Buzz bands. In the nineties, when MTV took pride in helping emerging artists rise above their local scenes and were a dominant force in how people discovered new bands, the term “buzz” was used in relation to the “buzz bin”, which was where songs found a home when they were deemed “buzz worthy”. Maybe the term has older roots. Or, maybe MTV still uses it to push whatever it is that they push. As it seems I can’t read an article without hearing about buzz, I wonder if the term means anything anymore.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are considered a buzz band through and through. Is it because they rose quickly in popularity through internet chatter and a Pitchfork Best New Music branding? Because this wouldn’t explain Weekend‘s status as a buzz band, whose reviews are strong and popularity increasing, without it reaching overwhelming levels and remaining on the fringe. So basically, a buzz band can be any band on their way up, because no matter how a band grows its audience, the help of word of mouth, news chatter, and favorable reviews are generally involved. Does this really just mean any new or young artist is a buzz band until they reach their creative peak? And is it all relative based on your music knowledge, geography, and taste?

After seeing these aforementioned groups buzz through the Echoplex in Echo Park, I returned home for the evening thinking that, well, they just seemed like a couple of really good bands. I brought a friend who hadn’t heard of either and he left fully satisfied with his decision to take-in the show. Nothing revolutionary was going on in the building, but the bands were not short on creativity. And talent. And most importantly, taste. Sure the internet seems to be telling us about new bands we need to hear with the frequency of ocean waves, and the truth is that some of it is uninspired and boring. Some might even be too difficult or complicated to enjoy. But to disregard a band based on the fact that people seem to be excited about it is silly, and to listening to these bands, who have a limited history and no basis for comparison, should be with reasonable expectations.

Take Weekend. The San Francisco trio recently released the quite good debut Sports, and any comparisons you hear to A Place To Bury Strangers are apt. They play hard and loud, with Joy Division and JAMC informing their melodies. They are a band that deserves attention, but are by no means near their apex. And this is where wrtiters might hyperbolize about the quality and others may feel let down when they actually hear Weekend and discover it is not the best album of the year. Classic albums like The Suburbs and My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy are rare and easy to recognize, and terrible albums are also plain as day. It’s the middle, where the majority of the music that writers cover lies, that all this confusion and hype and backlash comes from.

The three-band bill at the Echoplex was led-off with Sonny & the Sunsets, whom I suppose people would also consider a buzz band. They were fine. On one hand, their 60′s inspired pop sound was listenable and pleasant, and lead singer Sonny Smith offered entertaining and strange banter to keep the crowd entertained. On the other hand, they were boring and gimmicky, better suited as background music to smoke a cigarette to outside. It is competent music, and I’m sure some people will be looking for a bubblegum 60′s pop album at some point and be thrilled to find this group. But simply being okay is not enough to warrant more than this paragraph in opinion and surely less in emotion and support.

Weekend, on the other hand, didn’t take long to back-up any positive word of mouth that they have received. Sure, they are loud. But being loud and rocking are two different things, and these guys managed to conjure up all the intensity that Sports reaches and lets it loose on the stage. “Coma Summer” builds and builds and never climaxes, instead preferring mini crescendos that are exhilarating enough to still completely satisfy. The combo of the droning march that is  ”Monday Morning” (ain’t that the truth) and the psychotic scramble of “Monongah, WV” was also a highlight, with the former drawing the audience in with it’s tonal change and the latter attacking the senses that had just adjusted to the previous song’s departure.

I also like that Weekend doesn’t seem to dwell in on the serious and dark as A Place To Bury Strangers can, despite the music having a sound that could easily go that way. The band seemed to be in good spirits and would look over to each other for musical-telepathy cues, showing strong chemistry in their playing. Their presence and overall effect differed so much from the band they get often compared to, that any complaints of derivation would be off-base. And while they might be written off as another indie “buzz band” that no one will care about in a month, I simply argue that Weekend released one of the hundred or so best albums this year, that it is completely deserving of your attention and that no matter what happens to them in the future, the album will still be good.

Kind of like the first album from the night’s headliner, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Their debut was a gem of late-80′s inspired indie-pop, with The Stone Roses informing their sound (see a trend: good taste begets good art). But the detractors would fault them as being a boring live band or, well, actually that is all I have. A good song is a good song, and that album is stacked with them. If anything, the band received too much attention to allow for their competence as performers to keep pace with their abilities in the studio. But this doesn’t make the album worse or less enjoyable, it just gives people something to complain about who would rather music remain larger than life. A spectacle. Entertainment.

Well, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will never be a spectacle. They have grown into their skin considerably, though. Whereas they seemed like children swimming too deeply when they toured last year, they came across as adults who knew both how to entertain and how to play. “Stay Close”, their best song, had done away with the guitar tone that evoked comparisons to Sixpence None The Richer in favor of tougher, flexing sound. It was a good change. All five members of the New York  group were thoroughly animated and in-the-moment, grooving to the driving bass lines and reacting to every exclamation point.

The new music that the band featured, much like Weekend’s tunes, is not going to change the world. It may not be an event album, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be good and that the band deserves less attention. And something I didn’t realize before the show, was just how well the first album is aging. Every song plays like a classic and it has only been two years since the release. Even “Higher Than The Stars” and “103″, from the E.P.  had the crowd involved and spirited, revelling in the c0mbination of nostalgic dreaminess and youthful romanticism.

The set’s first four songs were tight, focused and determined, setting the tone for the show that figures to be a divider, with the band emerging as ready and willing to rise to the challenges more attention can get them. Their banter was still groan-worthy, with keyboardist Peggy Wang melting hearts with her shy dorkiness while still managing to evoke the teenage girl that so easily walks the line between cute and annoying. No matter how young the band seems, and in particular when they address the audience, it stops there. Their music displays all the maturity of seasoned vets and when Belong sees the light of day in March, they will have even more experience and knowledge to draw from. Kip Berman, in particular, seems to understand the point of playing a live show; that this is the opportunity to connect with the audience his record had earned him, and if he wasn’t excited about it, how could he expect anyone else to be?

But this isn’t buzz. I’m not a vessel where hype comes in and someone else’s opinion and marketing dollars come out. It’s just a review, just bands, just music and art and nightlife and lifestyle. If you don’t know who the hell Weekend is, no one thinks you are dumb. Or not serious about music. Liking these bands isn’t an attempt at superiority or contrariness. And if you don’t like them, well, that is fine, too. If they never take off or get a wider audience or live up to their potential,well, that has nothing to with whether or not they are good. Which they are. So if you notice a band getting a lot of ink, know that there is probably a reason. And trust me, it’s not about you.

Photography by Philip Cosores

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Set List:
This Love Is Fucking Right!
Young Adult Friction
Come Saturday
A Teenager In Love
Higher Than The Stars
Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now
Heart In Your Heartbreak
Stay Alive
Everything With You
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Encore:
I Wanna Go All The Way
Gentle Song
——

Gallery by Philip Cosores