It was my intention to post one of my “best of 2009″ repost series this morning but these guys have pre-empted that with their excellent 2010 album Stale Champagne.
State Champion is a band that personifies the mid-western work ethic; musically that translates to blue collar rock and rugged, sloppy garage-country. The band has spent some time in Chicago but are now based out of Louisville, KY. The sound on Stale Champagne is loose and the recording of is rough and ramshackle in all the right places. The band’s one sheet does a surprisingly good job of describing their ethos:
Having created a sound that is a product of its upbringing, with Sweetheart of the Rodeo on the radio, Bleach in the tape deck, and a Smog song stuck in its head, State Champion drives through forty minutes of sincerely howled, sloppily executed, stripped down garage-country on its full-length debut.
To make that paragraph perfect I’d just throw in a line about sitting on the porch and listening to Uncle Tupelo and/or driving down a dirt road listening to Big Star. But that paragraph pretty much sums up the band. The new album is available in early 2010 but I bet you can get it now if you send a nice email to Ryan at sophomorelounge@gmail.com.
Bonus:
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