Tag: Slumberland

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Albums

Best albums of 2022: Albums #10 through #6

Good morning everyone! And happy Monday!

I don’t know about you folks but I am looking forward to the holiday season. I’ve just got a couple of working days left and then, I’m off until early in the new year.

The new year. New beginnings always bring hope for better things. I’ve already heard stirrings of some great music coming out in 2023 but before we get ahead of ourselves, we should take care of closing off 2022.

Indeed, there’s been lots of great music this year as well. And though I’ve had to curtail my vinyl collecting a bit with all the supply chain issues and the rising costs all around, this doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening to all the new music coming out via the various streaming services.

I’ve discovered lots of new artists and rekindled my relationship with many others. Just a couple of days ago, I shared five great albums that didn’t quite make the cut but are worth your attentions nonetheless. Today, marks the start of my top ten countdown in earnest, starting with albums #10 through #6. Then, I plan to post about my favourite five over the next week and half, hopefully, getting them all in by the end of the year.

With all the excellent releases, I am sure I missed out on one or two so as we go through my own 10 favourite albums, I welcome your comments and thoughts and perhaps even your own top ten favourites in the comments space provided.

Let’s do this.

#10 Blushing “Possessions”

Yes, Virginia, social media does work for good sometimes. I kept seeing Blushing pop up on my Twitter feed because of their interactions with some of my favourite shoegaze bands. Well, at some point, I must’ve started following the Austin-based shoegaze quartet because I definitely knew in advance of their self-titled debut’s release back in 2019. I was pretty sure I knew what I was in for when I gave it a go but was still pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it. For their sophomore release, Blushing convinced one of their heroes, Miki Berenyi, to collaborate on a track, really showcasing the similarity in vocal styles. And the rest of the album sounds to my ears like a huge step forward in all senses, fitting neatly on a shelf right next to the best of, not just Lush’s back catalogue, but alongside many of their ilk.

#9 Just Mustard “Heart under”

I haven’t yet heard the 2018 debut by the Dundalk, Ireland-based five piece but I am pretty sure it would fit right in my wheelhouse given that the adjective most used to describe it is shoegaze. I definitely plan to check it out over the upcoming holiday season, the period I usually use to catch up on music I might have previously missed, especially given how much I love this sophomore release. Of course, “Heart under” has a bit more industrial racket and gothy gloom added to it for the shoegaze adjective to be reapplied here. But it’s the haunting vocals of frontwoman Katie Ball that really sets this album apart for me this year and has everyone I’ve recommended it to likening their sound to dark dream poppers Cranes. My friend Tim, who actually turned me on to that latter band back in 90s, had said of “Heart under”, “Not sure about Just Mustard as a band name, but I added that album to my spotify”.

#8 Jeanines “Don’t wait for a sign”

Slumberland Records first came to my attention in the early 2010s when I discovered Allo Darlin’s sophomore record “Europe” and went down the rabbit hole exploring various twee and indie pop bands. Ever since then, they’ve become one of my favourite indie labels, being home to so many excellent bands over the years. And after purchasing a copy of Black Hearted Brother’s lone album off of them one Bandcamp Friday a couple of years ago, I have been getting emails from them every time they release a new album and usually it’s been worth my time to check it out. Jeanines’ sophomore album was definitely one of these this year. It very much fits in the vein of DIY twee and indie pop Slumberland sound. The rapid fire tracks all come in around the one and a half minute mark so that the total of all thirteen on the album is a measly twenty minutes. And yet, it’s far from fleeting. Each impression is deep and each melody will hook you until long after the last note reverberates away.

#7 The Reds, Pinks and Purples “Summer at land’s end”

I came across Glenn Donaldson (aka The Reds, Pinks & Purples) last year and his album “Uncommon weather” ended up being my favourite album of 2021. I loved it so much that I immediately doubled back to investigate his previous two (excellent) albums, released in 2019 and 2020 respectively. The man has been on a serious productive streak of late. This fourth album, “Summer at land’s end”, is far from the only collection of new music he’s released this year. Indeed, it seems like every other week I am getting a notification that he has concocted a new EP, mini-album, or companion album, and all of it is consistently excellent. This just happens to be the first thing that came out of his camp this year and the one I’ve spent the most time with. It is just more romantic, hazy, retro, atmospheric diary entries from Donaldson, whose voice I could listen to at any hour of the day. And yeah, he’s another artist on the Slumberland Records roster.

#6 Tallies “Patina”

It’s kind of a cliché that sophomore albums are considered to be challenging to most new artists. For this reason, I was somewhat surprised to realize that four of these first five albums in my top ten list are just that. So as great as they are, it makes me think that the future can only be brighter, and for Tallies especially. The Toronto-based indie pop band had already wowed those with a keen ear to the past glories of the indie pop renaissance in the eighties with their self-titled debut in 2019. Just around the time they announced the forthcoming release of “Patina” earlier this year, they were signed to Simon Raymonde’s UK label Bella Union. The album arrived on a welcome cloud of Sunday afternoon bliss, jangly wind chimes floating on memories of a warm breeze, all of it a haze from yesterday. Lovely stuff, all nine tracks.

Stay tuned for album #5 on this list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2012: #12 Frankie Rose “Pair of wings”

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I’m pretty near positive that I first came to listen to Frankie Rose’s second solo album, “Interstellar”, because of her impressive resume that included working with bands like Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls. I was likely expecting to hear some 60s girls group wall of sound, given this pedigree*, but this is not what I got. Instead, I voyaged off to space with her, a retro outer space, minimalist and analogue synth heavy, reverb drenched and vacuous. Stanley Kubrick would have been proud.

My favourite song on this record wasn’t either of the two singles that were proudly advertised on the hype label. Don’t get me wrong, “Know me” and “Night swim” are also both excellent. However, there is just something about “Pair of wings” that flirts heavily with near perfection.

The liner notes credit the song to a ‘Wu Li Leung’ who originally wrote the song as “Wings to fly” but initial (and lazy, and perhaps slightly drunken) attempts to track this original down while writing these words came up empty. I will trust our musical artist, though, and appreciate her honesty in giving credit where it is due. “Pair of wings” is a delicate and sweet notion, universal and easily comprehensible, repetition into simplicity.

“All that I want is
A pair of wings to fly
Into the blue of
The wide open sky”

These four minutes of magnificence starts and ends with the ticking of an alien clock. From there, the minimalist synth chords change slowly yet assured, washes upon washes, bells ringing into infinity, rocketing percussion, steam and exhaust, layers of everything and eternity. Rose’s vocals are amplified by the vacuum, her ringing vocals bouncing off planets and moons.

This is space rock that is only such because it is dreamy pop rocked by synths and empty space. It envelops you and assimilates you. If you scream in space, does anybody hear it? And with beauty this palpable, does it matter?

*Apparently, her first solo album, recorded under the name Frankie Rose and the Outs, did follow this line of questioning, but I have yet to listen to this one. So I am unable to confirm or deny.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2012 list, click here.

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2011: #18 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart “Heart in your heartbreak”

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For a while in the early 2010s, I was completely enamoured with twee and indie pop. Something about the precious quirkiness and often upbeat sound really appealed to me at that time. In my attempts to track down everything I could and trace my way back through the genre, I found my way to the label Slumberland Records. And well, my mass consumption of all the bands on their roster led me to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

The group was formed in 2007 by Kip Berman and a bunch of friends while living and working in New York after college. Their first two albums were released by the original lineup of Berman, Alex Naidus, Peggy Wang, and Kurt Feldman but after that, the band disintegrated some and nowadays, it is Berman’s solo project.

The second album released under the Pains moniker was 2011’s “Belong”, the final release on Slumberland, and was produced and mixed by Flood and Alan Moulder, two very well known names in the alt rock world. It was a critical darling, mixing the precious feelings of twee with reverb drenched shoegaze noise.

“Heart in your heartbreak” was one of the singles released in advance of said album. It’s got a peppy beat and and post-punk bassline. You can feel in the Eighties style, singalong chorus, a cheeriness covering up a high school sadness and teen angst that we can all identify with.

“She was the heart in your heartbreak
She was the miss in your mistake
And no matter what you take
You’re never going to forget”

It is a song for winter, for gathering yourself up in your coziest, heavy sweater with a hot mugga and remembering the warmth of summer, when love seemed possible and all dreams were alive, instead of sleeping under piles of snow. Yeah, “Heart in your heartbreak” is certainly the cause for wistful smiles and plenty of yearnings of yesterday.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2011 list, click here.