Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

by Minus the Bear

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𝄞 At this moment from where i sit, none of it seems real -- I love this feeling Favorite track: Pachuca Sunrise.

Andrew J Kobularcik I couldn't resist picking this up! This album was a big part of my youth 20 years ago. Thanks for making this amazing music and all the memories that have attached themselves to these melodies. I appreciate you all! Thanks for the time machine! Favorite track: Pachuca Sunrise.

t my first ever test pressing! can’t wait :) Favorite track: The Pig War.

more...

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
**PRE-ORDER WILL SHIP ON OR AROUND AUGUST 18, 2025**

+ EU/UK CUSTOMERS, ORDER FROM NORMAN RECORDS
www.normanrecords.com/records/209509-minus-the-bear-menos-el-oso-20th-anniversary

- PRODUCT DETAILS -

+ ORIGINAL 11-TRACK ALBUM, UNTOUCHED AND TIMELESS

+ 5 UNRELEASED DEMOS, MASTERED BY ED BROOKS (PEARL JAM, FLEET FOXES)

+ 24-PAGE ARCHIVE PHOTO JOURNAL LOS ARCHIVOS DEL OSO

+ SIDE D ETCHING BY BASSIST CORY MURCHY

+ 2xLP FIRST PRESSING ON MULTIPLE LIMITED EDITION VARIANTS

+ GATEFOLD JACKET WITH UPDATED ARTWORK, A MATTE FINISH & UV GLOSS

+ LP INCLUDES PRINTED INNER SLEEVES & DL CARD

+ VINYL CUT BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN (PRINCE, STEELY DAN, OUTKAST)

- PRESSING DETAILS -

+ PRESSED AT FURNACE RECORD PRESSING

+ AUTOGRAPHED TEST PRESSING (INCLUDES 24-PAGE BOOKLET) EXCLUSIVE ON BLACK VINYL. LIMITED TO 350 COPIES.

+ LABEL EXCLUSIVE ON HAND POUR BLOOD ORANGE VINYL. LIMITED TO 400 COPIES.

+ ARTIST EXCLUSIVE ON TRANSPARENT YELLOW WITH BLACK SPLATTER VINYL. LIMITED TO 750 COPIES.
merch.ambientinks.com/collections/minusthebear

+ SILKSCREENED JACKET EXCLUSIVE ON OPAQUE SILVER METALLIC VINYL. LIMITED TO 1,000 HAND-NUMBERED COPIES. SCREENED IN SEATTLE BY BROKEN PRESS.

+ BROOKLYN VEGAN EXCLUSIVE ON COKE BOTTLE GREEN VINYL. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
shop.brooklynvegan.com/collections/minus-the-bear

+ RETAIL VARIANT LIMITED TO 2,000 COPIES ON TRANSPARENT MAGENTA VINYL.

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
... more

ships out within 5 days

edition of 400 14 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$44.98 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
+ EU/UK CUSTOMERS, ORDER RETAIL VARIANT FROM NORMAN RECORDS
www.normanrecords.com/records/209509-minus-the-bear-menos-el-oso-20th-anniversary

- PRODUCT DETAILS -

+ ORIGINAL 11-TRACK ALBUM, UNTOUCHED AND TIMELESS

+ 5 UNRELEASED DEMOS, MASTERED BY ED BROOKS (PEARL JAM, FLEET FOXES)

+ 24-PAGE ARCHIVE PHOTO JOURNAL LOS ARCHIVOS DEL OSO

+ SIDE D ETCHING BY BASSIST CORY MURCHY

+ 2xLP FIRST PRESSING ON MULTIPLE LIMITED EDITION VARIANTS

+ GATEFOLD JACKET WITH UPDATED ARTWORK, A MATTE FINISH & UV GLOSS

+ LP INCLUDES PRINTED INNER SLEEVES & DL CARD

+ VINYL CUT BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN (PRINCE, STEELY DAN, OUTKAST)

- PRESSING DETAILS -

+ PRESSED AT FURNACE RECORD PRESSING

+ REPRESS LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES ON HAND POUR ALGAE VINYL

+ AUTOGRAPHED TEST PRESSING (INCLUDES 24-PAGE BOOKLET) EXCLUSIVE ON BLACK VINYL. LIMITED TO 350 COPIES.

+ LABEL EXCLUSIVE ON HAND POUR BLOOD ORANGE VINYL. LIMITED TO 400 COPIES.

+ ARTIST EXCLUSIVE ON TRANSPARENT YELLOW WITH BLACK SPLATTER VINYL. LIMITED TO 750 COPIES.
merch.ambientinks.com/collections/minusthebear

+ SILKSCREENED JACKET EXCLUSIVE ON OPAQUE SILVER METALLIC VINYL. LIMITED TO 1,000 HAND-NUMBERED COPIES. SCREENED IN SEATTLE BY BROKEN PRESS.

+ BROOKLYN VEGAN EXCLUSIVE ON COKE BOTTLE GREEN VINYL. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
shop.brooklynvegan.com/collections/minus-the-bear

+ RETAIL VARIANT LIMITED TO 2,000 COPIES ON TRANSPARENT MAGENTA VINYL.

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
... more

ships out within 7 days

edition of 1000 23 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$44.98 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
- PRODUCT DETAILS -

+ ORIGINAL 11-TRACK ALBUM, UNTOUCHED AND TIMELESS

+ 5 UNRELEASED DEMOS, MASTERED BY ED BROOKS (PEARL JAM, FLEET FOXES)

+ 24-PAGE ARCHIVE PHOTO JOURNAL LOS ARCHIVOS DEL OSO

+ SIDE D ETCHING BY BASSIST CORY MURCHY

+ LP INCLUDES PRINTED INNER SLEEVES & DL CARD

+ VINYL CUT BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN (PRINCE, STEELY DAN, OUTKAST)

+ PRESSED AT FURNACE RECORD PRESSING

+ AUTOGRAPHED TEST PRESSING (INCLUDES 24-PAGE BOOKLET) EXCLUSIVE ON BLACK VINYL. LIMITED TO 350 COPIES.

+ SILKSCREENED JACKET EXCLUSIVE ON OPAQUE SILVER METALLIC VINYL. LIMITED TO 1,000 HAND-NUMBERED COPIES. SCREENED IN SEATTLE BY BROKEN PRESS.

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
... more

ships out within 7 days

edition of 1000 23 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$69.48 USD or more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
**PRE-ORDER WILL SHIP ON OR AROUND AUGUST 18, 2025**

+ ORIGINAL 11-TRACK ALBUM, UNTOUCHED AND TIMELESS

+ 5 UNRELEASED DEMOS, MASTERED BY ED BROOKS (PEARL JAM, FLEET FOXES)

+ 24-PAGE ARCHIVE PHOTO JOURNAL LOS ARCHIVOS DEL OSO

+ SIDE D ETCHING BY BASSIST CORY MURCHY

+ VINYL CUT BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN (PRINCE, STEELY DAN, OUTKAST)

+ PRESSED AT FURNACE RECORD PRESSING

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

ships out within 7 days

edition of 350 6 remaining

Purchasable with gift card

$100 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
**PRE-ORDER WILL SHIP ON OR AROUND AUGUST 18, 2025**

+ CD HOUSED IN A WALLET WITH 5 BONUS TRACKS + 12-PAGE AND 24-PAGE BOOKLETS

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

ships out within 5 days

Purchasable with gift card

$14.98 USD or more
Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

$15 USD or more
Limited Edition Opaque Silver 2xLP w/ Autographed Silkscreened Jacket + DL
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
+ AUTOGRAPHED SILKSCREENED JACKET VARIANT ON OPAQUE SILVER METALLIC VINYL. SCREENED IN SEATTLE BY BROKEN PRESS.

+ ORIGINAL 11-TRACK ALBUM, UNTOUCHED AND TIMELESS

+ 5 UNRELEASED DEMOS, MASTERED BY ED BROOKS (PEARL JAM, FLEET FOXES)

+ 24-PAGE ARCHIVE PHOTO JOURNAL LOS ARCHIVOS DEL OSO

+ SIDE D ETCHING BY BASSIST CORY MURCHY

+ LP INCLUDES PRINTED INNER SLEEVES & DL CARD

+ VINYL CUT BY BERNIE GRUNDMAN (PRINCE, STEELY DAN, OUTKAST)

+ PRESSED AT FURNACE RECORD PRESSING

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

Sold Out
Dented and Dinged Sale - Limited Edition Hand Pour Orange 2xLP + DL
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
+ REDUCED PRICE DUE TO JACKET DAMAGE (VIEW PHOTO!)

Includes unlimited streaming of Menos el Oso (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

Sold Out

1.	The Game Needed Me 03:14	buy track
2.	Memphis & 53rd 03:40	buy track
3.	Drilling 05:03	buy track
4.	The Fix 03:31	buy track
5.	El Torrente 04:56	buy track
6.	Pachuca Sunrise 03:35	buy track
7.	Michio’s Death Drive 03:35	buy track
8.	Hooray 04:17	buy track
9.	Fulfill the Dream 03:23	buy track
10.	The Pig War 04:38	buy track
11.	This Ain’t A Surfin’ Movie 04:52	buy track
12.	Hooray (Demo) 04:24	buy track
13.	Drilling (Demo) 05:30	buy track
14.	The Pig War (Demo) 04:43	buy track
15.	Michio's Death Drive (Demo) 03:33	buy track
16.	I’m Totally Not Down With Rob’s Alien (Demo) 04:03	buy track

about

Back in 2005, Seattle quintet Minus the Bear were riding the wave of a swift upward trajectory with their blend of ‘90s mathrock fretboard savvy, early ‘00s electro-indie textural depth, and the wistful melodicism of the more mature strain of Midwest emo. So it was an interesting time for the band to undergo a stylistic sea change. Looking beyond their fellow guitar slingers, Minus the Bear instead found inspiration in the more adventurous pop producers of the era and went full steam ahead with a revamped sound of glitchy guitar loops, modern R&B rhythms, and swirling electronic tapestries on their 2005 sophomore album Menos el Oso. The stylistic shift was a gamble in the waning years of indie rock orthodoxy, but the risk paid off and Minus the Bear’s popularity exploded. Twenty years later, Menos el Oso still sounds fresh and vibrant while simultaneously capturing the essence of a specific era where the rules and formulas of guitar-forward music were breaking down. To celebrate the album’s anniversary, Suicide Squeeze Records and Minus the Bear are offering up Menos el Oso (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition), featuring an expanded tracklist including five previously unreleased demos.

The eleven tracks comprising the original Menos el Oso remain untouched for this deluxe edition. From the moment the needle hits on “The Game Needed Me,” the listener is reminded that there’s no need to mess with keyboardist Matt Bayles’ air-tight engineering and production on the album. The template is established right away: David Knudson’s staccato guitar samples and pedal modulations, Erin Tate’s souped-up club beats, Cory Murchy’s syncopated backbeat basslines, Bayles’s heady synth hooks, and guitarist/vocalist Jake Snider’s soulful guitar lines and trademark croon.

There’s an element of revelry and melancholy across the entire album as Snider casually describes vignettes from the band’s first overseas tour—a six-date tour of Spain. These lyrical scenes drape the album in the excitement, yearning, aimlessness, and exoticness Hemingway captured in his rendering of The Lost Generation in The Sun Also Rises, achieving a similar dichotomous fusion of celebration and reflection. The centerpiece of the album—“Pachuca Sunrise”—encapsulates this duality with such enduring and profound power that one cannot talk about indie rock in the first decade of the new millennium without including it in the pantheon. Songs like “Drilling” and “The Fix” further reinforce the lyrical and musical themes of the album as they describe an American contemplating the distance between their home country and the foreign shores of the Mediterranean Sea against a backdrop of chirping guitars and drum patterns that fuse the poptimist pulse of the era with the sweaty subterranean rock embedded in the band’s pedigree.

Menos el Oso (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition) expands the original LP into a double album featuring five demos mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering on side C and an etching by Cory Murchy on side D. These early incarnations of four Menos el Oso tracks and “I’m Totally Not Down With Rob’s Alien” from the They Make Beer Commercials Like This EP showcase how razor-sharp and sonically satisfying Minus the Bear were even when their songs were still being workshopped. As companion pieces to the album, these alternate takes shine a light on the creative process of a band undergoing a sonic evolution while also just being solid standalone tracks.

In addition to the expanded tracklist and side D etching, the vinyl version of Menos el Oso (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition) features updated artwork in a gatefold jacket with a matte gloss and spot UV varnish, a 24-page photo booklet, and a vinyl cut by Bernie Grundman.

credits

released August 22, 2025

Written by Minus the Bear
Guitar & Vocals by Jake Snider
Guitar by David Knudson
Drums by Erin Tate
Bass by Cory Murchy
Keyboards by Matt Bayles

Produced by Minus the Bear
Additional Production by Chris Common
Mixed by Matt Bayles at Robert Lang Studios
Mastered by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering
Vinyl cut by Bernie Grundman

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Minus the Bear Seattle, Washington

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