"I heard of ________ way before they were cool" remains the ultimate hipper-than-thou boast, nowhere more so than on the NYC music scene; if someone asks who you're listening to these days and you reply, like, "Vampire Weekend," you're gonna get punched in the face. Thankfully, L magazine, the free, bimonthly, pleasantly pocket-size arts-and-culture hub available in tiny newspaper boxes on street corners citywide, has an annual feature, NYC Bands You Need to Hear, predicting Tomorrow's Stars Today, seven or eight new names to slip into conversations so as to raise your social standing. The magazine isn't batting 1.000 predicting success, but, hey, 2006 had awesome country-rockers Oakley Hall, 2008 had twee-poppers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and 2007 had . . . Vampire Weekend! These guys are geniuses! This year's batch featured the Beets, the Albertans, Savoir Adore, Anamanaguchi, and four others: You better catch up. And remember, we heard of them first.