Thursday, December 10, 2009

Best Albums of 2009: No. 9 - Pains of Being Pure At Heart's self titled album


There are easy jokes to be made about their horrible name, or disgusting cover art. What the fuck is that anyway?

But the hype surrounding this album is real. I've never found myself so strangely hypnotized by shoegazey noise pop. Fuzzed out guitars, sweet boy-girl vocals, evocations of Black Tambourine, The Arrogants, or Cranberries (that's right, I said it). It's young and it makes me feel young listening to it.

But these John Hughes soundtracked songs are, like John Hughes movies, about teens and their problems. That means mostly sex. Come Saturday, Tenure Itch, This Love is Fucking Right... all teen twee sex songs (dirty sex songs to boot). Hopefully you'll be adding Young Adult Friction to your mixtapes. Nothing says love like doing it on a stack of moldy books in the library. It has my vote for best song of the year

But the other songs are just as sweet. A Teenager in Love bops in with that ridiculous drum and you can't help but dancing. Contender bottles up that loser feeling and makes you feel good.

Next time you watch Pretty in Pink, turn off the sound and play this album. Imagine yourself dancing with Molly Ringwald. All will be alright.

No comments: