New & featured releases, updated May 31st, 2023
The Reds, Pinks and Purples "They Only Wanted Your Soul"
[LP » $19.00] [more info]The Reds, Pinks and Purples They Only Wanted Your Soul LP
Limited edition reissue of a very scarce 4 song EP, now expanded to mini-LP length with the addition of six bonus songs. Recorded around the same time as the songs that went on to comprise the beloved "Uncommon Weather" album, "They Only Wanted Your Soul" contains some of the best examples of Glenn Donaldson's melancholy but wry take on indie pop. 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 -- an essential chapter of the Reds, Pinks & Purples story.
The Reds, Pinks and Purples "Summer At Land's End"
[2xLP » $25.00] [LP » $19.00] [CD » $9.00] [more info]The Reds, Pinks and Purples Summer At Land's End 2xLP/LP/CD
"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 has built an obsessive, ever-growing following by combining a vinyl-oriented release schedule with regular drops of new songs on Bandcamp. 2021's "Uncommon Weather" was something of a breakthrough and now Donaldson is back with the brilliantly ambitious "Summer At Land's End." Like the blossoming flower-themed sleeve might imply, it's bursting with heart-ripped-open vocals, ringing guitars, and warm reverberations. As before, "Land's End" contains plenty of concise indie-pop songs, but it also expands into hazier acoustic sounds and some extended mood pieces. You might hear '80s and '90s influences in the echoing guitars, but more so you might hear melodies and words that resonate deep down in some mysterious, transcendent space.
Chime School "Chime School"
[CD » $9.00] [cassette » $7.00] [LP » $20.00] [more info]Chime School Chime School CD/cassette/LP
Chime School is the project of San Francisco musician Andy Pastalaniec. Charmed by 80s indie and its 60s forbearers, Andy cut his teeth as a drummer with SF groups Pink Films, Cruel Summer, and Seablite; now he has come out from behind the kit to write and record his own material. The aptly named 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 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 singles "Taking Time To Tell You" and "It's True" 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.
Jeanines "Don't Wait For A Sign"
[LP » $17.00] [CD » $9.00] [more info]Jeanines Don't Wait For A Sign LP/CD
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. 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.
Peel Dream Magazine "Pad"
[Ltd Edition LP » $24.00] [LP » $20.00] [CD » $9.00] [more info]Peel Dream Magazine Pad Ltd Edition LP/LP/CD
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 kosmische grooves. Now Stevens is back with "Pad," a new, conceptual album which draws on influences from baroque pop to Bossa Nova, folk and mid-century orchestral, from Burt Bacharach-era 60s pop to first wave homemade post-punk. First single "Pad" is a perfect introduction to what the album is all about, all finger-snapping cool, groovy flute and sumptuous harmonies; a whispering sigh of a love song. Like the album it lends its name to, "Pad" is conceptually playful and sensuously subterranean, blurring the line between blithe escapism and pointed subversion. The limited edition mail order-only edition includes a bonus 4-song 7" EP.
Peel Dream Magazine "Agitprop Alterna "
[CD » $9.00] [cassette » $7.00] [LP » $19.00] [more info]Peel Dream Magazine Agitprop Alterna CD/cassette/LP
Peel Dream Magazine is the musical vehicle for NYC's Joe Stevens, who launched the band in 2018 with the critically acclaimed album Modern Meta Physic, a mysterious, liminal tribute to the hazy end of '90s dream-pop that found its place on numerous "Best of 2018" lists. Now Peel Dream are back with Agitprop Alterna, an album that pays homage to the fuzzy, mod-ish pop of acts like My Bloody Valentine and early Stereolab, but it's also indebted to stateside bands like Yo La Tengo and Rocketship that were cut from a similar cloth. Agitprop Alterna finds Stevens deepening the connection between the existential and the interpretive first explored on Modern Meta Physic. It is a rejection of manipulation in all its forms and a buzzsaw against complacency; it's a rare trick to agitate without being obvious, and perhaps that makes Agitprop Alterna the most Peel Dream Magazine-like statement yet.
Peel Dream Magazine "Modern Meta Physic"
[LP » $20.00] [CD » $9.00] [cassette » $7.00] [more info]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.
The Laughing Chimes "Zoo Avenue EP"
[cassette » $7.00] [more info]The Laughing Chimes Zoo Avenue EP cassette
The Laughing Chimes is a musical project formed by teenage brothers Evan and Quinn Seurkamp. The band draws inspiration from American and British jangle pop from the 80s and 90s, creating timeless songs that could just as easily have originated in Athens, GA or Dunedin, NZ as eastern Ohio. The "Zoo Avenue EP" is terrifically assured follow-up to their 2020 debut album, one that sharpens their sound and broadens their musical palette while retaining all of the considerable charm of their debut.