Footage: State Champion's Blindingly Sublime "The Basement" and "No Magick"

Oh to be as drunk and free and blessed with musical genius as the cats in State Champion, who toss off lines like "Lord can't you take the back porch to the front of the house" and "I still smell her hair on the horizon sometimes..." like it's no big thing, like pulling Universal Truths out of your one good pocket, blowing the lint off of them and tossing them on the glass patio table littered with 49 sticky playing cards, empty packs of Winstons, spent spliffs and all the bottle caps up to but not including that one motherfucking bottle cap that chipped your tooth is just something everyone's doing. Watching this video may be the greatest moment in your life, so get comfy and really savor it.

Yeah. Right, State Champion, we wrote about them here two years ago. And we were in the middle of writing about them again this evening when we found the video embedded above and got our minds blown. Where were we, oh right... We like to think about State Champion's new release Deep Shit playing out in real time as a live set in an imaginary nightclub in front of a hundred people or so, and we like to think that the band is already half in the bag to the point of brilliance by the time they hit the stage, and select members of the audience are feeling particularly beautiful as well, and we like to think that when the band gets to the fifth song "No Magick" -- and particularly at the delivery of the fantastic lyric "I found out I was hollering the wrong word / and Jesus lives in the garage" -- that the entire audience achieves complete enlightenment at the same time. The ceiling cracks open and white light pours in like ocean water. The simple answer is the universal truth. You are in that audience, and you are so intoxicated you can't feel your face, but State Champion fronter Ryan Davis is fucking singing RIGHT TO YOU, INSIDE YOUR BRAIN, IT'S LIKE SILENT, BUT IT'S LIKE EVERYWHERE, YOU KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING. Oh man, I understand, I understand, I understand everything. Oh man. Check the Soundcloud embed below.

State Champion's "No Magick"

State Champion's Deep Shit, its second full-length and fifth release depending on how and if you count, was recorded live in an attic on the south side of Chicago at the close of the band's spring tour. The cracking set features both the often-augmented trio's "The Basement" and "No Magick" as well as five other fizzing and punked-up country-rock numbers the likes of which we don't hear often enough. The collection is available as a 12" LP Tuesday distributed by the good people of Drag City (meaning you might be able to walk into your local indie rock purveyor and actually find this). Mr. Davis' Sophomore Lounge label will have stock of the record Oct. 25 and you can buy it through the web site from that date, or, hell, they're taking pre-orders. And State Champion is on tour RIGHT NOW, and coming to play in Allston Rock City this Friday night at some place we never heard of. Full tour dates below. Get into it.

10.03 -- SOUNDLAB -- BUFFALO, NY
10.04 -- THE BUG JAR -- ROCHESTER, NY
10.06 -- THE MONKEY HOUSE -- WINOOSKI, VT
10.07 -- THE SMOKEY BEAR CAVE -- ALLSTON, MA
10.08 -- THE GUTTER -- BROOKLYN, NY
10.10 -- SILK CITY -- PHILADELPHIA, PA
10.11 -- BOHEMIAN -- BALTIMORE, MD
10.12 -- BACKSTREET PUB -- BEAUFORT, NC
10.13 -- THE PINHOOK -- DURHAM, NC
10.14 -- NIGHTLIGHT -- CHAPEL HILL, NC
10.15 -- ROCK BOTTOM HOUSE -- ATLANTA, GA
10.17 -- BURRO BAR -- JACKSONVILLE, FL
10.18 -- LAMPLIGHTER LOUNGE -- MEMPHIS, TN
10.20 -- CLUB 21 -- LOUISVILLE, KY
10.22 -- MOVE-TASTIC PIG ROAST -- CHICAGO, IL