The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, The Echo Of Pleasure, 2017

Album Review

By Henry Lipput

Last May, when announcing the new The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart album, The Echo Of Pleasure, Kip Berman (the group's leader, lead singer, and songwriter) also announced the reason for this record being put on hold for a bit. It has been three years since the glorious Days Of Abandon, although the "Hell" single was released in the interim.

It turns out Berman and his wife had had a baby the previous April. "Her name is Viola, named after the instrument that my Grandfather plays," he wrote. "I've been staying home and taking care of her the last year."

The band chose the singles, released via email blasts, according to Berman, because Viola listened to them more than a few times; and they chose the ones she danced to the most.

I mention Berman dancing with Viola because I'm a great fan of dancing around to music you love with your kids. My kids and I had a great time dancing to songs like, most memorably, XTC's "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead." Some Billy Bragg B-sides ("Heart Like A Wheel" and "Ontario, Quebec and Me") made for a slow dance with their feet on top of mine.

And the songs Viola chose as the singles are prime dancing-around-the-living-room tracks: "Anymore," "When I Dance With You" (of course), and "My Only."

For the band's fourth album, Berman worked again with Days of Abandon producer Andy Savours and was joined by, among others, previous Pains collaborators like vocalist Jen Goma on "So True," who also added wonderful lead vocals to "Kelly" and "Life After Life" on Days Of Abandon, Jacob Danish Sloan on bass, and by Days-alumnus Kelly Pratt on horns.

For the most part, the arrangements on the new album sound more like the band's amazing self-titled debut than the widescreen Belong, which fans feared would send Berman and company to arena stages, and Days Of Abandon, which introduced horns into the mix. The beautiful "Stay," to my ears, is the only song on the new album that makes more than a passing use of horns.

But widescreen mix or horns in the mix, it's the tunes that have always made The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart such an essential listen for pop fans. And Berman also has a great talent for building walls of sound in his songs. And I think many of us can agree that these are the only walls we're interested in building.  The Echo Of Pleasure is full of terrific pop tunes including the title song, "When I Dance With You," "So True," the very new-wavy "Garret," and "The Cure For Death," another dancing-around-the-living-room song; but, with a title like that, certainly not for very young children.

The Echo Of Pleasure is out now on Painbow Records.

A Few Post-Swim Meet Things from White Reaper, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, and Beaches

White Reaper at SXSW 2017

Is It August Yet?

Have I mentioned how crazy July is around here? I probably have. So many swim meets. I spent the first half of today at the NJ Junior Olympics swim meet where CoolDaughter #1 swam the (extremely grueling) 200m breaststroke. She qualified 6th for the finals, and CoolMom gets to take her back to Rutgers for that this evening. I've been pretty useless for much of the day since arriving at the pool for this morning's early warm-up, but a cup of cold brew perked me up. I've been going through the inbox to see what's what.

White Reaper, "Judy French"

How far this Louisville band have come in just a few short years. They've gone from playing to about 12 people on a rainy Wednesday at Asbury Lanes to making videos that star Alexandra Daddario as "the band."

"Judy French" is more of their arena-sized, hook-laden rock and roll; and the Brandon Dermer-directed video is simple in its execution and a great-looking complement to the The World's Best American Band highlight.

The World's Best American Band is out now on Polyvinyl.



The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, "When I Dance with You"

I fell in love with 2009, self-titled debut from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and absolutely wore the album out (metaphorically, of course) on runs, in the car, at my desk. I've been a fan of the Brooklyn band's retro-influenced indie pop ever since and was excited to hear about their upcoming fourth LP, The Echo of Pleasure, which is due from the band's own Painbow label as a digital release on 9/1 with physical copies to follow on 9/15.

"When I Dance with You" finds the band moving beyond the post-punk and shoegaze influences of their earlier efforts into something a little more synth-heavy. Even though he's working with some slightly different sounds here, frontman and songwriter, Kip Berman, still knows his way around a pop song.



Beaches, "When You're Gone"

Australian psych rock five-piece, Beaches, will be releasing a double LP, Second of Spring, with Chapter Music on 9/8. Earlier this week, they shared single "When You're Gone."

"When You're Gone" isn't so much a psychedelic freakout as it is a catchy, almost surfy, bit of fuzz pop. It's a contrast to earlier single, "Void," which is darker and hurtles along on a motorik beat. Taken together, what the band have shared so far shows that they can cover a wide range within the genre of psych rock. It should be pretty interesting to see what they do over the course of a double LP.

Unstoppable Edition

In The Middle of a 72-hour Waiting Period Friday

Some things are just gonna happen no matter what. Our governor can pander to all of those out-of-state primary voters all he wants. Maybe he'll get his wish and stop the train before Monday. Doesn't matter. On this one, he ultimately loses.

When things all finally shake out, and someone asks you, "Hey, where are you from?" you'll be able to say -- with even more pride than before -- "I'm from New Jersey."

I've posted this one before, but what the hell?

Rock on.