Last Night: Oberhofer & The Vaccines at Bowery

They haven't released any singles, EPs or albums. And yet, UK group The Vaccines managed to sell out the coveted Bowery Ballroom last Thursday - the same stage that jump started the very successful careers of comparable guitar bands such as Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines and The Strokes.

I was lucky enough to get tickets to see this much buzzed-about band.

Opening was Oberhofer, one of my favorites from last year. I'm glad he's a go-to for a support act. He's a bit crazy, but his live set really can't be beat. Brad's as tight as ever.
Check him out if you can! He's doing a big tour right now with Tapes N' Tapes.

myspace.com/oberhofermusic

You could sort of feel excitement building during the final set change, which is sadly unusual for shows in jaded New York. Photographers overwhelmed the front of the house, and bloggers filled out the rest of the place.


Shortly after, The Vaccines took the stage to a very adoring and impressed crowd. They opened with their most well-known song, Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) and followed with more guitar rock songs from their forthcoming LP What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?, which is due via Columbia on March 21 in the UK. Presumably due to lack of material, their set ran exactly 30 minutes and was all over a bit after 11 with an encore.

All and all they were a pretty tight act. I'm not sure if they're really deserving of the intense amount of hype they've been getting, but everyone else seems to think so. We shall see. It'll certainly be interesting to watch.

Tokyo Truck

Yesterday Tokyo Police Club did a three song segment with The Wild Honey Pie from out of the back of a cube truck in Greenwich Village (Minetta at MacDougal). Hardly any fans made it out for the taping, but a nice crowd did gather to see the sight. Only in New York!
As a long time fan of TPC, this was a very cool thing to take part of. Keep checking back here for the finished video sooner than later.

(expired) polaroid shot:

Whatever This Is

Toronto band Ruby Coast is offering their first LP Whatever This Is for free on Bandcamp!
Check it out - it's danceable pop in the boldest sense.

Last Night: The Twees at Webster Hall

Last Wednesday New York locals The Twees packed out The Studio at Webster Hall in celebration of the release of their new EP These Girls. Despite the forecasted dumping of snow, the weather was better than expected, which turned out to be a somewhat of a theme for the evening.

The first group I saw was a hip hop / jam band by the name of Poofy and The Busboys. While this style of music isn't my favorite (nor do I hold any type of authority to judge the genre), there was no denying that they were a seriously tight act. Although there weren't that many people there to see them, they did do a great job of engaging the present crowd in their set.



Next up was Brooklyn group Jangula (above). Before the show I listened to a couple of their tracks on their myspace and was pretty underwhelmed, so I had low expectations for them. Lucky for us their live set proved to be one of the best ones of the night. Lead singer Johnny donned a QChord and a pretty neat hairsyle as he led the rest of the band members seamlessly through pop jam after pop jam a la Oberhofer.
I recommend seeing them live if you have the chance.



Finally The Twees took the stage to a pretty wild and very adoring crowd. The band and frontman Jason, who was looking very sharp in a Nowhere Boy-esque leather jacket, played flawlessly through a nice set of old favorites from their first EP Lessons to Connect, as well as plenty of new ones from These Girls.


Part way through the show, half of the crowd came on stage for Wishful Thinking Youth. The band was swallowed in the packed stage and everyone looked like they were having a great time. All and all it was a great night for The Twees, and we'll look forward to hearing and seeing them much more in the future.

Jeff Jacobs and Eytan & the Embassy also played.

Dye it Blonde!

Smith Westerns are back with a lovely album that's much cleaner and unhurried than their lo-fi garage self-titled debut.

Release: 1.18.10