eArbor Labor Union are a group that support the rights of all to kick back and float along yonder!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe group trade in a form of drifting, cosmic guitar music that (like other in the US rock underground such as David Nance and Rosali) coalesce years of Americana into something continually contemporary: the snaking duel guitar lines of Grateful Dead, the subdued vocals of JJ Cale, the punk inflections of the Meat Puppets, with that laid back rhythmic drive that is to US music what the motorik is to German.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eOne for fans of Shrapnel and Cass McCombs alike!\u003cbr\u003e-Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=189149215\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/arbor-labor-union-yonder\"\u003eARBOR LABOR UNION \"Yonder\" by Arbor Labor Union\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42312829960374,"sku":"","price":42.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2920030260_10.jpg?v=1689739738"},{"product_id":"sapat-a-posthuman-guide-to-the-advent-calendar-origins-of-the-peep-show-lp","title":"Sapat - A Posthuman Guide to the Advent Calendar Origins of the Peep Show LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDeep from the lusty palms of Stonyism: Sapat's 2014 follow-up LP to the 2007 Siltbreeze debut.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eLarge-group-ensemble-cast-of-Kentucky-characters come in from the hermetic-rain-field-of-electric-pabulum, rendering extraordinary-renditions into a maximalist-tapestry laced with concentrated forms of seared-synapse acoustic-retrieval alchemy; immediate stimulation that continually reveals myriad fire over repeated listens. This is an album chock full of ideas, and sound worlds that obliterate thought, a genre-melting bastard-child of Deep-Psych, Art-Punk, Stoner-Shred, Mass-Jass, Buddhist-Operatic, Narrative-Noise, Psychic-Coaction. Sapat: a 14 (so far) year running shape shifting collective sharing members of Valley of Ashes, Kark, Softcheque, Tropical Trash, Black Velvet Fuckere, Son of Earth, The Belgian Waffles!, Phantom Family Halo, and about a billion other Louisvillian enclaves.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eShriner orientalist band infiltrates Bavarian street parade singing song about (a lot more than) smoking crack in Iraq. Van Vilet's Dog Faced Hermans strap Godzilla to a treadmill. Vanna White lights up a Cuban on the Wheel of Torture, steps out your backdoor, and when you focus, there's the moon, in waning gibbous phase. Brian Jones subs Yoko-geisha for Jagger, meta-morphs corner into Yma\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e Sumac weathering underground in Amon Duul II commune. Hank Williams buttons up a water sweater and a warm narcology, tom-catting an impossible Birthday Party-Morricone in a Swiss-Alpine sanatorium.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eDonning an acid sombrero, and an extra buttocks t-shirt, straddling an astral saddle strapped to a nose powered lawnmower on a street named walk, Sapat, Elvis Clitshovel, Blurn Shithead, and Oral Crawldads all aim their Champion Polk Weed Antenna toward the Vertical Ammonia Driveway, and whisper, \"The packer you chairman, the brainer you fuck.\"\u003c\/span\u003e - Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 307px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1579457611\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/sapat-a-posthuman-guide-to-the-advent-calendar-origins-of-the-peep-show\"\u003eSAPAT \"A Posthuman Guide to the Advent Calendar Origins of the Peep Show\" by Sapat\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42326996648118,"sku":"","price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a1964788227_10.jpg?v=1690695893"},{"product_id":"reese-mchenry-with-spider-bags-bad-girl-lp-1","title":"Reese McHenry with Spider Bags - Bad Girl LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the mid-to-late 'teens of our 21st century, with soundcloud, bandcamp, and a bouquet of social media outlets at the fingertips of just about any self-proclaimed \"musician\" in the western world, the speed at which we (singers, strummers, knob-turners, collectives, labels, and the like) are able to churn out recordings for whatever public will have them is currently at an unprecedented production rate. But even in these increasingly hurried times, not every record is suited for such land-speed - such is the case with Chapel Hill-based songstress REESE McHENRY's debut full-length 12\" \"BAD GIRL.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhen McHenry first began working on this batch of material with producer, co-songwriter, and key collaborator DAN McGEE (of fellow Triangle-area garage country cohorts SPIDER BAGS) over half a decade ago, the music scene acquaintances who merely admired each other's rock n roll outfits from a passing distance (McHenry then the defining force behind Durham's DIRTY LITTLE HEATERS) couldn't possibly have known the gravity of the journey that lay ahead of their newfound friendship.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eGravity - it's a word used with intention, in this case. The word that McGee uses to describe the very nature of the situation when McHenry first imparted him with the sentiment that, above\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e all things, she wished to make a great record before she dies. Who doesn't, right? The strummers, the knob-turners, we're all searching for that. At least that's how McGee initially took it. But as he soon came to realize, she meant something entirely more direct, more literal - perhaps, unfortunately, more time-sensitive than others. A victim of chronic heart problems (AFIB) and a series of strokes throughout the late-oughts, McHenry was deathly ill during the Heaters tenure, transitioning in and out of hospitals while continuing to work passionately on her music. In 2011, doctors severed half of her heart, replacing it with a pacemaker that helps it beat (and belt songs) to this day. Coincidentally or not, that was also the year she reached out to the Spider Bags in search of help with making this record.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAt the time, Dan McGee's production credits were hardly of note. Outside of his own music, he'd really only ever produced one record for friend and area musician Ben Carr's band LAST YEAR'S MEN (a group of rowdy teenagers at the time with as much of a natural knack for mature and emotive narrative songwriting - brought to the surface, in part, with McGee's assistance - as their inherent brand of balls-to-the-wall garage inferno). While he enjoyed the challenge and felt he had an ear for it, a wife at home, pregnant with his first child, and a band of his own to focus on progressing ultimately kept McGee out of other people's studios. It wasn't until McHenry approached him with the task at hand that he chose to revisit the roll of working on another person's record. The rest, as they say, is history...\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWell, eventually. Health and home-lives aside (if one can even divorce such nuclear matters), the making of the record itself came tangled with no shortage of obstacles. After all this woman had been through, there was inevitably a layer or two of rust that needed scraping. The Spider Bags (consisting of long-time percussionist Rock Forbes and somewhat new-comer Steve Oliva holding down the low end - both of whom, it's worth noting, start to gel as SB's definitive rhythm section over the course of these recordings) were no stranger to McHenry's organic talent. What they were there to do was make her even better. To be her \"house band,\" like a Stax ensemble, catering themselves to the session without omitting their own recognizable charms. To write, arrange, and selflessly play, take after take, in service to the powerful, guiding tool that is McHenry's voice and the 18-wheeled Peterbilt that is her spirit.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eAt the end of the day, \"Bad Girl\" is, by design, a singer's record. In the traditional sense, with its considerate balance of material written by her, for her by others, and\/or by others all together, the collection as a whole is offered to us, in song, by a modern woman faced with the every-day trials of love and growth, and the pains that mark their passing. From the album-opening title track, a gender perspective-swapping garage-wop take on Lee Moses' timeless original, to the b-side's soon-to-be American standard \"Concrete Roses,\" inked by McHenry herself and recorded live in one take - complete with Forbes masterfully playing brushes on a pizza box - without even having previously heard McGee's arrangement for it (after the tape stopped rolling, everyone wept), there's an almost cinematic quality throughout the long-player's narrative. It's the tale of a woman who tries her best to do good, to not be bad, but as we all know, life is rarely so black-and-white. It's what she overcomes along the way that gives her color - that not only gives her a voice, but strengthens it by giving her something to sing. And if you ask me, or just about any schmuck from Chapel Hill to Hollywood, we'd be hard-pressed to find another protagonist as easy to root for as our very own Reese McHenry - singer, survivor, Bad Girl.\u003c\/span\u003e  - Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4156499492\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/reese-mchenry-w-spider-bags-bad-girl\"\u003eREESE McHENRY w\/ SPIDER BAGS \"Bad Girl\" by Reese McHenry w\/ Spider Bags\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42326997565622,"sku":"","price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0364813250_10.jpg?v=1690696090"},{"product_id":"ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-dancing-on-the-edge-2lp","title":"Ryan Davis \u0026 The Roadhouse Band - Dancing On The Edge 2LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eRepressed Records loves having the last word on the year that was, so while we’re not rolling out our Best Of 2023 propaganda until later in January, I’d like to highlight my clear favourite album of 2023, Ryan Davis \u0026amp; The Roadhouse Band - Dancing On The Edge.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI didn’t expect to be as taken by Ryan’s “long winded emotional faux-country drum machine music” (his own description) as I am, and it took a few listens for his warm and funny universe of song and sound to start revealing itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe quick sales rep pitch would reach for the David Berman’s endorsement of Davis as the “best lyricist who’s not a rapper going”, and maybe draw comparison to him or John Prine. But me, I felt the presence of two records that have a very specific effect on me, qualities that I cannot describe but I’m always looking for.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThose records are Jim O’Rourke - Insignificance (Drag City, 2001) and “Blue” Gene Tyranny - Out Of The Blue (Lovely Music, Ltd, 1978). Two records that kind of exist in opposition lyrically, O’Rourke’s biting negativity versus Tyranny’s buoyant friendliness, but both intermingle “new music” experimentation into popular music, more specifically Adult Orientated Rock.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike these two records, Dancing On The Edge is not bogged down by self conscious signifiers of outsider artistry, nor does it shy away from adventurousness. In fact maybe the difference between his debut solo album and State Champion is the subtle integration of progressive\/electronic aspects from his time playing in Equipment Pointed Ankh and Roadhouse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI don’t know or care if Dancing On The Edge signifies anything for culture at large, but it’s surely my most enjoyed and biggest musical epiphany of 2023! - Nic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 373px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2769175475\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-dancing-on-the-edge\"\u003eRYAN DAVIS \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band \"Dancing on the Edge\" by Ryan Davis \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cargo Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42563349905590,"sku":null,"price":64.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0327828919_10_a79acf8c-8e00-47d7-a3cd-8e10952fd637.jpg?v=1702944784"},{"product_id":"gub-gub-lp","title":"Gub - Gub LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eCultivate new gut cultures in the new year with a big glass of Gub! Chicagoan damaged synth heads Beau Wanzer and Champagne Mirrors combine cauldrons of electronic sludge and dubbed-out drum machines.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInstrumental themes of paranoid futurism meet the sputtering, not-so-steady rhythm of an industrial society in decay. A dubbed out, half-speed Acid House that would feel at home on Industrial Records. Good going Gub! Pour me another one. - Nic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 439px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3622853501\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/gub-s-t\"\u003eGUB \"S\/T\" by Gub\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e ","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42563354493110,"sku":null,"price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a3804502436_10.jpg?v=1702945192"},{"product_id":"c-joynes-poor-boy-on-the-wire-lp","title":"C. Joynes - Poor Boy On The Wire LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eOn the surface, it’d be easy to consider this C Joynes record as yet another solo guitar album in a post-Jack Rose\/John Fahey continuum, and in some ways it is. But with every listen, Joynes’ Poor Boy On The Wire seems to extend beyond the norms and cliches of this world.\u003cspan class=\"Apple-converted-space\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p2\"\u003eAn album of electric guitar explorations that draw from the blues, UK folk music, and further abroad in a manner that tone-wise, is pretty rough around the edges with gear being pushed out to overdriven limits. On top of all this is a with a doubling of both the electric signal and the picking hand and a heavy dose of amp tremolo, that to my mind\/ear draws (and maybe this is an over-wrought connection) a link between the phasing explorations of minimalist composers to the playing of other contemporary solo guitarists like Bill Orcutt.\u003cbr\u003e-Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3486219126\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/c-joynes-poor-boy-on-the-wire\"\u003eC JOYNES \"Poor Boy On The Wire\" by C Joynes\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42563377365174,"sku":null,"price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0203535603_10.jpg?v=1702947087"},{"product_id":"ned-collette-our-other-history-lp","title":"Ned Collette - Our Other History LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eBerlin-based Oz avant-folk musician Ned Collette returns with another LP unfurling and impressionistic songs for Sophomore Lounge!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThere are hints of the lush arrangements and guitar playing of the 70s UK folk scene (Nick Drake or John Martyn in particular) here but not in a way where you can imagine Ned dressing up in a tweed jacket and singing about the rolling hills of England. Sure, the subject matter is similar (songs of longing, love, songs about characters you meet in bars or wandering the streets), but the language is updated: colloquial but precise like hearing someone wheel off a story that they’ve told so many times that the language is exact but still riveting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis is all backed by a crack team of musicians—Jim White and Mick Turner of Dirty Three Fame, Chris Abrahams of The Necks, Elisabeth Fuchsia of Footings, and Leah Senior, among others—who’s playing takes the record out of the usual singer-songwriter realm into that rarified space of writers who don’t rest on their musical laurels (thinking of Jim O’Rourke’s song albums here, or label honcho Ryan Davis \u0026amp; The Roadhouse Band’s LP). Just like the words, the playing is incredibly intricate, layered, yet precise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAnother one of those close listen slow burner records that the more I listen to, the deeper I fall into it!\u003cbr\u003e-Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 439px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2035178150\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/music.nedcollette.com\/album\/our-other-history\"\u003eOur Other History by Ned Collette\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Poison City Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43436892487862,"sku":"","price":48.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2411403611_10.jpg?v=1725247877"},{"product_id":"dar-a-slightly-larger-head-lp","title":"DAR - A Slightly Larger Head LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eA wonk rock record for the ages with enough ear worms that I haven’t stopped listening to it since it arrived in the shop weeks ago!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eDAR is the solo project of Chicagoan Aaron Osbourne, his second LP feels like the combination of two veins of independent music that we love around here. On the one hand there’s a GBV-esque nod to 90s DIY\/college rock music that contained HOOKS while still remaining rough around the edges. On the other, there’s an off-kilter approach to the record that recalls first-3-solo-LP-Eno, assisted by members of Equipment Pointed Ankh and Ryan Davis \u0026amp; The Roadhouse Band.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eOne for local fans of Itchy Bugger, Dumbbells, and The Lewers or those looking for the ever reliable Sophomore Lounge seal of quality!\u003cbr\u003e-Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2971377533\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/dar-a-slightly-larger-head\"\u003eDAR \"A Slightly Larger Head\" by DAR\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43501263749302,"sku":"","price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a4091307242_10.jpg?v=1727413165"},{"product_id":"broken-telepathy-broken-telepathy-lp","title":"Broken Telepathy - Broken Telepathy LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFeaturing two members of NY’s Soft Gang, Broken Telepathy remind me of a particularly great era of the Oz Underground, suitably, slightly before my time (if I was gonna put a rough date on it I wanna say 2009-2011). Something of a marrying of open-ended kraut approaches with pummelling post-punk and abrasive no wave that makes me think of Blank Realm, Naked On The Vague, Fabulous Diamonds or pre-disco Holy Balm, all skittering breakbeat drums, noir-ish guitar lines, synth squelches, lo-fi tape manipulation murk, and half spoken vocals.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e- Mitch\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2250575698\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/broken-telepathy-s-t\"\u003eBROKEN TELEPATHY \"S\/T\" by Broken Telepathy\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43501267943606,"sku":"","price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2714227659_10.jpg?v=1727413292"},{"product_id":"bilders-dustbin-of-empathy-lp","title":"Bilders - Dustbin Of Empathy LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCo-Released by Sophomore Lounge and Grapefruit Records.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe NZ-American *Bilders* brings *Matt Swanson (Lambchop,* *My Dad Is Dead*) and *Alex McManus (Vic Chesnutt, Lambchop)* into the fold, all with acclaimed albums in their saddlebags. Quality production and mature song themes reflect a lot of pure experience.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\/*Dustbin of Empathy*\/ opens with a voyage across Europe and down the generations, a tribute to the small people who survive massive events. One tune has an anti-war bias. Peace! Another is a trip of a kind — Angel (The Astronomer) is an eerie voyage into the “sinuses” of space. Most of the tunes were co-written, a couple were penned by Direen alone. High quality recordings, and the pedigree of the musicians, should make this unexpected album a pearl of 2024. It is hard to choose a stand-out track for campus stations — alluring “Lately Rain”, epic \/Citizens of Nowhere\/, the harder edge of Anvil Dark, lap-steel engraved Scaribus or already WFMU-blooded Custody of Love? Pure quality to take you from \/Dustbin\/\/\/right the way back to\/Empathy\/.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43501280755894,"sku":"","price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0650887401_10.jpg?v=1727413414"},{"product_id":"coffin-prick-side-splits-lp","title":"Coffin Prick - Side Splits LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eCoffin Prick’s debut LP ‘Laughing’ really felt like a more considered and singular take on a hybrid electronics\/rock project than other contemporary offerings. I don’t mean it sounds like a Toyota Prius, but continues on a synth\/drummachine-in-band tradition of Chrome, Devo and Ralph Records without sounding like a booger eater.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA remix album could’ve dulled the internal legacy I’ve given ‘Laughing’, a definite Top 5 of 2023, but dang it just highlights just how good those saturated drum machines, Fripp-y guitars, squiggly synths, basically the whole she-bang sounds!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRe-mixes\/re-invigorations from marketable names like Melt Banana, YoshimiO (Boredoms), Ian Williams (Battles), members of Tortoise, or more exciting to me Roadhouse, Beau Wanzer and Ed Sunspot (aka Robert Beatty).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe result lands near the best of Eric Copeland\/Black Dice, Carl Stone, Craig Leon, or those couple of cheap to acquire Sakamoto\/Dolby and Sakamoto\/Sylvian extended 12” pop singles I love so much. Howzabout a volume 2 with some footwork names involved?? - Nic \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2630955857\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/coffin-prick-side-splits\"\u003eCOFFIN PRICK \"Side Splits\" by Coffin Prick\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43501294649526,"sku":"","price":39.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a3420325757_10.jpg?v=1727413811"},{"product_id":"spectre-folk-quabbin-winter-lp","title":"Spectre Folk - Quabbin Winter LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eReading the musical resume of Pete Nolan (aka Spectre Folk) has brought back vivid memories of a thrilling time for new music discovery. Pete was a drummer for Magik Markers, a (Connecticut\/Massachusetts?) band that had somehow conjured up an infamous reputation for violent free rock that me and 3 other friends just had to hear! I did manage to get some CDs, and flogged them, but lost track of their evolution and associated acts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat’s where Sophomore Lounge Records steps in, doing what they do best, joining the dots and giving us all a way into the ‘lifers’ and bypassing the opportunistic ‘lifestylers’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpectre Folk’s ‘Quabbin Winter’ has stayed close to the turntable since we got it and I grow more fond of it with every listen. A laid-back-but-with-tubes-still-running-hot take on psychedelic rock, like ‘Cats \u0026amp; Dogs’ era Royal Trux, or Spacemen 3 meets a particular USA underground sensibility that spans the likes of Strapping Fieldhands to Sic Alps (who helped out with this recording!).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wonder what else I’ve missed from the Magik Markers crew??? Oh well at least I’ve got this one! - Nic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMade it onto our ‘Best of 2025 (So Far!)’ list. View collection \u003ca title=\"“Best of 2025 (So Far!)”\" href=\"https:\/\/repressedrecords.com\/collections\/best-of-2025-so-far?pb=0\"\u003ehere\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3518104384\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/spectre-folk-quabbin-winter\"\u003eSPECTRE FOLK \"Quabbin Winter\" by Spectre Folk\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43810427044022,"sku":"","price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a1515702576_10.jpg?v=1740536935"},{"product_id":"jerry-david-decicca-cardiac-country-lp","title":"Jerry David DeCicca - Cardiac Country LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eSometimes you just want to sink into the sonic space of a record and let it wash over you for a while. I don’t think I have anything in particular to add to the conversation around Texan songwriter Jerry David DeCicca’s new LP other than this is a lush, beautiful record. Songs that are well paced, with great melodies, pretty arrangements (even got me enjoying a tuba in a non-novelty kinda way) and JDD’s great voice alongside backing vox c\/o Eve Searls. One that I imagine would appeal to fans of Cass McCombs, Bill Callahan’s output over the last half decade, and Neil’s Comes A Time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eAlso worth mentioning that this LP heavily features the pedal steel playing of B.J. Cole who, I admit, I was not aware of by name until spotting the hype sticker. Google his discography an you realised how far he’s pushed the instrument outside of country spaces, featuring on records by John Cale, Spiritualized, Scott Walker, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, The Stranglers, Harold Budd, Elton John (yep, that’s him on Tiny Dancer) and Sting’s 2000 Brand New Day - a particular favourite of 5 y\/o me! –Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2995169031\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/jerry-david-decicca-cardiac-country\"\u003eJERRY DAVID DECICCA \"Cardiac Country\" by Jerry David DeCicca\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44076381896886,"sku":"","price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2210648942_10.jpg?v=1750998235"},{"product_id":"ultra-pulverize-gorillas-in-the-fist-lp","title":"Ultra Pulverize - Gorillas In The Fist LP","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\"“It’s just three guys; they have a bodybuilder guy rapping over a drum machine and a synthesizer.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA friend at the time had done his best to describe the opening bands for the evening, one of them named Ultra Pulverize. This unusual description would only be the FIRST time that Chris Vititoe, Andrew Vititoe, and Jared Busch would defy my expectations. I had immediately made some sort of presumption based upon the name as the trauma still lingered from the onslaught of lame, unoriginal hardcore “punk” bands that had names like that in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. Those bands did their best to project an artificial toughness but were almost always just well-to-do white guys from nice neighborhoods who never could effectively shed the antiseptic sheen of their coddled upbringing; however expensive and loud their gear was and whatever agresso name they adopted for their summer aural hobbies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo- a synthesizer? A rapping bodybuilder? Drum machine? This confusing sequence of words should have roused my interest more than it did but I was a little tuned out. We were playing at the disastrously rebooted BRYCC House in Louisville, Kentucky, which was resurrected in a former convenience store in a not-so\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e-shiny part of Old Louisville. My band at the time, Lucky Pineapple, crowded into the back room operated as a green room but felt more like a decommissioned free clinic. I don’t recall there being a lot of enthusiasm for any bit of the night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was near my younger brother David, also of Lucky Pineapple, and we heard the occasional blip, beep, and sweep of the synthesizer, the occasional “POW!” of the drum machine. I might have heard a bit of a vocal check. I would always go watch some of the other bands’ sets just to be polite and respectful but I wasn’t up and running out there just yet. Then they started playing, opening with the theme to Unsolved Mysteries...? David and I locked eyes as the sound detonated within our heads and were out there within a few seconds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI absolutely could not believe what I was seeing and hearing. Andrew’s vocal style and sound struck me more within the traditional punk sphere of John Lydon or the likes as far as how it was meant to cut through with a sinister, snotty, biting humor. He was “rapping” but it sort of upset my musical equilibrium in how original it and he was; he had effectively bypassed the “culture vulture” charge in being a white guy within the vicinity of rap in how he had shaped his performance. Nobody but nobody could have or would have ever expected the drum machine to be played manually and fed through a series of outboard effects. All the while, a synthesizer was carrying so much sonic, melodic, colorful, and occasionally abrasive heft that would ordinarily be accomplished by multiple instruments.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs I made out words and references- It was undeniable that this band was smart, original, and very funny. But they were humorous in the way that Sparks is: there’s humor but it’s not a joke. They’re not a comic band. It’s seriously funny. And there are serious themes and subjects interwoven throughout. And you have to be super fucking smart and talented to accomplish that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLouisville digested Ultra Pulverize in different ways. Some people just could not and would not get it as they were stifled within their very pedestrian, rock\/punk rock paradigms; seeing them as either a novelty act or just not “rock” enough to sit comfortably within their conservative ideas of punk and unable to accept any challenge to the categorical, well-worn tropes that kept them musically pacified. The gimmick of being “rebellious” being just as dogmatic and dull as the guy (and it’s always going to be a fucking guy) whose tastes are curated by Clear Channel and Spotify; telling you that there’s no point in even trying to be better than Led Zeppelin, blah fuckin’ blah...\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUltra Pulverize came out of the gate good and just kept evolving and getting better and better. I was in a band with six minute songs that had five parts and varying time signatures — they could really make me feel like a fucking dinosaur frozen in time in comparison to their advanced artistic ambitions and seemingly innate talents and drive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTheir music is evergreen; it will never sound dated, or less innovative. To my ears and brain, it keeps getting better.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe loss of Andrew was and is immeasurable. His mind, that level of talent, and the wellspring of creativity is all still beyond anybody that I can think of. The cataclysmic event of his passing was and remains the end of a profound chapter within my life and the lives of many of the people that I know and love the most. That tragic time was when many of us had to accept that this really incredible part of our lives was now fully over and that we had to go on, even with this giant void where a massive light and heart once was. Everything would now be different.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAndrew and I once realized in a discussion that we had nearly identical incidents as young people when we saw Eraserhead and how it had been a relief to see that there were other weirdos out there like that, like us. I’ve been lucky to experience that many times since but few, if any, of these occurrences were as profound, inspiring, and gratifying as having been a friend to and a fan of Chris, Jared, and Andrew.\" - William Benton, 2025\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2466700269\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/ultra-pulverize-gorillas-in-the-fist\"\u003eULTRA PULVERIZE \"Gorillas In The Fist\" by Ultra Pulverize\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Direct","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44076416106678,"sku":"","price":48.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2481733359_10.jpg?v=1750998768"},{"product_id":"grace-rogers-mad-dogs-lp","title":"Grace Rogers - Mad Dogs LP","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eApologies for the essay… For those that want the short of it - one that’s definitely gonna end up in my best of 2025 list!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eEvery year there’s a song-based record (for lack of a better term) that comes out of the periphery of my knowledge\/listening and totally floors me. I play it to death in the shop til my coworkers tell me to take my copy home where I keep on playing it ad nauseam but not really cos these are the kind of albums that are evergreen (see all past effusive comments about APIE, RD \u0026amp; The Roadhouse Band, Honey2Honey, Rosali, and Sweet Whirl).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eJust the other day I was wondering where this year’s album was gonna come from and then a box from Sophomore Lounge landed with Grace Rogers’ record. I feel like it might be too early to call, but also, I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since it turned up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eHer music sounds at once classic and timeless, but also contemporary and strange. When he was in town last month, label head Ryan Davis was telling me about Rogers’ family and personal history within bluegrass music and perhaps this goes some way to explaining it. This isn’t a bluegrass record by any means, but it definitely feels informed by the story telling and rhythmic underpinnings of the genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThe songs on Mad Dogs cover a hell of a lot of ground, from winding tales of family and local characters, cow-shit pollution, through to songs about working and living in the modern world (a chorus about Instagram without sounding naff!), and the kind of staring in the face of mortality that fans of Ryan Davis will enjoy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eBut what sets this aside from “yet-another-singer-songwriter” territory (and that’s no slight on the songs!), is the killer band she’s got on this LP. There’s this odd rhythmic push and pull to the music that speeds up and slows down that kind of reminds me of bluegrass (or maybe I’m imposing this?) or even Neil \u0026amp; Crazy Horse (not to mention the guitar tone!) and beautiful cello lines.\u003cbr\u003e-Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eKiller sleeve by Ceirra Evans\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2006300041\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/grace-rogers-mad-dogs\"\u003eGRACE ROGERS \"Mad Dogs\" by Grace Rogers\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Direct","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44076425150646,"sku":"","price":48.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a3095965979_10.jpg?v=1750998985"},{"product_id":"mazozma-bathing-in-the-stone-lp","title":"Mazozma - Bathing In The Stone LP","description":"\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eBathing In The Stone is the latest LP from Mazozma, otherwise known as the ever-prolific Ma Turner (of much loved around these parts bands such as Warmer Milks and State Champion). What is most immediately arresting here are the waves of shimmering twelve string guitars from Turner and James Bandenburg, panned and playing off one another. Meditative, drifting, drummerless, and crisply recorded tracks that exist in the axis of New Weird America\/Freak Folk approaches to UK folk traditions, which is all to say - one for fans of Ned Collette! –Mitch\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 373px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3416696932\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/mazozma-bathing-in-the-stone\"\u003eMAZOZMA \"Bathing In The Stone\" by Mazozma\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Direct","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44076427935926,"sku":"","price":48.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2493468026_10.jpg?v=1750999237"},{"product_id":"preorder-ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-new-threats-from-the-soul-cd","title":"Ryan Davis \u0026 The Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul CD","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“If you don’t know it yet, it’s my privilege to tell you that Ryan Davis is one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. Bold instinct immediately insists that I lose the qualifications: he’s the greatest of his generation, he’s one of the greatest ever. Whatever. Posterity—if there is a posterity—will sort it out. Happily, New Threats from the Soul has beaten the Doomsday Clock to the wire, and we appear to have a little while left to revel in it, receive its revelations, and be revealed by it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Do I know what I’m doing,” A.R. Ammons muses in his Tape for the Turn of the Year, “or am I waiting for it to be done?” That fundamental question seems to me to be the bedrock upon which New Threats is built. It reckons mightily with the perplexities of human efficacy and agency, of acting versus being acted upon, in an absurd and debased world. The “I” of Ryan’s songs is both schlemiel and schlimazel: the spiller of the soup who promptly slips in it. Is this Job the clown? It is not: “I was hardly known to god much less those who had sought to make their home in a bullseye.” The subject is a cipher, and his alienation is total. Or nearly: he has, or has had in some antagonizing past, a love life, although this too is compromised by cravenness and error and ineptitude. Is there no possibility of self\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e-improvement or self-understanding outside of its inversion, self-dissolution? Sentiment hardening and crumbling into sediment?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis probably sounds hopelessly plodding and severe. It is not—not remotely. It’s a shit-ton of fun. “Why not dance in the sands of yourself?” Ryan sings, while giving you plenty to move to. The songs are all earwigs; the arrangements genuinely thrilling, enlivening efforts by the crackerjacks that comprise the sprawling Roadhouse Band. Each trip through the record reveals more of the depth and breadth and tangle of its tapestry. On my twenty-something-th spin I discover wonderful new threads—a brief, breathtaking piano arpeggio by Anthony Fossaluzza; some hard-panned synth rumble that my three-year-old insists is a thunderstorm but that I say is a space rocket. These strike me as having held themselves in reserve till I’ve earned the wonder of encountering them. Is there a better definition of revelation?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe lyrics work similarly, of course, and will go on revealing themselves for, well, forever. Ryan manages near-rhymes that a hundred years’ worth of monkeys laboring at Chat GPT-enabled typewriters couldn’t achieve: “bromeliad” and “necrophiliac”; “urinal” and “de Chirico.” Kinky Friedman lamented that people thought his funny songs were sad and his sad songs were funny, when they were both simultaneously. Like the Kinkster, Ryan can make you laugh through a lump in your throat: e.g. (although it’s so hard to pick just one example): “I learned that time was not my friend nor my foe \/ more like one of the guys from work.” In his formidable crew of harmony singers there are three of the most gifted lyricists to currently walk among us—Catherine Irwin, Will Oldham, Lou Turner—which testifies, I think, to the profound heft of his writing. (These folks don’t often sign up to sing pap.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew Threats from the Soul is a masterclass in reducing the sublime to the prosaic, immensity to infinitesimality, and vice versa (the trick can only work both ways). Everything in our universe is essentially flotsam or jetsam, rubbish heaps of fragments and shards, a “pile of voodoo dolls and iron scrap in the backyard for the meek to inherit.” We, especially, are jerry-rigs of bubblegum and driftwood, inconsistencies and incoherencies, dead dreams and necrophagous hopes, “mismeasurements between the place where [we are] and the place where [we] could have been,” although somehow not—miracle of miracles—bereft of simple joys. The record functions in parallel with Kafka’s winking dictum that there is an infinite amount of hope in the universe, just not for us. At least, I would venture for coldest comfort, not as we have constituted ourselves. When Ryan has the penny slot yell “‘What even am I, by god?’” toward the high stakes room, the soul chills and thrills at being so seen. New Threats suggests that maybe, just maybe, something like redemption is possible, but only once we’re entirely emptied out and hawked in toto down at Walden Pawn.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e– Nathan Salsburg, April 2025\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 373px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4278081744\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-new-threats-from-the-soul\"\u003eRYAN DAVIS \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band \"New Threats from the Soul\" by Ryan Davis \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44208364486838,"sku":null,"price":24.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/RYANDAVIS_f9b7d6a6-b4b9-44e0-b66e-a2cf30c1b2df.png?v=1756693615"},{"product_id":"preorder-ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-new-threats-from-the-soul-lp","title":"Ryan Davis \u0026 The Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul 2LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e2LP set in tip-on gatefold sleeve with insert.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf there’s one name that sums up our 2025, it’s gotta be Ryan Davis. Amid a slew of excellent releases on his label, his first Australian tour, and a much-anticipated second solo LP, was there an issue of Presser where he didn’t get a mention? What can I say, we enjoy flogging quality goods!!! Anyway, time to go on about what we’re always going on about with a proper review of the latest…\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere are three ways to go about a review of Ryan Davis \u0026amp; The Roadhouse Band’s latest collection, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNew Threats From The Soul\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The first would be to mention the much-deserved rise of Davis on the back of this LP, with glowing reviews in the music press, chunky feature articles in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUncut\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStereogum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and the like, sold out tours, and already a repress of the album only a few months on from release. Surely a review of this type would end with a “we told you so” from us after we’ve spent the last 5 or so years effusively bleating about a myriad of projects executed by Davis \u0026amp; co (See: State Champion, Equipment Pointed Ankh, Roadhouse, everything on Davis’ killer Sophomore Lounge label, the local CD release of their first album \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDancing On The Edge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e on the Repressed Records shop label).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe second approach would be to remark at how great the lyrics are on this record and do as so many other reviewers have done before and reel off some favourite lines. Davis writes with a humour and wit replete with cartoonish imagery that would make you think David Berman was ghost-writing lyrics for Three 6 Mafia records (Berman famously called him “the best songwriter who isn’t a rapper going”). I could fill a couple of pages quoting lines and by that point you may as well just ready the lyric sheet. Anway, for the record and to prove a point here are some of my favourites this week:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e          \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Jesus Christ is trying out new material on you and me tonight \/ he has not nailed the crowd work but vice versa \/ yet stirred the Blood Marys right”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e          \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“OJDIDIT on a license plate \/ lightning strikes and ignites the day \/ I’m pushing this lawnmower down Broadway in a windstorm \/ twirlin’ like a sex tape in a microwave.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e          \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“a dream is a mirror held by a phantom hand”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e          \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I learned that time was not my friend or my foe \/ more like one of the guys from work”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe third way to write about this record is as we normally do – providing a bit of context and continuing our evangelising about it!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor the as yet unfamiliar, Davis is a stalwart of Lousiville’s DIY music scene, as the co-booker behind the Cropped Out festival (look em up on Wikipedia for a FOMO trip) and as the honcho behind the Sophomore Lounge record label. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNew Threats From the Soul \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis a continuation of these (as well as his musical) projects. Reading the liner notes you can’t help but notice the swathe of familiar names lending a hand to the record, drawing upon his long history in these worlds: Will Oldham, Ned Collette, Myrian Gendron, Emily Robb, Grace Rogers, Jenny Rose, Elisabeth Fuschia, Catherine Irwin, Shutaro Noguchi, Lou Turner and more.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMusically, it takes up exactly where \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDancing On The Edge \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eleft off: long songs that seem to breeze by and reward repeat listens with intricately interwoven lyrics and musical variations. Similar characters crop up again, kicking around on the edges of society in a kind of tragic-comedic despair. The humour in the lyrics is obvious, but it continues through the music as well, a kind of no-bad-ideas collaborative effort that seemed like it was a helluva lot of fun to write and record (and just as much fun to listen). Even after countless plays in the car I’m still finding strange patterns and recurring musical chime-ins from various players, and I’m yet to take a copy home to play yet. Everything from a jovial clarinet line to open the album, to a violin riff over a drum break, to a cacophonous storm of guitar feedback that seems to come from out of nowhere to some wonky drum machines that almost mimic that movement of the album cover.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat’s not to say that \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNTFTS \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis just another \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDotE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The latest settles into a more drum machine forward second disc and perhaps a more confident layering of characters, jokes, and voices. That being said, if you ask me which is the better record I don’t know if I could split the difference! Like a ton of feathers up against a ton of bricks, it all weighs the same! Both perfect companions to the other, both essential listens!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the spirit of this month’s gift guide, this would make the perfect gift for fans of music and lyrics (yep, that broad). Or more specifically, for the Boomers into Cohen and Dylan, the Gen X’ers and Millenials into the Drag City songwriters (Bill Callahan\/Smog, Silver Jews\/Purple Mountains, Palace Music\/Bonnie “Prince” Billy), the Gen Z’ers into the trendy new country-leaning wordsmiths (MJ Lenderman or Wednesday), hell, there’s even enough tunes on this album that the Gen Alpha babies could bop along too.\u003cbr\u003e–Mitch\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 373px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4278081744\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/ryan-davis-the-roadhouse-band-new-threats-from-the-soul\"\u003eRYAN DAVIS \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band \"New Threats from the Soul\" by Ryan Davis \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44208364519606,"sku":null,"price":69.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/RYANDAVIS_d9246e43-7f82-41ee-9d64-fefc0de676ea.png?v=1756693600"},{"product_id":"giving-up-peace-sign-frown-face-lp","title":"Giving Up - (peace sign\/frown face) LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe symbol formerly known as \"peace.\" Giving Up went to Iowa to record this under the guise of just hanging out, goofing off, playing Mario 3, and watching The O.C. This was in hopes of releasing the record in the timeliest fashion. This was like three years ago. 9 songs. 45 minutes. Girl and boy vocals. Guitars, drums, wind organ. Kind of charming. Kind of rough around the edges. Pop. Punk. Folk. Post-pop-punk. Rock-n-roll. Songs are kind of uplifting. Lyrics are pretty good. About boy-girl stuff. About political stuff. About being bummed. About being stoked. About catharsis. About saying fuck you in the nicest way possible. Limited to 300 copies on baby blue vinyl. Comes with multiple inserts and MP3 download.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 439px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1667801487\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/givingup.bandcamp.com\/album\/peace-sign-frown-face\"\u003e(PEACE SIGN - FROWN FACE) by giving up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Direct","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44327416660150,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0871527136_10.jpg?v=1760160402"},{"product_id":"giving-up-garner-cardinals-lp","title":"Giving Up - Garner Cardinals LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt's strange to believe that Giving Up's latest and greatest effort \"Garner Cardinals\" is only their third official full-length since forming over a decade ago in the unfinished basement bedrooms of rural Iowa. For a band that's toured no less than semi-actively around the calendar and self-released no fewer than too-many-to-count cassette and CD-R transmissions throughout the course of some Bush Deuce, double Obamas, and whatever the fuck is happening now...one would be misled in thinking the scarcity of their studio output would imply any lack in overall drive.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLike their label co-conspirators and spiritual siblings State Champion, Giving Up is a geographically challenged unit. With membership ranging from Minnesota to Kentucky plus a couple places in between, a bulk of the creative grunt is handled by head songwriter \/ visual artist Mikie Poland and his key collaborator \/ key boarder Jenny Rose (w\/ additional contributions by Sean Roth, Aaron Osbourne, Dusty Van Ness) – trading ideas over the years by phone, mail, smoke signal, psychic will, home recordings, home visits and the like.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut very much un-like their earlier outings in the LP format – the charming yet head-scratchingly produced debut \"Gthrowing Up\" (2009) and better but nearly aborted follow-up [peace\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003esign \/ frown face] (2012), both cursed with more coincidental oddities and studio mishaps than a tragi-comedy classic rock mockumentary – \"Garner Cardinals\" is a statement made on the band's own desired terms. Engineered by their touring drummer Dusty Van Ness in the comfort of his Minneapolis home, the record is a best-of-both whirlwind delivering DIY bedroom grunge aesthetics with a self-puffed studio sheen. Serving not only as a natural stepping stone from the dumpster-fi fog of a Jad Fair-fronted Screeching Weasel tape boiled to perfection in a roadside hotel tub exhibited on recent tour trinkets, but also as a “coming of age” mark for Poland's idiosyncratic song-kraft.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the album opener “My Body” – a gate-blast of jangled energy lighting the stage for skeptically optimistic dandelion punk to follow – through the motoric schoolyard kraut-pop of “April Showers” to the memorably off-kilter closer “People's Records,” rounding out the album in a sizzling glory of rambling narrative poetics, the band's bar is undoubtedly raised over the course of these ten tracks. And if you ask me, we're all better for it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Garner Cardinals\" is both littered with and colored by images of Giving Up's own little America – an unknowingly large yet strangely intimate midwestern wasteland layered with spray-painted alters, misoriented gravestones, natural beauty, body dysmorphia, hamburger sunsets, small-town bad news, battery-operated memories, haunted mansions, shameless fantasies, forever-friendships, and an ultimate sacrifice of going deaf for what they love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the time we're flipping it over for a second listen, the Cardinals' song is already wormed deeply into our ears en route to our skeptically optimistic dandelion hearts, if not a larger collective midwestern sub-conscious awaiting. Rural Iowan rock music in the almost-2020s. What the fuck could it even sound like? Is it good? Well, I'll tell you. It's a familiar song – catchy, sweet, abstract, loud...”pretty bird, pretty bird...”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI continue to go deaf for that.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e –Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1183035604\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/giving-up-garner-cardinals\"\u003eGIVING UP \"Garner Cardinals\" by Giving Up\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44327417184438,"sku":null,"price":32.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a3256323850_10.jpg?v=1760160558"},{"product_id":"ma-turner-zoz-lp","title":"Ma Turner - Zoz LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe thirteen songs on the \"ZOZ\" LP have been remixed, reconfigured, and collaged using sounds created for and found within the \"ZOZ COLLECTION\" box set (Brave Captain\/Sophomore Lounge, 2014). Consisting of twelve cassettes cased inside a handmade box, the collection features eighty-three compositions and makes for roughly six hours of sound. Debuting on display at Lexington, Kentucky's Institute 193 gallery in March of 2014, the boxes as well as tape covers, accompanying booklets and flags have all been hand drawn, screen printed, collaged, painted, and assembled by Turner himself. \"ZOZ COLLECTION\" was recorded piecemeal as an audio diary experimenting with themes of prayer and mediation between the months of January 2013 and February 2014 in Lexington at Turner's home.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGuitarist\/co-founder of CROSS and Salad Influence as well as founder of Warmer Milks, Ma Turner (br 1977, Louisville, KY) has been making sound and visual art under various guises since the early 1980's.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 472px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2635087116\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/ma-turner-zoz\"\u003eMA TURNER \"ZOZ\" by Ma Turner\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44327417938102,"sku":null,"price":34.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2677654676_10.jpg?v=1760160650"},{"product_id":"will-lawrence-rooftops-in-the-centerfold-lp","title":"Will Lawrence - Rooftops in the Centerfold LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWill Lawrence is a NY-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"lightweightBreak\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHis fifth studio \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"peekaboo-text\"\u003ealbum, “Rooftops in the Centerfold,\" is out\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"peekaboo-text\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eSeptember 19, 2025 on Triangle House \/ Sophomore Lounge Records.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"lightweightBreak\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe also works as a support player in The Felice Brothers, Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band, John Early and the Lemon Squares, and many more.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=223902683\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/will-lawrence-rooftops-in-the-centerfold\"\u003eWILL LAWRENCE \"Rooftops in the Centerfold\" by Will Lawrence\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44327418495158,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a0861089136_10.jpg?v=1760160862"},{"product_id":"shutaro-noguchi-the-roadhouse-band-on-the-run-lp","title":"Shutaro Noguchi \u0026 the Roadhouse Band - On The Run LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eOh joy, more music from The Roadhouse Band (of Ryan Davis \u0026amp;.... fame)! This time with Shutaro Noguchi in the driver’s seat delivering a phenomenal set of songs comparable to Kenji Kariu, Francis Plagne, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, prog-pop from Hobbies Galore alumni, or Jim O’rouke in Avant-Adult Orientated Rock mode.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis record delightfully reeks of a cast of players that have a history of stretching out, experimenting and pushing forms, but here they’ve changed gears and have come together in the service of beautiful, slightly wonky songs. And if you’re aware of the Faust-meets-This Heat avant rock\/jazz fusion (paraphrasing Max from Watery Love here) project Equipment Pointed Ankh, which Shutaro and many other players on this record are members of, you’d know that it’s more than an odour, it’s a fact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDefinitely best of 2025 material and if you’re not yet onboard with Sophomore Lounge Records, time to get with tha program bitch! — Nic\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 406px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2207619426\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/shutaro-noguchi-the-roadhouse-band-on-the-run\"\u003eSHUTARO NOGUCHI \u0026amp; the Roadhouse Band \"On The Run\" by Shutaro Noguchi\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Shutaro Noguchi didn’t set out to make a farewell album, but On the Run captures a moment of profound change. Recorded just weeks before moving back to Japan after 20 formative years in America (spent primarily Louisville, Kentucky), the album reflects a life in motion – rooted in memories, yet reaching toward the unknown.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Louisville, Noguchi had built a creative home with a tight-knit crew, crafting beloved records that ranged from the country-rock swagger of Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band to the mutant grooves of Equipment Pointed Ankh. Meanwhile, he released compelling solo work, including the full-band psych rock gem Love Super Terranean on Feeding Tube Records. With On the Run, Noguchi joins The Roadhouse Band once more for a searching, expressive collaboration – an album made at a threshold between past and future.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe opening track “Olympic 3.5” begins with Noguchi in solitary introspection: \"Now the wind is blowing \/ It’s passing me by … I’m getting a little too used to watching this sunset.\" He’s soon joined by the syncopated rhythms and lilting synths of The Roadhouse camp, constructing a warped odyssey that intertwines the cosmic spirit of Gong with the melodic, pop-driven abstraction of Ryuichi Sakamoto. Noguchi returns with Wyatt-esque wordless vocalizations\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ebefore the song spirals into a dark, abstract descent.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJazz-tinged numbers like “Apocalypse\/Calendar” and “River Dagger” highlight Noguchi’s singular compositional voice. His relaxed vocals float over otherworldly arrangements, while “Drive My Cape Cod” – a voice memo captured during a long car ride and completed in the studio – offers a candid glimpse into his melodic daydreaming, in a move reminiscent of Maher Shalal Hash Baz, where casual, unpolished moments reveal deeper emotion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome tracks lean into groovier, more danceable territory, with production touches that echo Japanese contemporaries like Shintaro Sakamoto, Fishmans, Cornelius, etc.. “Melody” pairs a nostalgic City Pop feel with the band’s forward-thinking sound. The bubbly rhythm of “Time With You” feels almost weightless beneath the album’s perhaps only guitar solo, played, oddly enough, not by guitar wiz Noguchi himself but by bandmate Ryan Davis -- (NOTE: Keiji Haino told Shutaro several years back that he should focus less on the guitar elements of his music and more on his singing – a conversation that significantly influenced the shift in sonic approach exhibited here compared to his frantic, pedal-powered 2018 debut). Amid the breezy lightness, he accepts the chaos of an uncertain future: \"It’s beginning to change \/ The time of the world \/ Eventually we’ll see it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNoguchi’s reflections on uncertainty are deeply relatable and bittersweet – especially in this moment. With On the Run, Shutaro Noguchi and The Roadhouse Band show us how they face the unknown – together, embracing uncertainty with both resilience and camaraderie.\" - Kryssi Battalene, 2025\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44327420166326,"sku":null,"price":48.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a2264138982_10.jpg?v=1760161085"},{"product_id":"arbor-labor-union-out-to-pasture-lp","title":"Arbor Labor Union - Out To Pasture LP","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eStretching out from purple dawn (Patch of Violet) to cicada twilight (Spittle of the Morning Moon) like Whitman laying on his back observing the dew drop worlds collected on shards of green swords(hidden in a drop of dew), to the topographic map of the stars as witness\/ dull mirror ,reflecting the constellation of the human body (zodiac man). To the cloud disappear \/ cloud evaporate canned heat boogie hymnal of Clear View. The prayer is answered and the sun pokes the light through again. A voice in the forest calls out blindly. She lets her hair down and answers, calling him back to her in the way she knows how. A CSNY seasoned skillet of guitar fried taters (repunzel). Out to pasture indeed. More bound and freer than ever. From the stump again to sky, Arbor Labor Union. As the leaves fall. 2025 AD. –Sophomore Lounge\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 373px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=3017954631\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sophomorelounge.bandcamp.com\/album\/arbor-labor-union-out-to-pasture\"\u003eARBOR LABOR UNION \"Out To Pasture\" by Arbor Labor Union\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Sophomore Lounge","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45142747709622,"sku":null,"price":44.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/a4129620089_10.jpg?v=1779761922"}],"url":"https:\/\/repressedrecords.com\/collections\/sophomore-lounge-1.oembed?page=2","provider":"Repressed Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}