Guys Are Funny

NYC's Peel Dream Magazine dazzled listeners with their recent release "Agitprop Alterna," a smart album that draws from a wide set of post-punk, shoegaze and indiepop influences but still has an assured, unique sound. Now they're following up with "Moral Panics," a companion EP that features unreleased songs from the "Agitprop Alterna" sessions. Far from being outtakes, these are all songs that stand strong on their own, and gathered together function as a useful corollary to the album. Songs like "New Culture," "Verfremdungseffekt" and "Life At The Movies" continue Peel Dream's investigations into those frought areas where art, culture and commerce meet. Bristling with both ideas and solid tunes, the EP as a whole comprises a crucial piece of the band's discography.

Moral Panics

Peel Dream Magazine - New Culture

"The debut album from this Oakland band twitches and moves like the bastard child of ESG, Liquid Liquid and Vivien Goldman, practically daring you to make your moves on the dancefloor or in the bedroom. Features members of The World, The Reptoids, Blues Lawyer, Preening & Exit Group"

From the album "Do The Duvet" released in North America by Trouble In Mind Records (www.troubleinmindrecs.com) on September 4th, 2020.

Naked Roommate "Mad Love" (Trouble In Mind Records)

Lunchbox's Tim Brown and Donna McKean have been making records in their Oakland, California basement for two decades, inspired by 1960s/70s AM-radio pop and TV show theme music, punk, C86, and mod à la the Creation and the Jam. From the sonically-inventive indiepop of "The Magic of Sound" (1999) to the dub-influenced psychedelia of "Evolver" (2001) to the critically-acclaimed bubblegum of "Lunchbox Loves You" (2013), the couple have established a sound all their own.

Their new album for Slumberland, "After School Special," finds them at the height of their powers of songcraft and performance. Donna's bass playing stakes out stylistic territory somewhere between Carol Kaye and John Entwhistle while Tim's guitar is equal parts 12-string jangle and clipped Orange Juice-esque funk. Horns by Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor) and longtime collaborator Jeremy Goody drive the record from beginning to end. Evelyn Davis' delay-drenched keyboards combine with whispers of analog tape feedback to give the record an otherworldly vibe in keeping with its lyrical themes.

There, favorite seasons (autumn) and animals (cats), appear alongside love and death, ghosts and reincarnation. From the shimmering opener "Dream Parade" to the horn-driven mod-pop of "Hide and Seek," the groovy sixties R&B vibe of "I Really Wanna Know" and the haunting male-female vocal stylings of the  album-closing title track, the textures shift while the unity of artistic vision remains. Catchy as hell and beautifully packaged, "After School Special" is Lunchbox at their very best.

After School Special

Lunchbox - Dream Parade

The Strain

KEYS - The Strain

'Reach Out' is taken from Sleeper & Snake's forthcoming album 'Fresco Shed', out Sept 25th through Upset The Rhythm & LuLu's Sonic Discs!

Available to pre-order here: https://upsettherhythm.bigcartel.com/

Fresco Shed

Sleeper & Snake - 'Reach Out'

From the forthcoming album - Street Riffs. Available for pre-order now at www.inthredrecords.com!

CCR Headcleaner - Save The Song

From Lunch Money Life's 'Immersion Chamber' out October 30th in N. America on Fire Talk

Buy: https://ffm.to/lunchmoneylife

Lunch Money Life make apocalypse music, impossible to categorise, rich in texture, immersing the listener in a world of disgust and yearning - 'Immersion Chamber' is the perfect embodiment of that. Full of foreboding energy, restless beats and agitated noise: it's mardy electronics married with tense jazz-tinged and combative drumming. Or what The Quietus calls ““dizzying drum machines, wistful guitars, and brass sounds that punch through the miasma”. Each track filtered through the outboard analogue ceremonies of co-producer & mixing engineer Danalogue (The Comet Is Coming). Immersion Chamber will see a North American release October 30th on Fire Talk.

CCR Headcleaner - Save The Song

In The Red Records