I'm a little late with this one, but better late than never, right? Boy Genius are a four-piece from Brooklyn that play that jangly pop that's just not sure if it wants to rock or not. Their new single, Blame Love (which just happens to have a Miracle Legion cover as a b-side) could pretty much be summed up as comfy. It's not trying to do anything but be there. Like a lost 7" from "the good ol' days," "Blame Love" has everything you want and nothing you don't. Jangly guitars, boy/girl harmonies in all the right places, a grooving bass line, and you know it had to happen...a shredding pop-solo! You can head over to Boy Genius' Myspace to have a listen and pick up a copy of Blame Love as well as their past releases.
And if anyone happens to be in Connecticut or feels like making a trip, Boy Genius are playing in the Tweefort! It's not actually a fort, or twee, or even a place, but hey. Here's the flyer...
I sort of have a computer again! Time for the super-fast-indie-pop-recap!
NYC Popfest is over! :( I missed it, but I hope those of you who made it had a blast!
Coming up, SF Popfest! I can't make that either...someone freak the fuck out at Tullycraft for me. Cheap Red too!
Speaking of Cheap Red, Boyracer re-issued happenstance on vinyl. I don't know if there are any copies left at this point, but if there are I'd highly reccommend grabbing one!
Lacrosse have a new video for a new single from their new album! There aren't any hand puppets, but there are balloons!
The Champagne Socialists play fuzzy 50s-60s style pop. They're opening for the Pains in July, and remind me of the early works of a certain Mr. Thomas.
So as anyone who reads this may have noticed, there hasn't been too many posts as of late. I'm sorry for that, but my computer broke and I don't have the money to fix it, so you know...Sugarsours is going to be on a bit of a hiatus...Boo!
And here I though I posted on this..If you hadn't heard by now, concurrent with the new Pains release, Slumberland also put out a 7" with two new Crystal Stilts jams. I'm pretty sure I've heard them play "Love is a Wave" live before, but it's definitely new as far as their recordings go. It just chugs right along with everything pushing forward. The drums and bass are relentless in their drive, and the guitar and vocals just rise and fall sounding like nothing can stop them. Where "Love Is a Wave" chugged right along with its feedback-heavy guitars, "Sugar Baby" is all about that keyboard. The guitars have something along a twang to them, making the whole thing sound like punk invaded the 60s pop scene in Arizona.
Just in case your Pains collection was starting to feel a little lonely, Slumberland's got you covered with another ace 7!" Everyone's favourite teenage lust song takes up the a-side, while the b-side is home to Ramona. You all know Young Adult Friction is amazing, but what might have escaped you is that when the Pains of Being Pure At Heart Slow it down, they're still tops. Ramona sounds like it came right off that mix-tape you made back in the 90s. The one for the girl who was moving away. Remember? It was nestled right in between Black Car and Drive It All Over Me. You never made that tape? Well now you can. Young Adult Friction .mp3
I got a copy of The Hi-Life Companion's new CD in the mail last week and never really got the chance to post about it. Does anyone remember the Mayfields? Or Maybe Airport Girl? Yeah, it's those guys. Brothers, actually. The Hi-Life Companion sound like a blend of The Beach Boys, Magnetic Fields and Belle and Sebastian (and others of that ilk), so if that sounds good to you (and who wouldn't that mix sound good to?), I'd keep my ear to the ground to try to hear Peru. Say Yes! is due out soon on Plastilina Records, which is perfect timing seeing as summer is right around the corner and it's a super summer-y.
Knight School (NYC) Soft City (NYC) Dream Bitches (NYC) The Metric Mile (NYC) My Teenage Stride (NYC) THE BALLET (NYC)
* * * * * * * * * *
Friday May 15th Venue: Don Hills
Don Lennon (NYC) The Tartans (CA) ( secret band ) Liechtenstein (SWEDEN) CATS ON FIRE (FINLAND)
+ Mondo Indie Dance Party
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday Afternoon FREE show! Saturday May 16th Venue: Cake Shop
Hidden Ghost Balloon Ship (MI) The Hat Company (OH) Strega (NYC)
* * * * * * * * * *
Saturday May 16th Venue: Bell House
Computer Perfection (MI) Eux Autres (CA) The Secret History (NYC) Pants Yell! (MA) THE RADIO DEPT. (SWEDEN)
+ Indiepop Dance Party
* * * * * * * * * *
Sunday All-Dayer Sunday May 17th Venue: Cake Shop
Boy Genius (NYC) Afternoon Naps (OH) Very Truly Yours (IL) The Smittens (VT) Rose Melberg (CANADA) The Icicles (MI) Casper and the Cookies (GA) BURNING HEARTS (FINLAND)
I'm not sure how I didn't post this right away...NEW FUCKING CAMERA OBSCURA! "My Maudlin Career" is a bit fuzzier that you might be used to, but believe me, it's a great thing. The lyrics are everything you would expect them to be, the vocals are spot on, and it's catchier than a cold. Basically, it's a Camera Obscura song.
The album, under the same name, is out on 4AD April 21st for us yanks and 20th for everyone else. Not only is the music good, but the cover art is lovely, and Abba's piano is used on one of the tracks. Yow!
Mediafire is doing some maintenance, so no mp3 for now, but you can hear a couple tracks from the new album on their myspace.
Maybe you were up at Popfest New England last year and caught the Inclined Plane. If not, you should look into them. They have a new album coming out in April, and if you're looking to fill that slower-tempo lo-fi hole in your life, I'd recommend checking it out. From the sounds of it I Am Pants is going to be what you want to listen to late at night when the party's dwindling but no one wants to go home, so you sit on the couch and look through old photo albums.
On the other end of the spectrum is Play Music from Thieves Like Us. Basically, if you like New Order (or Hot Chip), light electronic stuff, or coke binges you NEED this. But really, it's super dance-y. If I Am Pants is what you listen to sitting on the couch, Play Music is what you play when you want to dance, but the discotheque doesn't play anything you want to hear, so you have your own dance party in your living room. It's like club music for pop kids. Then again, this'll probably be huge at the discotheque. It's be available from Shelflife Records March 10th, on 12" vinyl none the less, so you can do your bump right off the spinning record! Drugs In My Body .mp3
So it only took four years, but there's finally a new Mirah album! I arbitrarily decided to check out the K Records site just now and (A)spera apparently released February 11th (then again it might be up for pre-order, and they just failed to mention that, because it says elsewhere that it doesn't realease until March 10th)! And I even managed to scrounge up a track from it! "Gone Are the Days" is a bit more bare-bones-folk-pop-y; it's just Mirah, bongos, and the occasional trumpet. Gone are the days .mp3
I would also highly recommend giving the Vibrarians new single a listen. It's streaming on the site and to borrow K's word, it's a real corker!
I almost missed the boat on this one! Not really, but I didn't know they had anything coming down the pipeline. Our Temperance Movement comes out March 11th, but it's available for pre-order from a couple places, like Record Label X and Stupido Shop for about $22.50 (Record Label X is a euro cheaper). They have a couple of the new tracks streaming on their myspace, and if what I've heard is any indication, this is going to be the best thing to come out of Finland since their last record. "Garden Lights" features all the great Cats on Fire guitar, bass, and vocals that you would expect, plus what sound like some bongos and a stellar clarinet solo! Sooo good!
Only a couple months after Apathy the gals from Liechtenstein have dropped an ace little CDR! They have the title track "Everything's for Sale" streaming on their myspace. I've given it a good number of listens and can't quite put my finger on what it reminds me of, but that's okay since it's every bit as good as you'd expect from the girls (read amazing). To steal Matt's comparison, the guitars are very Talulah Gosh-y, as are the bang-bang snare/tambourine drums. As usual their harmonization is right on, and the "sha-la-las" in the outro WILL get stuck in your head. And if they don't something else will, like, say, the "sooo-sooo-sooome say (s)he's a fucking If you live in the UK or Germany you can pick up the new disc at their live shows. As for the rest of us, it's about $15 shipped from Fraction Discs' mailorder department.
Word on the street is it was a blast. To commemorate the occasion, the boys over at Magic Marker put out a 5x 7" set of Magic Marker bands covering Magic Marker bands. It was available at the show, with all the left-overs being put up on their webstore. From what I heard, they didn't make very many (somewhere around 50 copies, I think), so I would head over to the Magic Marker site ASAP to get your hands on a set. I sadly don't have any mp3s, but here's the track-list:
7" #1 The Owls "Springtime Fall" (Dear Nora) Walker Kong "Bells" (The Bats)
7" #2 The Manhattan Love Suicides "Superboy & Supergirl" (Tullycraft) Dear Nora "Air" (The Owls)
7" #3 BOAT "Nosebleeders on the Track" (The Faintest Ideas) Galactic Heroes "Former Hero" (Heikki)
7"#4 Tullycraft "Welcome to the Big Ten Conference" (Vehicle Flips) Birds of California (Lunchbox) "Kick It back" (The Manhattan Love Suicides)
7"" #5 The Gazetteers "Ordinary Day" (Lunchbox) Kissing Book "Any Kind of Pain" (The Best Friends Group)
May 15th, 16th 17th! If I counted right, that makes four different Popfests this year! I should look on Anorak more often...But thanks Maz for the update! I would assume his blog is going to be the place to get the lowdown as it goes down. I'd go look anyways to get some nice, compressed, nuggets of pop goodness.
So how about a massive update? The Felt Tips have a new 3" CDR out on WeePOP! It's every bit as wonderful as their releases on Cloudberry, so I recommend heading over there and ordering yourself a copy! I'd also snag the weePOP-up compilation, seeing as it's pretty ace and a pop-up! The One Who Got Away .mp3
Speaking of compilations, Matt finally finished up the Skatterbrain comp. Between the cover art and track-list it looks fantastic!
The new Pains album is available for pre-order over at Slumberland. You don't even know how great it is! This is the opening track...
There's oodles of popfests now! Here's to you London and San Francisco! And while you're globe-trotting, Magic Marker Records turned 10! They're having a little shindig in Portland to celebrate. Dear Nora anyone?
So, as expected, the new Pains of Being Pure at Heart album is phenomenal (officially, it comes out February 3rd). It has some old songs, and some new songs and they're all good songs. I don't think the songs need much talking up, as the Pains couldn't make a bad song if they tried. I was listening to it on the subway this morning, and the train ride changed from a way-to-early commute to a high speed rocket of noisy, jangly, fuzzy, pop perfection. That's they best way to describe the album; pop perfection. I can't spoil any of the new songs just yet, but I can give a track list to tide you over.
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
And apparently I was miss-informed about Sexy Kids putting out an album. They're on a bit of a hiatus. Crushing.
Some things I'm looking forward to in the coming months:
A new Pains album! and a Sexy Kids Album! By February Slumberland will have already put out two of the best albums of next year. Not too shabby, eh?
"Aboa Sleeping" by Burning Hearts! It's Cats on Fire and Le Futur Pompiste! Go Finland! Another one of the best records coming out next year! I Guarantee it! I've Lost My Color Vision .mp3 Happy New Year! .mp3 (it's only cliche if you let it be)
Geez, it's been a really long time since I've updated... I don't like being restricted to just a top ten list, so instead I have a list of things that were really good this year. It's a medley of songs, 7"s, albums, concerts, and whatever else I deem really good.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Everything With You 7"
The Pains (of Being Pure at Heart) just killed it this year. Everyone and their mother thinks that "Everything with You" was the single of the year and I wholeheartedly agree. That, and they put on an awesome live show, and that Kip is not, in fact, a dick. And they have an album coming out next year on Slumberland Everything with you .mp3
NYC Popfest!
More pop than you can shake a stick at. The Cannanes flew in. Cats on Fire made it. Tullycraft finally came to the east coast. The Orchids?! And there's still another 20 bands that were all absolutely fantastic.
Sexy Kids- Sisters are Forever 7"
Sexy Kids sound kind of like a toned down Royal We (because they're members of The Royal We), and are every bit as catchy. This little gem got a lot of buzz when it was released and I would say it is indeed that sweet. And what's that? They have an album coming out next year on Slumberland as well? Hoo ha.
Talk about a comeback! After an all too long hiatus Slumberland Records came back with a vengeance. Between the ace podcasts and slew of absolutely stellar 7"s and full lengths, I would say the label of the year award would have to go to Mike.
One Happy Island- Secret Party That the Other Party Doesn't Know About
Four super-catchy sing-along pop songs from the twee-est kids in all of Boston. The only problem with this release? All the songs are so catchy, you won't know which to have stuck in your head. Temporary Tattoo is the obvious choice, with all its killer little melody and talk of long lasting unicorn and frog temporary tattoos. Temporary Tattoo .mp3
The Tartans- Cats of Camerford/ My Baby Doesn't Care for You
LA isn't exactly at the top of the list for indie-pop epicenters (or really on the list for that matter), but the Tartans didn't let that stop them, and showed the world LA is okay by putting out two superb singles. I couldn't pick which I liked more, so I decided to split the difference and put up both the a-sides. My Baby Doesn't Care for You .mp3
Asobi Seksu- Me and Mary
Awesome song. Awesome 7". Awesome live. It's catchy and kind of feels dance-y and that chorus has been stuck in my head since it came out, so I'd say it's pretty darn awesome. Me and Mary .mp3
The Lodger- Life is Sweet
Epic summer jam! It's still good to listen to in end of December, so I guess it's just an epic jam. That baseline just gets me. Another winner from Slumberland.
The Lucksmiths- First Frost
I don't think this even warrants an explanation. It's new material from The Lucksmiths, so of course it's amazing. Any new material from the boys is good news, really good new material is even better. Up With The Sun .mp3
There's a bunch of other things that were super awesome, but these were the first to come to mind.
Skipping Stones Thanksgiving Sale! Go! Sadly they're out of the special Popfest comps, but hey, you can still get a wonderful deal on some other CDs or a $3 t-shirt!
And I'm not sure why I don't have Pylrolyse Bred in my link section, or why I haven't even mentioned the site before. Basically, whoever runs it, has converted their old mostly pop-ish records to mp3. There's some real gems in there, and a lot of vinyl only releases, so get crackin!
Oh! And Indie mp3 has a bunch of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart mpfrees up...
The stuff I post on here is for primarily for sampling purposes. If you like something you hear, you should go buy the album. And while you're at it, you should buy a t-shirt so the world can see that you support good things.
If you're a band and want something taken down, just say so. I'd say you should sleep on it first. Or at least have some cookies. If you're certain you still want something removed, I can make that happen.
If you're a band and you think that you fit in with what I talk about, then let me know right now! I'll put up a nice little blurb, and a picture, and some files (if they're available). It'll be a good time.
Some places to go
Sat 1/15 8:00 PM * The Depreciation Guild, The Click Clack Boom, The Vanguard The Rock Shop21+
Sat 1/15 8:00 PM * Tyvek, The Beets, Eternal Summers, Sweet Bulbs Glasslands21+
I'm a little late with this one, but better late than never, right?
