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Hotrod Hotel

East Village

East Village are one of the great lost bands. From their mid-80s roots as Episode Four to their late-80s heyday with a string of now highly sought-after singles and EPs on labels like Sub Aqua, Heavenly and Summershine, East Village forged a brilliant, classic sound that resonated with contemporaries like the Flying Nun and Creation label bands, but also hearkened back to 60s influences like The Byrds, Dylan and Velvet Underground. Hotrod Hotel is a selection from the band's remarkable singles and is presented here for the first time on vinyl, packaged in a heavy, 60s-style album jacket with a 4-page insert featuring rare band pics and liner notes by Jon Dale.

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Singles 1986-1991

The Springfields

When it comes to indiepop, few names are as respected as Ric Menck and Paul Chastain and their project The Springfields. Taking their cues from influences like The Byrds and The Hollies they created a sound that was as jangly and melodic as their inspirations, but marked by a unique songwriting voice, excellent tunes, and sterling arrangements. This comp collects the 5 singles they released on Sarah, Picture Book, Summershine and Seminal Twang and adds one extra tune, here on vinyl for the first time. From the Paisley Underground-aligned opener "This Perfect Day" through the perfect pop of songs like "Sunflower" and a clutch of savvy covers, The Springfields created a compact, flawless catalog that more than justifies its legendary status and this timely reissue.

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Extended Leave

Lake Ruth

Lake Ruth was formed in 2015 by multi-instrumentalist Hewson Chen of The New Lines, drummer Matt Schulz (Holy Fuck, Enon, SAVAK) and vocalist Allison Brice (The Eighteenth Day of May, The Silver Abduction). Inspired by 1960's sonic experimentation, baroque psychedelia, library obscurities, vintage pop noir, Giallo soundtracks, kraut and jazz, Lake Ruth creates intriguing and unique music rich with multilayered instrumentation, propulsive rhythms and atmospheric vocals. This double-A side single is their latest music and perhaps the sharpest, most incisive example of their deep, thought-provoking pop yet. Mysterious and melodic, both sides ably demonstrate why Lake Ruth are one of the most interesting bands out there today. This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series; while supplies last you can get a color vinyl version with a series subscription. More info and subscription links on the SLR30 Singles Series info page.

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Faces

Failed Flowers

Formed in 2014 during a summer spent obsessing about Sarah Records, Michigan band Failed Flowers are a shadowy group, evoking elements of C86, indie, pop and shoegaze. The current line-up coalesced in 2015 around guitarist/singers Anna Burch and Fred Thomas, bassist Erin Davis and drummer Miles Haney. "Faces" is the first song Anna brought to the band, a wash of guitars and vocal harmonies that are somehow both quick and casual. "Broken Screen" was described as "The Strokes in a bar fight" seconds after the lead vocals were put to tape, and the song zips along nervously with just that energy. One half jumpy, self-conscious punk and one half Flying Nun-esque grey skies pop and all Failed Flowers. This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series; while supplies last you can get a color vinyl version with a series subscription. More info and subscription links on the SLR30 Singles Series info page.

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Naive Castle

Wildhoney

Formerly based in Baltimore, Wildhoney have moved to the west coast and are now releasing their first new music in over two years. "Naive Castle" shows a new side to the band, dialing down some of the shoegaze haze in favor of gorgeous, chiming pop that recalls the finest from bands like The Sundays and The Cranberries. It's the perfect soundtrack to these melancholic days as summer turns to fall. On the b-side you'll find a dreamy, late-night cover of Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me" that brings a wasted weariness to this tale of teenage yearning. It's a beautiful, earnest take on a tune that turns out to be a perfect match for Wildhoney's swooning style. This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series; while supplies last you can get a color vinyl version with a series subscription. More info and subscription links on the SLR30 Singles Series info page.

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Gone For Good

Smiles

The Bay Area's Smiles are back with their second 7" and what a blast it is. Superbly-crafted pop is the order of the day here, with echoes of everything from prime Teenage Fanclub to Big Star to the southern power-pop of folks like Dwight Twilley and Tommy Hoehn. "Gone For Good" is 3:33 of pop perfection, with a marvelous melody, heavenly harmonies and a bit of a triumphant guitar solo sneaking in at the end. On the flip side we get another gem in "This Boy," a brief tune that still feels fully-formed, rather in the style of fellow West Bay songsmith Tony Molina. It's developing into quite the scene they have down there, and as long as the results are as thrilling as this single we can't wait to hear what's next. This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series; while supplies last you can get a color vinyl version with a series subscription. More info and subscription links on the SLR30 Singles Series info page.

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Jeanines

Jeanines

Brooklyn's Jeanines specialize in short bursts of energetic but melancholy minor-key pop. With influences that run deep into the most crucial tributaries of DIY pop — Television Personalities, Marine Girls, early Pastels, Dolly Mixture — they've crafted a style that is as individual as it is just plain pleasurable. Jeanines specialize in 60s-meet-80s melodies that combine with timeless guitar jangle in a way that recalls the UK's C86/C88 era, when smart young bands crafted perfect pop gems enlivened by the inspiration of punk. Clearly, with 16 great songs included, there is a lot at work here on this standout debut album. Jeanines have been compared to such cult pop icons as Black Tambourine and more recent acts like Veronica Falls and Girl Ray, but their dark, modal melodies and pensive, philosophical lyrics ensure them a place of their own in today's crowded but boisterously healthy DIY pop scene.

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Seventeen Seconds

Frankie Rose

Synthesizing wide-ranging influences, Frankie Rose has crafted a distinctive musical voice that echoes some of the best post-punk and 80s pop while still sounding totally fresh. It was in this spirit that Frankie covered The Cure's "Seventeen Seconds" for Turntable Kitchen's Sounds Delicious series. Here's Frankie on the challenge of tackling this album: "Since I already think it's a perfect record, I tried not to reinterpret too much and stick to similar sounds as the original, but with a twist. Working on it with Jorge Elbrecht was a dream, because he's the only person who's as deep of a Cure fan as I am! And he's a damn wizard!" Frankie and Jorge have created something quite special, paying tribute to this classic album while still putting their own contemporary stamp on the songs.

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Kathleen Says

Papercuts

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" and an acoustic version of new tune "Comb In Your Hair."

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Ripe For Anarchy

Business of Dreams

Helmed by Terry Malts/Smokescreens/Magic Bullets member Corey Cunningham, Business of Dreams eschews the punk/indie guitar approach of those bands for something softer and less guitar-focused. Hearkening back to the mid-80s melding of synths and indiepop, Business of Dreams' 2017 eponymous debut was an unexpected pleasure that topped many savvy listeners' year-end lists. With his new album "Ripe For Anarchy," Cunningham has honed the songwriting with an eye towards regret, existence, and perseverance. The mantra here is this: it's time to let go. "The album is about living in the moment, shedding neurosis, and the desire to discard the general societal malaise we'e been roped into." The lush tunes abound with references to The Go-Betweens, The Smiths and The Field Mice -- beautiful melodies underpinning songs about the wounded, the lonely and the mournful. Perfect, timeless pop.

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Strange Lovers

David Lance Callahan

Over the course of his 30+ year career, David Callahan has charted a distinct course. From the angular pop of The Wolfhounds to the experimental post/art rock of Moonshake and back to the sharper-than-ever recently reformed Wolfhounds, Callahan is always known for smart, unsparing lyrics, a fierce DIY ethic and an ever-inquisitive sonic adventurism. Now for Slumberland's SLR30 Singles Series Callahan is set to release his first official solo recordings. Minimally recorded at home with an acoustic guitar, sampler, glockenspiel and a couple of friends guesting on harmonies, the double A-side cuts of "Strange Lovers" and "Waiting For The Cut-Off" reveal a subtler, though still intense, side to his songwriting.

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The Way To Heaven

Dolly Dream

Dolly Dream dwell in a cryptic space where love meets danger, and where enigmatic song can lead one to ecstasy or onto more ambiguous terrain. The dark and dreamy "The Way To Heaven" could be a lost classic from a sock hop in a David Lynch film. Featuring a stellar, heart-tugging vocal performance, the effect is rather like a ballad from a young Brenda Lee or Wanda Jackson. It's the song that made them fall in love. Says Dolly: "It's hard to make an honest love song. What's the most honest thing? Death. Lovers don't wanna think about Death. Yearning is the flip side of mourning. Yearning is the feeling of some future ghost. Dolly Dream is the sound of that ghost." This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series.

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Parallel Universe Blues

Papercuts

Papercuts' new album "Parallel Universe Blues" has a sound that is intimate and close, nicely balancing the sonic concerns of the last few Papercuts records: perfect Spectorian pop songs echoed down through The Velvet Underground, LA's Paisley Underground, Spiritualized and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Songs like "Laughing Man," "How To Quit Smoking," "Sing To Me Candy" and "Clean Living" are all gorgeous, melodic gems, never sacrificing song-writing for atmospherics and bringing to mind late night/rainy day albums like "Darklands" and "Chelsea Girl." "Parallel Universe Blues" is a triumph and points to more great things in the future from Quever and Papercuts.

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Red Dust

The Suncharms

Sheffield's The Suncharms formed in 1989 out of an indie scene that was just expanding from straight indiepop into territory that would soon be known as shoegaze. Two EPs were released in 1991 on the Wilde Club label; the Slumberland Records crew LOVED those two EPs -- they had all the guitar overload we craved, but wrapped around some unusually crafty pop tunes. Less ethereal or abstract than a lot of shoegaze, accurate reference points might include early Ride or The Boo Radleys. We first approached the band about the possibility of releasing something way back in 1992, but the band broke up soon thereafter and it's taken 25 years and a timely band reformation to finally make this single happen. And it's an absolute corker - melodic and psychedelic, 'gazey but tough and not at all gauzy. This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series.

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Sometimes We're Friends

Rat Columns

Rat Columns, the ever changing musical project of David West and friends, emerged from the desert outpost of Perth, Western Australia in the late 2000s, influenced by largely anglocentric forms such as post-punk and jangle pop and emitting a steady stream of 7"s, EPs and three full length albums along the way. The songs included on this EP were recorded at the same time as their 2017 album Candle Power in Guildford, Western Australia, in a back shed studio on a rambling riverside property. Well-crafted, literate pop in the best tradition of 3rd album Velvet Underground, the Postcard label, early Creation label and The Go-Betweens. This single is part of the SLR30 Singles Series.

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Modern Meta Physic

Peel Dream Magazine

Modern Meta Physic LP/CD/cassette

Joe Stevens' NYC-based project Peel Dream Magazine is highly evocative of a certain strain of independent music -- a gentle, fuzzy psychedelia, recalling the best of early Stereolab, Lilys and other shaggy haired kids with a penchant for a hypnotic bit of mod-ish lo-fi pop. 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, an esoteric milieu steeped in Far East philosophy, Native American tradition and mid-century modern cool. Tunes like "Qi Velocity" and "Due to Advances in Modern Tourism" percolate and hum, leading you down a sonic path with markers as varied as Broadcast, Neu!, Steve Reich & Grouper.

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Nosh Lately? A Tribute to The Beastie Boys

various artists

Twenty years after the Beastie Boys first said "Hello Nasty" to the world, D.A. Stern and Jacuzzi Boys are teaming up to celebrate its birthday in the form of a split 7" of covers brought to you by Slumberland Records. Focusing on two fan-favorite deep cuts, the three JBs and one D.A. chose songs that showcase the Beasties' unique versatility while offering messages of mindfulness, emblematic of their later career. "Song For the Man" a Horovitz-penned feminist anthem originally steeped in Sixties psychedelia now sees a garage treatment that only Jacuzzi Boys could deliver while "I Don't Know," once an Adam Yauch bossa nova standout, gets the D.A. Stern treatment replete with jangly guitars and sun-drenched backing vocals.

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Hands In The Till: The Complete John Peel Sessions

The Wolfhounds

At the peak of media attention over the NME's C86 cassette, The Wolfhounds recorded three four-song sessions for the BBC's legendary John Peel Show between March 1986 and January 1987, capturing all the excitement and youthful exuberance of a band just catching the public imagination. With an energy born of sweaty, rammed gigs in London pubs and a willful experimentation nurtured in suburban bedrooms and garages away from watchful eyes, The Wolfhounds blasted their raw live sound straight to tape with little in the way of overdubs or the more considered studio polish of their excellent albums. Every song from these sessions is now gathered together on Hands In The Till, making a surprisingly coherent whole despite the heady disorganized thrust of the times and a couple of line-up changes in the meantime. More wiry and angular than most of their C86 peers, The Wolfhounds had more in common with The Fall than The Byrds, and Hands In The Till shows them at their caustic best.

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now viewing: albums
filter view: all releases   albums   eps   singles   shirts, badges & more   other label's stuff we sell