Black Tambourine

Black Tambourine formed in Silver Spring, Maryland, in 1989: Pam Berry singing, with Archie Moore, Brian Nelson and Mike Schulman, who started Slumberland Records to put their songs out. They wanted the sixties girl-group melodies the Jesus and Mary Chain had buried in feedback, and did the same with even fewer means, Berry's flat, sweet voice floating over walls of fuzz.

They lasted only a couple of years and left a handful of singles and compilation tracks, but those few songs became a template for American noise pop. Moore and Nelson went on to Velocity Girl, Slumberland became one of indie pop's defining labels, and later bands found them through the compilation that collected everything.