The Pains on Being Pure at Heart: "The Tenure Itch" @ Cake Shop

Well not only did I miss Popfest this year, but then I also missed Twee As Fuck NYC back in June! Luckily, there was video evidence of the beautiful-ness that occurred at both events. I remember The Pobpahs played this song back in um, March, and I looooooved it! The premise of the song is pretty hilarious, too, as I mentioned here. Archie Moore has done the mixes for their debut LP and it should be out sometime in early 2009! It will surely be nothing shy of amazing!!



I feel like I've been posting nothing but videos lately, so if you're not into that, I'm not sorry, cause I'm into that!

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Twee As Fuck NYC!!!

THIS THURSDAY!!! TWEE AS FUCK NIGHT MAKES IT'S WAY TO NEW YORK! It's looking like I'm not gonna be there, but if you have the means, I highly recommend heading out. It will be SO CHOICE. I need to stop missing good things, I really do. Let me now how it goes, somebody, anybody.

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I Smiled Yesterday podcast #3!!!

The third installment of the amazing "I Smiled Yesterday" podcast is now up for your listening pleasure – and it couldn't have come at a better time! With the thermometer hitting 95 in Annapolis today, there's nothing better than some expertly compiled summer jams! As with the previous podcasts, there's a little bit of everything here, but it's all perfect! Nice to see Skywave, Vivian Girls, AND SHIRLEY ELLIS' FUCKING "CLAPPING SONG"!!! Too good, Guys, way too good!

I suggest you listen immediately! Click here!

Here's the tracklist:
1) Shirley Ellis "The Clapping Song" ("The Complete Congress Recordings", Congress Records)
2) The Starlets "You Don't Love Me" ("Girls Go Zonk!!", RPM Records)
3) Antoine et Les Problemes "Si C'est La Nuit" ("Antoine Rencontre Les Problemes", Magic Records)
4) Sic Alps "Speeds" ("The Soft Tour in Rough Form", MtStMtn Records)
5) Let's Wrestle "I Won't Lie To You" ("In Loving Memory Of", Stolen Recordings)
6) Les Aspirateurs "On Y Go" (7", Felicite Records)
7) Baby Lemonade "Secret Goldfish (demo)" ("45 rpm", Egg Records)
8) South Ambulance "Die 5times times5" ("s/t", Labrador Records)
9) The Bodines "Paradise" ("Creation Soup", Creation Records)
10) Vivian Girls "Wild Eyes" (7", Plays With Dolls Records)
11) Skywave "It's In Your Eyes" ("Echodrone", Cherry Coated Records)
12) Cheap Time "Spoiled Brat" (7", Sweet Rot Records)
13) The Delmonas "I Feel Alright" ("Do The Uncle Willy", Get Hip Records)
14) Grow Up "Joanne" (7", Object Music)
15) The Lovettes "Little Miss Soul" ("Big In Wigan", Kent Records)
16) The Triumphs "I'm Coming To Your Rescue" ("Okeh, A Northern Soul Obsession", Kent Records)
17) Third Tuesday "Third Time Under" ("Girl Crazy", Goldmine Soul Supply)
18) Mr. Lucky and The Gamblers "I Told You Once Before" ("Northwest Battle Of The Bands Vol. 1", Big Beat Records)
19) Pussycat Trash "Mock Style Examinations" ("The Brat Years 1992-1995", Kill Rock Stars Records)
20) Forbidden Tigers "Forbidden Tigers" ("Magnetic Problem", Deadbeat Records)
21) So Cow "Government Complex" ("These Truly are End Times", Covert Bear Records)

In other Slumberland news, Searching For the Now 7"s #3 and #4 are now available for preorder. #3 features the Philly's amazing A Sunny Day In Glasgow and The Sunny Street. #4's got the always lovable and fuzzy Pobpahs and Australia's wonderful Summer Cats!!! You and I do not want to miss these!!!

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This is the rhythm of the night

I plan to start posting semi-regularly again at some point in the near future, but I've been quite busy lately and haven't had the time – or for that matter – been in the mood for writing, so I just haven't.

I did however have an awesome time up in New York this past weekend. We drove up Friday morning for Peggy Pains' Birthday Extravaganza at the Cake Shop. Insect Guide, The Manhattan Love Suicides, and of course, The Pobpahs all played and it was one of the best times I've had in quite a while. The was my first time seeing The MLS and they definitely met what by now must have been some extremely high expectations! And they even did so in about 15 minutes. Stunning, really. They played a new song, "Johnny Boy," which I now really, really want to hear recorded. Insect Guide opened and they were quite fantastic as well. They were pretty Slowdive-y, with lots of layered backing tracks by way of their laptop. They also pulled out a "Freak Scene" cover that I've gotta say, was pretty damn amazing. The Pobpahs were obviously great, save for a uncooperative power strip. They played some new songs, too! "Side Ponytail" might be my new favorite Pains song... infact, I'm pretty sure it is. They also played another new one called "The Tenure Itch" – a song about a bookish student sleeping with her distinguished philosophy professor who’s been coasting along on the coattails of decades old translations of Plato. Amazing, yes? The show was followed by an EPIC 90s Jock Jamz dance party care of DJ Shirley Beans! Too much fun, seriously.

The whole weekend was just totally awesome, and now I just really want to live in New York. It was absolutely wonderful to meet so many people I've only known through the internets for so long.

Well, I suppose that's it for now. I should be posting again soon. I really do miss it quite a lot, but it's just not happening right now.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The way we are now, it's alright,
So don't tell me it's the last night of our young lives...

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Updates!

Hey! I mentioned I would be getting busiert lately, with less time to devote to the blog and that's exactly what's been happening. It's been about a week, so I've got a bit of housekeeping to do. First up, there's a few new Cloudberry releases to get excited about – well, at least that I'm excited about... though you should be, too. I'm speaking of Cloudberry 79 and 80, of course, both available March 1st. 79 is a single from The Vermont Sugar House, featuring ex-Desert Wolves David and Martin. One of the b-sides on the single, "Braveheart," comes from a 7" the band released on Firestation in 1999 and is an impecable slice of pop. In short, that song alone is worth buying th whole single. 80 comes from The Flowerbeds, who are totally new to me. The preview track on the Cloudberry site, "You Mean To Me," is completely fantastic – I never would have guessed these guys were from Chicago though, that caught me off guard. Not that there's anything wrong with Chicago... I just have never associated the city with pop music. Secondly, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Parallelograms split is finally available to order from Atomic Beat Records! Even if you don't like splits – and how could you? – this is still going to be a awesome awesome awesome piece of vinyl. So go order yours!! oh and plus there's a lovingly cheesy blurb in the insert by yours truly! So thats neat! Thirdly – and lastly for now because I've gotta get back to screenprinting – I got Slumberland's Searching For The Now One and Two in the mail on Monday and I've been playing the crap out of them. I do prefer number two a bit more than one, but that's probably just because I love everything Archie Moore does... and Bye! is no exception. Also, I was never a big fan of The Happy Couple, but their side of the split has been getting just as many spins as Bye!'s... so it would seem I'm now in love! If you have yet to, you should definitely go order One and Two before they're gone!!

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The Raveonettes on Live Daily

Sune Rose Wagnor and the lovely Sharin Foo

More Raveonettes!!! Sune and Sharin recently recorded a small session for LiveDaily at their LA studio. The two of them played some excellent acoustic versions of a few songs from Lust Lust Lust; including: "Dead Sound," "Aly, Walk With Me," and "Lust." I posted a video of them playing an acoustic "Dead Sound" for the Black Cab Sessions, but this one is far better because they're actually both playing this time around.

You can watch all three of the videos HERE!

The Raveonettes on MySpace

ALSO: The Manhattan Love Suicides have a new song streaming on their MySpace right now!!!! It's called "Heat and Panic" and it'll be on their upcoming "Clusterfuck" EP, due out on Squirrel Records in the UK sometime soon. If you happen to be in the UK, you're a very lucky person, because the MLS have a bunch of shows coming up with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart! Please go for me.

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Singapore Sling

Iceland's Singapore Sling

Wow! Hello new obsession! Magnusk wrote up a post about Singapore Sling on IndieMP3 about a week ago, and then I saw that The Pobpahs were playing with them in Iceland in March, and at that point I knew I had to investigate. So, investigate I did, and I have to say, Singapore Sling are amazing. AMAZING. The band's 2003 record, The Curse of Singapore Sling is a heavily JAMC-influenced treat! There's tracks beautifully drenched in fuzz, feedback and distortion like "Overdriver", but then there's fantastic little tambourine-filled pop songs like "Summer Garden" peppered about, too! It's a perfect record in my eyes... have a listen!

[MP3]: Singapore Sling :: Overdriver (Highly Recommended!!)
[MP3]: Singapore Sling :: Summer Garden (Highly Recommended!!)

Check em out on MySpace to hear some more song!

Oh, and, um. :)

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The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: UK Tour Extravaganza

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The wonderful Pains of Being Pure at Heart will be heading over to England for a small stint of a tour with best pals The Manhattan Love Suicides, as well as a few shows with The Parallelograms. I would die to be at every single show of this tour, so if you have an opportunity to go, you had better go!

2.23.08: The Betsey Trotwood (Downstairs) w/ Pocketbooks, Parallelograms, Pete Green - London
2.24.08: Red House: Atomic Beat Presents w/ The Parallelograms, Pete Green - Sheffield, UK
2.25.08: Rescue Room: w/ Manhattan Love Suicides - Nottingham, UK
2.26.08: The Glebe: w/ Manhattan Love Suicides - Stoke, UK
2.27.08: The Royal Park: w/ Manhattan Love Suicides - Leeds, UK
2.29.08: Lostmusic Presents @ Buffalo Bar w/ Manhattan Love Suicides - London, UK
3.01.07: The Organ: w/Singapore Sling -Reykavik, Iceland

[MP3]: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: Come Saturday (Highest Rec!)

The Pains on MySpace!

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The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: "A Teenager In Love"

Peggy, Alex, Kip, and Kurt!

I made the trip up to Philly this past Friday to FINALLY see The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and to meet up with a few people I've been meaning to meet. The show was beyond excellent and it was lovely to finally get to meet Kip and Peggy, who are super nice. The night eventually turned into a full-blown indiepop dance party! I vote for it to happen again soon. Thanks to Neal for putting the whole thing on!

Okay, anyway, I was talking to Kip and I mentioned that the world needed a recorded version of "A Teenager In Love," as I was tired of hitting "replay" on the YouTube video of it from Athens Popfest. Turns out it had been recently put up on their MySpace, so I downloaded it as soon as I got home and I've listened to it basically nonstop since then. Listen to it and you'll see why. It's super bouncy and dancey and the chorus is so addicting – the melody will be in your head foreverrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[MP3]: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart :: A Teenager In Love (Indescribably Recommended!)

The Pains' split 7" with The Parallelograms (who rule, btw) will be out hopefully soon on the wonderful Atomic Beat Records in the UK then a split on Slumberland sometime in the future, too.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart on MySpace!

Hope you all had a super great new year!

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Indiepop On Youtube 1

Embedded youtube vids are back!

So, right, I used to do this before, but I kind of forgot about it and stopped keeping it up. The reason I'm formally bringing it back is because it gave me the opportunity to make a new graphic for it, and never do I miss a chance to make a new graphic! There's some real good one's this week, make sure you watch them all! Also be advised that every video may not fall directly under "indiepop," but what's a genre anyway?

A Boy Named Thor :: Jersey Sure? [1999]


The Pains of Being Pure At Heart :: A Teenager In Love [2007]


Moscow Olympics :: Second Trace [2007]


The Swirlies :: Bell [1992]


Eric's Trip :: Stove [1993]


Bye!

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The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, indeed.

I meant to mention these guys quite a while ago, in fact I would have had I actually gotten through all the NYC Popfest acts that I said I was going to cover. Oh well, yknow? Quite alright though, as now's a better time to talk about NYC's The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, anyway. The gloriously noisy indiepop three-piece are getting ready to release their debut EP, on their own Painbow label. The songs on the self-titled debut are brilliant pop gems, every last one of them. The catchy boy/gurl harmonies of Kip Berman and Peggy Wang-East are cast upon a background of simple driving basslines, mechanical drums, keyboards and of course, a wash of ringing guitar distortion, creating a sound not too far off from 90s indiepop heroes, Black Tambourine or early MBV. Long sentences aside, this really is a fantastic EP, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are becoming one of my favorite US indiepop bands out there right now. Both song songs below come extremely recommended!!!

[MP3]: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart :: This Love Is Fucking Right!
[MP3]: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart :: Orchard Of My Eye
Right out of the gate the EP starts off with the super solid TVPs-esque "This Love Is Fucking Right!". I say TVPs-esque because it reminds me quite a lot of their song "This Time There's No Happy Ending", which I'd like to note, is NOT bad thing, as it's probably my favorite TVPs song ever. "Orchard Of My Eye" however, seems to move at a more graceful pace. Probably the "prettiest" track on the EP, highlighted my the excellent echoing harmonies in each chorus. Boy, it's just all so so good.

You can preorder the EP on Insound right now! Also, if you happen to be in New York on August 7th head down to the Cake Shop for their CD release show! More details on their Myyyyyyyyspace.

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