Sam Jr.

New to Sam Jr. ? Check out his 2022 debut albums nihilist fuzz-psychedelia full of flutes, bongos and wah wah guitars mixed by audio king Dave Fridmann. Or his 2024 album “Inner Shadow” hailed as his “Ride The Lightning” era mixed by DFA1979’s Sebastien Grainger. But judge for yourself. All I’m saying is, if you’re into hot fuzz, Sam Jr. will make you rather happy. “My concept for awhile writing songs was actually ‘What would the Dude’s band from The Big Lebowski sound like?’” laughs Sam, Jr., the titular architect behind this long-overdue solo stepping-out. I’m a hardwired optimist and a mellow person overall, and I want that to come across in the songs.” If you enjoy overdriven Stooges sleaze and expertly deployed noise of the Spacemen 3 / A Place to Bury Strangers variety and the thought of, say, T. Rex covering some of the more obscure B-sides on Barbed Wire Kisses or the Primal Scream who made XTRMNTR going back in time to remake Screamadelica with far more cynicism ... well, that’s in the ballpark. But why give it all away? If it sounds like you’re gonna like it you’re probably gonna love it. More importantly, it sounds exactly the way Sam, Jr., wanted it to sound and he loves it. He went through a lot to get here. But maybe he had to go through a lot to get here