>> 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.
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