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Sometimes you worry about new bands becoming too big, too quickly, but that hasn't ever been an issue with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Progressing from a series of hot 7″ singles to a cool exploratory EP to an excellent debut album, their latest effort is not more of the same but a true next step. I interviewed the dreamy New York City indie-pop band for Giant Robot 61 way back in 2009 after they sound checked at The Echo. We walked down to the nearby park, got some Mexican ices from a cart vendor, chatted for a while, and took pictures with my friend/photo ace Ben Clark. They delivered the goods in person and on stage, and I can't wait to see them again playing their great new tunes (especially if it's somewhere smaller than Coachella.) As for Lecherous Gaze, I was blown away by Annihilation Time's third and final album, and was stoked to discover a new offering from some of its core members. Check them out. They'll rip you a new one, and you'll thank them afterward. Both releases come out on March 29–plenty of time to case them out online and then purchase them at your favorite local vinyl outlet next week. Even better, buy them from the bands themselves at a show. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong The Pains' new songs are as humble and catchy as ever but boast a crisper, heavier sound, which isn't hurt by the big-time Brit pop production team of Flood and Alan Moulder. There's nothing cute, quaint, or half-ass about its second LP's bold mix, which seems right for a group that has grown out of its DIY roots and has become as big as many of the the classic new wave and misfit indie bands that it cites as influences. Possibly as big as Teenage Fanclub ever got yet nowhere near New Order at its peak, they balance somber lyrics with exuberant keyboards, jangly guitars with fuzzed-out bass, and remain as honest and exposed as can be on the other side of world-class knob tuning. “Sadness hurts, and that's okay,” one song goes, and that's especially true when it sounds as gorgeous, lush, and realized as this. [Slumberland] <br /> <br /> Lecherous Gaze – S/T The musical wrecking crew from Annihilation Time is carrying on with a new singer,
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I have to admit I was a little hesitant about attending sound check on Wednesday night at The Troubadour. Asobi Seksu's sound is famously dreamy, sweeping, and otherworldly. And their promotional videos and packaging look like they come from an art movie. Did I really want to see the ethereal New Yorkers, fresh off the road in jeans and T-shirts testing mics? Yet I couldn't pass up a chance to finally meet James Hanna and Yuki Chikudate, who, backed by bassist Billy Pavone and drummer Larry Gorman, are a live force to be reckoned with. After the room's sound was tweaked to the band's liking, we caught up in the green room. Our degrees of separation were already less than two, and had to be eliminated sooner or later. GR: It's a little weird to finally meet you because I feel like I already know you from listening to your music for so long and also through last year's Kickstarter campaign. YC: Thanks for your support! I noticed that you contributed… GR: And also because I know Aaron Stewart-Ahn and Dan-ah Kim, who directed your “Me and Mary” video. How do you know them? YC: Sean McCabe, who did all of our artwork until this album, was DJing somewhere and played one of our songs. Aaron went up to him and said, “I love this band.” Sean said, “Really? I'm really good friends with them.” And Aaron said, “Really? I want to make a video for them. Can you put me in touch?” It was a random run-in that came together. <br /> <br />
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By now Michael Nhat has gotten off a plane, retrieved his two pieces of luggage, and found his way to an apartment in a sketchy part of Philadelphia where he is wondering what the heck happens next. I didn't make it to his last L.A. show, but I did manage to meet up with the indie rapper from Iowa yesterday to catch up before he split town. There are a lot of reasons for someone to leave a city as large and multi-faceted as Los Angeles, but being bored isn't usually one of them. When you've found your audience, which is also your social circle, and neither grow, even a big city can become claustrophobic, he explained. Nhat's stint in L.A. was prolific. He played a ton of house parties, galleries, and storefronts, and seemed to be constantly releasing new music and videos. And with a handful of demos and three full releases, his latest cassette pairs his humble-but-sharp thoughts with seriously bombastic bass. (I especially like the song about the girl on the Green Line.) He was able to find fans who could help him make non-cheesy videos, which usually featured attractive, interesting women, but never hooked up with anyone that could get him bigger shows, better recording budgets, or expanded distro. That might not happen in Philly but at least he won't be bored. He told me that the neighborhood he's moving into is known for robbery and rape. Nhat will return to L.A. in a few months to celebrate his fourth release in two years, pick up some more belongings, and also tie up unfinished projects including directing and starring in a short video providing the soundtrack to a full-length film. One video project will include ann all-Asian cast. He might not have roots, but he does thinks about race, and his honest thoughts and handmade music are worth hearing. Since he sold all his gear and is starting over in his new town, his next lo-fi, handmade sounds will depend on what he can find in thrift shops and Craigslist. Go back to the full-on interview in GR66 and then check out his music, videos, and updates here.
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Two new releases by friends with music… On my first and only pilgrimage to the indie rock capital of the world, Olympia, WA, I saw and was blown away by IQU (then ICU) playing one of its first shows and became friends with the trio, which used my house as a crash pad on its earliest tours. From there, I became a fan of stand-up bassist Aaron's next band Old Time Relijun, which slept on my floor a couple more times. The first review is of that group's singer's solo project, in which he sings swamp rock from another dimension in Indonesian. The second review involves Thao Nguyen, who I met and interviewed for Giant Robot way back in 2006, when she was a solo artist who still used her last name. I've seen her numerous times since then and I even asked her to contribute a string of articles to the magazine, but that's already ancient history. Since then, she released a second LP with her combo, the Get Down Stay Down, collaborated with the Portland Cello Project, and has a band-new release with her pal Mirah. Whew. It's nice to be able to keep up with people through their music, and even better when I get the releases a couple of weeks before they hit the shelves. Be sure to check these out when they do. Arrington De Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa, Suara Naga Straying even further away from the sweaty, psychedelic, blues-informed direction forged by his primary band, Old Time Relijun, De Dionyso's tweaked solo project/Indonesian music experiment just keeps getting weirder and heavier, and its second installment will give nightmares to globe-trotting, camera-toting National Geographic members. Does Indonesian folk music feature blown-out bass, detuned guitar riffs, and vague references to fringy '80s music? Probably not like this. “Baru Limunan” recalls the primitive rawness of an In The Flat Field-era Bauhaus song, “Perawan Berawan” steals dark basslines from late Beat Happening, and the schizophrenic vocals of “Aku Di Penjara” can only be compared to the theatrical Euro rap of Falco. Although the bulk of the singing is in De Dionyso's abrasive-yet-theatrical throat-singing style, it turns out that all of the ethnomusicology isn't just related to the swamps of Java or Sumatra. It's challenging but not completely unaccesible to those about to rock. [K Records] <br /> Thao & Mirah, Self-Titled Thao and Mirah seemed to be on awesome, parallel paths–the former going from solo standout to fronting the excellent Get Down Stay Down for Kill Rock Stars and the latter recording enough noteworthy solo releases for K Records to justify a remix album with labelmates covering her songs. So when their universes collided, it was a big deal–like Superman meeting Spider Man in a treasury edition, or even Godzilla and King Kong duking it out the big screen. The music they play together is nothing like their solo stuff; instead of merely mashing up their respective styles or tip-toeing around each other's areas of expertise, they experiment,...
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Maybe it's the English major in me making a comeback or perhaps it's because I just can't afford to binge on imported DVDs anymore, but I've been reading a lot lately. And that's not a bad thing. An advance galley of The Paradise Bird Tattoo (or Attempted Double Suicide) was by my side for days and hasn't left my head for a week now. The newly translated edition of Choukitsu Kurumatani's novel has a cheesy title that recalls neon-colored airbrushed art from the '80s, but it's closer in spirit to the classic, claustrophobic first-person explorations of Dostoevsky and Genet, full of self-hate and purposeful neglect. Never to be confused with the weak-sauce modern substitutes of self-pitying emo waifs, reactionary action heroes, or celebrities suffering meltdowns, the protagonist is simply too intelligent to be sated by a typical existence. Having left a stable career in advertising simply because he finds no value in it, Ikushima bumps around crummy towns and dirty jobs, and ends up in Amagasaki where a former madam gives him a gig skewering the guts of sick animals for a restaurant. The neighbors of the apartment where he works include hookers, thugs, and a tattoo artist. It's a thankless, monotonous, and unhygienic job, but the drifter doesn't resent it or view it as beneath him–and seems to find it more tolerable than his white-collar past. Although Kurumatani doesn't waste much space explaining what made the ex-aspiring writer snap, he generously provides paragraph after paragraph expanding upon the narrator's cold-yet-truthful observations about living in squalor, danger, and lust. Unaffected by notions of career, family, or social norms, Ikushima acts and reacts to his surroundings honestly and willfully. He is withdrawn but not unlikable–and the novel translated by Kenneth J. Bryson reads the same way.
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