We All Want Someone To Shout For

Thanks to the AOL Pop Up Series, Band Of Horses played a rocking set in Vanderbilt Hall, located in Grand Central Station in NYC. I got to the 42nd street entrance at 4:00 and there was already a solid line of 75-100 people waiting. I had no problem getting in though, and got a a great view. They handed out free t-shirts and posters which were made specifically for the special show. Once I got in, someone actually recognized me from one of the photos I posted on here. He is a reader of my blog, and I gotta say, it was damn surreal talking to someone who was a reader of my blog. Really awesome feeling. I had a great time talking to him, and I’ll hopefully catch you at a show another time dude!

Band Of Horses came on promptly at 6:30 as promised and they looked genuinely happy to be there playing for us. They played mostly stuff from their new album Infinite Arms, but playing plenty of the fan favorites from their first two albums. The sound inside Vanderbilt Hall was incredibly great, giving the band a really great clean sound. All the songs had a harder bite to them live, probably due to the fantastic acoustics in the hall. The songs from Infinite Arms took on a new life live, which I was glad to see.

The true highlight at the end of the show were the old cuts from Everything All The Time & Cease To Begin. I spent a lot of time with “No One’s Gonna Love You”, “The Great Salt Lake”, and “Is There A Ghost”. Hearing them live brought back some good times. The band ended their set with “The Funeral”, and all I can say is wow. The song is even more unbelievable live. It was powerful, reflective, and full of emotion. I rediscovered my love for the song last night, and I don’t think I will ever have to search for it again.

I know Band Of Horses latest album has been getting some mixed reviews, but please don’t let that stop you from ever seeing this band live. They are a great live band.

Check out photos & the setlist below:

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The Morning Benders dropped by NPR to play some songs for their World Cafe sessions. The performances are a spot on indication of what the band brings to their live performances. After hearing their amazing NPR session, I just got even more excited about their free show at Governors Island this Saturday. I actually ran into Chris after The National’s show at Radio City, and he said to get there early, as the space is pretty limited. So make sure you leave your time wiggle room to get there.

I got some mp3′s from their session posted below. You can also check out the full stream here. After hearing this session, you better go out and see them the next time they roll past your town.

[mp3]: The Morning Benders – Promises (NPR World Cafe Session)
[mp3]: The Morning Benders – Wet Cement (NPR World Cafe Session)
[mp3]: The Morning Benders – Mason Jar (NPR World Cafe Session)
[mp3]: The Morning Benders – All Day Daylight (NPR World Cafe Session)

So far my two favorite tracks from Kele’s debut album The Boxer are “Unholy Thoughts” and “Rise”.  Is it wrong of me to admit that they are probably my favorites because they are the closest that he treads towards Bloc Party territory? If so, I’m quite guilty. I’m really feeling these. Check ‘em out:

[mp3]: Kele – Unholy Thoughts
[mp3]: Kele – Rise

You can stream The Boxer in its entirety over at myspace.

Check out the feel good music video for The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s new single, “Say No To Love”. Loving the hand drawn animation.

We’ve posted about the free Band Of Horses show over the last few days, but got no officialy word, until now. The band posted a tweet confirming that the show is going to take place at Grand Central Station, as weird as that is. The show will start at 6:30 p.m. , but you will have to arrive a lot earlier than that, as it is first come, first serve. The line will apparently begin at the 42nd St Entrance.

I take a train from where I am, straight to Grand Central, so this is literally perfect. Good luck getting there, say hello if you see me on line! (You can’t miss me, trust me).

If you become a fan of them on facebook, you have a chance of being one of ten lucky facebook fans who get to cut the line. Add them here. Winners will be selected and notified by 3:30 pm, tomorrow.

The National have gotten so popular that they are selling out major venues such as the famed Radio City Music Hall. When a band goes on to bigger shows and a larger fanbase, people usually think the show won’t be the same when compared to their smaller, more intimate shows. Sometimes this is true (Vampire Weekend at United Palace Theater or vs. Bowery) However, some bands sound good no matter where they play. Almost as if they were born for this natural progression. This statement is very true for 2010′s breakout stars, The National. Their show at Radio City didn’t act as a band playing a stage to big for them. Rather, you The National were always meant for big things. They finally got what they clearly deserved.

Opening band The Antlers wowed me by playing tons of cuts from their emotional album Hospice, and well, the songs were not void of any of that emotion. They played one new song which was rather upbeat. Then they went right back to the songs with big widescreen sounds and high pitched siinging from Peter. I was very impressed by The Antlers whose sound surprisngly works in a big venue like Radio City, quite well.

The National came out, and you could sense the epic proportions of the evening. They opened with “Mistaken For Strangers” and I could already tell they were on top of their game (as usual). After “Anyone’s Ghost”, the band kicked things into high gear. “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is just out of this world live. It somehow finds a way to become better than it already is live. “Brainy” was a halfway inspired dance tune thanks to Bryan’s vibrating drums. The band dedicated “Secret Meeting” to Johnny Beach who helped them get their first show at Mercury. “Slow Show” was as emotional as I’ve ever witnessed it. “Squalor Victoria” is a different animal live. It became a huge call to arms anthem live, making me fall in love with the song all over again.

Annie Clark, who you know as St. Vincent came out to play piano/sing on “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”. She stayed on stage when Sufjan Stevens came out to play a simply stunning “Afraid of Everyone”. After this the band brought back an “Available”, an old classic from Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers that lead the way to the overwhlemingly powerful Conversation 16. I can never get over the live version of “Apartment Story”. For me, it really is one of the National’s defining moments. It just comes together live, bringing out the best of the band.

The band joked that “Abel” was their most delicate song, before going into somber versions of “Daughters Of The Soho Riots” and “England”. They then kicked into “Fake Empire” which from the crowds reaction, is probably their most popular song.

The encore kicked off slowly with Runaway, which saw a beautiful star-lite background. The live version of “Lemonworld” somehow finds ways to top the album version, which is one of the best songs of 2010, hands down. Matt climbed the side walkway to sing “Mr. November in the 2nd mezzanine. The guy somehow always finds ways to top his performances of the song. The show ended with an absolutely mammoth version of “Terrible Love” that reached colossal grounds.

I literally walked outside and ran into Chris/Jon Chu from the Morning Benders, which was pretty cool. Chris asked me if I knew of any Korean restaurants, but unfortunately I am not too familiar with any Korean places in the city. Sorry Chris! For any of you planning to go to their free show @ Governors Island, they said to get there early! I had nothing to do that night so I decided to hang around after the show and see if I could say hey to the band. Bryan came out for a smoke and thanked us for coming out, and I was able to snag a photo with him. I met some cool people while waiting which made the process less painful. Matt came out just as it started to rain but he still stopped to say hi to everyone and take photos. It took him a second but he did actually remember me from BAM, so that made it all worth it.

Can’t wait to see them again at Prospect!

Setlist, Photos, and two of my self recorded videos, all after the jump:

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Band Of Horses hinted at a free concert on their twitter account yesterday, and now they gave us a picture (posted above) that pretty much seals the deal about the free shows location. The posted image is one of the statues on Grand Central Station. Now, I don’t know how they are going to pull it off there without it being a complete mess…..unless it is just another clue? What I mean is, Grand Central isn’t too far from Bryant Park.

As for time, BrooklynVegan says it will be at 6:30. Makes sense considering one of their tweets said “friday. rush hour”

If I get anything more “official”, I’ll post it.

In a recent interview with P4k, Cut Copy‘s Dan Whitford gave some clues about their follow up to one of my favorite albums, 2008′s, In Ghost Colours. The untitled new album is set to come out on January, with a single to precede it this fall. The album was self produced by the band. Pitchfork has some in-studio footage of the band. Watch it here.

Here are some other things that Dan said about the album:

• The album was recorded in a warehouse in Melbourne, Australia.
• There’s a repetitive, hypnotic, rhythmic aspect to a lot of the tracks.
• He was obsessed with Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk while working on the record. He also listened to Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Malcolm McLaren, Happy Mondays and Primal Scream.
• Lady GaGa asked them to open for her on tour

For more, read the rest of the interview here. I can’t wait for this album. In Ghost Colours was one of my most played albums from ’08-’09. I still blast it all the time. I hope the follow-up is just as good. I need another good 80s influenced dance album.

Oh man, after so many years of waiting, it looks like Dr. Dre is actually going to release his famed album Detox. “Under Pressure”, the first single from Detox has just leaked via The New Music Cartel. Detox has been in the works since early 2003, so it’s not quite at the level of Chinese Democracy, but it was starting to look like it may have gotten to that point.

Check it out below. Just a fair warning that the song is all tagged up by the New Music Cartel.

[mp3]: Dr. Dre – Under Pressure (Feat. Jay-Z)

Check out the music video for Suckers addictive song “Black Sheep”, posted below. It has early 90′s vibes written all over it. Cool beans!

Virtual Flame Productions directed it.