We All Want Someone To Shout For

What more can I say about The Vaccines that I haven’t already said. They’re song just flat out rock live. They grab you by the jugular and don’t let go until your out of breath, and loving it. Any seltlist that starts with a song like “Wreckin’ Bar” is going to be a good one. The band absolutely owned the very intimate Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn last night (see my Bowery Ballroom recap here). Everyone in the crowd enjoyed their set, and The Vaccines continue to impress. The one-two punch of “Post Break-Up Sex” and “All In White” left me in awe. The band created a sonic boom of sound during the climax of “All In White” that gave me a few goosebumps.

While watching their set I couldn’t help but take it all in. I know that in a few years time, it won’t be possible to see the band 5 feet away in a small place like Glasslands. These guys are set to conquer the world. With a solid set of tunes like theirs, it’s only a matter of time until it happens. Fans already know the words to the songs, and there isn’t even an album out. They have fans captivated by live youtube videos. That’s saying something.

I met the guys after the show, and let me tell you. They’re the most genuine, friendly band that I’ve ever met in person. For a band that’s riding so much buzz, you wouldn’t even know it upon meeting them. They are just happy to have the chance to play for people. I was stunned when they told me that they actually saw my posts on them. They were thankful and took notice. This is a band that doesn’t take anything for granted, and is thankful for all that they recieve. How can you not root for them?

If you haven’t gotten aboard The Vaccines train yet, you better come running. The Vaccines are truly one of a kind.

Oberhofer were before the Vaccines again, and I actually liked their set a lot more than at Bowery. Glasslands suited their sound better. Guards were before them, and sounding damn good. Dark drugged out 70s rock and roll that has a touch of epic. They also have an unbelievably cute girl in their band (Hey, I’m just sayin’). Last but not least, Motive opened the whole thing. They’re a young band from Brooklyn who showed a great deal of potential. I grabbed their demo disc and am loving it. Expect a post on them soon.

Setlist and photos below:

Setlist:

The Vaccines:

Oberhofer:

Guards:

Motive:

When it comes to my Arctic Monkeys news (which we’ve gotten a lot of these past few days), there’s not many people I trust more than the members of the Arctic Monkeys US forum. They live & breath Arctic Monkeys. I noticed today that some of the posters believe that they now know the titles of the songs Alex Turner wrote for the soundtrack of the film Submarine.

Here are the titles: “Glass In The Park”, “Hiding Tonight”, “It’s Hard To Get Around The World”, “Piledriver Waltz”, and “Stuck On The Puzzle”. If you head over to American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers you’ll notice these songs are officially registered with credit to Mr. Turner. So it looks like this is the real deal.

Anything Turner writes its pure gold. I don’t think this will be any different. Hopefully we get to hear these songs soon.

The guys over at AMUS also pointed out that Sandtrap and Terror Pocket are registered. These are live favorites of Arctic Monkeys diehards that have fallen in love with the song through youtube videos. Hopefully we will get delicious recordings of them soon. Wouldn’t that be amazing guys?

It’s funny the way the world works. At Smith Westerns show the other night, I met a reader named Alex who recognized me from twitter. He told me to check out a band called The Naked and Famous. He described them as a mix of Passion Pit & LCD. Go figure that a few days later I would received a press email promoting the band.

So I checked out the bands music video for “Young Blood”. I would say they’re more of a mix of Passion Pit & MGMT (maybe The Pass too). In other words, it’s a sugar coated electro-pop delight. It’s very easy to like. Check it out:

It’s off their debut album Passive Me Aggressive You, which will be release on March 15th via Universal. Tour dates posted after the jump:

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The directing duo of Aaron Brown & Ben Chappell make up Focus Creeps. In the past they’ve directed videos for Girls, Cass McCombs, Los Campesinos!, and The Morning Benders.Today they just tweeted that they are working with Arctic Monkeys. Their tweets came with with two in-studio photos:

Excited to see what comes out of this. I’d love some in-studio footage. Maybe some of the material will be used for their next music video? Who knows.

Another new song from Ravens & Chimes has appeared. Radio station WNYC gave away the song “Past Lives” earlier today. It’s another song of their new album, Holiday Life, which is coming out later this year. It’s another lovely outing from the band, who seem to have no problem creating emotional gems.

If the winter blues are getting to you, give “Past Lives” a listen. It will help. I promise.

[mp3]: Ravens & Chimes – Past Lives

Ravens & Chimes will be playing at CoCo66 in Brooklyn tonight. If you’re in town, go check them out.

Panda Bear has announced the official tracklist for Tomboy, just a few days after the album’s release date was officially announced. As it looks, all the songs released on the 7″ singles will be included on the album. They were newly mixed by Sonic Boom so they will be somewhat different from the early versions.

Check out the tracklist below:

01 You Can Count on Me
02 Tomboy
03 Slow Motion
04 Surfer’s Hymn
05 Last Night at The Jetty
06 Drone
07 Alsatian Darn
08 Sheherezade
09 Friendship Bracelet
10 Afterburner
11 Benfica

Tomboy comes out on April 19th via Paw Tracks.

Every once and a while a band comes a long and makes you feel a part of something special. They seem like a lot more than just another band. You feel like your a part of something that’s a whole lot bigger than you. The Vaccines triumphant performance at Bowery Ballroom tonight was one of those moments. Turns out this was their first show in America ever. It was quite a way to start their career here.

I knew they were going to be huge the minute my ears heard “If You Wanna” a few months ago. Sometimes you just know. I can assure you all, The Vaccines are the real deal. Their performance at Bowery Ballroom sealed the deal. They played an incredible set that left an impression on a city that is notoriously hard to impress.

Their set was short and sweet, just like their jams. The songs all had a fierce monstrous live energy that was overwhelming in the best way possible.”All In White” was absolutely stunning live, and it may have been the star of a setlist that’s packed to the rim with gems. “Wreckin’ Ball (Ra Ra Ra)”, “If You Wanna”, “Blow It Up’ and “Post Break Up Sex” were sharp and exciting live.

The band took time to cover Minor Threat’s Good Guys (Don’t Wear White) in their encore, but the true highlight was their energetic performance of “Norgaard”, a song that a lot of the crowd knew from live performances seen on youtube. A group of girl to my right went absolutely berserk when they played it. The band couldn’t help but smile.

Justin Young’s voice was absolutely perfect. He has some pipes. The band was really tight live, creating a lot of energy. It was pure rock & roll.

Most importantly, the band is very likable. They have a very modest stage presence and look genuinely happy to be playing. Arrogant bands should take note. The Vaccines deserve all the fame and glory that is going to come their way. I can’t wait to see them again on Saturday.

Oberhofer opened 2nd and they were a great act. Very young and promising. Reminded me a lot of Foals at times. Young Buffalo were the 1st opener, and they also impressed. Good young bands that I’ll keep an eye on, for sure.

Setlist, photos, and a video of them covering “Good Guys (Don’t Wear White)” below:

Hit “Read More” for the rest!:

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My buddy Nic Shapiro, known as Dusk Warrior to you, is making some of the freshest music known to man. He’s no stranger to my blog. His songs have graced these pages plenty of times before.

Now you can grab all 5 songs that he’s released so far from his bandcamp page. For free too. These songs are way to good to be given away for free. Think of Dusk Warrior as a cool dude who creates Strokes influenced instrumentals that would go perfect with Quentin Tarantino’s next film (opening sequence, anyone?). Try not to groove to “Dusk Warrior Television Show” or “A Wild Sky”. I dare you.

Just when you think that he’s all about rock and roll, he throws”Legendary Dusk” at you and stops you in your tracks. The song is pure understated beauty. Dusk Warrior is no one trick pony.

Still, you can’t argue against “Divine Flight”. It may just be his finest moment so far. It’s just melodic as all hell. Truly, a stellar track.

Head over to his bandcamp page to get some fresh tunes. It’s free. Do it. You can also stream them below:

Want to see Matt & Kim bash the shit out of each other in a mega fight? Well, if you watch the music video for “Cameras” you can see just that. The video is full of win. The kickdrum to the balls was classic.

I didn’t know Lily Allen had a record label until Pitchfork reported it earlier today. Her record label, In The Name Of’, was signed by Sony/Columbia. It turns out that it was her label who snagged Cults. It was originally reported that Cults had signed to Sony directly, but rather it’s on their imprint run by Ms. Allen.

Apparently the label is still hiring people. Hey Lily, I can use a job!