Monday, May 4, 2009
The Spin The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Zaza and More at The End 5/2/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, May 4, 2009 at 9:56 AM
See the slideshows for more photos: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; Zaza.
OK, so we walked into The End on Saturday night secretly wishing that we'd cross the threshold and suddenly find ourselves awash in a sea of smart glasses, Talulah Gosh T-shirts, LP bags, Kurt Cobain cardigans, Wolfie pins and skinny kids who collect electric typewriters. In other words, we were hoping the scene would be Twee as Fuck. Spoiler alert: This is still Nashville.
We did walk in behind what we're going to guess is Nashville's only Michael Lerner look-alike, as new-to-us locals Bows and Arrows were, unfortunately, finishing up their last song. We liked what we heard. We also liked that a like-minded local band was on the bill with a touring band. We also liked that there is a like-minded local band to put on said bill. We look forward to hearing more from this very young-looking band.
Then a couple of Transylvanian-looking dudes with raven tresses began setting up their equipment, which included a pedal board the size of three pizzas. This could only mean that Mother Father was getting set to jammify the galactic light show, or something, and meanwhile a couple of very nice kids from Memphis had procured a bunch of free donuts from the Krispy Kreme down the street. We were much obliged. MF held the room captive to such a degree that the night's headliner would offer blowjobs as reward. We're not kidding, though the person who said that might have been.
Next up were Brooklyners Zaza, whose three pieces included Pains of Being Pure at Heart drummer Kurt Feldman on stand-up percussion. They pretty much blew us into a low Earth orbit from which we found it difficult to return. Ethereal but heavy, the band's sound was like shoegaze with an oversexed dub pulse, and it was badass.
Finally, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart may, in fact, be an overhyped band. Just as true, however, is that they're quite good, and whatever over-attention they're currently receiving is no fault of theirs. In fact, in a world where we're constantly being sold the story that such-and-such band has a lot of "swagger" and is therefore good, we were happy to be reporting from Swagger Free Saturday, as TPOBPAH showed us the importance of being earnest. (Notice that's different from the self-importance of being earnest, which we see a little too often.)
Opening their set, the Pains played their most recognizable songs, the excellent "Young Adult Friction" and the self-defining "This Love Is Fucking Right!" back to back. We were a little bummed that keyboardist/singer Peggy Wang was too low in the mix early on--we love her melody on "Young Adult," but the band just kept bopping hard through their set. Feldman was not all Zaza'd-out, luckily, and was more forceful on the drums than he comes across on the recordings. Moreover, the energy was great, which an air of sameyness in some of the songs did not diminish. It might not have been twee as fuck, but it was pretty alright.
Comments (34)
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i do hope you guys get to check out more of Bows and Arrows, they're a fantastic young band.
Pains were a lot of fun too. great show.
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You might think that Nashville is so behind the times that the twee demimonde that was so popular elsewhere over a decade ago might just be be ready to crest here, but in reality, indiepop types in Nashville either have kids with early bedtimes, and the ones who were so shy that their heads were shoved up their asses (read: were too dorky and socally retarded to date even other indiepop kids) just turned into a pillar of saccharine.
Thank GOD that the whole twee thing curdled and was thrown out years ago. The awful haircuts, the cardigans, the badges, the fact that 90% of the girls were fugly...
Really super-twee fashions on women always creep me out. What kind of adult wants to dress like a 7-year-old? I mean, I have a pair of socks with ducks on them but I don't wear them out in public, you know?
Every time I hear TPOBPAH (fuck that acronym), I make a mental note to go listen to Voxtrot.
I'm very unhip. The context clues above sort of help but I'm still confused. What is Twee exactly?
yeah i thought twee was short for tweed, meaning, woody allen/wes anderson/ belle&sebastian -- neuorotic but fashionable. this string makes twee sound like short for tween, meaning young girls. whichever..
the ones who were so shy that their heads were shoved up their asses (read: were too dorky and socially retarded to date even other indiepop kids
Hmmmm. Who does this remind me of...
Read the Beat Happening chapter of Our Band Could be Your Life.
Or listen to anything involving Bob Wratten
penguins singing "I gotta be meeeeeeeeeeee.... what else can I beeeeeeeeeeeeeee?????????/"
It's babytalk/Anglicism for "sweet."
There's some decent stuff on Sarah Records, and Tallulah Gosh had their moments. And twee antecedent bands like the Modern Lovers and the punk and post-punk era are awesome. But the genre became really formulaic and terrible nearly 15 years ago. To get a sense of twee as it entered the decadent phase, have a listen to the horrible band "Tullycraft." Though Beat Happening is 95% crap too.
That anyone is making records in this style at this point is just unbelievable.
"twee antecedent bands like the Modern Lovers"
Haha! I never thought about it, but I guess Jonathan Richman was way ahead of the curve on this.
The only thing I would consider "Twee as Fuck" would be Peggy in my photo. The way she's holding that Cream sticker/her expression/her outfit... that's Twee as Fuck.
She's smiling.
She's wearing a dress.
Her name is Peggy.
I hate all this shit. Get over it. You guys are exhausting.
and by the way, since no one is talking about the actual show just busy bullshitting about nothing, the show was awesome. each band was amazing.
the pains are twee. who gives a shit. The fey lead singer who can't really play guitar but can somehow write a catchy song is the most twee. the girl that plays the nord (that you can't hear) with one hand is the next most twee. I was pleasantly surprised that the other guitar player and the drummer were pretty good.
Back in the old days, Of Montreal were a textbook twee band. There were a lot of great bands on kindercore. Jesus even the Shins were kinda considered twee before they started playing the Ellen show. The Sarah records stuff was a little before my time. Anyway, to say that the downfall of twee started 15 years ago is bullshit. A lot of great bands put out good records from say, '96-'01. (If You're Feeling Sinister? Hello? That record is the 'Exile on Main Street' of twee).
As an aside, Neutral Milk Hotel could have been the Beatles of twee, but Mangum went nuts and they kinda turned into twee's Big Star. Of course Colin Meloy came along and copped his act, and the Decemberists became corporate rock twee. BARF.
I do agree that twee kids can be kinda annoying sometimes.
Indie, twee, cuddlecore, c86...all meaningless terms, especially when you are not talking about the music at all but sweaters and socks with ducks on.
But I will take the opportunity, since Luke mentioned The Decemberists, to say how much they suck. They are twee, especially if you take twee to mean "they look like an accident in an ugly people factory", or "their singer sounds like he should still be in mom's basement drooling on himself".
As much as it pains me to say it, I have to agree with Andrew J. regarding The Decemberists. That band is a shit factory.
And Luke, I like to think of Neutral Milk more as the Television of twee. Also, I'm glad no one has brought up Architecture in Helsinki.
If Neutral Milk is the Television of twee, does that mean only half of their good album is any good?
pssst
by the way homies....
kurt and christoph aka pains drummer and second guitar are in a really rad band called The Depreciation Guild.
let it be mentioned that those band are a tight fist with no talent leaking out!
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