It’s release day for the brilliant new album ‘Sugar Kisses’ (matcd079) from English legends The Popguns! Their fifth studio album, ‘Sugar Kisses’ follows the celebrated 2015 release ‘Pop Fiction’ for Matinée and has a distinctly raw feel with live takes and minimal overdubs capturing the band in all their ragged glory.

The album begins with the infectious title track, an unrestrained but moody minor key bouncer with its hopeful Dover Beach inspired refrain of love, let us be true, followed by glam-rocker ‘We Don’t Go Round There Anymore’ and breeze-pop classic ‘So Long.’

‘A Beaten Up Guitar’ is a brilliant, straight down the middle power-pop blaster which delivers an outrageous bass driven rush through to a final breathless denouement of harmonized vocals.

‘Out On The Highline’ is a sultry Sunday morning slowie, while ‘A Dream Of Her Own’ boasts jangling guitars, a singalong chorus and plenty of ba-ba-bas. ‘The Outsider’ is a menacing slow burner that contrasts nicely with the power pop of tongue-in-cheek ‘Gene Machine’ which explores the forces of evolution at work on our biological clocks.

‘Fire Away’ is a dream for the pun-writers and a lot of fun as Wendy gets to tell some pub-bore “I’ve had a drink, but not enough tell you what I think, so Fire Away.” The album concludes with pop classic ‘Finished With The Past’ with its bristling mass of guitars and, in the last verse, surely Wendy’s most passionate vocal ever, ending the album on a thrilling high.

Surely this is the perfect British guitar pop album that The Popguns promised all those years ago when they first appeared in Peel’s Festive 50 and on the 90s indie dancefloors. Cover art is again by Jason Brooks, the award winning V&A Book Illustrator of the Year.

‘Sugar Kisses’ is available now from your favorite record shop or digital merchant and of course, from the Matinée shop. You can listen to a few of our current favorites on the player below and watch a brand new video for the title track as well!

New band alert: Swedish duo Tinsel Heart is our third new Matinée band announcement of the week! Hailing from Malmo, the band is comprised of Petter Leijon and Sebastian Dahlberg and they set out to make the kind of pop music they would love to discover themselves: straightforward songs with heartfelt lyrics and jangly guitars.

Named after a song from the debut Brighter single on Sarah Records, Tinsel Heart are merchants of classic C86 jangly pop of the frenzied variety. They have been described as “the next big thing in indiepop” and compared to The Pains of Being Pure At Heart but really, they had us as soon as we read their name. A perfectly formed three-track demo was just the icing on the cake.

One of the tracks from that demo is called ‘Wasted Yet Sad’ and it may be on their forthcoming debut 7″ although the band has written two new tracks that are perhaps even better so we are still deciding the tracklisting for the single as we speak. In any event we’ll be rushing this release to the pressing plant as soon as the songs are ready.

In the meantime, the band has contributed the ace track ‘Talk’ to our new ‘Matinée Idols’ compilation (matcd075) and you can hear it right now on the player below. The sound of young Sweden indeed!

New artist alert: We are thrilled to officially welcome Spanish duo The Royal Landscaping Society to the Matinée roster of artists!

The Royal Landscaping Society started in Seville, Spain in 2012 as a solo project, then expanded into a band and eventually shrunk to a duo with Cris Romero on vocals, guitar, synths and machines and David Vidal on bass and bass synth. With an obvious love for the breezier side of indiepop, the band mixes crystalline guitars and primitive electronics in a sound described as shimmery romantic pop. The story so far includes an eponymous debut mini-album on Beko Disques in 2014 and a series of ace compilation appearances plus live sets at the Birmingham Popfest, Indietracks, and the Verbena Pop tour in Germany.

The debut Matinée release for the band is a smashing 7″ single with lead track ‘When There’s Nothing Left To Look Forward To’ and it is simply wonderful. Think ‘Train Not Stopping’ or ‘Crazy’ sort of wonderful and you’re nearly there. There are two b-sides to the single and we are working on artwork now so expect it sometime late this summer. We’ll have more news and sounds to share on this soon. The band is also working on an album for release later this year and we are sketching out a third release already too!

Of course, we couldn’t gush about them so much without having something ready for release and it just so happens that the band has contributed a beautiful song called ‘Moon’ to our ‘Matinée Idols’ compilation (matcd075), and you, lucky reader, can hear it RIGHT NOW at the link below. Stunning, don’t you think?

Drumroll please! The superb new album ‘Sugar Kisses’ (matcd079) from our pals The Popguns is now available! Their fifth studio album, ‘Sugar Kisses’ follows the celebrated 2015 release ‘Pop Fiction’ for Matinée and has a distinctly raw feel with live takes and minimal overdubs capturing the band in all their ragged glory.

The album begins with the infectious title track, an unrestrained but moody minor key bouncer with its hopeful Dover Beach inspired refrain of love, let us be true, followed by glam-rocker ‘We Don’t Go Round There Anymore’ and breeze-pop classic ‘So Long.’

‘A Beaten Up Guitar’ is a brilliant, straight down the middle power-pop blaster which delivers an outrageous bass driven rush through to a final breathless denouement of harmonized vocals.

‘Out On The Highline’ is a sultry Sunday morning slowie, while ‘A Dream Of Her Own’ boasts jangling guitars, a singalong chorus and plenty of ba-ba-bas. ‘The Outsider’ is a menacing slow burner that contrasts nicely with the power pop of tongue-in-cheek ‘Gene Machine’ which explores the forces of evolution at work on our biological clocks.

‘Fire Away’ is a dream for the pun-writers and a lot of fun as Wendy gets to tell some pub-bore “I’ve had a drink, but not enough tell you what I think, so Fire Away.” The album concludes with pop classic ‘Finished With The Past’ with its bristling mass of guitars and, in the last verse, surely Wendy’s most passionate vocal ever, ending the album on a thrilling high.

Surely this is the perfect British guitar pop album that The Popguns promised all those years ago when they first appeared in Peel’s Festive 50 and on the 90s indie dancefloors. Cover art is again by Jason Brooks, the award winning V&A Book Illustrator of the Year. Unmissable.

‘Sugar Kisses’ is officially released June 16 but you can order a copy RIGHT NOW exclusively from the Matinée shop on CD or digital download formats. You should probably pick up our brand new ‘Matinée Idols’ compilation .. or the debut album from The Perfect English Weather … or some other treat while you’re in the shop. In the meantime, preview a few ace tracks on the player below!

New artist alert! We are truly honored to announce that new Australian foursome Last Leaves are now part of the Matinée roster!

Based around the songwriting of a chap called Marty Donald (yes, THAT Marty Donald!), Last Leaves is a more sonically adventurous proposition to his earlier band The Lucksmiths. Calling in old bandmates Mark Monnone and Louis Richter on bass and guitar respectively, and with the addition of drummer Noah Symons (Great Earthquake), the result is a more panoramic, dreamy sound.

The debut Last Leaves single is called ‘The Hinterland’ and we’ll be pressing it on glorious 7″ vinyl in the coming weeks so watch for that later this summer. The debut full-length will follow in September and we’ll be partnering with our good pals at the Lost and Lonesome Recording Company in Australia for its release.

In the meantime, the band has contributed the absolutely amazing song ‘Something Falls’ to our ‘Matinée Idols’ compilation (matcd075) and you can hear it RIGHT NOW at the handy link below. Prepare to be amazed…

New release alert! ‘Matinée Idols’ (matcd075) is a brilliant new compilation to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Matinée Recordings. Since our humble beginnings in a Capitol Hill rowhouse in Washington, DC in 1997, Matinée has had the pleasure of working with 54 different artists from 12 different countries. While most of our 20 years have been spent avoiding the many distractions in sunny California, our dedication to releasing the best indie music has never wavered. To mark our 20-year anniversary, Matinée artists from across the globe contributed previously unreleased, exclusive, or rare recordings to this special collection and the result is a certified pop classic!

Danish popstars Champagne Riot kick things off with an absolute smash hit called ‘Ingrid Bergman,’ while English legends The Popguns showcase their signature pristine pop on ‘So Long’ and Swedish favorites The Electric Pop Group deliver a stunning new song, their first in four years, called ‘Postcard.’

Australian band Last Leaves features several former Lucksmiths and are one of three artists making their Matinée debut on this compilation with the truly sensational ‘Something Falls.’ New band Tinsel Heart from Sweden are also fresh to the Matinée stable and make a splash with an exceptional song called ‘Talk,’ while Scottish darlings Strawberry Whiplash deliver the clever new singalong jangler ‘Me, My Selfie and I.’

The third new addition to the Matinée roster is The Royal Landscaping Society from Spain and they mark their auspicious debut with a shimmering atmospheric popsong called ‘Moon.’ Seattle favorites Math and Physics Club represent the American indie scene in fine fashion with the contemplative new track ‘Shadows Longer,’ while English duo The Catenary Wires follow up their recent mini-album with more beautiful harmonies on ‘You Save Me From Myself’ and fellow Englishmen Seabirds contribute another impressive song called ‘Independent Horses.’

Recent Matinée signings The Perfect English Weather are the fourth English band represented on the compilation and they deliver a melodic stunner called ‘Under My Feet,’ while Scotland’s Bubblegum Lemonade continue to shine with the ace new track ‘Set The Boy Free.’ Fellow Scots The Hermit Crabs showcase the noisy two-minute pop nugget ‘Game Plan,’ and Sweden’s Azure Blue conclude the album with a perfect dose of electronic pop called ‘New Moon.’

An impressive collection of some of today’s finest indie bands, ‘Matinée Idols’ is the perfect way to celebrate 20 years of immaculate pop and document the continued strength of the Matinée roster. The album is officially released June 23, but you can order a copy RIGHT NOW exclusively from the Matinée shop! As part of the celebration, we will randomly select one track a day over the next two weeks to share on Soundcloud and the results will appear below. Happy birthday to us!

New release alert! English pop legends The Popguns return to the new release shelf next month with a brand new ten-track album entitled ‘Sugar Kisses’ (matcd079). The album is officially released June 16, but we will begin taking orders and shipping copies the first week of June! Watch this space for complete album details and presale information. In the meantime, you can listen to the amazing first track off the album now via Soundcloud or watch a video of the song on YouTube below:

Matinée Recordings will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first release later this year and we have a bunch of great new releases planned including debut releases from three new Matinée bands! Before we announce the new releases, we thought it made sense to clear out our stockroom so we are having a flash sale for the next week with a handsome 40 percent off everything in the shop! This discount applies to every item in the shop … including new releases, back catalog titles, singles, albums, cds, vinyl, and digital downloads … now through Thursday, May 18. Quantities are limited and there are several releases close to selling out forever so please don’t delay. Use promo code FLASH to take advantage of the savings.

As always, you can maximize postage savings by selecting the flat rate priority mail envelope which can hold approximately ten CDs or ten 7″ singles for a price that is not much more than what you pay to send just two or three items. Please note that 10″ and 12″ vinyl cannot ship using the flat rate envelope. Please see the Matinée shop for current availability and help us clear space for an ace batch of new releases this year. Happy shopping!

Celebrate the season with festive favorites from Brighter, Bubblegum Lemonade, Champagne Riot, The Fairways, Harper Lee, Lovejoy, The Lucksmiths, Math and Physics Club, Northern Portrait, Pale Sunday, The Perfect English Weather, The Pines, Pipas, The Popguns, Razorcuts, Slipslide, The Snowdrops, Strawberry Whiplash and The Windmills … perfect for Christmas wrapping frenzy. Happy holidays!

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