Lunchbox's legendary lost album "Evolver" is lost no more! Sparklingly remastered for the album’s twentieth (and a few!) anniversary and available on CD, cassette and (for the first time) vinyl, this psychedelic masterpiece fills a crucial hole in the band's discography. Recorded in the couple's 1990s Oakland basement between stays in Berlin, tour dates in London, and dreamy sojourns up the rugged Mendocino coastline, "Evolver" fuses jangle and jungle, ambient and dub into a striking pop statement.

Marrying refined songcraft to the serendipitous magic hidden in half-broken reel-to-reel tape decks and vintage synthesizers, the "Evolver" plants its pop flag on the terrain of magic and mystery. Dreamy jangle pop gems emerge seamlessly out of a sea of loops, drones, and dubbed-out horn fanfares, cascades of tape echo feedback and whispers from outer space providing a trance-inducing backdrop to the pop sensibility for which Lunchbox is well-known. Hook-filled and hypnotic, "Evolver" is a sublime slice of post-pop psychedelia that you won't want to miss.

For this special and long-overdue reissue we've raided the bands vaults for three previously unreleased tunes that add extra dimensions to the album's uniquely trippy flow. And for the vinyl heads we're pressing this as a double LP for maximum fidelity and playability, including a *vinyl-only* fourth side of beats, loops, interludes and puzzling aural ephemera, all taken directly from the original master tapes. Super cool!

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Lunchbox "Evolver" Sampler

On their first new album in a decade, Anglo-Australian indiepop quartet Allo Darlin' return with "Bright Nights" -- marking the return of their smart, beautiful pop music, bursting with lyrics that resonate with experience and melodies that chime, echo and soar. Drawing inspiration from a mix of classic pop, folk and country, "Bright Nights" picks up where Allo Darlin' left off with the warmth of 2014's "We Come From The Same Place," and recalls the confident and sophisticated sound of their second album, "Europe."

The lilting first single "Tricky Questions" exhibits songwriter and vocalist Elizabeth Morris Innset's adept skill at taking specific experiences and creating something timeless and universally resonant. While "Bright Nights" isn't a country album, the timelessness of folk and country influences are woven in throughout. "My Love Will Bring You Home" might be written about Elizabeth's young daughters, but it's a mother's love song, disguised as a country love song.

Allo Darlin's songs work because, to borrow from Don Draper's Kodak Carousel pitch in Mad Men, they take us to a place where we feel loved. Emotional trust falls, they often take us to parts of ourselves we've either suppressed or have yet to discover and then are always there to catch us if and when we get there. In a changeable world, the warm embrace of their new record is as needed as it is welcome.

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Allo Darlin' "Bright Nights" Sampler

Taken from the 12"/digital EP "The Next LIfe"
Out now on Slumberland Records/Tough Love Records.

limited edition white vinyl 12": http://smarturl.it/gntnl-vinyl
expanded digital edition from iTunes: http://smarturl.it/gntnl-itunes

Belfast four-piece Girls Names released their critically acclaimed second album, "The New Life," in February and it marked a new direction for the band altogether. That directional shift is emphasized even further by a new limited edition 12" EP, entitled The Next Life.

With the artwork making a playful nod to Bowie's latest record, it's not surprising that the EP should see the band experiment with the sonic make up of their last album. Leading is "Visions," a spooked tune from the album sessions, seeing wide release here for the first time. Also of note is a cover version of Brian Eno's 'Third Uncle.' Recorded in August of this year, it is the first recorded Girls Names track to feature new drummer Gib Cassidy and offers a telling glimpse at what creative steps the band may next take.

Following are a series incredible remixes of tracks taken from the sister record. The first is by producer/composer/dance don legend David Holmes, who lends a somewhat European elan to the titular track. The second sees Gabe Gurnsey from Factory Floor add his band's characteristic dance floor focus to Girls Names' motorik groove, turning in something that jitters and pulses in a manner befitting of any track attributed the Factory Floor moniker. JD Twitch from the Optimo DJ/production team turns in a suitably grooving take on "The New Life," while Locust/Seefeel/Black Hearted Brother member Mark Van Hoen strips down and tracks out "Drawing Lines." The EP wraps up with a spectral take on "Occultation" by bedroom psych/ambient genius The Soft Walls.

All in all, it's an enlightening series of interpretations that sheds new light on Girls Names source material and points way to new avenues of exploration.

Girls Names - The New Life (David Holmes Remix)

Taken from the single "Sugarcrush."
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/jogru-sugar-itunes

The debut album "Weird Sister" is out now on Slumberland Records (US) & Fortuna Pop! (UK)

LP/CD: smarturl.it/jgws-album
iTunes: smarturl.it/jgws-itunes

Thrilling Cardiff-based noisepop five-piece Joanna Gruesome will be releasing their terrific debut album via Fortuna POP! (Europe) and Slumberland (USA) in September. Brimming with irresistible pop melodies and spiked with dissonant fuzzy jangle, their songs are shot through with loud discordant feedback and super-fast, hardcore punk drumbeats. This album sees their first foray away from recording in a living room to a proper studio under the guidance of producer MJ of the much lauded Hookworms.

Kicking it against sexism and homophobia, nothing is off-limits, drawing inspiration from DIY scenes such as Riot Grrrl/noisepop/C86 /K Records as well as post hardcore like Drive Like Jehu/Converge and the art rock of The Velvet Underground and My Bloody Valentine, Joanna Gruesome offer a staggeringly diverse album, unexpectedly quiet and surprisingly loud.

Joanna Gruesome comprise Alanna on vocals, Owen on guitar, Max on bass, George on guitar and Dave on drums. They all met in an anger management counseling group. During the course they were told that writing, making music, dancing or painting could relieve tension and help reduce feelings of anger. One initiative involved a project where they were assigned a group to compose and perform a song in front of other members. Initially they found each other infuriating but gradually acknowledged their musical chemistry and decided to continue with the band outside the therapy group.

Most of the album was written during a month long stay in a seedy west Brighton hotel (now closed down) called The Hell House. The residents were pretty strange, kept attempting occult rituals/using Ouija boards etc and many of the songs were written to distract from the weirdness. Heart-wrenching and exhilarating in equal measure, these are not cheerful songs.

Awash with nods to mental illness and the dark recesses of the mind, the record is littered with references to the devil or zombies and allusions to comic books. “Secret Surprise”, in which mental illness takes a physical form and is fought using razor blades. Or "Anti-Parent Cowboy Killers," which is about stealing a scooter and driving it into the ocean when you should be in school LEARNING. Or "Sugarcrush," about spending a summer burning knitwear.

They have built-up a phenomenal live reputation, blending obnoxiously loud guitars and the occasional band uniform, with a high energy performance dispersed with quieter reflection, boy/girl vocals and teenage angst.

“Abrasion, anger, attitude. One guitarist is in the audience, but this isn’t too much of a stretch. There are slower parts where the musicians take a second to breath. There are noisier bits where the musicians take a second to reflect. There are thumpy bits where the musicians take a second to dance and enjoy themselves. Everyone’s smiling. Everyone’s hugging themselves. What a glorious mess of a noise to be a part of. What a glorious sense of community.” Everett True, Collapse Board

"A brilliant band from Cardiff who love their fuzzy melodies and songs dripped in scuzzy reverb." Huw Stephens, Radio One.

Joanna Gruesome - Tugboat (Galaxie 500 cover)

Go Sailor were a great, short-lived band from the mid-90s who represent a key link in the US indie music chain. Featuring Rose Melberg (Tiger Trap, The Softies, Gaze, Brave Irene, Knife Pleats), Linton (Henry's Dress, The Aislers Set) and Paul Curran (Take A Day fanzine, Crimpshrine), they released three great singles and a few compilation tracks, and then went their separate ways. But what records they are! Basic and lovely in their song-writing, they're perfect snapshots of where indie-pop was during that last burst of pre-internet indie activity. Touching on time-honored themes of friendship and love (lost and found), they resonate with honesty and purity of intention.

While the themes might sound, dare we say, twee, the music is anything but. Rose's scrappy guitar was backed by Linton and Paul's sparkplug rhythm section, each song vibrating with enthusiasm and punk rock energy. Tunes like "I'm Still Crying," "Windy" and their ace cover of Nar's "Blue Sky" are as rambunctious and infectious as pop comes, showing the band's deep roots in the Bay Area punk scene. And the hits just keep on coming: "Ray of Sunshine" and "Long Distance" are total classics, while "Bigger Than The Ocean" slows the pace down for a couple's dance. Paul takes the lead on "The Boy Who Sailed Around The World," wrapping up this flawless record with one of the band's live favorites.

Go Sailor reunited in the early 2010s to play to enraptured crowds at the NYC and Athens Popfests, and their appearance at the Slumberland 20th Anniversary show was the stuff of legend. This album compiles all three of their singles plus compilation tracks and was first released on vinyl in 2011. Due to pressing plant issues it quickly went out of print and that's just not right, so we are very happy to bring you this 11th anniversary edition, back on vinyl where it belongs.

Go Sailor

Go Sailor - Long Distance

Lunchbox's legendary lost album "Evolver" is a masterful blend of fuzzy bubblegum pop and analog abstraction, and the title song illustrates this in fine fashion. It's free-wheeling psychedelic pop at its best, echoing contemporaries like The Apples In Stereo and The Boo Radleys, while nailing down the jangly pop template that's been Lunchbox's bedrock since. The songs dissolves into a chaotic tape-edited outro, a perfect way to begin this unique and adventurous album.

Evolver

Lunchbox - Evolver

After spending nearly two decades establishing herself across New York and Los Angeles independent music circles, Frankie Rose returns with a fresh form, aesthetic, and purpose embodied in her new album "Love As Projection." Celebrated by countless critical and cultural outlets over the years for her expansive approach to songwriting, lush atmospherics, and transcendent vocal melodies and harmonies, "Love As Projection" is a reintroduction of her established style through the new lens of contemporary electronic pop. Featuring beautiful, ethereal songs like lead-off single "Anything," "Sixteen Ways" and "Come Back," this album is more than a rebirth, a refinement, a resurgence – it's a culmination of influence, a newly-defined scope using the tools at her disposal, and the most personal and accessible collection of art-pop that Frankie has delivered yet.

Love As Projection

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Frankie Rose - Anything

Following on from their great EP on Woodsist and a summer of packed shows and increasing anticipation, we are very proud to bring you "Alight of Night," an album that more than delivers on the promise of their early singles. So what's it like, you ask? There is a definite flavor of Velvet Underground to be had, but Crystal Stilts' spectral avant-garage also takes in such far-flung references as: the spooked 60s Texas psych of 13th Floor Elevators and Red Crayola, the gothic blues/punk howl of Gun Club, the dark, experimental DIYism of early Flying Nun/Xpressway groups Pin Group and Plagal Grind, and a post-punk minimalism that brings to mind early Rough Trade and Factory releases. There is definitely a strong pop element as well, with the buzzsaw bubblegum of early Mary Chain b-sides and Meat Whiplash coming to mind.

These are all just rough points of reference, though -- "Alight of Night" is far more than just the sum of the bands influences. From the twang 'n' echo of "Crystal Stilts" to the primal pop stomp of "Prismatic Room" and the lovely jangle of "Shattered Shine," the band always adds something extra and unique to the mix, whether it's a fleeting dash of harmonica, a hypnotic organ line or just an amazing guitar sound. There is a unity of purpose at work here, a special mood conjured by the sounds, production and sequence of songs that lifts this album into the realm of the classics, and reveals new twists and turns on each listen.

Like all great albums, every piece just sits in exactly the right place, each song builds on the last and by the end you couldn't imagine changing anything about it at all. Eerily familiar but totally now, "Alight of Night" is a brilliantly haunting slice of rock primitivism.

Crystal Stilts - Departure

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Young Adult Friction

Henry's Dress were that rare band for us - a group that we discovered through a demo tape, and then only through the Linton's heroic perseverance in getting a very busy Papa Slumber to listen. Boy, are we glad we finally listened! This EP documents the band's middle period, branching out from their initial interests in Loop-meets-MBV pop heaviness into the more mod/punk sounds that would fuel their later efforts. It's a superb, varied record well worthy of your further investigation.

Anyway you slice it, this record is a smash. Hard-hitting tracks like "Radio One" and "Feathers" are the Dress at their punkiest best. Linton's "A Is For Cribbage" is the Dress at their most mod, coming on like an early Who on a handful of purple hearts - it's possibly our favorite Dress tune! And then of course there's "Sally Wants" and "Three" - a couple of blissed-out fuzzed-out downtempo tracks that beat the space-rockers to the punch by a few solid years.

The band would go even further down the mod/punk route with their subsequent album "Bust 'em Green," but this EP represents a raw, immediate document of a band finding their footing and their own unique sound. And best of all - it still sounds freaking great.


Henry's Dress - Definitely Nothing

Go Sailor were a great, short-lived band from the mid-90s who represent a key link in the US indie music chain. Featuring Rose Melberg (Tiger Trap, The Softies, Gaze, Brave Irene), Linton (Henry's Dress, The Aislers Set) and Paul Curran (Crimpshrine), they released three great singles and a few compilation tracks, and then went their separate ways. But what records they are! Basic and lovely in their song-writing, they're perfect snapshots of where indie-pop was during that last burst of pre-internet indie activity. Touching on time-honored themes friendship and love (lost and found), they resonate with honesty and purity of intention.

While the themes might sound super-sensitive, the music is anything but. Rose's scrappy guitar was backed by Linton and Paul's sparkplug rhythm section, each song vibrating with enthusiasm and punk rock energy. Tunes like "I'm Still Crying," "Windy" and their ace cover of Nar's "Blue Sky" are as rambunctious and infectious as pop comes, showing the band's roots in the Bay Area punk scene. And the hits just keep on coming: "Ray of Sunshine" and "Long Distance" are total classic, while "Bigger Than The Ocean" slows the pace down for a couple's dance. Paul takes the lead on "The Boy Who Sailed Around The World," wrapping up this flawless record with one of the band's live favorites.

Go Sailor reunited in the early 2010s to play to enraptured crowds at the NYC and Athens Popfests, and their appearance at the Slumberland 20th Anniversary show was the stuff of legend. This album compiles all three of their singles plus compilation tracks and was first released on vinyl in 2011. Due to pressing plant issues it quickly went out of print and that's just not right, so we are very happy to bring you this 11th anniversary edition, back on vinyl where it belongs.

Go Sailor - Together Forever In Love

SF Bay Area textural pop group Torrey delve deep into a translucent dreamworld on their self-titled sophomore album. Bending classic shoegaze, rainy day indie rock sounds, and 90s alt rock flair into more intricate forms, the band uses these guitar-forward songs to shape-shift between gentle drifting and noisy breakthroughs. Some touchstones might include Lush, Drop Nineteens, Cocteau Twins and The Breeders, but Torrey have a deft grasp of their craft and a forward-thinking studio approach that places them very much in the NOW. Singles like "No Matter How," "Bounce" and "Moving" are pure 2024 and place Torrey firmly alongside like-minded groups like Seablite, Mo Dotti, Winter and Alvvays who are enlivening a similar set of inspirations.

It's fitting that Torrey's most masterfully crafted album is also their first for Slumberland. As the album plays out, it perfectly arranges contradictory expressions of angst and tenderness, exaltation and melancholy, restlessness and acceptance. These songs are obsession-worthy for any dream pop enthusiast, with Torrey managing to call on some familiar spirits for guidance while sounding more like themselves than ever before.

Torrey

Torrey - Bounce

Taken from the album "Chorus." Out now on Slumberland Records.

Order LP/CD: http://slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/273
Order from iTunes: http://smarturl.it/chorus-itunes

Philadelphia, PA’s Literature features Kevin Attics, Nathaniel Cardaci, Chris Schackerman, and Seth Whaland. Attics, who’d written for numerous music trades as a teen, met Cardaci and Whaland at the house venue they both operated in Austin, TX. Cardaci and Whaland each ran small imprint labels and, a million adventures later, the trio decided to form a band. Upon moving to Philadelphia the group befriended Schackerman who also joined the fold. 

In 2012, following a well-received single and a track on Gerard Cosloy’s “Casual Victim Pile II” compilation they released their debut album, "Arab Spring," which became a cult hit within the indiepop community. That album is sharp and immediate, almost mod-ish in its attack, but always tuneful and going for melody where it counts. They toured the US in support, and have performed with the likes of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Eternal Summers, Ted Leo, Sic Alps, White Fence, Gentlemen Jesse, Hospitality, and Brown Recluse. They also appeared on Terre T's Cherry Blossom Clinic.

In 2013 they released a follow-up 7”, “Tie Dye” and contributed a track to Esopus Magazine alongside artists like Jens Lekman and The Shins. They also played at that year’s NYC Popfest, which helped cement the buzz that was steadily growing amongst savvy pop fans. "Arab Spring" was treated to a re-mastered re-press, which followed the first pressing and quickly sold out.

Autumn of 2013 saw the band begin work on their second album, "Chorus," with lauded engineer Gary Olson (whose body of work includes records by Crystal Stilts, Mad Scene and The Beets) at his Marlborough Farms studio in Brooklyn, NY. As a beautiful autumn turned into one of the harshest winters in recent memory, Olson and the band began stretching out, enhancing the album with studio techniques dating back to the late 60s including true-tape flanging, sending vocals through Leslie speaker cabinets, and the same analog style of automatic double-tracking created at Abbey Road Studios.

The result is an album that is as immediate as it is timeless, full of effortlessly catchy and well-crafted tunes that echo pop legends like Smiths and Orange Juice. All of that time in the studio has resulted in a rich, considered sound that puts the band's arranging and playing front and center. "Chorus" is one of the most exciting pop records in years, and marks Literature at true contenders.

Literature - New Jacket

Out now on Slumberland Records (N & S America) and Fortuna Pop! (ROW).

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/wcftspitunes
LP/CD: http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/278


Allo Darlin's new album "We Come From The Same Place" combines the eagerness, urgency and immediacy of their 2010 self-titled debut with the contemplation, sophistication and ambition of their 2012 follow-up "Europe," and yet it goes beyond either both sonically and in the songs. It was written at a time of considerable change for songwriter Elizabeth Morris, a time during which she fell in love, moved to Italy and got married - not that that seems to have hindered the songwriting process, as Elizabeth explains, "So many things have happened since I first wrote the songs that make up this album, it's difficult to remember back to where it all began. The songs were written very quickly, during a period when I found writing songs very easy, whereas I often find songwriting very difficult. Some of the songs were written so fast I can't even really remember writing them. The songs were a joy to write, and writing them made me feel better about lots of things."

Among the highlights of the album is "Bright Eyes", a duet with guitarist Paul Rains. Elizabeth again, "I wanted to write another duet, but the only problem with doing that is that when you play live it's very rare that the person you recorded it with can be there. So I thought it would be great to write a song with Paul singing the other part. I love Paul's singing and I wanted to hear him do it more, so it's quite selfish really!" Another standout is the Twin Peaks-referencing "Half-Heart Necklace", based on a true story from Elizabeth’s hometown. "There had been some murders, and this girl who was my age was missing and presumed killed. It turned out she had been hiding for years in her boyfriend's cupboard, and she was charged for wasting police time". 
 
Other notable tracks include the rollicking "Kings and Queens", inspired by a show they played in the USA with their friends and kindred spirits The Wave Pictures, and "Romance and Adventure", originally earmarked for a film soundtrack and written in response to a challenge from Paul to write a pop song in a minor key. Bass player Bill Botting sums up Elizabeth’s remarkable songwriting ability by saying, "The key to Elizabeth’s songwriting appeal is that she’s so adept at pinpointing certain ideas and moods; leaving one city and finding a new one and realising that beginnings and endings have a lot in common."

The truism is that third albums are difficult beasts, but by remaining true to themselves Allo Darlin’ have side-stepped the pitfalls to produce a wonderful record - thoughtful and exciting and exquisitely played – that will please their existing army of fans and newcomers alike. On first reading the album’s title may seem enigmatic, but from the very personal nature of Elizabeth Morris’ finely drawn vignettes to the more universal connections between the band and their audience, its meaning will be obvious to all who fall under the spell of this magical band.

"A masterclass of modern cult pop." The Guardian

"Terrific, witty and heartfelt, like a less moody Belle & Sebastian." The New York Times

Allo Darlin' - Bright Eyes

Out March 9/10 on Slumberland Records (N & S America) and Fortuna Pop! (ROW).

iTunes pre-order: http://smarturl.it/expectdelays
LP/CD pre-order: http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/283

Evans the Death return with their second album "Expect Delays" in March via Fortuna POP! (Europe) and Slumberland Records (USA). Recorded again with producer Rory Atwell, the album bristles with an underlying tension and veers from rip-roaring noise to quiet contemplation, underpinned by Katherine Whitaker’s extraordinary voice.

Still barely out of their teens, there’s a tremendous sense across "Expect Delays" of a band coming into their own, honing a plethora of influences to make a sound that is uniquely them. Each song on the album has a different feel to it: some of them are melodic and pretty; some of them heavy and dissonant; and some of them are, to quote guitarist Dan Moss, “a bit strange”. While retaining the post-punk and 90s alt-rock inspired elements that peppered their debut, the music is more expressive, heavier and more experimental, and the lyrics more nuanced, the sense of despair leavened by sharp wordplay and humour.

The unsettling undercurrent of melancholy and hopelessness that pervades the record has its roots in the last three years, spent eking out an existence on the poverty line in Cameron’s Britain, leaving them with a succession of minimum-wage jobs and unemployment benefits interviews. As guitarist Dan Moss relates, the album is about “being in London and feeling hopeless and a bit lost. Not having any money, relationships falling apart, things just not connecting or going anywhere and getting absolutely wasted all the time.”

Named after the undertaker in Dylan Thomas's 'Under Milk Wood,' the band’s 2012 self-titled inaugural album saw critical acclaim from the likes of Q, Uncut and Artrocker, as well as radio play on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music and XFM. After a change in line-up following the release of their debut, the band regrouped around the core of brothers Dan and Olly Moss and singer Katherine Whitaker for the recording of "Expect Delays." Drummer James Burkitt was recruited from Leeds’ band The ABC Club to complete a taut new four-piece.

More ambitious and focused than their previous record, whilst sacrificing none of their spontaneity and vitality, "Expect Delays" is a supremely inventive and intelligently crafted album from a band who have suffered for their art, and used that experience to inform and nourish their work. Expect no more delays, Evans the Death have arrived.

“Evans the Death manage to make humdrum everyday existence seem quite magical” Q ****

“A wonderful marriage of converse elements elegantly crafted into its own neat mess.” Artrocker *****

“Terrific” Uncut

Evans The Death - Don't Laugh At My Angry Face

Taken from the album "Ripe 4 Luv." Out March 10th on Slumberland Records.
Pre-order iTunes: http://smarturl.it/ripe4luv
Pre-order LP/CD: http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/catalog/show/282

From: Harry Winklebottom
To: Social Media/Marketing/Sales
Re: who is Young Guv and why is he ripe for love?

Who's @youngguv? He's still underground, but everyone will know him soon. Right now, he only has 1500 followers, so we need to get this kid a checkmark as soon as possible. Here's the rundown:

He's a white boy in a backwards snapback with fake Emoji neck tattoos. He's ripped bald kid fronting one of the most important and successful hardcore bands in Toronto history. He's a ghostwriter eating pasta as he pens al dente tunes for the likes of Sum 41, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, a few Canadian Idols, Snow, a slew of hardcore bands, Maroon 5 and one or two OVO affiliates. He's a tortured artist turning down Katy Perry's edits to his tunes because she didn't like his babies as they were. He's a child actor playing Ryan Gosling's sexy little brother. Do I need to go on?

@youngguv is Ben Cook, and he's putting out an album, "Ripe 4 Luv," on one of the greatest labels ever, Slumberland Records. Having been around for a minute, Guv has decided to put together a set of pop tunes that shows off his range as a performer, singer, songwriter, style icon and retweet-worthy pop star. I've heard the album, and its ready to head to marketing. We don't need a billboard for this one, all we need to do is release a single and get it trending worldwide. We're going to break Nielsen SoundScan. We're going straight to #1 on iTunes!

Guv got it right the first time with his band No Warning, one of the only Canadian hardcore acts to achieve recognition from major labels in the U.S. He parlayed this experience into a successful career as the creeper peaking through the curtain as better-looking people sing his songs to an appreciative audience. In addition to writing for pop royalty and no-name punk acts, Young Guv has spent the last 7 years playing guitar in fellow Toronto legends Fucked Up, selling 10's of 1000's of singles recorded in various bedrooms, and helping put the East End back on the GTA's music map with his Bad Actors imprint. Guv has been around for a while, and now he's helping new, young talent get around and release classic records. How could you not like this guy? He's got the bone structure to go viral at any moment.

"Ripe 4 Luv" is a beautiful album for beautiful people. Plus, it really shows off his range. There's only one way to describe this record: Guv sings like Prince into expensive audio-nerd mics over power pop backing tracks that evoke Big Star after they got some nookie but before they became depressed about their failure to appeal to the right audience. If that's not good enough for you, then it sounds like Cheap Trick produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Or how about Drake's producer 40 manning the boards for a Hall & Oates session? Any of those will help sell this record to the blogs, just pick one and run with it. 

That's it, that's what you get when you stream "Ripe 4 Luv" on Spotify. I'm telling you, this album is just perfect for Billboard's Trending 140 chart. We're going to be rich!

Young Guv - Wrong Crowd feat. Jef Barbara

Big Troubles were formed by a group of kids who had been friends since high school, playing in bands, listening to records and coming of musical age together. As children of the 00's they're lucky enough to have a vast history of pop and indie rock to draw upon. Like the best of their peers they're omnivorous musical consumers, as enamored of classic Brit Pop gems as they are of 90s slacker indie rock. Led by two very gifted singer/song-writers in Alex Craig and Ian Drennan, Big Troubles are that rare beast: a band with two distinctive musical voices that smoothly mesh to create one integrated personality.

Early recordings by the pair were of the lo-fi home recorded variety, but over time they've grown (with the addition of drummer Sam Franklin and bassist Luka Usmiani) into a full four piece band to more fully realize their tunes. Their first album Worry (2010) and its attendant singles were excellent fuzz pop records in their own right, but to make their new record the band has taken the step of bringing in help in the form of the legendary Mitch Easter, whose resume includes stone cold classics from the likes of REM, Pavement and his own Let's Active. With Mr. Easter's expert engineering help, Big Troubles' excellent new album "Romantic Comedy" is a masterpiece of modern pop; a perfect balance of grit and polish, gorgeous guitar sounds and angelic vocals, underpinned by a set of superb songs.

"Romantic Comedy" kicks off with "She Smiles For Pictures," a brilliant slice of jangle-pop marked by an ear-tugging guitar lead and gorgeous choirboy vocals. "Misery" is a perfect 2:23 of teen angst, fired by a huge bassline and echoed, chorused riffs that are as much 90s Brit Pop as they are 00s indie rock. First single "Sad Girls" is a lovely slice of updated power-pop based on a catchy stop-start verse that gives way to an indelible, spiraling chorus; this tune is as big and bright as they come. "You'll Be Laughing" gears down for a nuanced meditation on suburban ennui, showing that this band had more up its collective sleeve than just kicking out pop anthems.

And so the record continues, through sure-fire entries into the noise-pop canon like the Boo Radleys-esque "Minor Keys," the lovely rush of "Softer Than Science" and the glam-tinged feedback-fest that is "Time Bomb." "Romantic Comedy" wraps up with the dreamy "Engine" and the driving "Never Mine," adding two more gems to this excellent album. Big Troubles have that very rare combination of taste, skill and talent, and aided by Mr. Easter's recording acumen they've created a virtually perfect modern pop album -- one that tips its hat to choice bits of pop past and present, but at the same time creates something totally fresh.


Big Troubles - Misery

On their spellbinding sophomore album, "Whispers in the Speech Machine," the young Ohio siblings from The Laughing Chimes fully embrace their Southern Gothic influences, cannily balancing the light of their infectious pop with the shadow of their rust belt environs. While attending an afterschool music program at their local opera house, Evan and his brother Quinn began recording The Laughing Chimes' debut album "In This Town," released in 2020. A string of well-received digital singles and a cassette EP for Slumberland followed, dazzling savvy pop fans with their Paisley Underground-inflected jangle that owes as much to the Flying Nun sound as it does to 80s Athens, GA.

The eight assured songs of "Whispers in the Speech Machine" prove The Laughing Chimes deserve the attention and accolades, while their approaches to songwriting and sonic aesthetics continue to evolve. "Southeast Ohio is the foothills of Appalachia, so it has this indescribable mood and atmosphere to it," guitarist/vocalist Evan Seurkamp told The Big Takeover. "Sometimes there's a haunting weight of decay you want to escape, but at the same time there is some sort of strange romanticism surrounding ghost towns. We've tried to channel those moods to add more regional flavor into our sound."

Whispers In The Speech Machine

The Laughing Chimes - High Beams

Lunchbox - Letter From Overend

Lunchbox - Tone Poem

Peel Dream Magazine have staked out a very specific spot in the indie music landscape with the fuzzy space age pop of recent albums "Rose Main Reading Room" and "Pad," but the story starts with the motorik lo-fi psychedelia of 2018's "Modern Meta Physic." Redolent of early Stereolab, Broadcast, and Grouper, songs like "Qi Velocity" and "Deetjen's" percolate and hum, buzzing with mood and melody. Now we're happy to revisit the album with this expanded deluxe edition that adds 8 new songs -- 2 from the "Modern Meta Physic" sessions and 6 demos from the very active period of recording and conceptualizing that led up to the album.

Peel Dream Magazine - Callers (Demo)

Carrying on the long tradition of sentimental jangle pop songwriters, Lightheaded distill decades of lovelorn tunes into sounds for modern softies. They have the sunshine sparkle of The Left Banke and Margo Guryan, the C86 charm of Dolly Mixture and Would-Be-Goods, and the cinematic swell of Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura.

"Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming!" is their most collaborative and earnest release to date, and marks their first collaborative release with Slumberland and the UK's Skep Wax label. From Laurel Canyon folky jangle to elegant chamber pop to lovesick girl-group ballads, Lightheaded's tunes nod to the ‘60s without feeling antiquated and this new EP is their most perfectly bittersweet and fully-realized recording yet.

Thinking, Dreaming, Scheming!

Lightheaded - Same Drop

Over the course of a decade playing together and making records as Jeanines, the duo of Alicia Jeanine and Jed Smith have charted a distinctive course through the history of pop, docking at ports of call as varied as the 60s folk of early Fairport Convention and Vashti Bunyan, the sunshine/soft pop of Margo Guryan and Laura Nyro, and of course indiepop touchstones like Dear Nora and the post-Black Tambourine projects of Pam Berry.

Their new album "How Long Can It Last" finds Jeanines grappling with serious themes of personal and professional upheaval, adding weight to their finest set of songs yet. With lyrics that look deeply at time and its reverberations, connections and ruptures, songs like "Coaxed A Storm," "What's Done Is Done" and "On and On" combine richly melodic tunes and crisp arrangements to stellar effect. While the themes might be heavy, the melodies and harmonies are simply heavenly, elevating these economical songs and giving each the feeling of a lost classic.

How Long Can It Last

Jeanines - On And On

With buckets of melancholic charm and an unerring ear for a great tune, Autocamper are the perfect pop tonic to our Age of Anxiety. “What Do You Do All Day?” is their debut album and their wide-eyed reflections on unrequited romances, bedroom tiffs and hungover misdemeanors effortlessly retrofit the jangle pop sounds of the '80s without any trace of C86 revisionism.

Boisterous, lovable songs like “Again,” “Foxes” and "Proper" hearken back to the DIY roots of the early Flying Nun and Postcard label bands, groups who were as inspired by punk and post-punk as by 60s jangle and 70s AM radio pop. Fresh and utterly timeless -- not twee, not anorak, not lucky, just pop. It’s these truths that distinguish them from their peers, the hollow strains of Instagram Indie and the corporate pop that forces us to be joyful.


What Do You Do All Day?

Autocamper - Again

"Tricky Questions" is the first new music from Allo Darlin' since 2014's "We Come From The Same Place" and it shows the Anglo-Australian indiepop quartet in fine form indeed. It's a jaunty bit of country-inflected folk that centers songwriter Elizabeth Morris Innset's warm vocals and highlights some nifty organ from drummer Mike Collins. The vibe is at once contemplative and joyous, reflecting a band that has lived a lot since they last made music together and has some great new stories to tell.

Allo Darlin' - Tricky Questions

On their first new album in a decade, Anglo-Australian indiepop quartet Allo Darlin’ return with "Bright Nights" -- marking the return of their smart, beautiful pop music. "My Love Will Bring You Home" is a gorgeous country-tinged song that ably exhibits songwriter and vocalist Elizabeth Morris Innset's melodic flair and lyrical gifts. It's a joyous and infectiously uplifting tune that, like the rest of "Bright Nights," wraps you in a warm and comforting musical embrace.

Bright Nights

Allo Darlin' - My Love Will Bring You Home

I think we were all knocked out by the Frankie Rose and the Outs album from 2010, the effortlessness of its gorgeous girl-pop mantras, the intimate immensity of its Spector-esque walls of reverb, the beauty of a song sung sweetly over the most graceful two-chord vamps. But are you ready for the new Frankie Rose? – her transformation into a wholly other kind of pop, the reverie and revelation of "Interstellar," an album that floats free of its maker’s history – time spent with Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts, and creator of one of the most breathlessly compelling girl-pop albums of the past few years – and offers the listener something strangely other, as alien as it is familiar, as compelling as it is enchanting.

On "Interstellar" Frankie takes the lessons learned with her debut album – like reverb as the holy route to pop-grandeur, scaling a wall of teenage tears – fully digests, and transfers those skills into the brave new world mapped out by ten new songs. Aided by production ace Le Chev, remixer supreme for Lemonade, Narcisse, Passion Pit, and Frankie’s own “Candy,”  Frankie has replaced that reverbed-out classicism with the confident swagger of a singer and auteur fully aware of how to build the simplest of pop moves into aching, full-blown melodramas, how to grab hold of an emotion and ride its darker waves.

"Know Me" is the first single from "Interstellar." It's a gorgeous piece of widescreen pop, dreamy and driving at the same time. The clean, big hooks bring to mind the best of mid-80s pop -- Smiths, New Order -- without sacrificing any of Frankie's unique melodic style. It's a single in the best sense; a three minute gem that perfectly captures the essence of the new album. Le Chev's remix on the flip side is pure 2012 - a slow-motion house burner with a tropical vibe and atmosphere to spare. Turn it up and drift away.

Frankie Rose - Know Me

iTunes pre-order: http://smarturl.it/cagetropical
Bandcamp pre-order: https://frankierose.bandcamp.com/album/cage-tropical

After spending years as a major presence in Brooklyn’s thriving music scene, Frankie Rose relocated to her familial home of Los Angeles for 18 months with the intention of establishing yet another moment in her storied indie rock métier. Gradually, she found herself short on sleep, funds and optimism. "I moved to LA, drama ensued and I ended up on a catering truck. I was like, how can this be my life after being a touring musician and living off of music. I had really lost my way and I thought I was totally done."

Through sleepless nights of listening to broadcaster Art Bell’s paranormal-themed archives, Frankie’s thoughts had turned to "who am I, I’m not cut out for this business, it’s not for me." She continues, "I was literally in my room in L.A., not knowing how I was going to get out. But out of it all, I just decided to keep making music, because it is what I love and what I do – regardless of the outcome."

Towards the end of her time spent in Los Angeles, Frankie reached out to Jorge Elbrecht (Tamaryn, Gang Gang Dance, Violens) and began sketching what became the basic outline of what felt like a new album. Then, rather fortuitously, Frankie ended up back in Brooklyn with the realization that "in the end, I’m on my own. I have to do these things on my own."

The months that ensued meant basically working with no budget and finding ways to record in-between days. This time enabled Frankie to experiment musically with a variety of people that ultimately changed the way she worked. "I got a lot of input from people like Dave Harrington (Darkside), who was helpful reconstructing the songs, adding dynamics and changing up the rhythms."

The result of this existential odyssey is Cage Tropical, Frankie’s 4th album. It is awash with vintage synths, painterly effects pedals, upside down atmosphere and reverberating vocals. It evokes a new wave paranormality of sorts that drifts beyond the songs themselves. "My references aren’t just music," says Frankie, "I love old sci-fi. They Live is one of my favorite movies ever, same with Suspiria. 80’s sci-fi movies with a John Carpenter soundtrack, with silly synths – that makes it into my file, to the point that I’ll write lyrics incorporating that kind of stuff. It’s in there."

Beginning with the shimmery, cinematic and percussive sparkling of the album’s opening track "Love in Rockets," the song’s refrain of "a wheel, a wheel of wasting my life: a wheel, a wheel of wasting my time" immediately alludes to those darker circumstances that led to the creative origins of Cage Tropical."It’s all essentially based on what happened to me in Los Angeles and then a return to Brooklyn," says Frankie. "Misery turned into something good. The whole record to me is a redemption record and it is the most positive one I’ve made"

 "I feel like I am finally free from worrying about an outcome. I don’t care. I already lost everything. I already had the worst-case scenario. When that happens, you do become free. In the end, it’s about me rescuing myself via having this record."

Cage Tropical

Buy LP/CD

Frankie Rose - Trouble

We were all knocked out by the Frankie Rose and the Outs album from 2010, the effortlessness of its gorgeous girl-pop mantras, the intimate immensity of its Spector-esque walls of reverb, the beauty of a song sung sweetly over the most graceful two-chord vamps. But are you ready for the new Frankie Rose? – her transformation into a wholly other kind of pop, the reverie and revelation of "Interstellar," an album that floats free of its maker’s history – time spent with Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts, and creator of one of the most breathlessly compelling girl-pop albums of the past few years – and offers the listener something strangely other, as alien as it is familiar, as compelling as it is enchanting.

Talking with Frankie about the record, it’s clear she was itching for a new start. The first big indication – production by Le Chev, remixer supreme (for Lemonade, Narcisse, Passion Pit, and Frankie’s own “Candy”), an ensemble member of Fischerspooner, etc. “We recorded the record in a private studio dubbed The Thermometer Factory in Park Slope. I wanted this record to be totally different and in so doing I knew I had to work with someone who would lend fresh ideas and know how to make sounds that I wouldn't know how to make. I wanted to make a particular record and I knew Le Chev would be the one who could help me do it.”

So, out with the reverb of the Frankie Rose and the Outs, and in with something altogether more glam, glittering, shivering. On "Interstellar" Frankie takes the lessons learned with her debut album – like reverb as the holy route to pop-grandeur, scaling a wall of teenage tears – fully digests, and transfers those skills into the brave new world mapped out by ten new songs. In its place is the confident swagger of a singer and auteur fully aware of how to build the simplest of pop moves into aching, full-blown melodramas, how to grab hold of an emotion and ride its darker waves. “I always have a big picture in mind,” Frankie reflects. “I knew I wanted a HUGE sounding record. Big highs, big lows, and clean. There is no fuzz on this record. I knew I wanted to make a streamlined, spacious record with big choruses that sometimes referenced 80s pop.” But that referencing never swamps the melodies: this record isn’t a retro trip. If anything, it liberates sounds familiar from that decade and gives them new context, breathes life into clay golems of sound that too often become basic, pre-set triggers.

On "Interstellar," Frankie Rose goes epic, goes widescreen.

Out February 21 on Slumberland Records in US, Canada, Asia, Oceania.
Out March 19 on Memphis Industries in Europe.


Frankie Rose - Night Swim

Lead track off the crucial self-titled compilation from one of the first Slumberland bands. A feedback-enshrouded collision of noise and pop that owed a lot to The Jesus & Mary Chain, Shop Assistants, Galaxie 500 and 14 Iced Bears, but of course is marked as totally unique by their dark, haunting tunes and Pam's lovely vocals. This reissue includes new liner notes, new art, never before seen band photos, and SIX unreleased songs, including four new recordings made in the Summer of 2009.

Black Tambourine - For Ex-Lovers Only

Peel Dream Magazine is the nom de plume of New York City-based musician Joe Stevens. A nod to BBC Radio 1 legend John Peel, arbiter of all things underground, Peel Dream Magazine is highly evocative of a certain strain of independent music. Stevens harkens back to the early 1990s, when The Velvet Underground resurged as an inspiration to a new set of bands wielding synthesizers, off-set guitars, and a political bent. The Peel Dream experience is defined by a gentle, fuzzy psychedelia —it’s a hypnotic bit of mod-ish lo-fi pop, recalling the best of early Stereolab, Lilys, and other shaggy haired kids with vintage fuzz pedals, slim trousers, and good record collections.

Written and recorded over a four-week period in the fall of 2017, Peel Dream Magazine’s debut album "Modern Meta Physic" fixates on the New Age universe of the Catskills region of New York. Stevens deals in esoteric bohemian fare — Far East philosophy, Native American tradition, mid-century modern cool — as he appraises the world according to privileged urban expats who increasingly call the upstate paradise home.

Leading off the album, "Qi Velocity" is a metronomic take on French pop that yields to a lush chorus reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian. “Deetjen's," named after the much-loved bed & breakfast in Big Sur, would fit snugly on Unrest's best Teen Beat material. "Due to Advances in Modern Tourism" displays a soft take on Neu!, while the organ that enters could be a sly wink to Steve Reich's "Four Organs.”

There is an economy to these tracks — everything is distilled down to it’s essential elements, no gestures are wasted, no superfluous ornamentation taking up space. While Stevens is more than happy to show his influences on his sleeve — mind you, they're great influences — it's clear Peel Dream Magazine isn't just a “sound." The guy can write songs. Where he goes next is anybody's guess.

Modern Meta Physic

Peel Dream Magazine - Qi Velocity

"Shake The Shackles" is Crystal Stilts' first release since "Love Is A Wave" and is a great snapshot of where the band is now and a taster for their forthcoming second album, due early 2011. Driven by echoed guitar strum and droning keys, it's a dexterous update of 60s garage pop that places it alongside late 80s Paisley Underground heroes like Green On Red and later Dream Syndicate, but the song itself is totally timeless, and impossible to place anywhere but firmly in Crystal Stilts' own unique style.

Crystal Stilts - Shake the Shackles

With their recent release "Parallel Universe Blues," LA/SF group Papercuts turned-in their most accomplished album to date, with main Papercut Jason Quever's excellent dream-pop songwriting ideally complemented by the considerable production chops we've come to know and love from his work with Beach House, Luna, Cass McCombs and many others. Riding an updated girl group shuffle, new single "Kathleen Says" is a gorgeous slice of updated Spectorian pop that adds a psychedelic edge to the perfect pop melodies. Sitting somewhere between The Rain Parade and The Jesus & Mary Chain, it's a great reminder of just how strong and deep "Parallel Universe Blues" is.

Also included here is a dreamy version of Jackson C. Frank's classic "Blues Run The Game." It's a very Papercuts take on the song, lovely melodies and harmonies enlivening Frank's sparse original. Top marks. An acoustic version of new tune "Comb In Your Hair" rounds out the EP in fine fashion, circling back to some of the band's folkier early material while pointing forward to more new sonic pathways for future Papercuts records.

Kathleen Says

Papercuts - Blues Run The Game (Jackson C Frank cover)

Formed in January 2009, Girls Names quickly garnered recognition outside of the confines of their hometown of Belfast with the release of their eponymous debut EP in 2010 through New York's Captured Tracks. A mini-album through London imprint Tough Love soon followed, setting the foundations for their critically acclaimed debut LP "Dead To Me," released in April 2011, again by Tough Love in Europe and West Coast label Slumberland Records in the US. October 2011 brought the excellent "Black Saturday" single, a frisky slice of dark, driving pop. Earlier this year the band released "A Troubled See" as one side of a split 7" with Weird Dreams, also on Slumberland/Tough Love. "A Troubled See" startled with it's stark precision, pointing to a new direction.

Girls Names are now hinting at making their boldest and most exciting record to date. New single "The New Life" clocks in at over 7 minutes and takes you on a journey that mirrors the feelings of a band living and working in economy stricken Northern Ireland - the perfect soundtrack of the bleakness to where they exist. The B-side is a mesmerizing, dubbed-out JD Twitch Optimo remix of the single.

This year the band expanded to a four-piece and has spent the last six months in virtual seclusion honing and developing a more progressive and expansive sound, feeding on the darker sides of Echo and The Bunnymen, Spacemen 3, The Birthday Party and David Bowie's "Low" before heading off on a triumphant Spring/Summer European tour culminating on their biggest and most successful shows to date at the prestigious Primavera sound festival in Barcelona.

A new full length is currently being finished off but for now it seems Girls Names are intent on making a lasting impression with "The New Life." It certainly feels as though the band is ready to enter a new phase in their existence and the way they've grown and honed their sound shows that they're not afraid to take risks.

"The New Life" 12" is out now on Slumberland Records (North America)/Tough Love (Rest of World).

Girls Names - The New Life

Belfast-based four-piece Girls Names are a singular proposition, both geographically and psychically removed from their contemporaries at home and abroad. Released in February 2013, their second album 'The New Life' is the sound of a band on the fringes striving to forge their own path, purposefully out of step - and time - with their surroundings. Weighed heavy with the grey landscapes of their hometown, 'The New Life' is isolation laid bare, shot through with an undeterred sense of purpose and individuality.

Having released a series of singles and EPs on various independent labels, Girls Names made their first significant impression on the wider world in 2011 with their debut album, 'Dead To Me,' earning plaudits from the likes of Pitchfork, NME and Loud & Quiet amongst a host of others. And yet, despite all the praise heaped on it, as soon as that record was released Girls Names were already moving into a different headspace. 

The band’s performance at this year Primavera festival provided them with their first real opportunity to showcase the songs that were to comprise 'The New Life.' The sunshine backdrop of the Spanish coastline offered a somewhat incongruous setting to the eerie dissonance of the new material, a kind of trial by fire metamorphosis rapturously received. Following a tour of Europe, the band returned home to record the album over a series of months. Having been produced by singer and songwriter, Cathal Cully, they’ve managed to capture that sense of otherness the performances at Primavera hinted at. The expansion to a four piece means the garage-clatter of the spritely pop songs of their debut have been replaced by a deeper, shadowy exercise in catharsis, driven by repetition, psychedelia and Dionysian crisis. And the record was born of a weighty concept too, as Cully explains: 

“'The New Life' is not an over night change for Girls Names - just over two years in fact. 'Dead to Me' literally was dead to us by the time it was committed to wax. But it's a learning curve. We started moving on as artists the moment we finished that recording session, maybe even before. Not to dwell on the past, 'The New Life' is what happens when you reset everything back to zero and start again, but try to perfect. It starts back at zero the minute the needle hits the groove but we're also starting back from zero once the needle lifts at the end of the record. Ad infinitum. 'The New Life' is what follows now.”

The album’s title track, and the first single to be taken from the album, is an ideal entry point. Just shy of 8 minutes long, it rotates around a hypnotic bass line, and in Cully’s evocation of renaissance, offers a perfect metaphor for the album as a whole. New single ‘Hypnotic Regression’ - available to stream today - reflects another side to the record. The reverb-heavy guitars and compelling melody are immediately memorable, but there are signs of experimentation, too; the white squall of the lead break; the uneasiness in the vocal echoes that furnish the verses. As such, 'The New Life,' stands as a brave statement; the mark of the band untying themselves from the past and easing forth into the unknown.

"The New Life" will be released on February 18th, 2013 on Tough Love (UK) and February 26th, 2013 on Slumberland Records (US).


Girls Names - Pittura Infamante

Jinx is the new album from Weekend.
Mirror is the first single from Jinx.

Jinx is out now on Slumberland Records.

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/weekend-jinx-itunes
LP/CD order (color vinyl, poster, etc): http://www.slumberlandrecords.com/weekend/jinx
More info + tour dates: http://weekendtheband.us/


“The trio have burned a lot of the haze off their sound (and some of the
ear-bleeding volume), in favor of more melody and danceability, albeit in a
gothy '80s kind of way.” - Brooklyn Vegan

“Weekend kiss the curb with their new single, “Mirror”. It’s a promising
jig for Jinx.” - Consequence of Sound

“Note those bells and whistles, folks...not to say the deeper into Jinx we
travel the noise won't greet us with a screeching wail we've come to
expect, keeping those plugs at arm's length, but Weekend is not hiding in
the feedback.” - Impose Magazine

"All the subtlety of a high-pressure firehose...a dour, post-punk
atmosphere that goes for immersion rather than force." - Pitchfork

“Ominous razor-sharp textures enrapture, "Mirror" foretells the future of
Weekend, where gloom and pandemonium is a joyous return.” - Prefix

“It's steamy post-punk with a circular bass attack leading the way over
galloping drums...[Weekend’s] trademark guitar-pile assault.” - Rcrd Lbl

“Craftsmanlike post-punk” - Stereogum

Weekend - Mirror

Slumberland began operations in 1989 as a collective effort consisting of members of DC area bands Velocity Girl, Big Jesus Trash Can/Whorl, Black Tambourine and Powderburns. We were inspired by such musical happenings as C86, early Creation, Postcard, K, Bus Stop, lower East Side noise, and also the renegade art aesthetics & methods of people like Cage, Burroughs and Duchamp. The explosion of punk had left behind a thriving network of 'zines, labels and distributors and we felt that there was room for our noise-loving, pop-obsessed aesthetic. While there were loads of US indie labels releasing a steady stream of 7"s, there wasn't much pop going on. Notable exceptions included Bus Stop, K and Picture Book, and we hoped to join that group and help chisel out some space for melodies amongst the noise.

Early releases from Velocity Girl, Whorl and Black Tambourine struck a note, and we found like-minded popsters getting in touch from all over the world. As we expanded the label roster and our own horizons, the goal was always to share great songs and interesting sounds from a range of styles. Our first burst of activity through the 1990s and early 2000s brought seminal records by legendary bands like Stereolab, Rocketship, The Ropers, Lorelei, The Aislers Set, Hood and Boyracer.

By the mid 2000s we were seeing a resurgence of interest in guitar pop and the start of the ongoing vinyl revival: the perfect environment for Slumberland! We launched into our latest phase of activity with as string of classic releases from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Crystal Stilts, Frankie Rose, Veronica Falls, Allo Darlin', Joanna Gruesome and so many more.

2025 is our thirty-sixth (!) year we are still at it, ploughing our own furrow and bringing you unique, genre-defining (and genre-defying!) releases from bands like The Laughing Chimes, Humdrum, The Cords, Autocamper, Jeanines, The Umbrellas, Neutrals, Artsick, Kids On A Crime Spree, Papercuts, Lightheaded, Tony Jay, Chime School, Lunchbox and many, many more. Indie fashions come and go but we're still thrilled by great songs and the new ways that pop can be rejuvenated to fit the times.

Slumberland Records

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