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

That Guy b/w Time Crisis Too

Time Crisis Too

Single from Kallsup (Örebro/Sweden). 

"Forever" is taken from the debut album "En sista räddning", released March 28, 2025 on VÅRØ Records.

Press contact: Hello@varorecords.com
Band contact: mgmt@kallsup.se
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kallsup909/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kallsup909

En sista räddning

Kallsup - Forever

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!

Lunchbox - Letter From Overend

Brown Paper Bag

Brown Paper Bag (upsammy Remix)

Night Surfer

Coat

'Perfect Hit!' is the title track from Buffet Lunch's forthcoming album ‘Perfect Hit!’, out on April 4th through Upset The Rhythm.
 
https://upsettherhythm.co.uk/
 
UTR
x

Buffet Lunch - Perfect Hit!

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!

pre-order

Lightheaded - Same Drop

a combination of all 3 songs from my album, [Our Thoughts And Prayers Are With You...].

---


[LYRICS]

---( our thoughts and prayers are with you)---

i've got my own crown
i wear when no one's around
thank you for saving me, i guess
is this what you wanted to see?

we're so intricate 
and we don't care
are you up there? 
we're so intricate 
and we don't care
are you up there anymore?

i seem to say such pretty things
so that they will notice me
but 
i wanna blend in
these are not the virtues of righteous men

and our thoughts and prayers are with you
always

pray for me
yeah?

say the words 
with a smile
then file it away
this is decay
say the words 
with a smile
then file it away
this is decay

and our thoughts and prayers are with you
always


---( poison )---

my demons 
were mollified
we came to terms
for some reason
i'm petrified
i still need oxygen 
to breathe 
out here

i heard the word
the ghost will spread 
and flood this earth

i pray that God will listen
spread poison
this is the work of demons
this is the work of the wicked in your brain
pray that God will listen
spread poison
this is the work of demons
this is the work of the wicked in your brain

this is the work of 
poison

don't spare the sick details
i want to know everything
why should we suffer 
down here in misery 
and somehow 
still find salvation?
... and release?

spread the word
everything 
will burn

i pray that God will listen
spread poison
this is the work of demons
this is the work of the wicked in your brain
pray that God will listen
spread poison
this is the work of demons
this is the work of the wicked in your brain

there's no salvation without preemptive poison

there's no salvation


---( Messiah )---

where is 
your Messiah?
the one you spoke of when we were young
he was dressed in grey
and always 
just out of my reach

i know i will never be you
but 
Jesus Christ
i'll try
i know i will never be you
but 
Jesus Christ
i'll try

where are 
the scars on your hands?
because 
you act like you were the one 
up there
preaching behind 
the facade of your 
Father-

i know i will never be you
but 
Jesus Christ
i'll try
i know i will never be you
but 
Jesus Christ
i'll try

i know i will never be you
but-

Jesus Christ

o.t.a.p.a.w.y./poison/Messiah

old days

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.

The Laughing Chimes - High Beams

Slumberland Records

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