City Slang

City Slang is an independent record label, based in Berlin, Germany (that's really exciting!)... Formed by a former tour agent (Christof Ellinghaus), it became, almost by chance, a label for US bands that needed a release in Europe. Started exclusively to put out the Flaming Lips album In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine Stares) it just so happened that other bands, namely The Lemonheads, Das Damen and Yo la Tengo were all looking for somebody to release their respective albums in 1990. The story of the catalog can be found on our website but the label ist still around today, 20+ years after its inception and that alone is good news.

About the music:

Hell we don't know what makes us jump either. It has to be good. There are no real boundaries, but the odds are that you won't find a Schlager record or a Jazzrock workout here. We like songs. We like originality. We like depth. We like it if you have a sound of your own. If you send us a demo and you tell us that you sound like Tortoise and Sebadoh mixed with Lambchop, why would we want to listen to that? We have been incredibly fortunate that we got to work with some of the greatest musicians and bands out there. So, once you have released a masterpiece like 'Neon Golden' by The Notwist there's no point in going back to an Italian version of the same kind of stuff, just not as good. Does that make sense?