The first thing I think when THE TING TINGS take the stage for their sold out show at the Paradise last night is "well, look at this fucking adorable hipster duo. How do they even get any band practice in what with all the mutual soaking up of each other's Aryan-ass good looks? And how are they not doing it?" (They're not, I looked it up.

It's impossible to not move at a SBTRKT show. Trust me, I tried. Just last night, in fact, as I showed up to a sardine'd-the-fuck-out Paradise, more prepared to slink around the back of the venue than I was for the eventual adrenaline bump I would receive. I hadn't slept well Tuesday night, worked a full day yesterday, and wanted to lean right up against one of those obtuse poles, close my eyes, and take a quick five.

Brooklyn-based indie-kids BEAR HANDS have toured with Passion Pit, so I can only imagine that when they booked last night's gig with Awolnation, the overwhelming sentiment was "shit, what a drag."

Or maybe not. It could be that I was the only one at the Paradise last night that thought that the vibe of headliner Awolnation's show was like walking into the party scene of a bro-tastic teen movie circa 1997.

If you need evidence that time heals all wounds, look no further than Saturday's UNITY FEST, arriving a bit more than a year following Guru's tragic passing, and marking the first Boston appearance since his death by Gang Starr brethren DJ PREMIER. Whereas last May's tribute show at the Middle East was understandably bogged down with some weighty connotations (both mourning his death and calling for Solar's head), Saturday felt more like a straight up celebration of the man's life.

Some accompanying video to Luke O'Neil's lament of America's youth.

I must admit that I was a tad concerned that I was out of my element while watching the "teenagers who pretend like they're going to fight people on their skateboard" flood into the Paradise last night. I'm in my mid-20s, my head is too big to rock a snapback, and while I do wear skate shoes, it's mostly for their orthopedic value.

By now you've read over and over Chris Faraone's expose on the making and selling of Los Angeles hip-hop collective ODD FUTURE, you've endured more than a few Shaq'rolls in trying to snag a leaked copy of TYLER, THE CREATOR's debut record Goblin, and you've sold your first and third born to get into tomorrow night's very-fucking-sold-out show at Fort Paradise.

Last summer, when the much buzzed about triple-bill of Beach Fossils, Javelin, and Warpaint rolled through Great Scott, the preeminent feeling was that all three of the night's bands were about to blow up. Of the three, it currently seems as if WARPAINT are most dead set on making that premonition true. Since the aforementioned August show, they have released a critically exalted debut LP and have made two more stops in our fair city, including a nearly sold-out Paradise gig this past Tuesday.

And now for something completely different. Amid the litany of SXSW coverage, I'm happy to report that last night SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO played the rawest show I've seen thus far in this short year. Probably too raw for a Monday in fact, as I sit here at my desk way too early into this work week to have such a sore neck as a result of violent headbanging.

Well, they may or may not get rich with this reunion, but last night, the recently-reunited Dismemberment Plan played their television debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and, well, anyone who was concerned about how they'd sound at next week's (officiall sold out) Paradise show can probably stop worrying.

Fifteen years ago, Better Than Ezra took over the modern rock airwaves with “Good,” a number one song that still defines them to most people with its bouncy beat and annoying “oh-wah-ah” refrain.

“Well, not everybody thinks that,” says bassist Tom Drummond before the band’s show at the Paradise last week. “’Cause we’re sold out tonight, we sold out last night, we’re sold out tomorrow [Philadelphia] and in New York, so…”

California cool can't be faked. You either got it or you don't. And if you try to manufacture it, you can come across as a try-hard. So even before singer Chris Chu filled us in, it was pretty obvious that the Morning Benders hail from the Golden State -- the group of young 20-somethings had a densely packed Paradise crowd, of chicks and bros alike, devouring their seemingly effortless brand of laid-back rock.

As you may or may not know, we here at OtD have been following the post-Sleater-Kinney moves made by Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss, and Corin Tucker. Weiss and Brownstein now have formed a new band, and it may be the most intriguing new project from anyone affiliated with Sleater-Kinney thus far as it involves another one of our favorites, Mary Timony of Helium (as documented in this vintage On the Download post from the blog's infancy).

There was little chance that I was going to miss Caribou's return trip to Boston after last May's psychedelic drubbing, which still ranks up there as one the best shows I've seen this year. And even though the venue was different, the result was pretty much the same: synchronized drum madness, whirling synth peaks, and strobe lights.

Wondering what's up with Bang Camaro lately? Well, we awoke this morning to find a pretty interesting 2,900-word recap of the Boston gang's epic rise and fall, penned by founding guitarist Alex Necochea (who now dabbles in classic rock heroes Township). Pretty interesting stuff.

While we won't steal the page's thunder and let you read the dirt on their home field, we will point out that there's another Bang Camaro gig Nov.

The Dismemberment Plan, the phenomenal D.C. post-punk band who were one of the best live bands of their era and also released one of the best albums of the 90s (no joke), will be reuniting next year for a brief tour, one that will take them to Boston for the first time since their breakup in 2003. Barsuk will also reissue Emergency & I on vinyl in January - some of the songs off of that haven't aged too well, but at the same time, this song alone would be worth the price of admission.