Smoking With Your Best Friend

Nah... - Finger On The Map

Los Angeles' Smokescreens are a group of friends who bonded through a love for New Zealand's Flying Nun label, as well as shared inspirations such as The Velvet Underground, The Go-Betweens, The Television Personalities and of course indie pop of all flavors. Their self-titled debut was released to wide acclaim in 2017, and was quickly followed-up with the excellent "Used To Yesterday" in 2018.

Since then they've toured a bit, written a bunch and made some great friends along the way. One new friend and fan is David Kilgour from legendary New Zealand band The Clean, who came to LA to produce Smokescreens' new record "A Strange Dream." Recorded with trusted engineer Kyle Mullarky, this terrific album exhibits a band at the very height of their powers, combining their collective talents into a potent set of songs that's been superbly captured by the team of Kilgour and Mullarky.

From the jaunty pop of opener "Fork In The Road" to the rocking "Streets of Despair" and the dreamy "On and On" this is a record that clearly shows a band that knows it's way around a timeless guitar riff and aching pop melody. Gorgeous ballads like "Nighttime Skies" and "I Love Only You" add a new depth to Smokescreens' sound, and the cover of Scrotum Poles' DIY classic "Pick The Cats Eyes Out" is perfect, and perfectly fun. Add in an evocative cover painting from Mr. Kilgour and you have a record looks as good as it sounds, and will prove to be compulsive listening for any savvy pop fan.

A Strange Dream

Smokescreens - Working Title

"Amsterdam" is the second single from the album "The Club Is Open" by Swedish band "Fort Not" due out 18th September on Meritorio Records.

Available on 12" Vinyl and Digital. Link in Bio.

Fort Not - Amsterdam

Formed in London in 2012, Flowers have released two albums and an increasingly assured string of singles on labels like Fortuna Pop, Kanine, Oddbox, Cloudberry and Where It's At Is Where You Are. Those associations might give you an idea of where they are coming from: beautiful, effecting pop with echoes of C86 indie, post-punk pop, shoegaze, 90s 4AD and even a dash of early Slumberland Records. Far more than just a sum of their influences, they've dazzled pop fans around the world with their distinctively spiky songs and Rachel Kennedy's thrilling, ethereal vocals.

"Erik" is their contribution to Slumberland's SLR30 Singles Series and their first single since 2017. Written about their wayward pet hamster, it's a lovely tune that wouldn't sound out of place on a Belly record, a prime piece of the grungy, fuzzy pop that Flowers are so expert at creating. On the flip, "Candour" is deeper and slower, recalling early SLR groups like Black Tambourine and Henry's Dress, a connection that makes their participation in our singles series all the more appropriate.

Erik

Flowers - Erik

Neutrals are a punk band from the San Francisco Bay Area, channeling a wide range of '70s and '80s punk, post-punk, and indie-pop influences. Their debut album "Kebab Disco" came out in 2019 on Emotional Response Records and garnered universal acclaim as "an excellent collection of terse melodies, unique storytelling, and scraping pop. (AllMusic)". The band followed-up with an excellent five song EP earlier this year on Domestic Departure.

"Personal Computing" b/w "In The Future" is their new single and has the distinction of being the final entry in our SLR30 Singles Series. Both sides were recorded just before the COVID-19 lockdown began and share a bittersweet nostalgia for an imagined rose-tinted future that never was. The mood of thwarted utopian dreams feels all too appropriate right now and the tense, angular songs on this single are an ideal soundtrack for this unsettled moment.

Personal Computing

Neutrals - Personal Computing

From Corey Flood's debut album Hanging Garden out September 4th on Fire Talk.

Buy: ffm.to/coreyfloodphl

There’s a vague sense of unease that permeates Corey Flood’s debut full-length, Hanging Garden, out September 5th via Fire Talk. From the surface, the record appears to break through the dark fog of the band’s 2018 EP, Wish You Hadn’t, but just below lay themes of ambivalence, uncertainty, and anxiety, layered elegantly in fuzz. Recorded in Philadelphia by Jackie Milestone, mixed by Natasha Jacobs, and mastered by Sarah Register, Hanging Garden pushes through feelings of discomfort and repressed emotions to discover what truly lies beneath.

Born in Philly circa 2017, Corey Flood began as the post-grad bedroom project of bassist Ivy Gray-Klein (formerly of Littler) and drummer Juliette Rando. A month after their first show with guitarist Em Boltz, the band signed with New York’s Fire Talk Records and turned four planned demos into a full-fledged, delightfully menacing debut EP. Now, after two years of intense growth and collaboration, the trio continues their “whirlwind trajectory” with the long-awaited, nine-track LP, Hanging Garden.

Inspired by Throwing Muses, Helium, Pale Saints, and Brix Smith-Start’s work with the Fall, Gray-Klein calls Hanging Garden “a reckoning with internal discord.” Through soft melodies, lush guitars and churning rhythms, the dual vocals of Gray-Klein and Boltz recall relatable experiences with gaslighting, imposter syndrome, and repetitive thoughts. Hanging Garden feels intimate and familiar but is strewn with playful surprises, like 70s krautrock guitar work and samba-influenced drum parts. Hanging Garden is a mature stride forward, and a bewitching amble towards the unknown.

Hanging Garden

Corey Flood - Park Deli 7

Love, Burns is a new project by Phil Sutton (Pale Lights). He recorded the songs with befriended musicians who have played in bands such as Lake Ruth, Alpaca Sports, The Ladybug Transistor and Crystal Stilts. The result is a classic indie pop single with two perfect pop songs. For (pre-)order please send a message to: kus-mail@gmx.de
Love, Burns. "Gate and the Ghost" 7" (KUS 028) will be released on October 23rd. 
Artwork by Karl Morgan.

Love, Burns. - Gate and the Ghost

Following on from 2016's "Wordless Wonder" album, Minneapolis' Real Numbers are back with a brand new EP entitled "Brighter Then." Recorded over winter 2019/2020, the EP shows the band journeying deeper into straight-up indiepop than ever before. Where "Wordless Wonder" partook in lo-fi post-punk DIY pop thrills, "Brighter Then" revels in the more sophisticated sounds of the late 80s and *nails* it. The smart songs and crisp production echo Sarah Records favorites like The Wake and Brighter; while never straying too far from their scrappy DIY roots, Real Numbers have broadened their sound with assurance, and fans of Felt and the Field Mice will be pleased with the results.

Brighter Then EP

Brighter Then

pre-order

Real Numbers - Brighter Then

From the 'At Attention' single on Matinée Recordings.

At Attention

Northern Portrait - At Attention

Following on from 2016's "Ocean Blue" EP and 2018's "September Love" LP, Stockholm's Stephen's Shore are back with a brand new EP entitled "Brisbane Radio".

The lead single is "Brisbane Radio", ”a streets of Stockholm popsong".

Pre-order the limited 7" EP or digital. Link in Bio.

Stephen's Shore - Brisbane Radio

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.