The spectacular ‘Sophomore Release’ (matcd057) is the brilliant second album from modern Scottish pop revivalists Bubblegum Lemonade! The record is the highly anticipated follow-up to the celebrated 2008 debut album ‘Doubleplusgood’ (matcd048) and proves there’s no end to Laz’ pipeline of bubblegum pop hits.

‘Sophomore Release’ starts off strong with another airing of recent smash single ‘Caroline’s Radio’, a fantastic Scottish pop classic that pays homage to offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline with spirited lead guitars and rich harmonies perfect for surfing the medium waves. ‘Maybe Someday’ is a mid-tempo hypnotic song with jangling guitars, a pulsing kick drum, groovy 60s bass line, and nice bits of glockenspiel, while ‘She’s Got A Gun’ is number 3 with a bullet, featuring a fuzzy 12-string guitar intro and more ace harmonies.

‘You Only Leave Twice’ is a smashing little tune, boasting big 60s production, soaring harmonies, acoustic guitars, bongos, and more glockenspiel, while ‘We Could Send Emails’ is a clever nod to early Aztec Camera with poetic lyrics, a circular jangle riff, ba-ba-ba refrain, more 12-string guitars, and nice harmonies. Meanwhile, ‘Alice Please’ is slow-burning psychedelic pop that recalls fellow Scots The Bachelor Pad with its fuzzy stop-start guitars and rolling drum rhythm.

Side two of the album kicks off with the up-tempo ‘Living For Today’, a nice slice of ‘Darklands’-era Mary Chain pop with a shoegaze bridge leading to what is possibly the album’s best guitar solo. ‘Girlfriend Ghost’ slows things down a bit with an atmospheric tale of relationships past complete with haunting counter melody and vocal harmonies that bring to mind The House of Love or various bands from the American Paisley Underground. ‘Autumn Sky’ is a page from Laz’ autumn almanac, set in 3/4 time and boasting major seventh chords, a lilting rhythm, Beach Boys percussion, and more handsome harmonies.

‘You’re Still Beautiful (When You’re Sad)’ is another instantly memorable smash with 12-string intro, playful lyrics, and jangling chords that build to a ba-ba-ba conclusion. ‘When She Goes’ is a slow 12-string chimefest originally recorded by Laz’ former band The Search Engines now back by popular demand with Sandra of Strawberry Whiplash on backing vox and a nice Phil Spector-inspired drum pattern. Finally, ‘Last Train To Clarkston’ is an up-tempo album closer that pays respect to the Monkees with plenty of 60s guitars and loads of tambourine.

Inspired by all the right pop music from the past 50 years, Bubblegum Lemonade create insanely catchy and melodic songs filtered through their very own scruffy Glasgow charm school. ‘Sophomore Release’ builds on the great promise exhibited on ‘Doubleplusgood’ with a wide variety of song types, rich instrumentation, superb female harmonies, and enhanced production. A modern classic!

For complete release details and soundclips, please see the catalog page or visit the Matinée and Bubblegum Lemonade pages on Facebook.  You can stream a few key album tracks on the handy player below.

The album is available now in the Matinée shop and smart record retailers across the land, plus digitally via the usual digital outlets including iTunes, emusic, Amazon, Darla.com, Spotify, and others. Don’t forget your copy of the snazzy red vinyl ‘Caroline’s Radio’ 7″ (matinée 074) with two exclusive tracks before they’re gone too!

The final Matinée release of the year is a very special Christmas single called ‘The Matinée Holiday Soirée’ (matinée 078) and it’s now available for preorder! The EP includes exclusive new seasonal gifts from Matinée hitmakers Bubblegum Lemonade, Math and Physics Club, Northern Portrait, and Strawberry Whiplash, plus the Matinée debut of excellent Danish act Champagne Riot! While there are a few mentions of sleighbells and mistletoe on the record, the EP is not your average Christmas offering. We thought about writing some clever text to describe the songs but decided you really must hear them yourself so we’ve just added all five songs to the Soundcloud player below.  The tracklisting is: 1. Math and Physics Club – It Must Be Christmas; 2. Northern Portrait – Leave The Trees Alone; 3. Strawberry Whiplash – Santa Needs A Holiday; Champagne Riot – Xmas Safari; 5. Bubblegum Lemonade – White Noise Christmas.

You know four of these bands well of course, and Champagne Riot are sure to be firm favorites too as the band features Caspar from Northern Portrait. You may know their previous EP ‘Paris and I’ released by our good pals at Shelflife Records in 2008? If not, you really should check that out as we’ll be releasing the follow-up ‘Confessions of a Poker Pro’ EP in short order and it’s really pretty amazing.

‘The Matinée Holiday Soirée’ is released December 6th but you can preorder a copy right now exclusively from the Matinée shop and we’ll ship it as soon as we have copies back from the pressing plant. If you’re in a festive mood, you should pick up one of the ‘Matinée Winter Warmer’ CDs (matinée 055) we released a few years back too because it contains ten seasonal songs from The Fairways, Harper Lee, The Liberty Ship, Lovejoy, The Lucksmiths, Melodie Group, The Pines, Pipas, Slipslide, and The Windmills. It’s ace, naturally and it’s also now on sale!

Hope you haven’t already finalized your ‘best of 2010’ list because the new album ‘Sophomore Release’ (matcd057) from Scottish pop revivalists Bubblegum Lemonade is now in stock and you really need to hear it. The record—the penultimate Matinée release of the year and the highly anticipated follow-up to the smash 2008 debut album ‘Doubleplusgood’ (matcd048)—proves there’s no end to Laz’ pipeline of Scottish pop hits.

The album includes a dozen new Bubblegum Lemonade hits, including 1. Caroline’s Radio; 2. Maybe Someday; 3. She’s Got A Gun; 4. You Only Leave Twice; 5. We Could Send Emails; 6. Alice Please; 7. Living For Today; 8. Girlfriend Ghost; 9. Autumn Sky; 10. You’re Still Beautiful (When You’re Sad); 11. When She Goes; and 12. Last Train to Clarkston. Inspired by all the right pop music from the past 50 years, Bubblegum Lemonade create insanely catchy and melodic songs and filter them through their very own scruffy Glasgow charm school. ‘Sophomore Release’ builds on the great promise exhibited on ‘Doubleplusgood’ with a wide variety of song types, rich instrumentation, superb female harmonies, and enhanced production. It’s a modern classic and definitely worthy of a spot on your year-end list!

Listen to a few of our current favorites on the ‘Sophomore Release’ catalog page and grab a free download of the lovely ‘You Only Leave Twice’ on the Matinée sounds page. If that’s not enough, you can hear even more songs now playing on the Bubblegum Lemonade page on Facebook!

The official album release date is November 29th but you can get your copy right now exclusively in the Matinée shop! While you’re there, you may want to pick up the snazzy red vinyl ‘Caroline’s Radio’ 7” (matinée 074) too as it has two additional songs that do not appear on ‘Sophomore Release’ and it’s selling fast!

So that’s two months atop the Matinée hit parade for The Lucksmiths ‘Get-to-Bed Birds’ 45. We are currently shipping copies in the 600s so get yours before they’re all gone. Matinée has just half the pressing (the evens) as we shipped the rest (the odds) to our good pals at the Lost and Lonesome Recording Company in Australia and they are reporting brisk sales as well. Here are the top sellers in the Matinée shop for the month of October:

10. The Guild League – Speak Up CD
9. Cats on Fire – Dealing In Antiques CD
8. Bubblegum Lemonade – Caroline’s Radio 7″
7. Northern Portrait – Criminal Art Lovers CD
6. Strawberry Whiplash – Picture Perfect CDEP
5. Northern Portrait – Napoleon Sweetheart CDEP
4. Math and Physics Club – Jimmy Had A Polaroid 7″
3. Math and Physics Club – I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do CD
2. Northern Portrait – Life Returns To Normal 7″
1. The Lucksmiths – Get-to-Bed Birds 7″