Posts Tagged ‘The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’
Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm: 20 Slumberland Memories, Part 2
The Aislers Set
Slumberland Records, the locally formed label that has released some of the best, noisiest indie pop ever pressed to seven-inch, turned 20 this year, and it’s celebrating all weekend. Tonight’s show at the Black Cat features current Slumberland bands Crystal Stilts, Brown Recluse, Frankie and the Outs and Pants Yell!, as well as three reunited bands from the area, the Ropers, Lorelei, and Nord Express.
We asked some of the people involved with Slumberland over the years to share their favorite memories of the label. We ran some yesterday, and here are the rest:
Read More “Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm: 20 Slumberland Memories, Part 2″ »
Slumberland Announces 20th Anniversary Show @ Black Cat
Sweater rockers of the greater D.C. area, it’s time to start knitting! Slumberland has just announced a 20th anniversary concert at Black Cat.
Way back in 1989, when DC was still more of an all-hardcore-all-the-time kind of place, Slumberland Records took a chance and pressed its first 7″, What Kind of Heaven Do You Want, a compilation featuring DC-based indie-pop bands Velocity Girl, Black Tambourine, and Powder Burns. Since then the label has become one of the most beloved purveyors of twee and fuzzy music, releasing a slate of well-loved records by Stereolab, Rocketship, and, more recently, Crystal Stilts, and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
The anniversary concert will feature performances by label artists both new (Crystal Stilts) and old (The Ropers, Nord Express). Lineup details after the jump.
Read More “Slumberland Announces 20th Anniversary Show @ Black Cat” »
In Defense of Hi-Fi Maturity:
Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Black Cat
It’s probably not fair to call The Pains of Being Pure at Heart a lo-fi band. Certainly, the New York group’s self-titled album sounds appropriately hissy and fuzzy. But “lo-fi” also connotes an attitude, a puritanical devotion to songwriting whether it comes at the expense of sound quality or not.
But when the four-piece, which plays tonight at the Black Cat, released the song “Higher Than the Stars” earlier this month, I was taken slightly aback at the single’s wintry synths and programmed gurgles. And I wasn’t the only one. But maturity doesn’t have to be a bad thing, nor do higher production values. And you only need to look at some of the band’s forebears to see why:
Read More “In Defense of Hi-Fi Maturity:
Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Black Cat” »
Q&A: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Post-punk got a second chance, so did garage rock. Even disco has had a bit of come back lately. But when the indie-pop music of the early ’90s–naive but noisy sounding bands that populated labels like Slumberland, K, and Sarah–finally died out, it seemed like somebody pinned a “do not resuscitate” order on it. It was dead. Deader than IDM, even.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have made a pretty good argument for twee resurrection, though. The Brooklyn band’s chiming chords, swooning melodies, and blasts of guitar feedback place a defibrillator on indie-pop’s chest. Singer/guitarist Kip Berman spoke with Washington City Paper about the band, getting signed to Slumberland, and why it isn’t as hard as you might think to play kinda wimpy music in New York City.
The band performs tonight at Black Cat with The Depreciation Guild and The Sugarplums.
