Listen to the B-side from Neutrals’ upcoming Slumberland 7″ via New Noise; a dream of an alternative future that could have been
Personal Computing 7″is due 12/4 via Slumberland Records
sign up for the SLR30 Singles Subscription Series here
STREAM: “In The Future” –
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photo credit: Jason Hendardy
Today Neutrals have premiered “In The Future” via New Noise, the B-side to their upcoming Slumberland 7″. Check out the premiere here. The 7″ single is due out on 12/4 & mark the end of the SLR30 series; sign up for the SLR30 Subscription Series here.
Neutrals had this to say about the single “Essentially, “In the Future” is a silly pop song about an imagined space-age future of robots and geodesic domes. But on a deeper level, it reflects my retro-futurist nostalgia for the techno-utopia the masses were sold as first industrialization and then technology took over our lives in the West.
Advancements in science and technology should and could have resulted in a world with universal healthcare, equal access to education, increased leisure time for enrichment of physical and mental health, and end to hunger and poverty. Instead we have managed to accelerate inequality in all those areas by almost any measure, and secured a utopia for a few at the expense of the many.
Increasingly, the world seems to exist to create wealth and comfort for a tiny elite, with a middle class of “information workers” and physical labour performed by robots, gig workers, workers in developing nations on near-slavery wages, or just actual slaves. Those who can’t find a place for themselves within that system are increasingly left to rot. I suppose the song is a dream of an alternative future that could have been.”
bio:
Neutrals are a punk band from the San Francisco Bay Area, channeling a wide range of ’70s and ’80s punk, post-punk, and indie-pop influences. Their debut album “Kebab Disco” came out in 2019 on Emotional Response Records and garnered universal acclaim as “an excellent collection of terse melodies, unique storytelling, and scraping pop. (AllMusic)”. The band followed-up with an excellent five song EP earlier this year on Domestic Departure.
“Personal Computing” b/w “In The Future” is their new single and has the distinction of being the final entry in our SLR30 Singles Series. Both sides were recorded just before the COVID-19 lockdown began and share a bittersweet nostalgia for an imagined rose-tinted future that never was. The mood of thwarted utopian dreams feels all too appropriate right now and the tense, angular songs on this single are an ideal soundtrack for this unsettled moment.
Neutrals
Personal Computing 7″
(Slumberland)
Street Date: December 4, 2020
Track List:
A. Personal Computing
B. In The Future
If you know much about the history of the label, you know that Slumberland began in 1989 as a 7″ label and was always inspired by the ephemeral and often electric pleasures to be had from the perfect single. Featuring a concentrated taste of what an artist has to offer, the 7″ was traditionally the format of choice for young bands just getting their feet under them, as well as for chart-bound efforts by established bands. Over the last 30 years Slumberland has released over 130 7″s, and even though downloads and streaming and playlisting have stolen a lot of the “you heard it here first” thunder from the vinyl single, we think that there’s still something pretty magical about the not-so-humble 7″.
To help celebrate Slumberland’s 30th birthday and help folks reconnect with our favorite vinyl format, we have launched the SLR30 Singles Subscription Series. The goal is to work with a group of artists not traditionally associated with the label, to showcase bands’ best material and, as always, to help get some of the finest music around out there in a tangible format. The end of the series will also include a bonus single from Black Tambourine, which will be exclusively for SLR30 subscribers.