Hayley Williams proves why she's amazing...

Hayley Williams put her own twist on the annoyingly good song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga.

5 must-see summer concerts

With summertime inching closer, summer music concerts are being announced. Concerts have become a definite high of mine and I plan on doing it as much as possible. With the disadvantage of not living next to huge venue, a lot of artist by pass North Carolina. However, there are four concerts coming to the area that I would most likely sell things in my house just to pay for the tickets.

         1. Angels & Airwaves w/ Say Anything
             May 12th 2010 The Fillmore Charlotte, NC
It’s very rare when I end up liking the full lineup for a concert, this is one of them. I’m a new fan to AVA because of being a die-hard Blink 182 fan I was skeptical to see what Tom can do without Travis and Mark by his side. But, I heard that Tom brings more energy to the stage with this band. The major plus for this concert is Say Anything. Max Bemis is probably the only person who can make his bipolar ridden lyrics make sense. And for that I love this band.

          2. Kings of Leon
             September 13th 2010 Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion Raleigh, NC
Disclaimer: I loved KOL’s before “Use Somebody”…so palm to face to those who made me almost hate them.
With that out the way, I’ve been dying to see KOL live since I heard “Charmer” a year or two ago. I’m secretly excited to see them live especially since their latest album is one of my top faves. Hopefully I won’t see any drunken bimbo’s dancing around with medical boots or crutches. I have no idea if there’s an opening act for the concert. However, that doesn’t really faze me because the tickets are a good price that I better get an ear popping amazing show.

          3. Paramore w/ Tegan & Sara
              July 23rd 2010 Raleigh Boutique Amphitheatre Raleigh, NC
If anyone knows me, they know I’m a huge Paramore fan. I’ve been listening to them since they entered the scene in 2006 with their debut album All We Know Is Falling. I saw them last summer with No Doubt and The Sounds, but I wasn’t in love with their performance. I think the second time around I’ll love it because Brave New Eyes was an incredible album. Hayley Williams’ stage presence is insanely good. Tegan & Sara are in slightly decent added bonus, although they randomly freak me out with their weirdness.

            4. Arctic Monkeys
                April 6th 2010 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC
I’ve been in lust with this band since I heard “I bet you look good on the dance floor” a few years ago. I psyched to see if they can live up to the hype that others have created about them. Alex Turner has a nerdy (not River Cuomo nerdy) thing going for him. I was shocked to see that they were performing in North Carolina. I still haven’t given their latest album Humbug a fair listen and I really don’t plan on it. None of their album can surpass Whatever People Say I am, That’s What I’m not.

Lykke Li's new video...

I love it when an artist stays unique with their sound. Lykke Li is hands down the most creative lyricist today. She has the ability to make you feel the actual raw emotion in any song. "Possibility" is one of my favorite songs by her. And the video is beautiful, which is rare for me to say because usually video ruin the song for me.


Check out these other songs: “Until we bleed” & “ Little bit”

5 Songs that should be on your Ipod this week:

Here are five songs that I've been hooked on lately. Downloading them would benefit your music taste.


1. "Runaway" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
   
2. "Hallucinations" by Angels and Airwaves

3. "The Loneliness" by Frightened Rabbit

4. "Your head is on fire" by Broken Bells

5. "Every Moment" by Rouge Wave
    

Vampire Weekend stick to their creative sound

The indie rock band Vampire Weekend is hands down the most uniquely creative band to come out in the past three years. Their ability to infuse African influenced music into an unforgettable indie sound is astonishing.


Their self-titled first album put them on the map with other New York based bands such as MGMT, White Rabbits and Matt & Kim.

The band hails from Brooklyn, N.Y. and formed in 2006. That same year they signed with XL Recordings, which is home to musicians such as Radiohead, M.I.A. and Adele. The band garnered a lot of attention when bloggers caught wind of their unusual sound.

They’ve been compared to the equally artistic band The Shins. They’ve made comments describing their sound as “Upper West Side Soweto”

Lead singer Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson were members of a comedy rap band called “L’ Homme Run”. Rounding out the quartet is Chris Baio as bass guitar and backing vocals and Romtam Batmanglij playing keyboard, guitar and additional backing vocals. All the members of the band meet while attending Columbia State University.

Their debut album was released Jan. 2008. The first single off of the album, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” was released in 2007.

The widely known single “A-Punk” was the second single off the album. It helped the record skyrocket to gold in the following months.

The album was later proclaimed as one of the best of 2008, and there’s arguing with that statement.

Koenig has a mind of his own that seems as though he’s channeling his inner hipster.

No other band can even come close to the sounds that Vampire Weekend creates.

Their new album, Contra, is a very powerful follow-up to the previous album. Instead of staying neutral with their sound, they branched out to more intriguing rhythms. Contra is the band’s first number one on the Billboard 200.

Even though some people believe auto tune is ruining the music industry, track four “California English” features the obstruct sound. Vampire Weekend embraces the intolerable technique and makes it decent.

Koenig experiments with his voice by singing in several different voices.

The first single off the album, “Cousins”, sounds fast paced and lively almost like “A-punk”.

There’s a lot of energy is most of the songs on the Contra album.

They achieved something that most remarkable new bands are unable to achieve, developing an astounding follow-up album.

“Giving up the gun,” the second single from Contra, is exceeding the same exceptions as their previous singles. The song embodies clever guitar riffs.

“Taxi Cab” slows down the fast paced album with its simplicity and smooth vocals. The instant the song plays, a lucid feeling approaches. The song could be mistaken for the work of The Killers, with its humble but artistic lyrics.

Another song on the album, “I think Ur a Contra,” has the sense of simplicity and Koenig’s vocals immediately attract attention.

The first album was enjoyable and displayed their refreshingly new sound. The following album is close to musical bliss. Vampire Weekend now and will forever have a special place in the Indie Playlist of greatness.

Vampire Weekend will be performing in Asheville, N.C. April 6 at the Orange Peel.

Shiny Toy Guns was better with Carah

Shiny toy guns has had only one major hit..."Le Disko" and that was under the vocal talents of Carah Charnow. Well, she left the band and they brought in a replacement who sounds like a screeching cat on stage. I don't want to nag about the new lead singer, but Carah gave the band a unqiue sound that was different from others. She had an edge with her voice that gave the lyrics true potential. Compared to a screaming cat, that says alot.

Here's video of Carah performing "Le Disko"...


I actually took the time to find the video of the current lead singer singing the same song, but my patience ran low. So just take my word for it the band was 20 times better when they first started out with Carah, and now they fail. Just like 66% of bands now that just seem to lose their touch when it comes to follow up albums.