I'm laying in bed in the pith dark and its midnight on the west coast. Turned this up all the way and rocked the fuck out. That should tell you everything...

Very Siouxsish ...Kaleidoscope era, and also it sounds like Christian Death..and it's not bad at all ;)

JAN/FEB 2013 FORCE FIELD MIXTAPE

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'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

butterfly girl

Fading

over/under

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

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

You wanna speak your mind
It’s all just mighty fine
The time you take to compromise
I try to turn the tides

Nothing feels just right
Right there in my palms
To hold your words and see your eyes

It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise
It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise

Your keeping up on time
Growing up and showing up to work
Loading up high
Practicing that smile

I translate all the time
My love for you
And so you do
I hope you realise

It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise
It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise

I see blue skies
I see the light
I see blue skies
I see the light
It’s hard to release
It’s hard to memorise

It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memories
You wanna speak your mind
It’s all just mighty fine
The time you take to compromise
I try to turn the tides

Nothing feels just right
Right there in my palms
To hold your words and see your eyes

It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise
It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise

Your keeping up on time
Growing up and showing up to work
Loading up high
Practicing that smile

I translate all the time
My love for you
And so you do
I hope you realise

It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise
It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise

I see blue skies
I see the light
I see blue skies
I see the light
It’s hard to release
It’s hard to memorise

It’s hard to realise
It’s hard to memorise

Hard To Memorise

Running Through the Airport

Running Through the Airport (feat. Flaural & Spirit Award)

COLOR PALETTE - NIGHTS ALONE

It seems odd that the four-piece Wax Idols reside in Oakland, California. Especially considering the fact that the band’s sophomore LP "Discipline & Desire," out March 26th on Slumberland Records, embodies a dark, full, twisted sound: something that feels more appropriate to the foggy, damp British climate than that of sunny California. But that's Wax Idols -- zigging where other might zag, and always going their own way.

Compared to Wax Idols' debut LP "No Future" (a raw, hook-heavy punk effort written and recorded primarily by Fortune in 2010/2011 and released on Chicago's Hozac Records), "Discipline & Desire" is more a group effort as the band -- Jen Mundy (rhythm guitar/vocals), Amy Rosenoff (bass) and Keven Tecon (drums) -- contributed to the recording and writing process. Fortune dedicated herself to this record for over a year and the band were right there with her, playing with pattern, melody and stretching themselves beyond the comfort of unassuming hooks and into a darker, new wave territory. "Discipline & Desire" was produced and engineered by Monte Vallier (of Half Church and Swell) and co-produced by Fortune. Mark Burgess (of the British outfit The Chameleons) worked alongside Wax Idols & Vallier as an extra pair of ears and even played bass on the album closer "Stay In." Together they've crafted an album that's sleek and focused without being slick, and dark and intense without being at all humorless.

"Discipline & Desire" builds on Fortune’s debut full length effort in almost every way, rounding out as a far more complete record. The melodies are stronger, the vocals echoed and haunting, and the playing is at an unflagging level of intensity. First single “Sound of a Void” is a storming, full-throated late night anthem, while “Dethrone” and "When It Happens" shimmer and throb, perfect examples of Wax Idols' unique take on pop. Slower numbers like "Scent Of Love" and "Elegua" mesmerize and entrance, and the feedback-laced "AD RE:IAN" is nothing short of a masterpiece, punctuated by bursts of special guest Kristin Dylan Edrich's noise viola. Album closer "Stay In" wraps the up the album perfectly -- a mid-tempo melodic gem with a killer bassline and an uncanny balance of melody and atmosphere.

This is an inventive, brilliant record which solidifies the fact that Fortune is one of the best songwriters hiding in the shadows of the other California, where the sun doesn't always shine. But, judging by this fantastic album, she and her Wax Idols won’t be hiding for long.


UK Press:
Joe Parry
Division Media
joe@divisionpromotions.com
0208-962-8282



US Press:
Anton Hochheim
Force Field PR
anton@forcefieldpr.com
323-344-1602

Wax Idols - Sound of a Void

Buy Wondrous Bughouse' on CD/LP/Cassette http://fatpossum.com/products/wondrous-bughouse

Buy iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/wondrous-bughouse/id604313154


Youth Lagoon "Mute"

"Say That" from Toro Y Moi's upcoming album Anything In Return out January 22nd on Carpark.  

Pre-order Anything In Return: http://bit.ly/ZfdWZg

Connect with Toro Y Moi:
www.toroymoi.com
www.facebook.com/toroymoi
www.twitter.com/toroymoi

Say That

Pre-order Young Galaxy's new album 'Ultramarine' on limited white vinyl & CD:
shop.paperbagrecords.com/products/ultramarine
2013 Paper Bag Records
Young Galaxy - Pretty Boy (Peaking Lights Remix)
Available digitally February 5th, 2013

https://www.facebook.com/younggalaxy
Check out the original here: https://soundcloud.com/paper-bag-records/young-galaxy-pretty-boy-3

YOUNG GALAXY - Pretty Boy (Peaking Lights Remix)

Original from Parenthetical Girls' "Privilege*" CD/LP/DVD, available via Marriage Records February 19th (US), & Splendour March 4th (UK/EU). US Pre-Order available NOW: http://www.marriagerecs.com/shop2/941/parenthetical-girls

Sympathy For Spastics (Los Campesinos! Remix)

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.

Wax Idols - Sound of a Void

Slumberland Records

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