There's been a 'new' POBPAH song going around the internet today. 'Tomorrow Dies Today' is a Japan-only bonus track for their last album, 'Belong', and is a classic Pains-style light jangle-fuzz pop gem. I prefer another bonus track from the same Japanese edition, however - Steel Daughter has more of an edge, and a the beginnings of a singalong chorus like many songs from their debut. It feels slightly unfinished, which is probably why it was left off the final album, but it's still great.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Steel Daughter
Showing posts with label Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. Show all posts
Monday, 13 June 2011
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Song Of The Day 08/05/2011: My Bloody Valentine - Drive It All Over Me
Like most people, I'd imagine, I got into MBV through Loveless. It's difficult to avoid, being such a revolutionary, unique, and just plain brilliant record that it would overshadow the career of pretty much any band. For a while that was all the MBV I listened to. But eventually I found and listened to first their other album, Isn't Anything, and then the earlier EPs.
This song is from my favourite of those, "You Made Me Realise", which I probably like just as much as Loveless, although in a different way. Instead of the walls of Kevin Shields' guitar and dreamy vocals, this is more down-to-earth. The noise is still there, but at this stage it's still subservient to the songs. The vocals are mixed higher and the lyrics are much more understandable. And MBV, when they tried, could really write a melody.
I could have chosen anything from the EP really but this one's lovely, sweet pop melody with classic fuzz guitar backing. Pretty much perfection.
This song is from my favourite of those, "You Made Me Realise", which I probably like just as much as Loveless, although in a different way. Instead of the walls of Kevin Shields' guitar and dreamy vocals, this is more down-to-earth. The noise is still there, but at this stage it's still subservient to the songs. The vocals are mixed higher and the lyrics are much more understandable. And MBV, when they tried, could really write a melody.
I could have chosen anything from the EP really but this one's lovely, sweet pop melody with classic fuzz guitar backing. Pretty much perfection.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Album Review: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
[Slumberland / Fortuna Pop!, 2011]
The new Pains album is finally available to stream! I've embedded it at the bottom of the post, if you haven't already heard it.
As a whole, the record is about social misfits, and how there is 'hope' for them, about how there is a place for everyone. It goes into this subject so much that you could almost call it a concept album. The title, 'Belong', is the perfect word to sum this up, the title track is a great opener, its chorus setting up the singer as someone who 'just doesn't belong'. Track 2, 'Heaven's Gonna Happen Now', has been played live for a while, with its wobbly trumpet-like synth refrain at the side of the verse and stunningly good lyrics about abandoning the family home and moving to 'another town', expanding the boundaries of your life and finding a place for yourself. 'Heart In Your Heartbreak' has been around for a while, and my love of it is well known to readers of this blog, at least. It is more of a standalone song, in my mind - lyrically, it is a bit of an outlier on the album.
'The Body' is the first departure from the Pains norm, coupling a vocal melody that invokes 'Atmosphere' by Joy Divison and lyrics about being uncomfortable in your own skin with synth arpeggios and a layer of fuzz. It, as with the next few tracks, is more of a laid-back wash - more like 'Stay Alive' than 'Come Saturday', say. In itself, I'm not sure of it as a track - it doesn't really do very much. But then again, neither does the next track, 'Anne With An E', and I think that is probably my favourite song on the album. It is another song that contrasts singer Kip Berman's new life with how he used to be, presumably when he was in the late teens - 'The posters on the wall that were our only friends, their lives we never knew, but oh how we imagined'. The guitar tones on this song, and the synth sheen, are absolutely stunning - even without any lyrics, this could be an incredibly affecting song.
'Even In Dreams' is more of a classic Pains song, with quiet verses and a singalong chorus (I can see this song being very good live, along the same lines as 'Young Adult Friction' and 'The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart') sitting on top of a layer of soft guitars and punching drums. More of a straight love song, it still focuses on the differences between the singer and the rest of the world ('Yeah, there's nobody like you, is that why they don't like you like I do?') but this song and the last show that he is beginning to carve out a niche in the social spectrum of the kind he could only imagine back when he was an outcast somewhere where he 'just didn't belong'.
'My Terrible Friend' is a welcome return to the upbeat dancey fuzz-pop. It is, again, ostensibly a bit of a departure from the theme, but shows how much the character from 'Belong' has changed over the course of the album - the line 'Everyone is pretty and fun, everyone is lovely and young, everyone is gentle and gone, but everyone’s just everyone' shows a marked change in point of view, and is a kind of summation of the whole album up to this point. Also, and this is a very important thing, this song is just incredibly fun - I think I might have understated this element of the music so far, but TPOBPAH really are one of the most enjoyable bands to listen to around at the moment. They're able to get you thinking about their lyrics, and they have the occasional introspective song, but by and large the driving drums and fuzz just make you smile from ear to ear.
'Girl Of 1000 Dreams' is the one song on the album that hasn't really clicked for me yet. It is slightly grubbier and coarser than the rest of the album, and Kip tries out a more venomous singing style which I'm not sure I like. I can see why it's on there, and it's definitely not bad enough to be skippable or anything, but I can't say I'd recommend playing it to anyone to get them into the band - the melody doesn't really flow as well as most of the tunes on here, and the guitars seem to be missing something.
The penultimate track, 'Too Tough', sounds like a return to the Pains of old, with the introductory churning chords seemingly straight off their debut album. it reintroduces the 'Anne' of 'Anne with an E', this time with her seemingly stuck in a bad relationship. Again, it isn't one of the more memorable songs on the album, which definitely peaked a few tracks ago. The same is true of the closer 'Strange', which has all the raw ingredients of a great album closer, lyrics that sum up the album as a whole coupled with trebly, euphoric backing. As with the debut, the last track is the closest the band gets to actual shoegaze. Still, it feels a bit unsatisfying. But none of this is to detract from the sheer quality of the first 7 songs, and any of the last 3 would be shining lights on many other quality albums.
The band brought in Flood and Alan Moulder to produce, and it has definitely produced a more polished feel. This can often take away from something that sounded as raw as the debut album, but I think here it has just refocused their songs from dirty, fuzzy guitars to having Peggy Wang's keyboards and synths at the front of the mix. Which works very well. Despite this being my most anticipated album in a long time, I'd say it has exceeded my expectations, with lyrics that are a step up from anything they've done before and a theme that makes the album work as more than just a collection of individual songs. The worst you can say about it is that it tails off a bit towards the end, with the last 3 tracks not really up to the stellar standards of the first 7. Best of the year? It's only the 11th of March, I can't say. But if it isn't, then 2011 will have been a good year for music.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Big day for exciting release announcements
I've only just logged onto my computer this evening, and have already seen two announcements I've been waiting for for a while. Firstly, there's more news on the forthcoming POBPAH record, with a new song available to stream. Read the interview and listen to 'Belong' here. They have quite a good long interview, even mentioning my 'Song Of The Day' from a week or so ago, 'Gothenburg Handshake'. The song didn't have much subtlety, admittedly, but now they've confirmed my suspicions as to what it was about. Hmm.
To be honest I don't think the new song is their best, but most of what they've released has grown massively on me, and all the other songs I've heard from the new record have been brilliant, so I'm not worried. Here's the soundcloud player for 'Belong'.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Belong" by Slumberland Records
The other good thing was that Help Stamp Out Loneliness finally have a release date for their debut (May 2011). With them having been around for what feels like forever, it'll be great to finally hear proper versions of the demos that have been circulating for a while. Of the three songs streaming on their Bandcamp, I only know the last, 'Record Shop', which has been in heavy rotation on my stereo ever since I got their demo CD back at Indietracks 2009, and was one of the songs that fuelled my transformation from indiepop fan to indiepop obsessive. The other two are equally good - 'Cottonopolis and Promises' is exactly the kind of thing I'd expect from HSOL's previous output, and takes full advantage of D. Lucille Campbell's Nico-esque vocals, and 'Angelyne' is slightly more twee and jangly than most of their stuff, which is a good (if fairly unsurprising) transition, and suits them well.
Friday, 28 January 2011
Song Of The Day 28/01/2011: Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Gothenburg Handshake
A bit of a rarity today. This is a Pains demo from a very long time ago, around the time of their first EP. They never recorded it properly or released it, meaning it's only available on YouTube and the quality is fairly poor. But it's a great song, more like the indiepop of their most recent stuff than the fuzz of their debut album. I'm not altogether sure whether it's meant to sound quite so much like it's being played at the bottom of a lake, with weird warbling going on in the guitar part, but to be honest I like it that way.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Looking forward to the rest of 2011
I've had a bit of a think about what I'm expecting my albums of the year this year to be. I've already heard a good number of great albums this year (Decemberists, Yuck, Mogwai) and it's shaping up to be a classic. Here, in no particular order, is my list of what I'm expecting my year-end list in December to look like. We'll see how accurate I am.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
The debut was fantastic, and what I've heard of the new one has got me more excited about an album than I've been since this time last year, when I was building up to my album of 2010, High Violet. We can but hope it'll come to the same result.
Radiohead - ?
A bit obvious maybe, but In Rainbows was so good, and so surprising given that Hail To The Thief was a fairly big let-down. I, like all but about 10 people in the world, have no idea at all what their new album will sound like, but if it is as forward-thinking and genuinely beautiful as their last, it'll be a treat.
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
With this album having leaked on New Year's Eve, I have already heard it. It's brilliant, continuing the more accessible vein of the last couple of Mogwai albums but with the atmosphere of their earlier stuff. Expect a fuller review in the next few days.
Cass McCombs - ?
This American songwriter has been releasing classic albums fairly regularly for the last few years, and I think he's the most likely of the current batch of folky guitarists to vastly increase his fanbase with a new album this year, especially if it turns out being one of his more upbeat albums.
The Strokes - ?
They aren't new or exciting, they're no longer as cool as they were in 2001, and they've made a collection of middling solo and side-project albums between them since their last album, which was incredibly disappointing. But I'm always going to love 'Is This It?', it being one of the albums that got the rest of the world (and me) into the early 2000s garage rock scene, and gradually led me to where my music tastes currently are. If the first few bars of the new record have anything like the effect on me as the beginning of 'What Ever Happened?', this is going to be a fun year.
Veronica Falls - ?
I talked a lot about them in my recent post on them. They've only released 5 songs so far, but each one of them (especially the singles) have been truly excellent, and they're really good live too. They have the potential to not just make it into my top 10 of the year, but be a bit of a breakout hit too. We'll see.
Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
I reviewed this album earlier today, which means I don't really have any great new insights for this post. But it's bloody good.
Battles - ?
Their last album came out aeons ago, and they must have been working on something new for a while. I'm expecting something slightly more tuneful and less front-loaded than their last effort, but since no-one has really taken up the math-rock gauntlet they laid down with 'Mirrored' 3 years ago I'm expecting them to try and ram their ideas more into the current American rock scene. Math rock is my prediction to be the 'growth' genre this year, in the way that the new wave of shoegaze might come to be seen as the 'thing' of 2010.
Yuck - Yuck
Another album I've already reviewed. You can find my thoughts on it here. A smattering of Sonic Youth and a real variety between the songs make this a proper album - a collection of songs that work either on their own or as an LP. Probably not going to make the upper reaches of the list, but I can see myself listening to it an alarming amount this year.
(wild card)
A London indiepop album, either the new Shrag/Standard Fare/Allo Darlin' or a debut. Or maybe some kind of acoustic guitarist I haven't heard of before, in the tradition of Bon Iver and Tallest Man On Earth. Who knows. Basically, it looks like it could be a bumper crop.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong
The debut was fantastic, and what I've heard of the new one has got me more excited about an album than I've been since this time last year, when I was building up to my album of 2010, High Violet. We can but hope it'll come to the same result.
Radiohead - ?
A bit obvious maybe, but In Rainbows was so good, and so surprising given that Hail To The Thief was a fairly big let-down. I, like all but about 10 people in the world, have no idea at all what their new album will sound like, but if it is as forward-thinking and genuinely beautiful as their last, it'll be a treat.
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
With this album having leaked on New Year's Eve, I have already heard it. It's brilliant, continuing the more accessible vein of the last couple of Mogwai albums but with the atmosphere of their earlier stuff. Expect a fuller review in the next few days.
Cass McCombs - ?
This American songwriter has been releasing classic albums fairly regularly for the last few years, and I think he's the most likely of the current batch of folky guitarists to vastly increase his fanbase with a new album this year, especially if it turns out being one of his more upbeat albums.
The Strokes - ?
They aren't new or exciting, they're no longer as cool as they were in 2001, and they've made a collection of middling solo and side-project albums between them since their last album, which was incredibly disappointing. But I'm always going to love 'Is This It?', it being one of the albums that got the rest of the world (and me) into the early 2000s garage rock scene, and gradually led me to where my music tastes currently are. If the first few bars of the new record have anything like the effect on me as the beginning of 'What Ever Happened?', this is going to be a fun year.
Veronica Falls - ?
I talked a lot about them in my recent post on them. They've only released 5 songs so far, but each one of them (especially the singles) have been truly excellent, and they're really good live too. They have the potential to not just make it into my top 10 of the year, but be a bit of a breakout hit too. We'll see.
Iron & Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
I reviewed this album earlier today, which means I don't really have any great new insights for this post. But it's bloody good.
Battles - ?
Their last album came out aeons ago, and they must have been working on something new for a while. I'm expecting something slightly more tuneful and less front-loaded than their last effort, but since no-one has really taken up the math-rock gauntlet they laid down with 'Mirrored' 3 years ago I'm expecting them to try and ram their ideas more into the current American rock scene. Math rock is my prediction to be the 'growth' genre this year, in the way that the new wave of shoegaze might come to be seen as the 'thing' of 2010.
Yuck - Yuck
Another album I've already reviewed. You can find my thoughts on it here. A smattering of Sonic Youth and a real variety between the songs make this a proper album - a collection of songs that work either on their own or as an LP. Probably not going to make the upper reaches of the list, but I can see myself listening to it an alarming amount this year.
(wild card)
A London indiepop album, either the new Shrag/Standard Fare/Allo Darlin' or a debut. Or maybe some kind of acoustic guitarist I haven't heard of before, in the tradition of Bon Iver and Tallest Man On Earth. Who knows. Basically, it looks like it could be a bumper crop.
Thursday, 30 December 2010
My Gigs of 2010
Here is a quick run-down of some of my favourite gigs I went to this year, in chronological order. There were a few near misses, such as seeing the National at the Royal Albert Hall on election night, which would doubtless have made the final list had I not only been able to get a ticket for the balcony, right up in the top of the venue surrounded by the famous acoustic mushrooms. Overall though I think this selection gives a fairly good representation of what was an excellent year of live music for me.
Pavement @ the Brixton Academy, 13th May
Pavement's unashamedly money-focused reunion had the potential to be fairly dull and pedestrian. Luckly, however, they'd lost none of their slacker charm, and they played a hit-filled set at the Brixton Academy, probably my favourite larger venue. They managed to fill the massive space (partly with sound, partly with massive inflatables), with Bob Nostanovich as crazy as 10 years ago and Malkmus showing that he really is a genuinely top-notch guitarist, despite seeming completely detached from his instrument. Even the weaker stuff from the later albums went down very well, and 'Here' provided one of my favourite live performaces of the year.
Indietracks Festival, 23rd-25th July
Aah, Indietracks. Probably the nicest place I've been all year. A collection of a couple of thousand twee-sters in a steam train depot in rural Nottinghamshire, with sets from some of the biggest and best indiepop bands of modern times (POBPAH, the Smittens, Ballboy, Allo Darlin') and the late 80s-early 90s heyday (the Pooh Sticks, the Orchids, the Primitives). Really felt like a proper community, in a way that bigger (worse) festivals can only dream ofThis was maybe due to the fact that such a high proportion of the people there were in bands, and enjoyed talking about themselves and about music in general, even if they happened to be queueing for an ice cream (Max from the Smittens is apparently a lecturer in Geography at Leeds University! Who knew?). Will definitely be going back for the foreseeable future.
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart @ the Buffalo Bar, 1st August
Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ the Troxy, 13th December
Outlined on this blog already. I'd been waiting for this gig for ages, and it really didn't disappoint. Definitely one of the most impressive live shows I've ever seen, despite the understandable lack of crowd interaction. Everything was exceptional, from the slightly quirky venue to the images projected behind the band. From a high-brow point of view, definitely my gig of the year.
Pavement's unashamedly money-focused reunion had the potential to be fairly dull and pedestrian. Luckly, however, they'd lost none of their slacker charm, and they played a hit-filled set at the Brixton Academy, probably my favourite larger venue. They managed to fill the massive space (partly with sound, partly with massive inflatables), with Bob Nostanovich as crazy as 10 years ago and Malkmus showing that he really is a genuinely top-notch guitarist, despite seeming completely detached from his instrument. Even the weaker stuff from the later albums went down very well, and 'Here' provided one of my favourite live performaces of the year.
Aah, Indietracks. Probably the nicest place I've been all year. A collection of a couple of thousand twee-sters in a steam train depot in rural Nottinghamshire, with sets from some of the biggest and best indiepop bands of modern times (POBPAH, the Smittens, Ballboy, Allo Darlin') and the late 80s-early 90s heyday (the Pooh Sticks, the Orchids, the Primitives). Really felt like a proper community, in a way that bigger (worse) festivals can only dream ofThis was maybe due to the fact that such a high proportion of the people there were in bands, and enjoyed talking about themselves and about music in general, even if they happened to be queueing for an ice cream (Max from the Smittens is apparently a lecturer in Geography at Leeds University! Who knew?). Will definitely be going back for the foreseeable future.
‘Asked to describe their sound lead singer Chip said “USA! USA! USA! Touch my dong!” before falling over sideways.’At the end of their UK stay, also encompassing a headlining slot at Indietracks and a London gig at Heaven, which was frankly slightly disappointing, POBPAH played a secret gig at a half-full Buffalo Bar under the name 'George Washington's Penis'. They played us a set crammed with both new songs and old favourites. Gave a sighting of that rarest of beasts, the indiepop moshpit, inches from Kip's microphone.
Outlined on this blog already. I'd been waiting for this gig for ages, and it really didn't disappoint. Definitely one of the most impressive live shows I've ever seen, despite the understandable lack of crowd interaction. Everything was exceptional, from the slightly quirky venue to the images projected behind the band. From a high-brow point of view, definitely my gig of the year.
Monday, 13 December 2010
Why I'm looking forward to the Pains' new album
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are one of my very favourite bands. I got their eponymous EP what seems like an aeon ago now, picking it up on a whim in Rough Trade East after listening to the first minute or so of the first 3 tracks on the CD player they provide. It got a few listens and then just sat in my CD collection for 18 months or so, until I started hearing more about them during the long build-up to their debut proper. Yes, they blatantly rip off a variety of bands, the most obvious among them Rocketship and early MBV. This isn't a bad thing though. For their first album, they wrote some of the best tunes in the modern indiepop scene, washed them in lovely warm fuzz, and then stuck a couple of songs of proper shoegaze in there for balance. This made it by some considerable distance my record of 2009.
In March, their second album, Belong, will be released. I'm ludicrously excited already. I've seen them live a few times in the last few months, and they've played varying amounts of new stuff. The songs are beginning to creep out to the internet, and some of them are absolute crackers. Heart In Your Heartbreak was the first single from the album (I think - I'm pretty sure Say No To Love was just a standalone single, as it was released about a year ago), and although not particularly subtle showed they haven't lost any of their songwriting talents. Maybe a step away from the American fuzzy Black Tambourine-y indiepop and towards a more clean, upbeat British sound, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing (although we're unlikely to get any songs similar in style to my long-burning favourite of the last album, Stay Alive). Heaven's Gonna Happen Now is probably going to be the next single, as it is the only other new song that is a mainstay of the live set, and is currently only available as an even-more-fuzzy-than-normal video on YouTube. Many of the other songs, the names of which I don't know, were played at a secret gig I went to in August, and so I have a vague idea of what the new album will be like, but this only serves to heighten my anticipation.
Here are videos for a couple of those choice cuts to get you excited too:
In March, their second album, Belong, will be released. I'm ludicrously excited already. I've seen them live a few times in the last few months, and they've played varying amounts of new stuff. The songs are beginning to creep out to the internet, and some of them are absolute crackers. Heart In Your Heartbreak was the first single from the album (I think - I'm pretty sure Say No To Love was just a standalone single, as it was released about a year ago), and although not particularly subtle showed they haven't lost any of their songwriting talents. Maybe a step away from the American fuzzy Black Tambourine-y indiepop and towards a more clean, upbeat British sound, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing (although we're unlikely to get any songs similar in style to my long-burning favourite of the last album, Stay Alive). Heaven's Gonna Happen Now is probably going to be the next single, as it is the only other new song that is a mainstay of the live set, and is currently only available as an even-more-fuzzy-than-normal video on YouTube. Many of the other songs, the names of which I don't know, were played at a secret gig I went to in August, and so I have a vague idea of what the new album will be like, but this only serves to heighten my anticipation.
Here are videos for a couple of those choice cuts to get you excited too:
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