Today's Hotness: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

>> In our opinion there is a classic Slumberland sound. It relies on big guitars, upbeat rhythms and twee-leaning lyrics. Leading examples include Lilys' terrifyingly good "Claire Hates Me," from the landmark record In The Presence Of Nothing, and just about any track from Rocketship's similarly amazing A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness. You may now add to that list New York-based quartet The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's delightful new single "Everything With You" b/w "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart," which Slumberland released -- on blue vinyl, no less -- earlier this month. The A-side will feature on the year-old band's debut full-length, which the label intends to issue in January. The band will tour the U.K. with The Wedding Present in December; those dates are posted at the band's MySpace dojo right here. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart have two CMJ-related appearances planned, including a Wednesday night show with the mighty Ringo Deathstarr, and we've listed the details below. Slumberland is offering a free download of "Everything With You," so do yourself a favor and start downloading. We can't wait to hear the full-length, but in the meantime you can stream four songs at the aforementioned MySpace.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart -- "Everything With You" -- "Everything With You" b/w "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart"
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[buy "Everything With You" from Slumberland here]

10/22 -- Knitting Factory Tap Bar -- New York, NY
10/24 -- Cake Shop -- New York, NY

>> Scruffy Mancunian indie rockers The Answering Machine will not be playing at CMJ this week. Instead the quartet began Monday recording its debut full-length in "a residential studio in the middle of the English countryside." Which actually sounds like a wonderful way to spend the week, so we are a little jealous. The sessions will be produced by Dave Eringa, who has previously produced records for Manic Street Preachers, Idlewild, Kylie Minogue and -- what's this -- a 1996 set by a band called Lodestar. That can't possibly be the erstwhile Philly band formerly known as Rupert Speed, could it? We'll that would be amazing (sadly, we expect the Lodestar in question is these jokers). One of the last things we wrote about The Answering Machine (here, in April) was that it had tracked as many as 15 demos with remote input from L.A.-based producer Tony Hoffer. Which makes us wonder why the planned album sessions are not being helmed by Mr. Hoffer. Perhaps we'll meet the guys and gal from The Answering Machine one day and ask them. To date the foursome has issued three singles, "Oklahoma," "Silent Hotels" and "Lightbulbs," all of which are worth tracking down.

>> As we Twittered early Friday evening, pedigreed and D.C.-based power-pop phenoms The Julie Ocean have disbanded. In this Washington Post item the quartet -- which featured former members of hitmakers including Velocity Girl, Swiz and Glo-worm -- explained that singer and guitarist Jim Spellman, who is also a presenter for televison news concern CNN (you know the one -- he agreed to be tasered on live TV last year), was relocating to Denver for career-related reasons. The relatively new band only played 20 shows in its 15-month lifetime, but it also recorded the excellent full-length Long Gone And Nearly There, which is a contender for our year-end list. We reviewed the record here in April. The Julie Ocean recently canceled an East Coast tour due due to a death in one of the four members' families.

Reader Rewards: Win Julie Ocean's Long Gone And Nearly There

>> [UPDATE: We have a winner -- congratulations Jake Oomar!]One of the bigger records of the year to date is Julie Ocean's immaculate indie pop gem Long Gone And Nearly There. The D.C.-based act's debut long-player isn't due in stores until May 27, but as of today it is available on ITunes and EMusic. Readers may recall we reviewed the record here in early April, at which time we said -- among other things -- that "the relatively new quartet succeeds marvelously, as evidenced by the exuberant and winsome indie pop..." Through the magic of multiple publicists working the record -- which is being released by Philadelphia powerpop label Transit Of Venus -- we've got a copy to give away and we're giving it away right now. The first reader to email us (our email is in the sidebar) with the phrase "Ghost In The Mirror" in the subject line will receive a brand spanking new copy of the CD from us in the mail next week. It's that simple. We'll update this item as soon as there is a winner. If you're itching to see Julie Ocean -- which incidentally features former members of Velocity Girl, Glo-worm and Swiz -- ply their pop in a live performance, the band has two live engagements booked: a CD release show at Iota in Arlington, Virginia on the 6th; and a gig with Half Japanese at Rock And Roll Hotel in D.C. July 11. If you want to try before you buy -- or try before you win -- here once again is the MP3 for the infectious toe-tapper "Number 1 Song" below.

Julie Ocean -- "Number 1 Song" -- Long Gone And Nearly There
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[buy Long Gone And Nearly There from EMusic here]

Julie Ocean: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Review: Julie Ocean | Long Gone And Nearly There [MP3s]

The very idea of Julie Ocean -- that is, roughly, Velocity Girl + Glo-worm + Swiz = awesome rock band -- is so enticing that the contrarian in us almost hoped that it didn't work. But the relatively new quartet succeeds marvelously, as evidenced by the exuberant and winsome indie pop on Long Gone And Nearly There. The band's sunny sounds most obviously reference predecessor Velocity Girl, whose immensely powerful second single "My Forgotten Favorite" (which easily places among our 10 favorite songs) gave way to more traditional pop efforts further along the arc of the '90s act's career. The guitar tremelo that opens and closes Julie Ocean's anthemic "Here Comes Danny" in particular reminds us of Velocity Girl. Under the gloss, smile and "woo oohs" of "Looking At Me/Looking At Your" and "My Revenge" pulses the caffeinated energy -- and certainly the conciseness -- of mighty late '80s hardcore act Swiz, which counted among its members Julie Ocean drummer Alex Daniels.

But the overarching element of Julie Ocean's music -- broad, bright melodies delivered with an irresistible guitar-pop fizz -- overshadows the vestigial artifacts of those predecessors. While nothing on Long Gone And Nearly There is overdone, just about everything leaves you wanting more. The set carries only two songs over three minutes in length, and the whole of the record's 10 tracks transpires in less than a half an hour, so you will be restarting Long Gone about as often as you would flip a vinyl record. We estimate conservatively that we've listened to this record 40 times since receiving it, and we have little doubt that our experience won't be unique once Long Gone And Nearly There hits racks next month. Philadelphia's Transit Of Venus label releases the record May 29. You can stream it in its entirety at Last.FM right now. Click here for those streams, and click below for an MP3 and videos.

Julie Ocean -- "#1 Song" -- Long Gone And Nearly There
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[pre-order Long Gone And Nearly There from Transit Of Venus here]
[pre-orders ship May 20]

Julie Ocean -- "Ten Lonely Words" [video] -- Long Gone And Nearly There
Julie Ocean -- "Bright Idea" [video] -- Long Gone And Nearly There

Velocity Girl -- "My Forgotten Favorite" -- "My Forgotten Favorite" b/w "Why Should I Be Nice To You?"
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[buy Velocity Girl recordings from Newbury Comics here]

Julie Ocean: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: The Diggs, Zillionaire, Julie Ocean

>> It is to be expected that former Mineral-fronter Chris Simpson would continue to evolve musically, and his recent, folksier indie rock act Zookeeper has its share of great moments. But for those of us who can't loosen our grips on the desperate second-wave emo sounds that Mineral proffered can take solace in the fact that similar new music is being ably churned out by Brooklyn-based indie trio The Diggs. Diggs guitarist and vocalist Timothy Lannen sings in a Simpson-esque (Enigk-esque, as well, now that we think about it) tenor over albeit denser tunes that crest and slope in majestic waves of delay pedal and snare drum. The Diggs' MySpace tent perhaps sums it up best at the "Sounds Like" bullet, where the band has inserted "Frustration and Hope." The five-year-old trio's sophomore full length ctrl-alt-del will be issued by the partly Diggs-run Sugarspun March 11.

The Diggs -- "Recovery Forever" -- ctrl-alt-del
The Diggs -- "Careen" -- ctrl-alt-del
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[full-album stream -- recommended]
[pre-order ctrl-alt-del from Amazon here]

Mineral -- "Gloria" -- The Power Of Failing
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[buy Mineral records from MusicStack here]

>> The New Granada label obviously has our number, as it pitched an act to us by characterizing it as an amalgamation of '90s indie rock standouts Versus, Codeine and Seam (also Low, but we're not big Low fans -- we might have substituted Unrest if we were making the pitch ourselves). Such characterization is the sort of thing that makes us sit up and take notice, although as always we steel ourselves against possible disappointment if the billing doesn't live up to the hype. Fortunately indie rock quartet Zillionaire have the songs and the chops, and we've been thoroughly enjoying its set The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down. Zillionaire hails from Tampa, Florida, and we must admit being a little surprised, as our conception of Florida indie rock is pretty much Gainesville screamo and, well, that's it. Although we think indie pop luminaries Human Television called Florida home for a time, so perhaps we knew there was more going on. The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down was released Jan. 1. Or it was released Nov. 17. The Internet is fraught with contradictions, no? No matter. The point is you can get the record now, and if you live in Florida you should have some chances to catch the band touring this spring. Zillionaire's mid-tempo swayer "The Gardener" in particular carries the scent of Versus, and we are posting it and two additional tracks below.

Zillionaire -- "The Gardener" -- The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down
Zillionaire -- "The Occasion Of The Water Heater" -- The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down
Zillionaire -- "No Contest" -- The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down
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[buy The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down here]

>> Let's just go for the '90s trifecta today, shall we? What do you get when you combine former members of retro hardcore giants Swiz, dream poppers Velocity Girl and twee standard-bearers Glo-Worm? This is a pretty easy question: you get a new band called Julie Ocean, who first blipped on the radar last May here and here. The D.C.-based quartet will release its debut Long Gone And Nearly There on Transit Of Venus (Trolleyvox, The Shimmers) this spring. We couldn't find a hard release date anywhere online, so just go to the record store every Tuesday between now and mid-June and look for it, mmmmk? Julie Ocean (which would make for a clever billing with The Jane Anchor, no?) has posted two tracks at its MySpace yert that sound not too dissimilar from Simpatico!-era Velocity Girl's overcharged take on '60s-inflected bubblegum rock. Harness streams of "Ten Lonely Words" and "My Revenge" here.