Slumberland Records Releases the 50 Most Fun Minutes in Music This Week with Kids on a Crime Spree and Artsick

Eleven years in the making, the latest from Kids on a Crime Spree and the debut album by Artsick

If you only have fifty minutes this week to listen to some new music, there are no better records than Fall in Love Not in Line by Kids on a Crime Spree, and Fingers Crossed by Artsick, both released by the always reliable Oakland-based indie label, Slumberland Records. With these albums clocking in well under thirty minutes apiece, there’s no reason not to disappear into the reverb of these noise-pop highlights.

Eleven years ago, Kids on a Crime Spree released their debut EP, We Love You So Bad, and recording-wise went silent, minus a few singles here and there. On Fall in Love Not in Line, singer and bassist Mario Hernandez, drummer Becky Barron, and guitarist Bill Evans pick up where they left off. Still, their bubblegum pop has more punch, thanks to the analog recording of the set at Hernandez’s home studio in Oakland.

Inspired by the Brill Buiding songwriters of the sixties and Phil Spektor’s Wall of Sound production, the sugar-sweet chugging riffs are drenched in reverb, and the hooks have a timeless quality (think End of the Century, Spektor’s outing with the Ramones). Whether turning quarantine into a classic teen love anthem on “When Can I See You Again?” or the fuzzy surf rock of “Overtaken by the Soil,” there’s more pop diversity here than on their debut EP. Barron’s drum work is especially fun, whether pounding on floor toms or exploding crash cymbals and supports Hernandez’s tendency to let the bass lead while Evans drops in ringing textures.

If that’s your thing, then look no further than the lofi punk stylings of Artsick, who make their debut with Fingers Crossed, a record full of distorted guitars and classic early-90s riot grrrl harmonies.

Singer and guitarist Christina Riley leads Artisick, a project she started after the end of her previous band, Burnt Palms. Joining her is Donna McKean of Lunchbox on bass, and Mario Hernandez is also on this one, now found at the drum kit.

Fingers Crossed is full of quippy confessional lyrics lifted by uptempo melodies that give the songs a deceiving bounce and fit right in with Colleen Green’s work. In the opener, “Restless,” Riley is hunting for satisfaction and full of self-doubt. But thanks to a shuffling tambourine and McKean climbing the fretboard, there’s at least a great bounce to the search. “Ghost of Myself” is another highlight, with Riley’s former self haunting the present to a boisterous soundtrack, and “Dealing With Tantrums” flirts with interweaving guitars like Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. on the first two records by The Strokes.

The juxtaposition of the downer lyrics and buoyant DIY fuzz-pop isn’t reinventing the wheel, but Fingers Crossed is one infectious debut and a welcomed winter surprise.

Fall in Love Not in Line and Fingers Crossed are available on Slumberland Records.

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