Heart in Your Heartbreak

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart in Your Heartbreak

The indie power pop of The Pains is back, this time proving that it's not just a summertime sound. With a drum beat that sounds like a car barreling ahead, "Heart in Your Heartbreak" has the sound of moving forward that earlier songs such as "A Teenager In Love" captured so well. The pop elements however are even more apparent in this new single; the verse-chorus structure, synth embellishments and a guitar solo that sounds like 1994 all make it easy to love. Add to that some ambiguous lyrics that make less sense written down than heard and you've got indie pop at its finest.

Take Me Somewhere

Tennis' vintage vinyl sound makes you feel like you're somewhere else--or sometime else. Its style is blatantly modeled after a 50-year old pop genre, and Alaina Moore's gramophone vocal sounds like it could have been recorded with technology that old. But it's not, and that's kind of the point of this 60s pop revival. Somehow, the combination of Dum Dum Girls' lo-fi aesthetic and Camera Obscura's shiny pop hooks could not sound more fresh.

Oh Land Live at Brooklyn Bowl

Get Some

Lyyke Li - Get Some (free download)

"like a shotgun needs an outcome / I'm your prostitute / you gon' get some".

A couple of weeks ago Lykke Li graced her email list with a taste of her new grown-up stuff. It only took a couple of days before it was on in Standard Hotel lobbies everywhere (no kidding). "Get Some" is more mature lyrically and rhythmically; Li rides the splattering drums smoothly and uncharacteristically sensually. The lyrics, clearly describing some casual encounter are a big step away from her first single "Dance Dance Dance": "easy conversations there's no such thing/ no I'm shy, shy, shy/ my hips they lie". A bigger step towards maturity than Christina Aguilera's Dirty we say.

Crystal Castles + Robert Smith

Crystal Castles - Not In Love (featuring Robert Smith)


It turns out that Robert Smith is Alice Glass' vocal complement. His vocal timbre on this Crystal Castles song isn't just kind of right for it: it's freaking perfect. On top of that it's the best song he's been a part of in years. It's as if Glass went down to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to get the hall of famer out of retirement for another shot.

Interestingly, it's not hard to hear Smith's emotive vocal as the soundtrack to your 90s bedroom music video. "I saw your picture hanging on the back of my door" sets the scene for an I-miss-you moment that is shortly followed by the lyrically banal "when are you coming home?" It's a Cure song for the internet era.