After a bit of a hiatus due to a family emergency, I can now comfortably say that I am 100% back and ready to kick things into high gear here over at The Yellow Stereo. Another announcement that has been in the making for a couple of months now, is that I am now living here in Salt Lake City, Utah. After spending my entire life in the south, a time for change was needed and this opportunity opens tons of new possibilities in regards to this blog. Hopefully, it means more of a focus on what seems to be a thriving music scene here, but still keeping things as they’ve always been for our regular readers.
To kick things off, one of my favorite bands right now, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, came into town last night along with Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Depreciation Guild, both of whom have been mentioned here on the blog at some point. It was a night of firsts, as it was my first show in SLC at the lovely Kilby Court and the first time being in Utah for all three bands. The venue reminded me a lot of the Drunken Unicorn in Atlanta, being very small (it’s basically a large garage) with a very long history of bringing great bands to the area. The crowd was not as large as one would hope, though, there were quite a bit of options that night with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Wavves both playing at other venues.
Cymbals Eat Guitars kicked things off first, and while I’m not as familiar with them as the other writers here on TYS, but the band was very intense and incredibly loud. Definitely provided a good example of why one should bring earplugs to a concert, because as soon as their set ended, a ringing in my left ear continued for the entire duration of the night. To be honest, they seemed like the odd band out that night as their music is almost the exact opposite from the other two bands on the bill. Despite all of this, I still enjoyed their set.
The Depreciation Guild took the stage next, and while lead vocalist Kurt Feldman (also Pains’ drummer) mentioned that this was there first real tour, the trio performed like seasoned veterans. In fact, I will go ahead and say they were the surprise of the night for me with their shoegaze/electronica sound. Performing in near complete darkness (the venue is pretty dark regardless as evident from my photos) except for a rear-projection backdrop that showcased a mix of different colors and shapes that seemed to vibe perfectly with the music being played. While the band’s use of 8-bit sounds are very much at the forefront on the studio recordings, in a live setting a majority of it seemed to be drowned out by the distorted guitars, which made them a completely different sounding band for me.
I couldn’t help but be excited to see The Pains of Being Pure at Heart perform again, as I had only seen a few short sets while I was in Austin for SXSW. It was great to talk to Kip again and hear about their plan to see Titus Andronicus immediately after in nearby Provo, which I would’ve loved to have gone to as well, though I didn’t have a vehicle to drive. Once the band took the stage, it’s just clearly evident that the band just loves to play music. They may not be the most enthusiastic band to ever take the stage, but it doesn’t even matter as the songs speak for themselves. Playing many songs off their excellent debut, they also played quite a few new tracks off their forthcoming EP Higher Than The Stars, including the song “103″ as Kip jokingly compared it to “103 you probably can’t do in Utah.” Their set was a bit quick, with almost no break in between a number of songs, as I suspect that they were trying make it in time to see the aformentioned Titus Andronicus, but who knows. Still, it was great to see them once again, as they seem to continue to improve by leaps and bounds throughout out this extended tour.
I also have a short video I recorded of Pains performing “Higher Than The Stars” which kind of ends abruptly as my memory card ran out of space. You can watch it below.
Didn’t think I would miss any news on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, as I think I’ve talked them up here on TYS more than any other band this year. I think it’s no secret to anyone now how good their debut album is, so no need to harp on any of that I hope. Now, with the band being constantly on tour since the beginning of the year, I wasn’t expecting to hear any new songs, but a brand new EP? I couldn’t be more excited about this news!
I remember talking to Kip while at SXSW and he mentioned a new single that was supposed to be released on Slumberland, a song which I imagine has become a staple at their live shows called “Falling Over” — a video of which I recorded during one of their many sets in Austin. It seems to have made its way onto the four-song EP which is titled Higher Than the Stars, which will be out on the aformentioned Slumberland on September 22nd.
Pitchfork premiered an exclusive stream of the title track, and it finds the group ditching their trademark distorted guitar-pop for…uh…shimmering guitar-pop. Kips blissful vocals sound better than ever, and this just proves how much better the band has become over a short period of time.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart seem to have been on a never-ending tour since early February in support of their self-titled debut, which is still one of my absolute favorites so far this year. If you happened to miss them the first go around (shame on you!), fear not, as it’s just been announced that the band will be playing a slew of additional tour dates all the way through October. This time around, they’ll be accompanied by both The Depreciation Guild (drummer Kurt Feldman’s band) and Cymbals Eat Guitars.
Here’s a new video from one of the best singles so far of 2009: “Young Adult Friction” from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s self-titled debut. Just like the band’s previous video for “Everything With You,” this is also shot entirely on Super 8 film, which gives us a grainy look at the group reading various books that include Emile Durkheim’s Suicide, Beverly Clearly’s Fifteen, and even a Nirvana songbook.
The band has been in the midst of a very long tour in support of the album, which includes a stop in Atlanta on May 3rd at The Earl. Really looking forward to seeing them again!
There’s never a good explanation for whenever I feel the need to put together these completely random mixes. I think tonight I just needed to put my mind at ease, and the following just happened to be the songs that did this for me. Listening to these bring about feelings of nostalgia, hopefulness, and an eagerness for what’s to come. Tomorrow could bring about a completely different set of songs, but I’m just going to sit back and enjoy these for the time being. Hopefully, you enjoy these too.
I ended up seeing The Pains of Being Pure at Heart twice at SXSW (they performed a whopping thirteen times throughout SXSW), with this video I recorded having taken place at Emo’s Jr. during the Slumberland/Cakeshop showcase. I actually almost didn’t make it into this one, since it required a badge/wristband to enter. I think the people at the door felt sorry for me or something, because I ended up coming back an hour later after being initially denied and they just let me walk in free. This is a new song called “Falling Over,” which Kip mentioned would be a future single release on Slumberland.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released one of the first truly great records of 2009, as heaps of praise have been showered over the band from all corners, including yours truly. After kicking off a tour in early February in support of the record, the band have added a substantial number of additional tour dates, which include many appearances at SXSW and the Pitchfork Music Festival.
Now for us around the Atlanta-area, we would originally be seeing them on the 13th of this month, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, the band had to reschedule the date for May 3rd. It’s a bummer, but I’d like to think I’m patient enough to wait a little while longer to finally see them in person.
In addition to the new tour dates, Slumberland have announced the release of a new 7″ single for what I would consider is arguably one of the best tracks on the record, “Young Adult Friction,” a song that I absolutely loved in a previous post that you can read if you wish. It’ll be released on Mar. 31st, along with a new 7″ from fellow Brooklyn natives Crystal Stilts. Both of which you can listen to below as they’ve been made available as MP3s. Tour dates can be viewed after the cut.
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.
One of my favorite bloggers, Matt at Skatterbrain, recently put out a fantastic indiepop CD-R compilation over on his blog. The tracklist is outstanding, including tracks from the likes of Pants Yell! and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Each copy comes in a lovely handmade sleeve, which you can see in the image above, with only a limited run of 150 copies being made available.
At one point, nearly a week ago, only about 75 copies were still able to be purchased, so who knows how many are still around if any. So yeah, head over there now and pick up a copy (it’s only $8!).
As far as i’m concerned, this week’s releases begins and ends with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s debut. I’ve been pretty vocal about how great this band is over the past year or so, and after several singles and EPs, this album doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. You won’t hear a better pure indiepop album this year, so I recommend you pick this one up immediately. If you want to get a little more familiar with the band, read the interview I did with them a couple of weeks ago!
Of course, there are other great albums to be had, but it’s obvious where my bias lies this week. A couple that i’ve enjoyed to some extent include new stuff from Heartless Bastards, Ben Kweller, Howlies, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele, and The Von Bondies.
As always, feel free to recommend anything we may have missed!
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