popwreckoning updates |  |
- Interview with: Bright Light Social Hour
- The Love Language signs to Merge
- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart with Cymbals Eat Guitars and the Depreciation Guild @ Black Cat, Washington DC
- tUnE-YaRdS – Bird Brains
| Interview with: Bright Light Social Hour Posted: 02 Oct 2009 03:20 PM PDT Today, the first day of Austin City Limits 2009, I got to sit down with Sound & the Jury winners Bright Light Social Hour. The adorable Austin natives and I chatted about the prestigious and totally awesome award of Sound & the Jury top spot, chosen not only by thousands of fans, but by several industry members. We also talked about the organic cookies the band often makes for their fans at shows and a bit about their upcoming album. Check out the interview with Bright Light Social Hour, a band sure to be a household name very soon. Bright Light Social Hour: website | myspace Related Posts |
| The Love Language signs to Merge Posted: 02 Oct 2009 01:03 PM PDT Merge Records has signed Chapel Hill’s The Love Language. The band began in 2007 when songwriter Stuart McLamb formed the band with six of his friends. In 2009 the group released their debut album filled with romantic indie pop melodies and have been heavily touring and hitting the festival circuit ever since. Merge will release the sophomore effort from the Love Language in 2010. The Love Language is Stuart McLamb (electric guitar, vocals), Jordan McLamb (acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals), Junis Beefmonth (electric guitar, vocals), Missy Thangs (keyboard, vocals), Joshua Pope (bass guitar), Kate Thompson (organ) and Thomas Simpson (drum kit). The Love Language: website | myspace | @ monolith | The Love Language review Related Posts |
| Posted: 02 Oct 2009 09:30 AM PDT My first listen of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart live was a little over four months ago. From a precarious balcony view, high above a packed crowd at the Nottingham-Trent Uni main room (one of several venues for the English city’s Dot to Dot Festival), I could make out several figures onstage. I could hear the great music and I watched as the people on the floor cheered loudly for the band: swaying to the music and clearly enjoying themselves. So I promised myself that sometime soon I’d see them live, up close and personal, preferably in our country. I finally got that wish Wednesday night at the Black Cat, when they made a stop in Washington on the last day of September with two fellow New York bands.
Ferocious was giving it his all, the perspiration visibly dripping off his nose by the second song. Halfway through the set, Ferocious realized there was something wrong with the way his guitar sounded. Hamilton and bassist Neil Berenholz tried to help by fiddling with recalcitrant amp to no avail; eventually, they “borrowed” equipment from the Depreciation Guild and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart touring guitarist Christoph Hochheim. Their set closed with “Wind Phoenix” and the crowd clapping loudly for soldiering on despite technical difficulties.
The band’s set-up had to one of the most unusual I’d ever witnessed; Feldman set up a small, black wooden table and then opened a plastic box to reveal – wait for it – a red, early era Nintendo set, complete with ancient controllers. If you’re wondering how the band gets some of those electronic sound effects into their songs, wonder no more. Then there was a big screen behind the drum kit to which blocks of color were projected onto, flashing throughout the band’s performance. Somehow, they were able to sync the movement of the blocks to match the song rhythms – really cool because it felt like you were standing inside a kaleidoscope while they played. Songs like “Sky Ghosts” and “Dream About Me” sound just as floaty dream pop as their titles suggest.
Guitars, keyboards, and drums with vocals from Berman and keyboardist Peggy Wang combine to create one cohesive sound that can only be described as feel good pop. Given in short, sharp doses, this is the kind of music that gets into atom of your being and just feels…right. Watch the animated playing of Berman, Wang, Christoph Hochheim (guitar), Alex Naidus (bass), and Kurt Feldman (drums), and you see that everything just works together splendidly. Shoegaze, making a big comeback this year, has never sounded better or more gorgeous in the Pains’ hands. This night, instead of being miles away from the band, I had a front row view to the swirling, droning guitars and Berman’s gentle vocals about what else? Love. They are a pop band after all. Berman prefaced my favorite song prior to seeing them live, “Everything With You,” with “it’s about that best friend you want to make out with. Sometimes!” I argue that it’s one of the sweetest songs ever written about that four-letter word. We also got to hear songs from their new EP, just released last week on Slumberland Records. “Higher Than the Stars” and “103″ were wonderful live, so I expect that whenever the band can make it back to the studio, they can make magic again. Thanks to the efforts of the great KEXP in Seattle, you can watch the band playing the title track of the EP live at the Doug Fir in Portland. It’s fab. So ladies and gentlemen, I do believe I have a new favorite live band. In answer to Berman’s question, yes, I was ready to fall in love. Yep, I lost my heart to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart Wednesday night. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next time I can experience this band live.             The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: website | myspace | @ Monolith Festival, Saturday, September 12 | Interview with: the Pains of Being Pure at Heart Related Posts |
| Posted: 02 Oct 2009 07:00 AM PDT While the tracks on Bird Brains are rough and unpolished, the album’s simplicity, and diversity (Stereogum has stated the album jumps “between blues, African tunes, shiny reggae-esque sprawls, and lo-fi folk”) is charming. Merrill Garbus, aka tUnE-YaRdS, recorded Bird-Brains on a digital voice recorder and assembled it using shareware mixing software. One of the highlights on the album is “Sunlight.” The track features loud drumming and faded backing instruments; tiny, cartoon voices connect the tune to the scratchy “Lions.” Another memorable track, “FIYA,” is simple, but catchy: “What if my own skin makes my skin crawl. What if my own flesh is suburban sprawl.” Garbus uses odd sounds to create interesting moods in her songs. In “Jamaican,” Garbus uses a loop of a child’s cough and a shrill buzzing of a chainsaw-like tool in the background of the melody. In “Little Tiger,” the artist uses something that sounds like the mechanical whining of a sewing machine, over looping tracks of the singers voice, a ringing bell, and a car horn. Although most of the songs on Bird-Brains are simple and sweet, a few tracks are a tad menacing, such as “News” and “Safety.” 4AD will officially release Bird Brains on November 17 in the United States. Tracklisting: Related Posts |
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