MP3: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - “Young Adult Friction”

Since forming in early 2007, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have become one of the most talked about pop bands in years. Their distinctive brand of noisy pop is a tidy distillation of all the great noise-pop precedents - early MBV, House of Love, Pale Saints, Rocketship - but with that incredible exuberance and energy that the Pains bring to every song. They have released a handful of singles on classy labels like Slumberland, Fortuna Pop!, Atomic Beat and Cloudberry, each one issued to greater anticipation and even wilder reception. Critical acclaim has come from such varied quarters as Stereogum, Fader, Big Takeover, Indie Pages, Skatterbrain, Drowned In Sound, Indie-MP3, Clash Magazine and uncountable others.

Following up the band’s ace “Everything With You” single and whirlwind Swedish tour, we are delighted to bring you their self-titled debut album. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart is an instant classic, packed with brilliantly-executed pop gems that blend the rush of youthful enthusiasm with crafty arrangements, well-honed tunes and buckets of guitar racket. Drawing on the sparkling legacy of the best of 80s and 90s pop, POBPAH update the timeless noisy pop template with a thoroughly modern viewpoint and a very distinctive, playful personality. There is something instantly identifiable about a Pains tune, and it is the essential “rightness” of their records that has captured the attention of pop fans around the world and raised anticipation levels for this album to a near-fever pitch.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart delivers on this promise with perfect assurance. Smashing tunes like “Come Saturday” and “Young Adult Friction” are classic three minute masterpieces that simply beg to be played on repeat. “Stay Alive” and “Gentle Sons” show the band can slow it down and still rock it, and “Hey Paul” is as brash a slice of noise-blast guitar pop as you’ll hear all year. Weighing in at a flawlessly-conceived ten songs, this is all the album that Pains fans had hoped for. Handily transcending easy pigeonholes like “indie pop” and “indie rock,” it is just a great album that shows a smart young band fulfilling their potential and crafting a very convincing statement of purpose.

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART

May 1 2009 The Summit Columbus, Ohio %
May 2 2009 The End Nashville, Tennessee %
May 3 2009 The Earl Atlanta, Georgia %
May 4 2009 Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina %
May 5 2009 Talking Head Club Baltimore, Maryland %
May 6 2009 The Barbary (Early Show) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania%
May 7 2009 Champion Ship Lemoyne, Pennsylvania
May 12 2009 Bowery Ballroom New York, New York %
Jun 18 2009 Cake Shop New York, New York #
July 18 2009 Pitchfork Fest Chicago, Illinois
July 20 2009 The Echo Los Angeles, California *
July 21 2009 The Rickshaw Stop San Fransisco, California *
July 23 2009 Backspace Portland, Oregon *
July 24 2009 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, BC *

% = w/ Zaza
$ = w/ Ponytail
# = w/ Crystal Stilts
* = w/ Girls

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
S/T
(Slumberland)
Street date: Feb. 03, 2009

1.Contender
2.Come Saturday
3.Young Adult Friction
4.This Love is Fucking Right
5.The Tenure Itch
6.Stay Alive
7.Everything With You
8.A Teenager in Love
9.Hey Paul
10.Gentle Sons

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART LINKS:
MySpace - www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart

Band Page - www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com

Press Materials - www.slumberlandrecords.com/press/pobpah/pobpah.html

MP3: Or, the Whale - “Rope Don’t Break”

Or, the Whale is a collective of members who prove power in numbers. With a strong DIY ethic, and a Carter Family chemistry, they’ve continued to warm hearts and move feet throughout the Country. They deliver honesty and energy every time, weaving driving indie-rock epics, sweet folk lullabies, boot-stompin’ country rockers, and gritty blues porch anthems into a seamless and powerful performance.

The band’s debut album Light Poles and Pines can be omnipotent and epic (”Life and Death at Sea”), painfully reflective (”Rope Don’t Break“), or both (”Fight Song”). On “Life and Death at Sea,” defeated, raspy lead vocals sink under a whining pedal steel until pulled up by rousing harmonies. In contrast, “Call and Response“, the CD’s lead single, is a whiskey-soaked energetic anthem with a raucous and contagious rhythm that belies a reflective commentary. And really, that’s the secret behind Or, the Whale’s draw: their songs are honest, intelligent, and offer a refreshing modern connection to traditional American music.

OR, THE WHALE

May 20th–Silverlake Lounge–Los Angeles, CA
May 21st–The Viper Room–Los Angeles, CA
May 22nd–Beauty Bar–San Diego, CA
May 23rd–The Hangar(t)–Tucson, AZ
May 25th–Hi-Dive–Denver, CO
May 26th–Kilby Court–Salt Lake City, UT
May 27th–Visual Arts Collective–Boise, ID
May 28th–Red Room–Kennewick, WA
May 29th–Tractor Tavern–Seattle, WA
May 30th–Doug Fir–Portland, OR
June 5th–Sophia’s–Davis, CA

Or, The Whale
Light Poles and Pines
(Seany)
Street date: Jan. 20, 2009

01. Call and Response
02. Saint Bernard
03. Threads
04. Isn’t She Awful
05. Death of Me
06. Crack a Smile
07. Fixin’ to Leave
08. Rope Don’t Break
09. Life and Death at Sea
10. Gonna Have To
11. Bound to Go Home
12. Prayer for the Road
13. Fight Song

OR, THE WHALE LINKS:
MySpace - www.myspace.com/orthewhale

Band Page - www.orthewhale.com

Label Page - www.seanyrecords.com

MP3: Still Flyin’ - “The Hott Chord Is Struck”

San Francisco’s STILL FLYIN’ have been spreading the word of the almighty HAMMJAMM since 2004, demolishing minds, souls, and any notion of personal space with equal abandon. Combining the kinetic energy of 60’s era rock steady with the catchy hooks and DIY aesthetic of today’s best indie-pop, STILL FLYIN’ are an event rarely paralleled in music.

In a recent Pitchfork article, Okkervil River’s Will Sheff said that Still Flyin’ was his new favorite band. “The most fun I’ve had at a show in quite a while. It’s just about the least pretentious music you could ever imagine…very fun to watch”, says Sheff.

STILL FLYIN’ now releases its highly anticipated debut album, NEVER GONNA TOUCH THE GROUND. Mixed in Melbourne by Haima Marriott with help from Gus Franklin (Architecture in Helsinki) and Isobel Knowles (ex-AiH). Besides their well-toked reggae/party default setting, we now discover group leader Sean Rawls and his fifteen (or more) like minded musical travellers are equally adept at the penetrating slo-jams (”Following the Itinerary”/”Haunted Houses”) and high energy thunder-jams (”Ghost Town”/”Dead Memory Man”), as well as the insanely catchy world-pop of ‘The Hott Chord is Struck‘.

STILL FLYIN’ make music about the things most important to their lives, like giving serious high-fives, jamming music, jamming brews, jamming pizza, and “following the itinerary.”

Plunging head first into what is quickly becoming a new era of San Franciscan consciousness, STILL FLYIN’ is on the forefront a new musical movement, Where much of today’s music can be caught up in categories and labelling, the band have developed a term used to not only describe their sound, but also as a way to get outside the confines of genre definitions. HAMMJAMM is not to be confused with the “Jam Band Sound”, it is in fact fairly concise songs played with such veracity that they can only be called JAMMS, while the HAMM aspect represents a willingness not to be traditionally categorized.

You’ll find both the HAMM and the JAMM on STILL FLYIN’s debut album, NEVER GONNA TOUCH THE GROUND, out with care April 7 on Ernest Jenning Record Co. The band is currently on tour in Australia and will be hitting the states on multiple tours through 2009.

STILL FLYIN’

5.08.09 Sacramento, CA Blue Lamp
5.09.09 San Francisco, CA Cafe Du Nord
6.08.09 Seattle, WA Neumo’s *
6.09.09 Portland, OR Holocene *
6.11.09 San Francisco, CA Bottom of The Hill *
6.12.09 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex *
6.13.09 San Diego, CA Casbah *

* = w/ Love is All

Still Flyin’
Never Gonna Touch the Ground
(Ernest Jenning Record Co.)
Street date: April 07, 2009

1) Never Gonna Touch the Ground
2) Following the Itinerary
3) Forever Dudes
4) Good Thing It’s a Ghost Town Around Here
5) Act of Jamming
6) The Hott Chord Is Struck
7) No Go-Kart Ideas
8) Haunted Houses
9) Dead Memory Man
10) Ginko Biloba
11) Aerosmith Take Me to the Other Side

STILL FLYIN’ LINKS:
MySpace - www.myspace.com/stillflyin

Press Materials - www.ernestjenning.com/stillflyinpresspage.htm

MP3: Nite Jewel - “Weak For Me”

California native Ramona Gonzalez first began her transcendent minimalist dance-pop escapades in the privacy of her own home in Los Angeles after performing with bands in both the Bay Area and the L.A. area.

With the aid of her multitrack cassette recorder and whatever keyboards, drum machines, and other instruments that were available to her, she very quickly developed her own unique sound and began performing live in the L.A. area under the moniker Nite Jewel.

Later teaming up with multimedia artist Emily Jane, the Nite Jewel project became a two-woman band, touring alongside the likes of Deerhunter and Glass Candy. The Nite Jewel sound has been likened to that of a warped, lo-fi version of Late-80’s Freestyle Electro sensation Debbie Deb and has also found appeal among not just the ‘indie rock’ & ‘experimental’ crowd but also among avid listeners of hip hop, funk, disco, & soul.

While very fond of these aforementioned genres and artists, Nite Jewel gathers much of her inspiration from the likes of Los Angeles Free Music Society’s avant garde experimentalist Tom Recchion, obscure UK hari krishna new age electro-acoustic duo Woo, and the sublime ambient electronic music of groups like Germany’s Cluster and Italy’s Sensations Fix. Nite Jewel never hesitates, however, to cite 90’s R&B pop groups such as TLC & SWV as influences who left an indelible mark on her music sensibilities as a teenager.

Discography:

My CD EP Self-Released CD-R June 2008
What Did He Say 12″ Italians Do It Better November 2008
Good Evening LP Gloriette December 2008
Good Evening CD Human Ear Music March 2009

NITE JEWEL

May 28 2009 The Smell Los Angeles, California
Jun 04 2009 Oasis Oakland, California
Jun 05 2009 Aunty Mo’s Eureka, California
Jun 07 2009 Northern Olympia, Washington
Jun 09 2009 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia *
Jun 10 2009 Chop Suey Seattle, Washington *
Jun 11 2009 Holocene Portland, Oregon *
Jun 12 2009 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, California *
Jun 13 2009 The Smell Los Angeles, California *#
Jun 16 2009 Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, California *
Jun 17 2009 Modified Arts Phoenix, Arizona *

* = w/ Telepathe
# = w/ Abe Vigoda

Nite Jewel
Good Evening
(Human Ear)
Street date: March 17, 2009

1. Bottom Rung
2. Suburbia
3. What Did He Say
4. Weak For Me
5. Heart Won’t Start
6. Universal Mind
7. Artificial Intelligence
8. Let’s Go (The Two of Us Together)
9. Chimera
10. Lover

NITE JEWEL LINKS:
MySpace - www.myspace.com/nitejewel

Label Page - www.humanearmusic.com