CAT#: ULY027
ARTIST: Julie Ragbeer
TITLE: Perplex
DATE: 03/22/2024
FORMAT: Cassette
PRICE: $15

Julie Ragbeer, a graduate of <1,000 U, is a trailblazer. One month ago, after languishing online unheard for 4 long years, she decided she’d had enough. Julie loaded herself into the bucket of the meme machine catapult, unsheathed her blade and bravely severed the restraining rope. Sent a-flyin by a paid @PopTingz post, up-and-over the moat she flew, handily clearing the gatekeepers and algorithm trolls, into the ever-churning cauldron of Queer Twitter, stewing juices with Glasgow’s Willy Wonka debacle and The Missing Princess. She became an Icon overnight — representing a triumph of relatability, honesty, and soul. Today, ULYSSA presents an exclusive extended cassette version of her debut album Perplex, featuring a demo of “Fight Against Your Fleshy Lusts” and bonus single “Rejected.”

Perplex is the underdog hero’s journey of Q1 2024. And a walking 9.0 if we ever heard one. Sophisticated, charming, homemade and confident. Bedroom pop that drags its neon peach press-ons across the icing of Sade and Gary Wilson’s Toejazz wedding cake. Euphoric ballads about love in the gulf between God and Science. A sultry synth-shuffle through the Garden of Eden. Anthemic bops about the libido and a desire for a Mature Adult Relationship. A post-irony response to Clairo’s Flaming Hot Cheetos. A slowgrind R&B tribute to experimental philosopher/psychologist (and hero of Freud!) Mary Whiton Calkins. It’s a turnaround jumpshot. It’s everybody’s jumpstart. It’s every generation throws a hero up the pop charts. Yes friends, these are the days of miracle and wonder. Beyond all simple pleasures and on to the perplex. Join us, dearest Ragdolls, as we give it up for The Lionheart of Jersey City, our queen/mother Julie Ragbeer.

Here at ULYSSA, we’ve celebrated many an outsider, and though we’ve landed a flaming arrow or two, smack dab between the editorial eyes, we’ve never seen one of our champions championed quite like this, though doubtless they all deserve it. Julie has us wondering if we shouldn’t rustle up an ad spend of our own from time to time. If The Audience is indeed ready to *do* *the* *work* and appreciate the music of the margins’ margins, then why not?