It would be wrong to say The Pains of Being Pure at Heart burst onto the indie music landscape with the release of their self-titled debut in 2009; a better way to say it might be that the Brooklyn indiepop believers politely (but definitively) insinuated themselves into the hearts of listeners with a soft spot for the playful plaintiveness of The Field Mice, the melodic fuzz of Black Tambourine and the boy-girl vocals of Rocketship. In other words, if you spent a lot of time in your bedroom in the 90s, or love bands that did, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart offered you something you'd love in the form of fuzzy, melancholic indiepop with wit. That the album was released on the cute indie Slumberland Records label and that the band were relentlessly humble and dorky about their music fandom only added to the legend. Seldom had a band name seemed so apt. Adulation online and even - gasp - on real paper followed; they went on tour, released a follow-up EP that hinted at a bigger sound, and then set to work recording a second full-length that is, in many ways, nothing like their first. We caught up with lead singer and guitarist Kip Berman for a quick Q-and-A via email on the eve of the band's departure from their home base in Brooklyn. Interview after the jump. more ›

The Mohawk offers up a hell of a future-look tonight, as even if the bands on this docket aren't familiar to you yet, give it time: they will be. With a trifold bill featuring not one, but two bands whose debut albums garnered the much sought-after Best New Music designation from the loved or loathed pillar of tastemaking, Pitchfork Media, this is one of those lovely opportunities to go to a show and later brag about it to all the fools who were a step behind. For example, if you saw MGMT at Fun Fun Fun Fest two years ago, when there were about one hundred people in the daytime audience. Surely, a bunch of those people have had ample opportunity for smugness since then, yes? Well, this time, it's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Cymbals Eat Guitars with the sky-high post-Vivian Girls raw-sound superpotential, with the promising 8-bit plus band The Depreciation Guild as an added bonus. more ›