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

FIRST RATE PEOPLE

The amount of times I've played this lovely Toronto band since I met them in the beginning of October is grossly disproportionate to the number of times I've written on them here. The situation begs to be rectified, so here we are with one of their fantastic new tracks, Funny Games.


A bit of R+B, a bit of electro, a bit of pop and catchy as hell.
Grab a free download above or here.

This shouldn't go without mentioning their equally awesome EP It's Never Not Happening, which follows in a similar stylistic vein as Funny Games, but manages to successfully reach across a range of genres as well.
The EP is also available for free over at last.fm.

myspace.com/firstratepeople

10's 10

UC's 10 of 2010 list!
Caribou and Kanye are tied for first, the rest follow in a loose order.

Swim Caribou

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Kanye West
Say It Born Ruffians
Clinging to a Scheme The Radio Dept.
Contra Vampire Weekend
Champ Tokyo Police Club
Astro Coast Surfer Blood
Congratulations MGMT
The Drums The Drums
Hippies Harlem

Honorable Mentions (not LPs):

It's Never Not Happening EP, Gentleman's Club; Funny Games
First Rate People

If You Wanna, Wrecking Bar (Ra Ra Ra), Blow it Up; Post Break Up Sex
The Vaccines

Ra Ra Ra!

UK upstarts The Vaccines seem to be taking the scene by storm lately, thanks to lots of NME press. Get this: they've got virtually no internet presence, only three songs available and have been booked to headline Bowery Ballroom in New York next month. Not too bad for a couple of underground lo-fi rock & rollers from London!

Surely a group to watch in 2011.

mp3s
Great New Demo: If You Wanna
First Single: Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)
b/w Blow it Up

BIG

I think it would be pointless to throw in more than a few thoughts on Kayne West's new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, since it's been receiving perfect scores across the board. Even the super critical, hard to please Pitchfork gave it a perfect 10 - last time that happened was with Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

The only way to describe this album would be big. It's just...big. It sounds big. It's got big samples. And it's got big name contributors - most notably Bon Iver, Nicki Manaj, Rick Ross and Jay-Z.

I don't think it deserves the absolute perfect scores its been getting, but there's no doubt it's a fantastic album. Standout tracks: All of the Lights, Devil in a New Dress (this one's got a Smokey Robinson sample) and the biggest sounding of all - Lost in the World (ft. Bon Iver's Woods!) / Who Will Survive in America. Really. It sounds like there are 100 people playing on the Bon Iver track, and combined with Gil Scott Heron chanting "who will survive in America?" on the latter half makes for a perfect and somewhat chilling way to end the album.

Rap fan or not, everyone should hear this.

Official Video: Young Rival - "The Ocean"

Here's the official video for Young Rival's lovely second single The Ocean from their debut LP (aptly titled LP).

They call it a "DIY 8mm video". It was filmed in Moose Jaw, SK, Canada.

myspace.com/youngrival