If you happened to attend any of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart shows from earlier this month, you may have gotten a chance to see their tourmates, The Depreciation Guild. Both bands couldn’t be more different from one another, but they happen to share one tiny detail that probably isn’t known until you’ve actually seen both of them in person: Kurt Feldman, who is one of the main members of The Depreciation Guild, is also currently the drummer for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
Now, I knew of this from interviews and such, but didn’t check out their debut album, In Her Gentle Jaws until it was recommended by a person from the video gaming spectrum of the world. I’m sure this begs the following question: Why would a nerdy gamer recommend I listen to this and not some music aficionado? Well, it makes more sense once you actually listen to them, as this Brooklyn duo (or trio?) build their sound around the use of the classic 8-bit Nintendo console. This isn’t the first time that a band has done this, but the for the most part musicians trying to incorporate this have come off as incredibly gimmicky and lacking in any kind of substance.
While those familiar 8-bit bleeps and bloops of your childhood make the backbone of their music, they use it in a way that doesn’t feel at all obtrusive, but actually sounds very natural and quite wonderful to be honest. You can almost describe it as pixelated guitar pop crossed with a little M83-style reverb effects. If that doesn’t at least slightly pique your interest, then i’m not sure what else can be said.
The truly great thing about this is that In Her Gentle Jaws has been made available as a free download on their website, which saying it should be downloaded immediately is without saying. I’ve been listening to it frequently this entire week, and I must mention that it makes doing chores around the apartment very comforting with it playing in the background.
Download In Her Gentle Jaws for free
MP3: The Depreciation Guild :: “Darklooming”
MP3: The Depreciation Guild :: “Butterfly Kisses”
MP3: The Depreciation Guild :: “Nautilus”
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Nice find – listening now.