Beginning next Thursday (and running through May 22), New York City (or at least a couple of its venues) belongs to twee thanks to the fifth installment of the NYC Popfest, which brings jangly bands from all over the world to wear their hearts on their sleeves and sell all their 7-inches. After a few weeks of being otherwise known as the band called "TBA," NYC royal-twee types The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have just been announced as the headliner for Thursday night's festival kickoff gig at Cake Shop. Fun! Also fun: An excuse to knock off work via a daytime show starring Tiger Trap/The Softies/Go Sailor standard-bearer Rose Melberg next Friday at the Paul Smith Sale Shop in Williamsburg. Full lineup (with links to buy tickets to the non-free shows and countries of origin for all the bands, in case you're feeling particularly patriotic toward one place) after the jump.

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Your initial reaction to the fact that there's a band named Pains of Being Pure at Heart is revulsion, of course, but as a lover of sweet, gauzy, energetic power pop you eventually get over it, given the relative rarity of actually competent sweet, gauzy, energetic power pop. Then Pains of Being Pure at Heart announce the release of a new seven-inch single with the title "Heart in Your Heartbreak," and you are filled with revulsion anew, and yet here is "The One," the b-side, which, if I told you it were a new Teenage Fanclub track, you would praise as mature and masterly and the paragon of expert songcraft and so forth. It's pretty good, is what I'm saying, though a bit breathy, though that of course is the point. Stream it here, or consider it below:

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Surfer Blood play Cake Shop during last year's CMJ. Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.

Hey, remember last year, when we predicted that the stresses of Surfer Blood's twelve different CMJ shows would cause the band to self-destruct? Um, that's not at all what happened. Instead, the Florida band rode their week of shows here last fall to some semblance of that ol' traditional CMJ success story, and here we are a year later with the band headlining the 2010 edition of the annual music festival, taking place October 19 through October 23. Surfer Blood join the Drums, Ghostface Killah, Helmet (?!), Lissie, the Blow, recent New York darling Big Freedia, and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the top of the 2010 class, announced in part today. We still have no idea why this festival continues to exist. But you can probably count us being there come October. It's like a paradox, see? Full first round line-up, here:

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Another of Ted Leo's questionable looks, courtesy this person.

Kudos to the L crew for whipping up one of the more entertaining (and informative!) multiple-artist Q&A gambits in recent memory: "It's 95 degrees. It's humid. You're playing an outdoor show. Shorts on stage: Yes or no?" Don't act like you don't want to know how Ted Leo answered this question.

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Paul Antonson

This year, we proudly celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Siren Festival. In the history of the our free Coney Island corndog bonanza, no band has ever played Siren twice. This was a conscious decision on behalf of our fearless festival founder and organizer (who we've kindly rewarded with her own SOTC category), who long ago decided that if this crazy all-ages, free show thing ever reached ten years, Siren would rehost some of its best performers.

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Like to pretend this doesn't exist, but the Music Slut won't, so here you go. Backstage at the Village Voice's finely tuned SXSW day party, someone who is definitely not me was conscripted into having how-is-your-SXSW-going conversations with bands who were kind enough to humor their hosts. Included in this snippet with three-fourths of Brooklyn's very own the Pains of Being Pure at Heart is the observation that SXSW is "indie rock Mardi Gras," an anecdote from Peggy Wang that encapsulates the essence of what it means to be the Pains of Being Pure at Heart (it involves a condom), and the all-important answer to what's in the band's SXSW survival kit (a map, sunscreen, heroin). P.S. that last question really wasn't me, swear.

photo by S. Taylor

Not a clunker in the bunch of this year's VVM SXSW afternoon party at La Zona Rosa: Surfer Blood, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Superchunk, the xx. Surfer Blood, who'd by now lost count which number show this was, opened--and they are, as we later discovered, the nicest kids ever. Pains of Being Pure at Heart brought out new songs, remained earnestly cute. Superchunk did "Slack Motherfucker" (!). The xx caused a mook behind us to fake a lady-gasm--look/hope for a Surfer Blood collaboration in the not-too-distant future. Full gallery of self-aggrandizing photos over here, selected highlights below.

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