Wake Up to Slumberland

My love for labels like Yep Roc, Merge and Matador is pretty evident, but there is a another contender that has quietly moved up my list of favorites. Slumberland has been around for more than 20 years, and I have been into one of the label's founding bands -- Velocity Girl -- for nearly that long. It has just been in the last three or four years, however, that I have noticed how many of Slumberland's bands I'm listening to from their current stable of stars.

Actually, we are a match made in heaven. The folks at Slumberland have an affinity for bands that sound like they could have come from the C-86 movement, Phil Spector's lot or the short-lived Postcard label, as do I. For me, it really started with the Lodger's debut album in 2007. Then I moved on to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. My fondness for Slumberland became more like respect when they issued much of the Aislers Set's catalog on vinyl. Then, earlier this year, respect turned to deep appreciation when they dug up an old Chin Chin record to remind us that many of these new bands are just the next wave in the vast evolution of music.

Slumberland provided the soundtrack for much of my tough transition from Chicago to Seattle earlier this year. Here are a few of those well-worn songs. I hope you will like them, too. If you do, visit the label's site and drop a few bucks. Slumberland is one of the good guys.

Tender Trap - Do You Want A Boyfriend? (mp3)
Spectrals - 7th Date (mp3)
Procedure Club - Feel Sorry For Me (mp3)