slumberland records

keeping it foolish since 1989

NOTE: We will be on holiday from November 23rd-Dec 1st; mail order resumes on Dec 2nd.

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Rising from the ashes of C86 band The Groove Farm, Beatnik Filmstars took a much spikier approach to their music. Wedding the angular punk of early Fall to the experimentalism of Pavement and Truman's Water, the Filmstars developed a sizable body of recordings over the course of the 90s that suggests an interest in both classic northern English bloody-mindedness and Yank-style indie rock. Coming on at times like the Wedding Present jamming with the Swell Maps, they weren't afraid to throw some pop music in there too.

After two excellent albums and a handful of singles for the UK label La-Di-Da, the Filmstars graced Slumberland with Beezer, a compilation of demos, single tracks and unreleased gems that neatly summarized their career up through 1996. It's a spiky, challenging mix of megaphone vocals, sudden sonic shifts, grinding guitars, flailing rhythms and occasionally a sing-along chorus somehow fighting through the dense mix. Far from your run-of-the-mill indie rock, this is bold and distinctive next-level stuff that grabs you by the scruff and shakes off any preconceptions you might have about indie.

Be sure to check out their other albums and singles on Merge and Mobstar, too -- it's all great.