Great tunes from current and upcoming Slumberland releases.

more info:

https://www.facebook.com/SlumberlandRecords

http://www.slumberlandrecords.com

SLR NOW

Jeanines' 2019 self-titled debut was an indiepop tour-de-force that drew from a deep set of DIY pop influences, garnering attention from well beyond the international pop underground. Now they're back with "Don't Wait For A Sign," and it's a real gem. With the band now divided geographically and touched by the isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic, Jeanines' new album is deeper and a bit darker than their debut. The folk influences feel more pronounced, at times recalling early Fairport Convention or Vashti Bunyan as much as indiepop touchstones like Dear Nora, The Aislers Set, and the many bands of Pam Berry. The thirteen songs on "Don't Wait For A Sign" show a band in total mastery of their idiom—a brilliantly compelling blend of timeless influences illuminated by distinctive songwriting and sharp lyrics. The arrangements are always on point, full of interesting transitions and modulations but never fussy or in the way of the songs themselves. Alicia Jeanine's vocals really take flight here, richer and more confident, and often layered in harmony. Second albums can be tricky, but with "Don't Wait For A Sign” Jeanines ably manage to build on their terrific debut with well-honed songwriting, singular melodies, and unerringly sympathetic production.

Don't Wait For A Sign

Pre-Order

Jeanines - Don't Wait For A Sign

Jeanines' 2019 self-titled debut was an indiepop tour-de-force that drew from a deep set of DIY pop influences, garnering attention from well beyond the international pop underground. Now they're back with "Don't Wait For A Sign," and it's a real gem. With the band now divided geographically and touched by the isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic, Jeanines' new album is deeper and a bit darker than their debut. The folk influences feel more pronounced, at times recalling early Fairport Convention or Vashti Bunyan as much as indiepop touchstones like Dear Nora, The Aislers Set, and the many bands of Pam Berry. The thirteen songs on "Don't Wait For A Sign" show a band in total mastery of their idiom—a brilliantly compelling blend of timeless influences illuminated by distinctive songwriting and sharp lyrics. The arrangements are always on point, full of interesting transitions and modulations but never fussy or in the way of the songs themselves. Alicia Jeanine's vocals really take flight here, richer and more confident, and often layered in harmony. Second albums can be tricky, but with "Don't Wait For A Sign” Jeanines ably manage to build on their terrific debut with well-honed songwriting, singular melodies, and unerringly sympathetic production.\

Pre-order

Jeanines - Any Day Now

"Summer at Land's End" is the 4th LP from The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Glenn Donaldson’s solo kitchen pop "band." Since 2019 The Reds, Pinks & Purples have built an obsessive, ever-growing following by combining regular vinyl releases with occasional drops of new songs on Bandcamp. 2021's "Uncommon Weather" was something of a breakthrough and the brilliantly ambitious "Summer At Land's End" builds on it artistically in just about every way. It's expansively cinematic and atmospheric, while still being full of well-crafted, catchy melodic pop tunes. "Let's Pretend We're Not in Love" is a perfect example of this balancing act, an exercise in pop economy that sounds so immediately 'right' that it seems destined for a thousand mix tapes. Lush yet intimate, and redolent of both Glenn's beloved SF fog and the 80s/90s pop that he loves so deeply.

Summer at Land's End

Summer At Land's End

The Reds, Pinks & Purples - Let's Pretend We're Not in Love

Jason Quever has been releasing timeless dream pop as Papercuts since 2004; his new album "Past Life Regression" is a journey into the dreamier reaches of psychedelic folk-pop that digs deep into influences as wide-ranging as The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Spiritualized, Echo & The Bunnymen, Leonard Cohen and late 60s pop of various flavors. Jason's songcraft, arranging and production are immaculate as always, reflecting his broad experience and enlivened by his move back home to the San Francsico Bay Area. It's remarkable that after more than 15 years he's writing his best songs and in "Past Life Regression" has made his finest record. Gorgeous, perfectly constructed chamber pop for the very unusual times we're living through.

Past Life Regression

Papercuts - The Strange Boys

Papercuts - I Want My Jacket Back

Papercuts - Lodger

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

The Umbrellas are one of the most exciting bands to come from the indiepop underground in ages. Bursting out of the SF Bay Area's fertile indie scene, The Umbrellas come correct with a sound that fits snugly into a long line of classic pop, from The Byrds to Orange Juice, The Pastels, Comet Gain, Veronica Falls and Belle & Sebastian, along with a noticeable garage-pop/Paisley Underground flavor that is a hallmark of San Francisco's best bands. Their self-titled 2021 debut album dazzled with a dozen perfect pop tunes, charming the indiepop faithful but also winning fans outside the scene, leading to sold-out tours with bands as disparate as Ceremony and Destroy Boys.

Now The Umbrellas are back with "Write It In The Sky," an instant-classic that simply demanded to be pressed onto a 7" single. Clocking in at just under 3 minutes, "Write It In The Sky" is a thrilling pop rush full of fuzz, melody and excitement that will sit easily next to singles by the likes of Talulah Gosh, Shop Assistants, The Pastels and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. It's really that good - a sure thing to enter the canon of perennial indiepop floor-fillers. On the b-side we have the heavier "I'll Never Understand," a slow, trippy song with a slightly-delic sound that builds to a noisy crescendo. The band really crushes this one on stage, and it's fast becoming a live favorite. Taken together that point to a mighty bright future for The Umbrellas, and we can't wait to hear what's next!

Write It In The Sky

The Umbrellas - Write It In The Sky

Joe Stevens' Peel Dream Magazine project has dazzled savvy listeners for the last several years with its tuneful yet hypnotic synthesis of post-punk, shoegaze, 60s pop and motorik Krautrocky grooves. Their most recent salvo of the album "Agitprop Alterna" and companion EP "Moral Panics" was one of the few bright spots of a pandemic-wracked 2021.

Now Joe is back with a more conceptual work with "Pad," drawing on his own journey in and out of Peel Dream, his experiences with soundtrack scoring, and his abiding love of Brian Wilson, Harry Nilsson and The High Llamas. "Pad" draws on influences as from baroque pop to bossa nova, country and mid-century orchestral, from Burt Bacharach-era 60s pop to first wave homemade post-punk. It's a unique sound that is at once relaxing and engaging and makes a most satisfying next step in the Peel Dream Magazine trajectory.

Peel Dream Magazine - Hiding Out

Peel Dream Magazine - Pictionary

Before The Reds, Pinks & Purples started getting noticed by a larger audience, a 4 song 7” EP called "I Should Have Helped You" snuck out on Swedish experimental label I Dischi Del Barone, disappeared quickly, and is now trading for insane prices on Discogs. Recorded around the same time as the material that ended up on the buzzed-about LP "Uncommon Weather," it contains some of the best examples of Donaldson’s melancholy but wry take on indie pop. "They Only Wanted Your Soul" adds six more tracks to make it a mini-LP length grab bag of hits. It has songs about record shopping, religion, worker’s rights, dysfunctional holidays, and of course heartbreak sung over a maze of shimmering fuzzy guitars and drum machine beats. This expanded reissue re-presents an essential chapter of the Reds, Pinks & Purples story and as such is crucial listening.

They Only Wanted Your Soul

The Reds, Pinks & Purples - Saw You at the Record Shop Today

The Reds, Pinks & Purples - I Should Have Helped You

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

Frankie Rose - Anything

The Laughing Chimes is a musical project formed by teenage brothers Evan and Quinn Seurkamp based out of southeast Ohio. Living in a small, crumbling coal town on the brink of obscurity, Evan and Quinn wanted to bring to light some of their feelings and experiences from their time here. The project draws inspiration from American and British jangle pop from the 80s and 90s; establishing songs that blend enduring sounds with new melodies. The duo's 2020 album "In This Town" drew attention worldwide for its brilliantly timeless songs that could just as easily originated in Athens, GA or Dunedin, NZ as eastern Ohio.
 
The overwhelmingly positive reception of "In This Town" inspired the brothers to work on their next set of tunes. Evan wrote "Laurel Heights" upon seeing a sign in West Virginia with those words and from there the idea of an EP started to take shape.  More songs were written (some were discarded) and finally the brothers settled on the 6 tracks that comprise the "Zoo Avenue EP," including the first song written by Quinn.

From the deliciously paisley-tinged opener "Ice Cream Skies" through future anthem "Laurel Heights," the pastoral "Cats Go Car Watching" and the gorgeously melodic jangle of "Zoo Avenue" we can hear that Evan and Quinn have crafted a terrifically assured follow-up to "In This Town," one that sharpens their sound and broadens their musical palette while retaining all of the considerable charm of their debut. They're already working on their next record and have recently expanded to a trio and started playing live shows, so we're beyond excited to see where they go next.

The Laughing Chimes

Zoo Avenue EP

The Laughing Chimes - Ice Cream Skies

Artsick's debut album "Fingers Crossed" is a thrilling, compelling and downright fun record that surveys a vast swathe of indie and indiepop history, from DIY progenitors like Dolly Mixture through the punkier side of C86 to the 90s K Records-centered International Pop Underground and straight through more recent exemplars like Vivian Girls and Colleen Green. New single "Ghost of Myself" is unsparingly introspective, a story of internal struggle, self-doubt and ultimately resilience and self-belief wrapped in a brilliantly driving punk/pop song. "Ghost of Myself" is a timeless and vital tune and a prime example of what makes Artsick such a crucial band right now.

Fingers Crossed

Artsick - Ghost of Myself

"Look Again" is the third single from Artsick's "Fingers Crossed" and shows quite a different side of the band. Where previous singles were uptempo punk-infused jammers, "Look Again" slows the pace to match the mood of heartbreak and contemplation. The band's Christina says: "It's about the loss of a beautiful relationship and the soul crushing realization it was your fault." The song's blend of fuzz and longing melody fits that remit perfectly, and is a great showcase for Christina's 90s influences, like Hole, Sloan and Tiger Trap. Beautiful.

Artsick - Look Again

Kids On A Crime Spree's new single "Goods Get Got" is yet another stellar slice of punkish power-pop that marks their new album "Fall In Love Not In Line" as one of the finest records to come screaming out of the garage in a long while. With it's glam-stomp underpinnings and cavernous reverb it could be a lost song from Ramones' Phil Spector-produced "End of The Century" -- the perfect blend of 60s songcraft and punk energy. "Goods Get Got" (and the rest of "Fall In Love Not In Line") is catchy, powerful and, ultimately, timeless. It's fair to say that the Kids got the goods!

Fall In Love Not In Line

Kids On A Crime Spree - Goods Get Got

Oakland, CA's Kids On A Crime Spree have spent the last decade crafting a compact but potent discography that shows a deep love of 60s Brill Building songwriting, 70s power-pop, bubblegum glam/pop, the Ramones and of course the seminal sonic overload and pop pathos of Phil Spector's legendary productions. With each release head Kid Mario Hernandez -- along with drummer Becky Barron, and guitarist Bill Evans -- have put a more and more unique stamp on the music they love and gathered a rather devoted fanbase doing so.

Now back with a new record, Kids give us something their fans have always wanted ... more! "Fall In Love Not In Line" is a 10-song full-length record, a first for them. Cut at 45rpm, the album clocks in at a brisk 25 minutes, and it's a solid assemblage of noise-pop exuberance in all respects. Hernandez sought to move even farther from their influences, and the thick, rich sound that the band has put to tape (analog, of course) shows more warmth and some darker textures than in previous efforts; more shifting of tempos and melodies; a unity of purpose that can only come from years of playing together and listening to each other. The result is thoroughly modern power-pop that wears it's love of the classics lightly, finding new paths through familiar territory.

Kids On A Crime Spree - When Can I See You Again?

Chime School is the project of San Francisco musician Andy Pastalaniec. Endlessly charmed by 80s indie and its 60s forbearers (and any record with a 12-string guitar), Andy cut his teeth as a drummer with SLR labelmate Odd Hope in their early group Pink Films; later with shoegazers Cruel Summer, and currently with indiepop outfit Seablite. But it wasn't until he was gifted a cassette 4-track portastudio "almost as a dare," that he came out from behind the kit to write and record his own material.

Aptly named for its autodidact roots, Chime School pays homage to the formative jangle of The Byrds by way of early Primal Scream and The Springfields; the production and pop sensibility of the Biff Bang Pow and The Razorcuts; and the spirit of great singles labels like Creation, Postcard and Sarah. From the dreamy album opener "Wait Your Turn" to the driving jangle of "Dead Saturdays" and the lush, epic "Gone Too Fast" we can see that we're in the presence of a very talented writer indeed, someone with a lifetime's worth of pop fandom just waiting to burst out in song.

Chime School

Chime School - It’s True

Chime School - Taking Time to Tell You

Slumberland began operations in 1989, inspired by such musical happenings as C-86, early Creation, Sarah, Postcard, and the UK post-punk indie label scene. Since then we've covered a lot of territory, from punk to lofi noise to shoegaze and of course pop, releasing records from bands like The Aislers Set, Boyracer, Stereolab, Rocketship, Lorelei, The Ropers, The Saturday People and Black Tambourine.

By the mid 2000s we were starting to see 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.

2018 is our twenty-ninth year we are still going strong, ploughing our own furrow and bringing you unique, genre-defining (and genre-defying!) releases from bands like Smokescreens, Tony Molina, Papercuts, Business of Dreams, Peel Dream Magazine, D.A. Stern, The Spook School, Frankie Rose, Young Guv, Terry Malts and many, many more. As always, we operate entirely outside of the echo chamber of trends, fashion and phoney hipness. Slumberland bands are independent in the best way possible -- making music devoid of bullshit and true to their own voices, regardless of current popular taste.

SLR NOW

Slumberland Records