Songs from Northern Torrance
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| Songs from Northern Torrance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | May 29, 2020 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 14:52 | |||
| Label | Epitaph | |||
| Joyce Manor chronology | ||||
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Songs from Northern Torrance is a compilation album by the American pop-punk band Joyce Manor. It was released through Epitaph Records on May 29, 2020, as a 45 RPM 12" LP and a digital download.[citation needed]
Joyce Manor formed in northern Torrance, California in 2008, "purportedly ... following a drunken conversation between [frontman Barry] Johnson and fellow guitarist Chase Knobbe in the Disneyland parking lot", naming themselves "after an apartment complex near ... Johnson's home".[1]
Side A compiles early demos from 2008 and 2009 with Johnson and Knobbe joined by drummer Chris Torres, whilst side B contains the entirety of the 2010 Constant Headache EP, seeing Matt Ebert join on bass and Kurt Walcher replacing Torres on drums.[citation needed]
Style
Critics contrasted the gritty,[2] "grimy",[1] and "stripped-down"[3] punk and "lo-fi charm"[1] of Joyce Manor's earlier work with their later "refined"[1] and "polished",[3][2] noting the split between the "lighthearted, sometimes screamy folk punk"[1] side A with the inclusion of fan-favorites like "House Warning Party"[1][3][2] and the "full-bore screamo punk-pop",[1] "fuck-it-all angsty classics"[3] of the Constant Headache EP on side B.[2]
Critical reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Paste | 8.4/10[3] |
| Pitchfork | 7.2/10[2] |
Arielle Gordon of Pitchfork said it comes "closest to Johnson's elusive holy grail of punk", also noting that "the compilation's abrasive edge evokes the basements, bowling alleys, and backyards that dot Joyce Manor's southern California home",[2] and AllMusic's Timothy Monger said it "feels like an archaeological dig into the grimy punk basements of West Coast suburbia."[1]