Junaco w/ Paper Castles & Mad @ Radio Bean

21+
$10-$15
7:30pm doors | 8pm show

Junaco (Insta | Bandcamp | Spotify | Youtube)

Junaco's sophomore LP "In Motion" is a reflection of the bands' ever changing lives. Written during winter in Northern California, they were living together in one big circular structure - lighting the wood stove every morning, playing together for hours on end, hiking, sauna-ing, and getting in the icy river every night. In complete isolation and with limited access to the internet, the rest of the world felt far away, and the band was able to finally feel all of the change they had been in the midst of. Produced by the band and engineered by Mario Ramirez, the record features contributions by Oliver Hill, Tyler Chester, and more. Junaco worked closely with artist Drew Litowitz on the album cover, a collection of photos and vignettes that represent the change Junaco reflects on in the album. "In Motion" is a journey of growth, loss, and love; an experiment on what comes up when the noise dies down.

Paper Castles (Insta | Spotify)

Paper Castles is the songwriting project and band fronted by Paddy Reagan and bolstered by drummer Brennan Mangan, guitarist Wren Kitz (a Sophomore Lounge and NNA Tapes recording artist), and bassist Emily Tompkins. Throughout its existence, PC has warmed Vermont stages for literally every single artist touring through, including Big Thief, Sheer Mag, Explosions in the Sky, Chris Cohen, Frankie Cosmos, William Tyler, Protomartyr, Pile, and The Wallflowers to name just a few.

Some background on their catalog: if 2011’s Bleating Heart had Reagan making sense of Bill Callahan and Jeff Tweedy’s respective songbooks, then 2013’s Vague Era had Reagan making sense of Pavement and Deerhunter’s respective sonics. Those poles were channelled into the DMZ of 2018’s Acceptionalism while upping the recording fidelity thanks to Ryan Power and Urian Hackney (Rough Francis, The Armed) behind the decks.

“Avalon” is the group’s first new music since 2018’s Acceptionalism, released March 2025. Sipsman will release the next Paper Castles record later this year.

Mad (Insta | Spotfiy)

Mad pulled their set together in a little under a week for their first performance, at Burlington VT's Art Hop in 2019. They haven't looked back since, continuously adding new sonically unique songs, and performing at venues and DIY festivals in VT and beyond. While it may be difficult to categorize the music into a readily available genre, it is easy to have fun at a Mad show, so whether you want to dance, laugh, or be thoroughly entertained, catch them live when you get a chance!