Chin-Chin

While the whole indie pop craze may have died back down that hasn't stopped Slumberland from digging into the genre's archives for some long-lost gems. Case in point, Sound of the Westway, the stunning, but much-forgotten 1985 album from all-girl Swiss trio Chin-Chin. Combining '60s Spector-isms, a love for the Ramones and plenty-mean punk rock riffs, the band turned their full-length into one screeching, squealing slab of DIY twee punk. Sure, it's a noise-meets-pop approach that's been repeatedly heard in now-defunct acts like Black Tambourine, Heavenly and the Shop Assistants, not to mention indie pop revivalists like Vivian Girls and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. But not only did Chin-Chin know their way around a hook, they knew how to give it a set of balls, scratching out the wuss factor and delivering timeless fist-pumping anthems like "Dark Days" and "Dead Life." If there ever was an album that would make the punks and the pop kids get along, this is it.