We are thrilled to announce three forthcoming Matinée albums that are currently at our trusty pressing plant, and you—lucky listener—can preorder them all now in advance of their November release dates!  Shipping multiple CDs is often the same price or only slightly higher postage so take advantage of the early preorder and pick up all three albums or add another gem from our astonishing back catalog.

1. The first new release is the highly anticipated sixth album ‘Lawrence of Suburbia’ (matcd092) from prolific Scottish indiepop heroes Bubblegum Lemonade!  Combining jangly and psychedelic songs, and peppered with lovely backing vocals from Sandra of fellow Scottish janglers Strawberry Whiplash, the collection is carefully structured and a great listen from start to finish. The album features the smash singles—’Never Have I Ever,’ ‘Out There On The Radio’ and ‘Love’s Young Nightmare’ plus nine additional tracks. At times joyful, positive, poignant, and reflective, the album is an essential addition to the Bubblegum Lemonade catalog and perhaps the best album so far from the artist. Full details on the release are available on the catalog page.  The album is officially released November 8, but you can preorder it right now exclusively from the Matinée shop and we will send it to you as soon as we have copies back from the plant.  While you wait, you can stream the three singles plus the world premiere of ace album track ‘To Leave Is To Die A Little” on the Matinée Soundcloud:

2. The second new release is the exciting collection of the one-song-a-month series from Swedish indiepop legends Red Sleeping Beauty!  Spanning from jangly indiepop numbers reminiscent of the band’s acclaimed ’90s singles through somber mid-tempo tracks to straight-up dance floor fillers, ‘Diary’ (matcd094) is eclectic yet strangely coherent, thanks to the band’s knack for timeless melodies. Based on ten of the tracks from the series, including Matinée EP lead tracks ‘Is This Love?’, ‘Summer House’ and ‘I’m Here Tonight,’ the album might be their strongest set of pop songs yet. The exclusive Matinée CD includes a further four bonus tracks so you know you need that in your collection. Full details on the release are available on the catalog page.  The album is officially released November 15, but you can preorder it now exclusively from the Matinée shop and we will send it to you as soon as we have copies.  While you wait, you can stream the three singles plus the stunning new track ‘Could Have Been Me’ (featuring guest vocals from Julia Lannerheim of fellow Swedish band Acid House Kings) on the Matinée Soundcloud:

3. The final new release is the fantastic sixth album ‘The Night of the Stars’ (matcd095) from Swedish dream pop favorites Azure Blue! The album pushes the quality to its peak, exhibiting a richer, clearer, and more luxurious approach to the patented Azure Blue sound across ten enticing tracks. Three of the songs generated significant buzz when released as singles— album opener ‘Rise’ plus ‘Three Times The Drama’ and ‘Define Your Dreams.’ A fourth track ‘Visions and Themes’ will have its premiere on October 25 when it is released as the final single from the album, while the remaining six tracks provide even further evidence of the brilliance of one of Sweden’s most internationally acclaimed indie artists. Full details on the release are available on the catalog page.  The album is officially released November 22, but you can preorder it now exclusively from the Matinée shop and we will send it to you as soon as we have copies back from the plant.  While you wait, you can stream the three singles on the Matinée Soundcloud:

‘Love’s Young Nightmare’ is the fantastic third single from the forthcoming ‘Lawrence of Suburbia’ album by Scotland’s Bubblegum Lemonade. The title track, which came to Laz in a dream, is an instantly lovable indie disco floor filler with a brilliant but simple monster guitar riff.

The EP also features two non-album tracks: a slower, pensive stunner called ‘Sad Comedian’ and the rocking anthem ‘America Calling’ celebrating the success of British performers in the States by picking up the pace and incorporating nice female backing vocals from Sandra of fellow Scots Strawberry Whiplash.

The EP (matda035) is available right now from the Matinée shop, the usual digital merchants, and our Soundcloud:

The third compilation from the song-of-the-month series by Swedish legends Red Sleeping Beauty is out now!

Lead track ‘I’m Here Tonight’ is a jangly guitar pop classic with twinkling keyboards and an especially catchy chorus, while the perfectly titled ‘Cruising Slowly’ is a mesmerizing multi-lingual one with English vocals interspersed with German and Spanish verses by guest vocalists Emol and Jane Wildson, and ‘The Sound Of Summer’ celebrates the end of the season with magnificent lead vocals courtesy of Mary Wyer of Even As We Speak.

The EP (matda036) is available right now from the Matinée shop, the usual digital merchants, and our Soundcloud:

‘Three Times The Drama’ (matda033) is the third single from the forthcoming album by Swedish dream pop favorites Azure Blue.

The song’s crystal-clear topline shines over electric guitars and analog synths to create an immediate pop song with great summer hit potential. The song is also a bittersweet dedication to Tobias Isaksson’s mother, who recently passed away, and its completion provided comfort following a period of unspeakable grief.

The upcoming album ‘The Night of the Stars’ pushes the quality to its peak, promising a richer, clearer, and more luxurious form of the patented Azure Blue sound.

The single is available right now from the Matinée shop, the usual digital merchants, and our Soundcloud:

Our second compilation of the ace song-of-the-month series by Swedish legends Red Sleeping Beauty is out now!

‘Summer House’ is a melodic gem with moody keyboards and a stunningly memorable chorus, while ‘New York, New Me’ is a long-lost 80s club hit not unlike an early Depeche Mode or Pet Shop Boys classic, and ‘If I’d Show You My Heart’ concludes the EP layering gently strummed guitars and keyboards in beautiful fragility.

The EP (matda034) is available right now from the Matinée shop and the usual digital merchants.  In the meantime, you can stream it on the player below:

Swedish favorites Red Sleeping Beauty are celebrating 2024 by releasing one song every month of the year, and this exclusive Matinée EP (matda032) compiles the first three gems in one magnificent package!

‘Is This Love?’ is an absolute smash layering keyboards and jangly guitars into a perfect pop song, while ‘Free Cake For Every Creature’ is a song about a band with the same name that sneaks up on you and eventually is all you want to hear and ‘Caroline (I Found Love)’ is a hook-filled dance floor filler just waiting to happen.

The EP is available right now from the Matinée shop and the usual digital merchants.  In the meantime, you can stream it on the player below:

Another week, another new release!  On this second single (matda031) from the forthcoming Bubblegum Lemonade album, Laz and Matinée Recordings renew their musical vows with something old, something new, and something blue.

The new is ‘Out There on the Radio’, a jangleadelic slice of radio-friendly guitar pop which recalls the Primal Scream off-shoot Spirea-X, for anyone of a certain age.  Unusually, the song is presented from the point of view of the muse, rather than the creative.

The blue is the reflective ‘One Hundred Wishes’, with its muscular sliding chord riffs and vocal harmonies by Sandra from fellow Scots, Strawberry Whiplash.

The old is ‘New Clothes for the Old Gods’, a song initially recorded back in 2011 that somehow never found a suitable slot on previous releases.  A fully paid-up Bubblegum classic, the stroboscope guitars and skipped drum beats sound like something from the Mary Chain’s ‘Automatic’ album, but with an extra helping of guitar feedback.

‘Out There on the Radio’ will appear on the new album ‘Lawrence of Suburbia’ later this year, while the other two tracks are exclusive to this release.

The EP is available right now from the Matinée shop and from your favorite digital merchant on September 22.  In the meantime, you can stream it on the player below:

New release alert!  ‘Rise’ is the fantastic new single (matda030) from an upcoming album by Swedish favorites Azure Blue. A shimmering track with a rushing drumbeat topped by luxurious layers of analog synths and a Peter Hook-like bass, the song is a dream pop anthem featuring a timeless chorus and vocal harmonies from Azure Blue’s long time companion The Land Below.

The single also includes ‘Define Your Dreams’—a bright flare first previewed during the dark days of the pandemic with massive synth walls and lyrics that suggest that while difficult times have passed, more difficult ones may be coming.

The forthcoming album ‘The Night of the Stars’ promises a more luxurious form of the patented Azure Blue sound: richer, clearer, and more powerful than ever.

In the meantime, ‘Rise’ is available right now in the Matinée shop and other digital retailers, and you can stream it on the player below:

The first of several new Matinée 7″ singles on our release schedule is from Swedish legends Red Sleeping Beauty, who return to the new release racks today with an exclusive new EP, ‘From Sarah With Love’ (matinée 103), that pays tribute to the brilliance of the late 80s/early 90s English label Sarah Records.

The single kicks off with ‘Solid Gold’—a collaboration with Sarah Records heroine Amelia Fletcher (Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, Tender Trap, The Catenary Wires) providing ace lead vocals and her usual dose of pop magic. With this song, Red Sleeping Beauty have come full circle. Starting out as a jangly guitar pop band in the 1990s and coming back after a 20-year hiatus in 2016 as an electronic synth pop trio, Red Sleeping Beauty return to their roots on this track—a bouncy, jangly, singalong guitar pop smash.

The lead track on the flipside is ‘Second Time’—a collaboration with Sarah Records goddess Mary Wyer (Even As We Speak) delivering lush lead vocals and the Australian charm that only Mary could add to this essential track. It sounds like the kind of song Saint Etienne released at their peak—a hi-energy, sophisticatedly laid back, dance floor filler.

To complement these all-star collaborations, Red Sleeping Beauty recorded cover versions of two early Sarah Records hits—‘Pristine Christine’ originally released by The Sea Urchins on Sarah 001 and ‘I’m In Love With A Girl Who Doesn’t Know I Exist’ originally released by Another Sunny Day on Sarah 007. Realizing it is impossible to improve on such perfect songs, the band chose to reinterpret them in the characteristic Red Sleeping Beauty style to create a perfect four-track EP.

Limited to 450 copies on black vinyl and with artwork reminiscent of classic Sarah singles, this 7” release is a heartfelt tribute to one of the most influential indie labels of all time and an essential addition to the Red Sleeping Beauty and Matinée discographies.

Special thanks to Amelia and Mary for their ace collaborations, to Another Sunny Day and The Sea Urchins for inspiring the two cover versions, and to Clare and Matt at Sarah Records for giving us something to celebrate. 

The 7″ is available right now from the Matinée shop and the Red Sleeping Beauty Bandcamp, and there should be a few copies available at this weekend’s Glas-Goes Pop Festival in Scotland as well.  Look for it in good record shops and mailorders in the coming weeks.

Pro tip no. 1: the digital EP in the Matinée shop includes a bonus fifth Sarah Records track—Red Sleeping Beauty’s cover of The Field Mice classic ‘Emma’s House’—which was originally released on their stunning ‘Tonight’ CDEP (matinée 099) in 2019.  That EP, along with the band’s 2019 album ‘Stockholm’ (matcd084) should be in your cart if you haven’t gotten them already.  We also have restocked the band’s fantastic ‘Always On Your Side’ CDEP (Sunday 960) on Sunday Records in case you missed that one.

Pro top no. 2: if you preordered the new ‘Happy Secret’ LP (matlp093) from The Lucksmiths and would like to have the new Red Sleeping Beauty 7″ shipped with it, just email us at matineepop@hotmail.com and we will get back to you with a special discount code that should negate most if not all additional shipping charges on the Red Sleeping Beauty 7″ single.  The Lucksmiths LPs are due back from the pressing plant next week so we’ll be able to get all preorders shipped then.  Thanks very much for your patience!

The collaborations with Amelia and Mary are featured on the Matinée Soundcloud at the moment, so you can listen while you shop!