[P4K Reviews] The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Right...if you say so Nibs.

i think i just have defensive grapes because i super AM into dick-meauring contests about the late 80s

Hmm.

hmm is the new ...

on first listen this reminded me of ecstasy and wine-era MBV (not a diss in the least)

actually i don't know why i felt the need to qualify that as not-a-diss. this is very good tho

electricsound, I'm just curious what some of the records you liked from last year got totally ignored? I'm not trolling, I promise! I don't post that much, but from what I read we have kind of similar tastes in terms of indie pop.

― jonathan - stl, Saturday, February 7, 2009 3:08 AM (8 hours ago)

well, #1 would be the for against album. and though i came to it late, the charmparticles album also seemed to get quite a bit less interest than a record so completely wonderful should deserve

I can't believe these guys are worth all the gnashing of teeth. They're pleasant enough and kind of boring; Pitchfork is Pitchfork. News at 11?

I could dance to this.

I like it, but I'd be more excited by it if half of my record collection didn't consist of bands that pretty much sound exactly like this.

so wait this band is not from the UK?

this is a very boring clusterfuck thread, try harder

I like it, but I'd be more excited by it if half of my record collection didn't consist of bands that pretty much sound exactly like this.

Oh my god you could not be more OTM.

Playing the tiny Black Cat Backstage room in DC Monday night. Can't decide whether they're worth a late worknight. Maybe the old DC Slumberland scene will be out in force.

I skipped the show. A late start and I saw many of their influences years ago.

Check out the last question to them in this interview

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/blackplasticbag/2009/02/09/qa-the-pains-of-being-pure-at-heart/

WCP: Do you ever feel like you’re maybe a little too much like older Slumberland bands? Do you feel like your bring your own voice to that music?

Berman: I do, because it’s my voice on the record. It’s us playing it in 2009. We’re not too hero worshipful. We’re respectful of all the tradition, but the lyrics are really personal and really distinct and about our lives and our experiences in our world right now. We’re never in danger of slipping into time capsule mode. We feel very alive at the moment, we don’t necessarily want to live in a different time or place at all.

hey guys if it's OK with you I'm going to totally hate this band sight unseen for their name having the phrase "pure AT heart" in it instead of "pure OF heart." even if they did it on purpose to be 'funny' or something.

hey guys if it's OK with you I'm going to totally hate this band sight unseen for their name having the phrase "pure AT heart" in it instead of "pure OF heart." even if they did it on purpose to be 'funny' or something.

― some dude, Tuesday, February 10, 2009 11:45 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

Then you'd be missing out on a fucking awesome band for a stupid reason.

now that i'm not drunk and in a good mood i can concede that i do like quite a few of this band's tracks, particularly 'come saturday', but

maybe a little too much like older Slumberland bands

i WISH. if they can come up with a track that touches the likes of 'february fourteenth', even if it is utterly derivative, then i will love them unreservedly

and

fucking awesome band

possibly a bit of a stretch

i havent read this whole thing so idk if it's a joeky thread or not but 'the tenure itch' is a really nice song and reminds me of the stone roses. the rest isnt bad, a little samey but it's just their first album

speaking of the stone roses and derivative bands that aren't a slouch in the songs department, have a listen to The Ruling Class (particularly 'umbrella folds')

fucking awesome band

possibly a bit of a stretch

― electrodribble sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, February 13, 2009 8:46 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark

Says who? I count half the album as potential singles.

hey guys if it's OK with you I'm going to totally hate this band sight unseen for their name having the phrase "pure AT heart" in it instead of "pure OF heart." even if they did it on purpose to be 'funny' or something.
― some dude, Tuesday, February 10, 2009 11:45 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

Then you'd be missing out on a fucking awesome band for a stupid reason.

― Mahatma Blagojevich (redmond), Friday, February 13, 2009 9:39 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it's not like i was going to listen to them even if they didn't have an annoying name.

lol @ calling this band "fucking awesome"

these guys remind of the primitives -- not that they sound like them, but it's this sense of lots of elements of past things i like or love taken in a very deliberate prefab way and welded together so the seams barely show. i can't not like it, it's genetically engineered to please me. but i'm conscious of the engineering, and listening to it makes me feel a little indulgent.

They did a 30 minute gig the other night-Malitz from the Washington Post loved it-

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2009/02/the_pains_of_being_pure_at_hea.html

actually agree with Paper Plans in a way - they do seem built to please us by the most direct route possible.

(never really thought of Primitives that way though!)

well my reaction the first time i heard "crash" was "oh, debbie harry singing with the ramones -- of course i love it." pains of being etc. give me a similar well-duh vibe. which means i'm sort of skeptical now, but at some point i'll give in and spend a week listening to nothing but.

If you don't like the simple pleasures of a great pop song, then you should just go back to listening to your hard bop jazz and stfu.

YOU TELL 'EM

mmmbop vs. hard bop

redmond pls tell me more about the simple pleasures of a great pop song, i may not have experienced this

I suppose it is serious shocker lols in that one extremely unrelated way.

― cee-oh-tee-tee, Friday, February 6, 2009 8:42 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

learn more ilx memes

― double bird strike (gabbneb), Friday, February 6, 2009 8:44 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

these two need to team up

so anyway i got hold of this record and it's more disappointing than i expected

much like the asobi seksu record, the production is limp and fluffy and missing what made the best moments of their EP worthwhile

somewhat ironically it actually sounds less derivative to me this way, but less appealing

the lucksmithtacular punny titles amuse me a little though

i had the opposite reaction, i found the singles disappointing after the hype and yet i rather like the album. it's basic and they don't do anything new but it is still enjoyable and i appreciate the fact that they keep the songs mostly pretty short. downloading the new camera obscura now.

it's not like i was going to listen to them even if they didn't have an annoying name.

― some dude, Friday, February 13, 2009 11:22 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Not MTV2 enough for you?

i don't know how i feel about new sassy jaymc

Haha. Seriously, though, I've often wondered how Sonic Youth and the Geraldine Fibbers managed to escape your indifference toward music beyond the Billboard charts. (I know, that's super-reductive, so feel free to correct me.)

and the boredoms

I hear a lot of tiny indie bands via going to shows or following the musicians I already like and connecting dots, and I hear a lot of mainstream stuff I like (or don't like) through radio and TV. That pretty much keeps my plate full enough that I have no time or inclination to check out Pitchfork hype bands unless I wanna troll threads about one with a name I hate. I could explain my distaste for 'big' indie bands in this decade compared to big indie bands of the '90s but that's a whole other can of worms.

This hasn't disappointed at all so far. Just what you'd expect but they do it well. It's almost too good to be true, the way they hit on such a simple + obvious thing that no-one else was quite doing. You could drop most of the songs into an indiepop disco or other event and just drive all the kids crazy like throwing fish food into a tank.

All the wishful thinking about c86 revivals, Black Tambourine influence etc seems quite a red herring re. this LP: sure the band refer to and like those things, but on this record they more often remind me of New Order.

All the wishful thinking about c86 revivals, Black Tambourine influence etc seems quite a red herring re. this LP: sure the band refer to and like those things, but on this record they more often remind me of New Order.

I was thinking of seeing these guys when they come to town, but only because I thought they would sound like Black Tambourine. So no one thinks they have a resemblance? I haven't heard the album.

There is a clear and obvious resemblance, yes. Influence? Dunno.

I just got this. It sounds like the Field Mice to me, with a little of the fuzz from Black Tam thrown in .

The last track has a Jesus and Mary Chain thing going on. I'm betting their next album is going to be amazing.

They remind me of Madison Electric, too, if anybody remembers them.

Honestly I think a lot of how they've appealed to a wider audience involves just rolling up a bunch of indie-pop styles and aesthetics into one simple, core thing that's not specialized or difficult -- it "sounds like" anything or everything in a whole big constellation of fuzzy/noisy/pop-romantic indiepop and packages the general idea pretty effectively, both for people who already dig it and for people who can go for the general vibe but don't normally dig into it.

^^ I suppose this is a fairly obvious statement about a lot of bands who wind up appealing a bit beyond their sound/influences -- they roll together where they're coming from into a single, simple, and fairly accessible package

"young adult friction" should win some "excellence in twee song titling" award or something

I'm listening on Rhapsody, and it seems nice with solid songs and better production than the material it copies...would fit in on a Sunday Records compilation except you'd notice because the sound is better. I'm surprised if it's getting any major attention, but I don't hang out with young people anymore so have no idea.

I think I have a shoebox filled with about two hundred 7" singles that sound more or less like this: no better and no worse.

You're all doing a great job of putting this band in their place. And too right. I mean, how dare they.