Arctic Monkeys- Favorite Worst Nightmare

The Sheffield quartet has invaded the US with their new record Favorite Worst Nightmare. And this time, they brought some of the most addictive beats since the Libertines. They drastically sped up the tempo of their tunes, and are ready to take over the Yanks. “Brianstorm”, the record’s first single is an earful. I was a bit put off by the rhythm of that song, but once you get into it, it’s gonna be stuck in your head for a while. “Old Yellow Bricks” is likely to make you hum the bass until your friends beat it out of you.
The witty humorous lyrics we liked so much in “Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not” are most prevalent in “D is for Dangerous” and “Balaclava.” Turner amuses us with petty details in the opening sequence of “Balaclava”, before the song really breaks in to the actual melody, he concludes the sequence with a spot-on detail of realism “I’m sure you’ll baffle him good/with the ending reek/ of salty cheeks and runny make-up alone.” And this climax build-up is really what this new record is all about.

Cold War Kids, Tokyo Police Club @ The Middle East (Boston)

Once you get past the obnoxious bouncers, the Middle East is actually a pretty good indie venue: dark and small. The first act, Delta Spirit, started out well but didn't follow through. They played two or three crowd-pleasing songs, then failed to keep up the good work. Pity, they started out really well.

Now, Tokyo Police club were awesome. They organized their set-list very well; playing "If It Works" first to warm up the people in the crowd who might not have heard of them then they slipped in "Citizen Of Tomorrow" during the middle of the show. All this time, fans of the band were really only waiting for one song: "Nature Of The Experiment" which they played right at the end of their cathartic gig.

But none of it even compared to Cold War Kids! They started off with "We Used to Vacation" and "Red Wine, Success" and really warmed up the audience. By the time they started playing "Hang Me Up To Dry," they managed to re-create a kind of '80's indie rock vibe on ecstasy. After this they could have done no wrong...but still they kept pushing the musical envelope. To our great surprise "Hospital bed" or "Hang Me Up To Dry" didn't not make the number one on our list, because that night, it was unanimously and incontestably "Saint John." They were joined by the two opening acts and the enthralled singing crowd to coordinated a sort of noise-music that projected us into a nirvana of sounds. They followed with five more songs, which included "Pass the Hat" and "God Make Up Your Mind" that were a bit more mellow to round up the evening nicely. Nicely done, Kids!