Total Slacker / Weird Dreams - Split

Now, this has the best sleeve ever. Only problem is, the Jpeg we got on display isn't the applicable side of the cover i'm so amazed at, it's the flip. So you're in for a real surprise. Total Slacker do hazy, brittle echo-laden slacker/summer pop kinda somewhere between Ducktails, Best Coast Mazes & Spectrals - so therefore they sound so fucking hip it's like being stabbed in the brain with a ice pick shaped into the word "NOW". I like it but i'm wanting to hear it properly without the boss trying to sort his life out on the phone right in my earlugs. Weird Dreams are a slightly more high fidelity prospect, sound like "Spectrals meets Duran Duran" to start with but have hints of mid-80's head-noddy jangle pop about them on 'Summer Black' They take the tempo down on 'Joan' to write a wistful, atmospheric ballad that recalls both Deerhunter & Wild Nothing with it's crystaline guitars & longing vocals. Funnily enough, although it has me imagining teenagers swaying by a jukebox in an old American diner, I feel the most affection by a mile for this closing song - it ends up with a quiet storm of layered guitars, a powerful little emotive crescendo which leaves me feeling a little empty & lost when it's finished. More of that please! And that sleeve...only marginally improved by the glossy folded insert which appears to be a fabulous stalkers tribute to a much loved 80's film icon.