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Price history (90 days)
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90-day low
$27.99
90-day high
$28.00
Avg
$28.00
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About this electronic
Los Angeles six-piece The Sophs have ridden a wave of notoriety ever since signing to Rough Trade Records on the strength of their demos - which they cold-emailed to labelheads Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee before they ever even played a show. Following last year’s releases of stand-alone singles ‘I’M YOUR FIEND’, ‘SWEAT’, and ‘DEATH IN THE FAMILY’ and worldwide touring, the band are ready to unleash their debut album GOLDSTAR. Rough Trade heard the sort of creativity and variety — and “don’t expect me to act pretty” sentiment — that could get The Sophs — including Ramon, Sam Yuh (keyboards), Austin Parker Jones (electric guitar), Seth Smades (acoustic guitar), Devin Russ (drums), and Cole Bobbitt (bass) — a slot on nearly any stage. At any moment, The Sophs are entering pop-punk; blazing through funk; talk-singing to the audience. Their enthusiasm for every iteration is evident, and Ramon’s rich, full voice deftly nestles into endless categories, utterly chameleonic. “We never try to be as versatile as we end up being,” Ramon said. GOLDSTAR has a Delta Blues-style song; it has a ZZ Top-inspired tune. To some degree, The Sophs see song creation like pop art: they’re focused on the idea of reproducing something over and over again until it's meaningless. “I want to steal and plagiarize and borrow,” Ramon explains. The record asks, where’s my gold star? Where’s my validation? Why am I not being rewarded for how much of a good person I am? Am I doing mitzvahs for the right reason? The titular track — which kicks off with flamenco-style fingerpicking — wrestles with the philosophy of really being good and what that looks like. “The Sophs arrived out of the great blue yonder. It’s rare that a demo that arrives in the post sets your heart racing and sends you off on a quest to track down it’s sender. But that is what happened when we listened to the music sent to us by Ethan Ramon. He described himself as an indigenous inhabitant of Los Angeles transplanted from Phoenix where his tribe had landed after it’s migration from further north. Ethan put together a band of Phoenix friends all now living in Los Angeles and with the addition of a Florida native on drums, The Sophs were born. At the time of the demo The Sophs had never played a gig in public. Jeannette Lee was in town with Pulp who were playing a show and The Sophs put on their first ever show for her personally. Now signed to Rough Trade they are we feel a great American band in the tradition of Bob Dylan’s “Talkin Blues”, The Strokes, Richard Hell and Weezer.” – Geoff Travis: Founder and Head of Rough Trade
