Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

As a band, they're less irritating than Arctic Monkeys, but their hype may become so unbearable that I want to break their kneecaps.

their CD-R is one of the 15 best records of the year.

yeah this lolindie nob i know's always going on about them. But he's young.

Okay thoughts on the album:

- It's really good, in ways I hadn't anticipated and maybe can't quite articulate yet.

- The reason they are really good is nothing to do with the 'ZOMG! They are mixing indie punk with African and Irish music!" Emperor's New Clothes nonsense present in all the hype. If anything, these moments are brief flourishes and nothing more. And once again it shows how low collective expectations of new guitar bands have become, that if one shows any evidence of knowing what to do with a rhythm section then it suddenly beocmes a huge selling point.

- The moments when there ARE African or Irish influences prominent in the music threaten to teeter over into atrocious Sting/Paul Simon territory but never actually do so. Possibly because the band understand the value of RESTRAINT.

- This sense of restraint is maybe why Nick Southall might have been right all along. Compared to most of the other overhyped rock records of the last few years, this one feels so... tidy! You listen to any haircut indie of the past through years, starting from The Killers and through Bloc Party, the Arctic Monkeys, The Klaxons and Los Fucking Campasinos and there's just sonic clutter everywhere. The Vampire Weekend album hardly puts anything anywhere that doesn't need to be there, and that feels refreshing and crisp - cf the bass and drums at the start of 'Campus'. Ironically this is exactly what I would have attacked The Strokes for in 2001.

- It's bubblegum pop grown up a few years, with exactly the same concerns dressed up differently, isn't it? "I see you walking across the campus..." is the sort of timeless girly chorus you'd expect to hear in any pop record of the last few decades. Production-wise, it sounds like that as well, and yet I don't even remotely hold that against it...

- "Blake's got a new face!" is a Pixies chorus.

I've been hearing this band hyped up since the beginning of 2007. "lisen to them now, they're ognna be then ext big thign!" basically on anything with words printed on it in NYC.

and, here we are. Kinda predictable.

I really like them! Mind you, "Graceland" is one of my favourite albums ever, and I'd be happy if they veered more in that direction. They're very good live, too - definitely aware of how to put on a good show and involve a crowd.

If they don't become huge I'll be pretty disappointed.

i kinda <3 them and i dont care who knows - thats right ilx i have a crush on a blogrock band

they're great! i had no idea until december or so.

I saw them and they sucked. There was one good part but it was really bland. Real thin sound especially juxtaposed with animal collective

i totally totally <3 them

"Blake's got a new face!" is a Pixies chorus.

it's a quasi-reinterpretation of "One." i love the afrobeat-thrash section.

Every description of them I hear makes me feel I won't like them, yet the people who like what I like like them, so I guess I should listen to them.

I've come around on them bigtime, and no longer want to break their kneecaps regardless of how hyped they get.

I just saw them on MTV. I think it's some pretty boring stuff... I mean, the good thing is, they kind-of sound like the Feelies, but ... that's what, an almost 30 year old sound? Indie rock = zzzzzzcity baby.

http://nw.mit.edu/codeigniter2x/core/nathanwilson/images/why/hater_tots.jpg

sample youtube comment: "english beat is kinda gay though"

it's true about the strokesian tidyness - it gives the refined impression of them being all fresh and not a part of the modern music industry merry-go-round, when really just like the strokes they are arriving at pretty much the perfect cynical marketing time for their sort of thing.

anyway i kinda liked some of their songs to begin with until i got dragged along to see fucking darjeeling limited and realized that these guys are the same reprehensible bullshit in audio form. they EVEN use the same FONT.

god forbid.

I would like "A Punk" if it was something Jonathan Richman or whoever did twenty years ago, but because it's new I think it sucks.

Great point.

Nice street-teaming from "Craig sobeski" too upthread. KEEP IT UP GUYZ

Thanks, man.

SHIT IS DEEP

Stream the new album here: http://3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/

Fuck the hype. This album kicks ass.

got dragged along to see fucking darjeeling limited and realized that these guys are the same reprehensible bullshit in audio form

this

Why listen to A-Punk when you can just put on some late 70s/early 80s shit? I think that's a valid argument--is it good if it's just a reinterpretation of the acknowledged classics? It's like rock music has been raiding the crypt for a while now, and it seems like electronic music is doing the same. Remember. .. when there were -new- sounds, maaan?

Great point.

I loved Darjeeling Limited! Any other recommendations?

got dragged along to see fucking darjeeling limited and realized that these guys are the same reprehensible bullshit in audio form

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/06_01/beatlesDM3105_468x299.jpg

classical, jazz, reggae, rap---it's all old and been done before! I like "A Punk"'s mesh of old-school punk pop with a touch of Congolese guitarwork, even if it is not completely brand new and innovative.

Xgau on the Dead in 69: If rock is nothing but gut appeal contained within what Mickey Hart calls the "box" of the four-four beat, then the Dead no longer care primarily about making good rock. But if rock is music that makes you dance, then they may make the best rock of all.

I don't care about the lack of innovation so much, it's the endless production line of rinky-dink skiffle bands being hyped to death that annoys. Especially if they've got a gimmick like "sounding a bit like Graceland".

britishes

i surprisingly like this. kind of a lot

oh they're total rushmore music. total wes anderson soundtrack. but im ok with that

i find it much harder to argue for vampire weekend's brilliance than for their awfulness -- the music is quite deliberately free of jagged edges or anything that may offend the ear (save for the singer's occasional yelping, which he really doesn't need to do because his voice is actually pretty good!), which is what i suppose people are finding 'refreshing' about it, but i am finding it hard to get excited about. it's certainly not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, just ... why is this supposed to be SOOO GOOD? do i really have to experience it 'in context' and listen to a thousand other bands that dont sound like VWE and dont have clean production? why can't i just put it on my stereo and like it? nb obviously context is important blah blah blah it just seems like people keep praising them negatively -- "i like them because they DONT sound like other stuff that's been released in the last 5 years in NYC!" it's not like there's a bunch of layers waiting to be uncovered on this record, so what am i missing that makes them so revolutionary? is the fact that they dont sound like they're from aughts NYC the only thing they have going for them? if they are to be appreciated on their own merits (and i agree that the 'african sound' hype is a red herring) then what exactly are they, besides not sounding cluttered?

i am asking these questions honestly and not trying to sound like a douche

ok, is it a youthful, quirky/not quirky andersonian innocence that causes people to enjoy them? nostalgia for one's college days?

the music scene in NYC has been so desperately dead since 2002 or so that I think people are grasping at whatever they can get. All the former big NYC bands this decade have moved to Philly, Berlin, etc; even small shitty towns in CA are kicking NYC's ass creativity wise.

In correlation to NYC's butt-raping rents? Perhaps.

there's a pretty big element of escapism involved w/ their music that i like

and beyond all the graceland stuff, the drummer and bassist are pretty good and way better than you'd expect from these dudes (best evidenced on "boston"). if anything i get annoyed by the singer/plinking keyboards, but when i'm in the mood i think they're pretty exceptional

as for other people liking them, it seems pretty clear to me: they sound kinda like the strokes, are pretty indie-pop but with enough unknown influences (for mtv-type listeners) to get ppl excited

"boston" = "ladies of cambridge" - maybe they used the former title in the UK?

sorry if you don't get them, hate fun, etc. lol, they're gonna be hueg.

lol "hueg"

yeah idk "boston" was just what i had it labeled as on their cd-r

i hear a big spoon influence in the band, certainly the biggest indie-rock touchstone. love the way their restraint means that moments of splendid harmony or rhyme shine just doubly triply quadruply, the smallest flourishes gleaming so glow.

You know as much as these guys aren't a great band, I'm glad to have someone this omnipresent doing something a little interesting than another four guys pretending to be Pavement or Talking Heads.

fuck these motherfuckers

fucking fuckers are guarandamnteeing a Northern Exposure revival or some such shit

"oh, if only paul simon would YELP."

blurhgg. the more I hear this album the more I realize how boring and bland it is. It makes my blood turn into lukewarm oatmeal. I listen to it and I suddenly own a condo walking distance to Park Slope and I drive a Volvo.

It's a pretty sad testament to the state of NYC. 99% of the interesting bands have already bailed out of here, so this is what we've got left.

ILM should learn how to have fun.

sex, drugs, new, weird sensations and experiences, upsetting challenging ideas... that's fun. listening to the drywall-flavored music made by the blandoids who've come to dominate NYC and drive out all the really good bands/artists/writers/etc. isn't my idea of fun.

There are like two big x factors with these guys. First, the singer may be a pretty great pithy lyricist at a time when a lot lyrics are wordy and overwrought. Second, I have no idea how seriously they take themselves and I kind of like that about them. They way they make being in a band seem really easy is kind of obnoxious-but-charming. I think I may want to like them more than I actually like them.

Anyways, what good bands have left NYC? All I can think of is Liars, but a ton of bands that put out well regarded albums in the last two years are still there.

remember when vampire weekend drove all the good bands and writers out of new york??

do not let vampire weekend into your city.

Liars, Animal Collective, Enon (well, a few years ago they were good), etc. Think of a really cool NYC band in the past few years, look 'em up, and chances are they're probably now based in Baltimore, Philly, Berlin, or the West Coast.

I hear better stuff coming out of Sacramento these days than New York.

the album is good, but i wish there was no hype for this,cause it's ruin it.

I dunno, Dirty Projectors, Battles, The Hold Steady, LCD Soundsystem, Oxford Collapse, Mahogany, some portion of !!!....TVOTR, Lansing-Dreiden. We could argue about the merits of particular bands but that's all stuff I enjoyed in the last two years that's still NYC-based.

Williamsburgh to be specific

Nah, the Dirty Projectors dude is in Bed-Stuy.

but yeah, that'd be my counter argument. I mean, what's next after these bands, though ... kids moving to Brownsville and East New York for the cheap rents? It just feels like the new exciting stuff is skewing to the cheaper cities and suburbs, just like over the past few years its gone to the cheaper neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.

Mr. Stanton, you have convinced me to stop listening to Vampire Weekend.

Yeah I agree with you on the next wave....NYC's had a pretty great run over the last 6-7 years but these things are always cyclical. American indie rock seems like it's sort of in a state of flux everywhere and it's hard to say where the next big geographic center will be...LA maybe?

the chicago days were nice..

but yeah, that'd be my counter argument. I mean, what's next after these bands, though ... kids moving to Brownsville and East New York for the cheap rents? It just feels like the new exciting stuff is skewing to the cheaper cities and suburbs, just like over the past few years its gone to the cheaper neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.

http://www.blinne.org/photos/uncategorized/siren.gif This just in! Artists and band members can't afford to live in high rent areas. Move to cheaper areas http://www.blinne.org/photos/uncategorized/siren.gif

*BREAKING* New York, NY- Notorious indie upstarts Vampire Weekend put the sum total of New York's cool artists on a train to Auschwitz, says angry music fan Burt Stanton.

stop talking about this shit and talk more about how Vampire Weekend suck

why do people say they sound like the feelies when they mean they dress like the feelies

Hot Hot Heat coulda totally stole their thunder if they'd released a cover of "Day-O" last year

haha keep 'em coming

Ivy League indie rock with unfashionable influences T/S: Vampire Weekend vs. Bishop Allen?

burt santond etc it shouldnt really be so hard to trash this band - shape up!

i have heard better insults coming out of modesto!

all the good hating has moved to portland!

*BREAKING* New York, NY- Notorious indie upstarts Vampire Weekend put the sum total of New York's cool artists on a train to Auschwitz, says angry music fan Burt Stanton.

-- brightscreamer, Monday, January 28, 2008 1:56 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

lol

you think they'll ever achieve the heights of say, "Nothing But Flowers"?

new york is so uncool. im' totally moving to berlidelphia, maryland

my favorite is M79, even if it's a shameless "This Must Be the Place" rip

this band is boring but i haven't listened to them enough to really say anything other than that but to all haters distill your haterade to victory-ol and triumph!!

arcade fire were the first successfully blog hyped bland, no? and we have the arctic monkeys. who else?

nabisco's review v. cheekily invokes the sfj piece re: palpable basslines a bit of empty space. i lol'd.

I will bake fresh, delicious cookies for the first reviewer that mentions Lizzy Mercier Descloux instead of <i>Graceland</i>.

...and some day I will remember which boards use HTML and which use BBCode.

pitchfork are joining the party big time (8.8)

ah this promises to tun into one of the all-stars classic ILM threads

FFS, I even read an enthusiastic review of this album in yesterday's Financial Times week-end supplement.

worst party ever

xpost

Well, it's the most instantly appealing album I've heard in a very long time, so it's entirely possible that I might be sick of them in 6 months' time. Best make the most of them while I can, then.

They could be the Arctic Monkeys of 2008 in terms of "Butbutbut they happened WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!" outraged bluster - but that's a strictly localised phenomenon, right?

but srsly the afro-pop groove plays nicely w/sensitive white boy rocking - dont know why its still a novelty

the new single doesn't really do it for me

ive only heard the 10 song cdr

whereas Paul Simon's last 45 was SLAMMIN xp

[ban me] gave the first Bloc Party album an 8.9, so the praise for this album feels slightly muted

sorry, NABISCO. I didn't realize using the first name of the writer of an article on Pitchfork could get me banned, sorry!

Can I type the word Jess? Scott?

hmmm

well this is amusing

[nabisco] louis jagger

waht u can write louis jagger now? this is an outrage!

[nabisco] [ban me]

lol

what happened was someone fucking w/[nabisco] or something?

I wasn't the proto-Jagger: that thread get revived, and someone (Heave Ho?) kept pasting in my name, and at some point I think mods decided it was easier to just put on the Jagger-filter than keep coming back and snipping it out. At this point it would probably be safe to remove the filter and just go back and clean up the thread.

in my head i keep hearing "ban me" as "marry me" a la maebe funke.

every thread on ILX about a new "indie" band or movie should start with the wikipedia article on the narcissism of small differences

Well, here's one non-small tension you inevitably see between the criticism and the message-board talk: critics have some level of responsibility to talk about whether something's good at what it does, while message-board haters can lay in slams about what it doesn't. There was a line that wound up getting cut from the end of that Pitchfork review, saying that criticizing Vampire Weekend for not being dirtier or bloodier or more progressive is "like having someone cure Alzheimer's and complaining that she should have done cancer instead." One of the parts where this band wins is that they're very convincingly good at what they do do.

(P.S.: It is 100% true that Bloc Party's review should not have a higher rating than this.)

what they -do- do well is be boring, bland, and beige. so, they do succeed very well at that.

It's rare indeed that I find myself nodding in agreement with a Pfork review, but I thought you did an excellent job there, N.

do reviewers give the ratings at pfork?

did anyone catch them on the tour going on right now? they are comming by me next month....worth checking out?

Yes, although editors sometimes do get in their ear about that along the way. And obviously we'll often get an idea of what someone wants to say about a record before assigning it to them.

xpost

heard the whole thing now, for my sins, and i'll stand by the first 3 tracks; then well, i dunno if 'cape code etc etc' is meant to be winsomeley self-deprecating or whatever with the benneton and "unnatural, peter gabriel" refs but it sounds unbelievably smarmy whichever way, and the chamberpop thing after that is just vile and everything you suspected. after that the rest doesn't recover.

yeah i don't know why i'm on this thread either. can we get on with the tweeo walcott gags already or what?

Koenig is a detail guy
Koenig is a detail guy
Koenig is a detail guy
Koenig is a detail guy
Koenig is a detail guy

GOOD WORK NABISCO

(Ha, yes, to be clear: my saying the Bloc Party should be lower was a mea culpa, not an insinuation that it was anyone else's doing.)

(P.S. I love how suddenly in the last week this record has started bring amazing moral judgments out of people who don't enjoy it, accusations that these are bad people for making ... lyrically inoffensive peppy pop music. Which is something I was half-expecting, because the whole thing is that this band seems actively HAPPY, which will read to people they annoy as being smug and superior. This is kind of strange: if they came off less tidy and shiny and pleased with themselves -- if Koenig seemed miserable or something -- I imagine they'd get less of this reaction, which is kind of insane.)

xpost - I have no idea what what means but thank you?

The type of afro-pop that they're jacking has always seemed a little corny and rhythmically dull to me, so I've got no interest in a whitened up version + indie pop.

the whole thing is that this band seems actively HAPPY

which is offensive to pretty much the whole indie rokk value system of the last 10 years

You know "I Know What I Know," off Graceland, where it talks about the cinematographer's party and the Fulbright scholarship? I get the feeling that Vampire Weekend think that's REALLY FUCKING CLEVER to mix uptown intellectual horseshit (see "Oxford Comma") with afrobeat. This is why people think they're smug. I just think they're young. If these guys are under 25, I'm gonna give them benefit of the doubt.

hmmm [banh mi]

Whiney, what "intellectual horseshit" is in "Oxford Comma?" It's a song picking on exactly the kind of smugness/privilege stuff people accuse VW of having, which I suspect Koenig was conscious of whenever he wrote it.

xposts

I love how suddenly in the last week this record has started bring amazing moral judgments out of people who don't enjoy it, accusations that these are bad people for making ... lyrically inoffensive peppy pop music.

Ha! I am all too familiar with people making those kinds of judgments. They are heretics, theirs is a false theology, and it will cast them into perdition.

I get the feeling that Vampire Weekend think that's REALLY FUCKING CLEVER to mix uptown intellectual horseshit (see "Oxford Comma") with afrobeat.

yeah, I can't imagine uptown intellectual horseshit just coming naturally to some Columbia grads or their authentically being really into 'afrobeat' or anything

i mean, it's not like one of them was a summer intern at the OED

they should NOT be themselves

the only thing I don't like about 'em is the music is so god awfully boring, and boring shit makes me angry. I think people might resent them because they're Ivy League kids in NYC who've obviously had really comfortable, easy lives, and to a lot of people struggling in NYC that = grhuargargg. Reminds me of the Strokes backlash of 02.

i don't know whether i should be amused or bemused about the extent to which people are willing to regard this whole thing as intensely calculated. these are dudes who play songs based on a self-mocking-horror flick the singer essayed on a lark.

xpost - (This is what I meant about Cheever and playing it both ways, obviously: he can act skeptical and incisive about prep privilege from right within its ranks.) (Note that that's not any kind of surprising new trick -- actually I'd say its most frequent use is on rap records.)

Really curious what the "intellectual horseshit" is, though; all we know is it's allegedly located in the one song that actually pretends to be anti-intellectual! ("Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?")

xpost Burt you've posted like 15 times "this is boring, I'm bored now," which is ... boring, I'm bored now; plus in the grand scale of things it's really hard for me to suss out how having gone to Columbia is somehow just beyond the line of objectionability, as opposed to the million NYC indie kids who went to Oberlin or Brown but wear dirtier-looking clothing so it's not an issue.

Ivy League kids in NYC who've obviously had really comfortable, easy lives

Is that obvious? I don't know these dudes' bios, but I don't think everybody who goes to Columbia obviously has had a really comfortable, easy life. I guess it depends on what your basis of comparison is though.

Whiney, what "intellectual horseshit" is in "Oxford Comma?" It's a song picking on exactly the kind of smugness/privilege stuff people accuse VW of having, which I suspect Koenig was conscious of whenever he wrote it.

Oh, I didn't know that. That's interesting.

My statement is more about why people don't like em, which is more about perception than fact anyway

i really feel like i want to hear this now, i liked the yeasayer album. bring on the benetton, i say. white dudes imitating peter gabriel and kate bush is better than... other options

yeah, I take 'Oxford Comma' as an anti-manners song (at britishes' expense, which I would think, but in a sorta Jane Austen manner). While I guess it does literally attack a class-pretender, overall it's attacking the pretense of class - a relax, we're all in this together, er, vibe.

the yeasayers album I like a little better. the oxford comma thing is probably more about the writing/publishing/journalism types in NYC... over here some people prefer it, some don't, and there's always a debate on whether to use it or not. it'd be like a song about em dashes.

Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?
I climbed to Dharamsala too
I did
I met the highest lama
His accent sounded fine
to me, to me

I mean, how great is that?

Not very.

well I done bin told

I think it's pretty good for a kid of modest pretension. So's the kumbaya of "No excuse to be so callous; Dress yourself in bleeding madras; Charm your way across the Khyber Pass."

dress yourself in bleeding madras?????????

This is what I've been saying forever: lost in the hyperbole of message-boarding is the fact that not everything is going to be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. It should still be OK for people to form bands and write some songs without being microanalyzed for their background, influences, and agenda. The PFork review captures this sentiment perfectly.

I donwloaded this off Derek ages ago but have only just, prompted, vanity-style, by Matt DC's mention of me in his post way up where, got around to listening to it. And I like it. Nicely organised! Haha, it is very sweet, and spacious, and gentle. It's just... music? I wouldn't listen to it for the sake of it being "afropop". I'd listen to it because it's got some great sounds and melodies and rhythms and vocals. Nice strings, too. (Looking at it in Audacity, there's shitloads of space. Niiiiiice.) I'm gonna go and buy a real copy of this, and without fear. The brevity of the songs stops it veering full-on into Paul Simon / Peter Gabriel / Sting wankywank. I think. It's just good odd-pop, aye? The lightness of touch is what confirms it to me as pop.

Low expectation havin' motherfuckers.

Actually, to be fair to Whiney, I should note that the one clear indie "intellectual" streak to Koenig's writing is that he definitely exists in a collegiate space of references to history and geography and information about the world, as much as information about the life that's right in front of you: serial commas, the Khyber Pass, the Mansard roof and the admiralty, kefir on keffiyehs, etc. Which is totally natural for someone recently out of college, and a natural match for a collegiate audience well beyond pricey Ivy League campuses.

I donwloaded this off Derek ages ago

Psst, this isn't the Stylus board.

I've only heard the EP, which is good to very good. The Graceland comparisons aren't exactly right; the band borrows the spirit without stealing riffs or motifs wholesale. Which is just fine. It makes more sense for a crew of preps to know about "Afropop" via their parents' Paul Simon collection than attempting a grotesque King Sunny Ade thing on their own.

i think the word "natural" was my favourite part of yr review, nabisco. yes.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b106/g_karalexis/image.gif

what happened was someone fucking w/nabisco or something?

-- jhøshea, Monday, January 28, 2008 5:25 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Link

I wasn't the proto-Jagger: that thread get revived, and someone (Heave Ho?) kept pasting in my name, and at some point I think mods decided it was easier to just put on the Jagger-filter than keep coming back and snipping it out. At this point it would probably be safe to remove the filter and just go back and clean up the thread.

-- nabisco, Monday, January 28, 2008 7:15 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

lets cyberfuck

I wanted to go to the show tomorrow night (at Bowery) but apparently those 15$ tickets sold out really quickly. :(

do people actually like the singer's voice? do they wish more generic indie yelpers would put a little "tally me banana" in the mix?

i mean i get why people like the IDEA of this band, "breath of fresh air" and all, its the execution i'm like why god why over.

I don't like his voice. But I don't mind it. I just find the music very catchy.

I say it's one of the most refreshing and replayable records of the year.

why didn't voxtrot have this much hype.....they seem very similar to me....thats just me though....voxtrot got recognition but VW is kind of in another league with the fast exposure

Take it back to late 2006/early 2007--every piece of media in NYC had started hyping Vampire Weekend. It seriously reminds me of the Strokes.

This is really a great band. And saying there the Artic Monkeys of 2008 is so true. Both really great bands.
I think the Vamp Weeks and the Wombats album will be the true highlights of 2008.

yeah, I mean wtf. I like the Arctic Monkeys a lot! If VW can record two albums as good as AM's, they're in good shape.

And, um, what the fuck doesm"angular" mean?)

yeah.

I like how we keep going through this same shit over and over again.

They will be hyped until their next album, then slowly forgotten. Or not so slowly (are Arctic Monkeys still alive?).

Why can't we hype artists that are continually making solid releases and/or artists who actually take CHANCES and you can listen to it without having to be in some context?

i haven't really heard these guys one of the videos i watched reminded me of the video for "just got lucky" by the joboxers

The lightness of touch is what confirms it to me as pop.

shit like this (which is so so common in indie webzines) reminds me of Xgau's crack about the macca: "I've finally figured out what people mean when they call Paulie pop--they mean he's not rock."

how many afropop combos are a three piece? Anybody else think they could do with a second percussionist or something?

or wait the singer plays guitar too, right? four piece.

if you had a better singer, bigger hooks and a better groove, these guys would really be something. namely "nothing but flowers."

i can kinda get into these guys, y'know.

And, um, what the fuck doesm"angular" mean?)

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 28 January 2008 22:44 (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Wire-Chairs_Missing_%28album_cover%29.jpg

I think they could do with a better drummer.

I mean, how great is that?

-- gabbneb, Monday, January 28, 2008 1:22 PM

Not very.

-- Ned Raggett, Monday, January 28, 2008 1:26 PM

ZING

anyone else want white boys doing afro pop, but with some authenticity in the form of omg actual african's?
http://www.myspace.com/extragolden

i feel kind of weirdly proud of not having an opinion about this band. maybe i'm gonna make it after all.

I feel this burning need to do a poll on who does and does not like "Love Plus One" by Haircut 100

Hahahaha I've been meaning to reference that song on here eventually.

along the lines of "wake me when they record something as good as Love Plus One."

I don't know why but "Hourglass" by Squeeze keeps coming to mind.

THEY'RE SOPHISTI-POP

http://static.flickr.com/90/235126080_19de696493.jpg

man, where ARE the young new wave dorks making pop songs as good as Love Plus One? I mean, shit, the late 90s had LOTS more goofy awesome new wave hits than today, and yet NOW is when we're allegedly resurrecting the 80s and going "ahh yes I see some folks in NYC have discovered Johnny Hates Jazz."

really alternapop, that time between the first Tibetan Freedom Concert and Woodstock III, by way of being really gaudy and ACTUALLY SUCCESSFUL and incorporating newfangled concepts like record scratching and whatnot, was more truly in the spirit of new wave than just regurgitating the ZE catalog for bloggers.

What are you talking about? Len? Smashmouth? Lit?

all that shit between the woodstocks! it was a nutty time.

honestly, Anthony, I'd love a group now who could record a song as good as "Shattered Dreams."

well who wouldn't? too bad we just got indie dicks mumbling/mewling over some sonic signifiers of the era.

Alfred otm.

Depends how important Graceland signifiers are to you. I forgot who said upthread that VW cops the sensibility of "I Know What I Know." Which is at least an honest secondhand appropriation. Besides, are you telling me that Paul Simon-as-vocalist can't be as fey as Ezra Keonig?

(xpost)

steal my sunshine is the bomb

Besides, are you telling me that Paul Simon-as-vocalist can't be as fey as Ezra Keonig?

I dunno if fey is the right word, but Simon sure has more presence on my hits comp. Srsly, it's kinda frightening that Simon and Byrne have, like, GREAT PIPES compared to the new school. Though this kid is pretty young, maybe he'll grow into it. But with so much smoke already up his ass, unless he's not happy just rocking a cult, why would he bother?

I dunno - Simon was pretty annoying as part of a folk-rock duo.

Admittedly, I can't stand S&G. I'm talking about the era these kids are jackin

why can't Ezra Koenig sing more like this man?

http://www.eiain.co.uk/wp/fred_20durst.jpg

Byrne sounded thin on 77, and the thinness was part of the concept. I mean, RISD punk-ass worrying about the government while sneering at compassion as a "virtue" is almost as troubling to a thirtysomething.

that's the thing about the whole new indie thing of "why would we try to be big stars when we can just put out our own albums and make music we love blah blah blah" cuz there's some shit people get better at when they're aggressively trying to court attention. without some exec or an expensive producer to beat enunciation out of them a lot of these novices are just gonna rot on the vine without ever making their one hit.

I love that side of The Talking Heads, flirting with near-right imagery, lol.

xpost

did Tony Bongiovi beat, I don't know, human feeling into David Byrne?

Byrne had a more unique identity than any modern folks from the word go, but I'm under the impression the knob twiddlers on those 70s albums earned their cut.

Well, Isaac Brock and Britt Daniel are two older modern folks who've got plenty of identity. Koenig isn't at their level, but listening to him I imagine what it must've been like to hear 77 for the first time, especially after seeing them live. With all due respects paid to the irony of a hack engineer producing an "art" band, it still sounds plenty thin. What made Byrne at the beginning were songs, not identity; the identity came on the next album.

I'm going to relisten to 77 tonight, but even after 20 years of familiarity with the Heads' work, it still sounds like a band testing a stand-up act, then realizing, on the next album, that they could deepen the act.

The thinness of the vocals is part of why I can't get excited about VW. I also find myself wishing that they would do songs as grate as "Love Plus One", or the JoBoxers song that someone compared their video with upthread. Granted, these are vague terms, but I don't hear much in the way of "passion" or "soul" or anything that would make for great pop music in the stuff that I've listened to by them. To me their stuff sounds like a musical equivalent of someone mumbling; I mean, I'm assuming these guys have compelling stuff inside them somewhere, but it's as though they're not reaching down deep enough to pull it out and express it. They end up sounding as blah to me as so much of other contemporary "indie rock" stuff that I've been exposed to.

Obv VW could improve but what shtick they've got now is a lot less novel, engaging, achieved than the best of 77 sounds even today.

though "not as interesting as the talking heads" is a pretty high fuckin bar to hold a band to, "not as amusing as haircut 100" is more fair.

Here's a point I'm probably going to defensive about over the whole length of this thread: people picking on VW over common "indie" qualities they're assumed to have but really, really don't. So far we've had "intellectual horseshit" and "mumbling," neither of which are even close to major sensibilities on this stuff.

I'd also suggest that people are bringing their own old-people music-knowledge to bear on this band in ways that presume intentions that aren't necessarily there -- like thinking of them as doing some kind of studied imitation of things from the late 70s and early 80s. I mean, maybe that's the case, but I'd offer a much more likely source for this sound: the math suggests these guys would have been in high school when the first Strokes record came out (something you can hear in some of their tidy pop structures, or at the end of "Campus"), and they'd be neither the first nor the last people in the world to hear a couple African pop compilations and think "those are such pleasant guitar sounds, let's use the clean channels from now on."

(Haha plus the one record store next to their campus always stocked a good amount of African pop, and I know because I played lots of King Sunny Ade the year I worked there.)

the math suggests these guys would have been in high school when the first Strokes record came out

sentences like that make my stomach drop out of my body

i never said they were mumbly, that was in ref to indie shit in general. I said they were yelpy and generic.

referencing Peter Gabriel on your chorus kinda helps push the 80s revival thing. they also bring up a bunch of high class affectations in songs about trying to get laid. that's pretty indie.

Wait, which songs are about trying to get laid?

Tomson, a self-described Phish head

http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/may_jun07/updates3.php

Wait, which songs are about trying to get laid?

the one with the "do you wanna fuck?" chorus, maybe?

tho that isn't quite how i'd describe it

which might be why croupier doesn't get it

goddamn young whippersnappers in their mid-20s, why should I, in my late 20s, have to deal with this shit.

x-post
"Can you stay up
To see the dawn
In the colors
Of Bennetton?

Is your bed made
Is your sweater on
Do you want to
Like you know I do"

I just assumed this was Paul Banks-style art-school "young girl" poon cruise

lol what don't I "get" gab?

"the one" = "songs"

then there's the one about visions of johanna

xposts
Nabisco, I think I understand much of what you're saying there, with the exception of your first paragraph. I swear there is some anemic quality characterizing much of the "indie" stuff of the last few years that has gotten lots of attention that just leaves me cold...a lot of it has to do with bland vocals...and maybe even more to the point, I would attribute my unenthusiastic response to generally blah songwriting.

Also, I guess it just disappoints me that so much of what they get touted for in the press centers around the non-western pop influences, which I can't help but think could be used to better effect. But, obviously plenty of people find them compelling. Personally, I just hear them and think "meh".

and hey I love interpol, I'm just saying More Songs About Prep School Jackets And Girls is pretty frikkin indie.

lol what don't I "get" gab?

you think it's about a "poon cruise"

I think this is one where the music says as much or more than the lyrics do, but let me have fun with those for a minute...

Is your bed made? = Is the sound clean?
Is your sweater on? = My Brooks Brothers is feeling incredible
Do you want to = You guys are part of this too
Like you know I do = This is so much fun

But this feels so unnatural = We know we're taking some chances here
Peter Gabriel too = But that old guy did it too

Can you stay up = Shall we go, you and I while we can
To see the dawn = Through the transitive nightfall of diamonds
In the colors = But we want to include everyone in this
Of Bennetton? = ;-)

i never said they were mumbly, that was in ref to indie shit in general.

No, that wss me that invoked "mumbly", and by that I didn't mean like classic-"slacker" brand of inarticulateness (whether of the deliberate variety or not), but more that their music brings to mind trying to conversate with a friend who is so guarded or something that he doesn't wanna give up the goods, and as a result nothing of real consequence ever gets expressed. But at the same time, you know that it's in there somewhere, which makes it doubly frustrating.

and hey I love interpol, I'm just saying More Songs About Prep School Jackets And Girls is pretty frikkin indie.

What about if they borrowed from the PG of "Big Time" and "Sledgehammer"? A horrifying thought if you're Xgau or other boomers whose sensibilities don't like gauche dick jokes punctuated by Motown horns, but possible for an indie act now.

man if kwassa kwassa is meta rather than a come-on i have even less respect for them

LCD Soundsystem should totally go for a Sledgehammer/Big Time on album number three

don't put it past them!

man if kwassa kwassa is meta rather than a come-on i have even less respect for them

supplies. it's both, really. tho ironic distance might be closer than meta and i think it's a little charming for a come-on.

"Someone Great" is their "Mercy Street," a little.

xpost - CCKK doesn't seem "meta" at all, but Anthony, I'd note that the girl in it is only "young" in the first half of the first verse, and collegiate by the second; besides which what follows close on the "do you want to" is ... "but this feels so unnatural."

The main recurring topic I see here is people leaving where they are and/or changing -- in "A-Punk," "One," "Ladies of Cambridge" ... and then the opposite in "Campus," where the other person is still always right around and you have to pretend not to care.

xpost - I feel like I'm being waved away from the point with words like "anemic" -- what bands are we talking about? Because this album has a style in both production and songwriting that's a lot cleaner / more spacious than most recent equivalents, nothing but clean sounds and barely an overdub to speak of. I can't think of too many indie bands lately who can go through a section with just a bass part and some sedate drum tapping without sounding ... naked; I can think of a ton of indie bands lately who pile instrument upon instrument in an effort to work up some weight, and wouldn't dream of letting an unadorned, no-effects, clean-channel recording of a guitar or plain electric-piano setting stand out and carry everything.

also the tone of the song is obviously nostalgic - it's a fond evocation of the moment in early-mid college when everything feels most alive and unfolding in front of you

i don't think the girl's age changes, i think the narrator is no longer "young," i.e. has entered the "real world"

"Know your boyfriend, unlike other guys," lol

maybe L'homme run is more croupier's style - http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/45430-lhomme-run-vampire-weekends-ezra-koenig-various-tracks-streams

Haha L'homme run is a good argument for not becoming well-known anywhere close to the college years in which it's normal to do things like L'homme run.

(Also I guess we're headed into geeky lyric-interpretation comparisons, but CCKK goes from "as a young girl..." to "as a sophomore...," which I always read as tagging two different time periods!)

you may be right, i may be crazy

haha god that l'homme run thing is just tooo perfect, not that I really feel like listening to it.

that would augment the loss of innocence vibe

xpost - I feel like I'm being waved away from the point with words like "anemic" -- what bands are we talking about?

I guess it goes without saying that this is all gonna veer along the lines of personal prejudice and so forth. My thing is that so many bands falling under the "indie rock" rubric that I've heard in recent years that have either been recommended to me personally, or who I've read a bunch about and then tried to listen to, have just sounded like they are holding back in some way that ends up reaching my ears in such a manner that I am quick to write them off as sterile-sounding.

For instance, bands as disparate and who mine territories as different as say, LCD Soundsystem and Vetiver, I just feel like they are coming from some weird remove...it doesn't have anything necessarily to do with the bare sonics; I mean, I personally find it refreshing if (people such as VW) in a guitar-based band choose to have clean guitar sounds or relatively unpiled-on production on their records. It's more that I feel like they are not giving enough of themselves to the listener, overall...like somewhere along the way there is some obfuscation going on for whatever reason. Which again, is so, so subjective, and based in large part on personal prejudices that I have when I sit down and listen to music. I mean, I am definitely someone who tends to gravitate towards a spectrum of stuff which wears its heart on its sleeve, so to speak.

But then again, I love Phoenix, and I don't think that they are some particularly emo-ish (whatever that means) band...so I dunno. I just feel like so much stuff sounds like going through the motions; to invoke the old thing of "if you're gonna make music, for god's sake at least have something to say"...or the school of "the people who make some of the greatest music have no choice in the matter"...I just feel like those intangible qualities are missing from VW and and other stuff that I would be quick to shrug my shoulders at or even complain about. Maybe this is all some "rockist" take on things. But I don't even think so...again I hear the VW stuff and am just left blank. Could be an old dude, thing, though! That's fair enough.

Dell otm re obfuscation - I think xgau calls this 'formal commitment'. I call it not-worrying-every-five-seconds-how-cool-you're-being.

Oh, I misread - I think the 'anemic' sound is less obfuscatory, obv

In this case. Arg, I really shouldn't do this on blackberry, should I.

i like msuic that meesses with my feelings, or makes me want to stick my dick in thigs. vampire wekeend makes me want to go to connecticut and say 'hi' to my aunt and uncle while watching the 4th of july aprade down mainstreat quietly and respectfully

Not funny.

wtf is your problem 4th of july parades are hella fun

xpost

xpost to gabbneb

Well, to clarify, I don't mean "anemic" in terms of pure sonic qualities. I mean rather that I as a listener I get the impression that people are holding themselves back in some way, such that there is vitality lacking in their final product. Again, it brings to mind trying to have a conversation with someone who is forever holding back important stuff. I don't by any means expect or want every artist to have an early U2-style of earnestness; plenty of my favorite music is on a silly spectrum of things...but, in the best of that "silly" stuff, there is a commitment that I don't find in much of the stuff that I am taking issue with here.

So, yeah, I maybe am some crypto-(or not so crypto)rockist or something?

But, I don't think so...

U GUISE I REALIZEDVAMPIRE WEEKEND ARE NOT AS GOOD AS SADE

WHAT SHOULD I DOOO?

I LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT STUFF SOMETIMES.

I, yeah...

man i dont want everyone to get really into peter gabriel

i love the dude but hes MINE and i dont want to be that asshole saying 'i was into peter gabriel before everyone else was'

...how old are you again?

"everyone" = "everyone ages 18 - 25"

Take a stand.

LCD Soundsystem should totally go for a Sledgehammer/Big Time on album number three

-- da croupier, Monday, January 28, 2008 3:43 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

QFT

but yeah i would def listen to james murphy doing a gabriel record

apparently the other dudes are not so into the phish, shocker

To backtrack up the thread, Arctic Monkeys comparisons are INSANE. They sound nothing alike and will be nowhere near as big. And have been nowhere near as hyped. Ridiculous. I think they're much better (at the moment) too.

Also someone up top says they sounded really "thin" compared to Animal Collective (I think in a live context) - well I literally can't listen to Animal Collective. Their records give me a headache inside seconds, but from abstracted descriptions I ought to enjoy them. It's just that no one ever says "yeah and their records sound fucking horrible and hurt your head" after spiel about Beach Boys and drums and masks and shouting and campfires and techno and loops and melodies.

After years - might be five or six, might be ten or twelve (Oasis kick-starting the aesthetic for ambitious guitar bands to be BIG and LOUD and INDISTINCT) - of huge, messy, maximalist bands, Vampire Weekend do sound kind of quietly radical. Same as Guillemots did (to me at least) a couple of years ago. Refreshing. Musical.

How are the names similar?!

their name makes me think of 'werewolf bar mitzvah', every time.

Their name makes me think of a Projekt fan's spring break.

their name makes me think of 'werewolf bar mitzvah', every time.

-- That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:05 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

yeah me too.

At the risk of coming over all Geir (ew, what a thought) Vampire Weekend score over Animal Collective by virtue of having discernible tunes.

Animal Collective and Guillemots are guilt indie for Wire readers.

Still it is refreshing that after banging on in my blogs for the last two years about Apostle of Hustle and other Canadian worthies fusing indie and world music that someone outside Canada's latched onto the idea.

somebody finally listened!

Blame Canada

WTF IS UP W/THE CHANGE SITUATION IN CANADA $2 COINS WTF IM STARTING A THREAD AS SOOOOO N AS I GET HOME THIS IS AN OUTRAGE WHY IS NO ONE STORMING THE CAPITOL !!!?1!!!????/

Still it is refreshing that after banging on in my blogs for the last two years about Apostle of Hustle and other Canadian worthies fusing indie and world music that someone outside Canada's latched onto the idea.

Are you saying Apostle of Hustle and company came up with the idea of fusing indie and world music? I guess it depends on how you define "indie."

I was cheered that MattDC is into this, but was all wtf at his finding 'irish' influences. Then I realized maybe he means the pre-chorus keys in 'A-Punk'? They sound Zep-ripped to me.

I assumed he was thinking of the violin at the start of "Bryn," actually.

yeah, I suppose. I think that comes out of compositional study.

Bryn's an Irish name, isn't it?

Welsh.

http://www.higheredjobs.com/images/ProfileLogos/ProfileImg_353_020013.gif

I think that comes out of compositional study.

is this code for "classical music"?

well, that's where you start when you study composition, but it's not necessarily where you end, especially at columbia

"Composition" is a good way to refer to contemporary classical without using that oxymoronic term.

Has anyone heard the House Of Blondes album? Mastered by the same people. Similar NYC literate indie pop. Very interesting.

This is great though. Just so... enjoyable.

They remind me a little of Spoon.

vampire weekend = trying to fuck a week after you had your balls cut off.

I think people in the NYC area are reasonable in hating them. If you know how things work here, you know a band like VKWW shooting to the tops out of nowhere usually means they had some ... assistance.(ala the STrokes). Doesn't put their merit in question necessarily, but a little resentment is natural.

voice is on the case:

Vampire Weekend: Meant for Joy, Not Rage, By Mike Powell

Vampire Weekend: Please Ignore This Band

vampire weekend = trying to fuck a week after you had your balls cut off.

what does that even mean?

vampire hands is like trying to mow the lawn with a english muffin a day after it rained!

Re their outfits: Dockers and deck shoes are indeed questionable

That's from the latter article. Ugh, it depresses me that someone is criticizing them based on what they are wearing at a given moment.

I'm no doubt obtuse, but I can't understand Shepherd's politics or rockcrit: VW's music, with its immaculate construction, its high-collared violin solos, its boy's-choir croonery, is claustrophobically ordered—the sound of a band lulling itself into complacency. Whether they are truly bluebloods is beside the point: They embrace and exalt the accoutrements of a privileged Mo' Money/No Problems lifestyle.

PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY TECHNICAL COMPETENCE DENOTES AN EMBRACE OF REAGAN-ERA VALUES.

plus i hate all the sex-music metaphors ppl say all the time...like "the decemberists is like having a wank in the hall closet, the meters are like fucking in a cheap hotel room"...it just seems lazy anyway and the whole thing is just a way for dudes to suggest that they are real freaky cats in teh sack, check it out ladeez...

also a big fan of: "shit like this can't rock a dance floor" by dudes that sit in front of computers all the time and never go out.

i forgot to mention the last one is by julianne shepherd ftr

We have blog house now, we don't need to go out.

xp

powell predictably otm he might be my fave critic around right now

people who think this music is joyful must have some easy-flow seratonin. it sounds like sonic drywall

The last line of "One"—"Oh, your collegiate grief has left you dowdy in sweatshirts/Absolute horror!"—is as bitterly mocking as Evelyn Waugh or Whit Stillman

That line actually reminds of aFrenzal Rhomb lyric (Australians are prob the only people who know who they are)not Evelyn Waugh.

music is made for metaphor. but not vice versa. g'night.

xxp

more xxxxxxps than that actually.
who cares.

sorry about yr mental problems, burt

Ha, my biggest bone to pick with Dr. Shep would be the contention that they are out to whitewash African music, as opposed to the more plausible claim that they've just grabbed a pinch of it to flavor their indie/pop.

This seems symptomatic of that thing where, once someone's successful, it becomes tempting to read all their decisions as canny, cynical, and pitched at the context of the whole world. It seems a million times more plausible to me -- it seems flat-out self-evident to me -- that these were nerdy collegiate pop players who listened to some African pop and copped a couple rhythms and guitar sounds. Calling this a conscious whitewash of African music is like saying marinara sauce is an attempt to water down basil.

(xpost!! Burt is awesome on this thread, it's like there was a horrible car accident where Waldorf died and now all we have is a brain-injured Statler)

PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY TECHNICAL COMPETENCE DENOTES AN EMBRACE OF REAGAN-ERA VALUES.

hey johnny rotten defaced that pink floyd shirt for YOU, man. never forget.

P.S.: I have a pretty firm belief that this album will wind up about where the first Strokes one did -- i.e., some time will pass, it'll cease to seem like an issue to have strong opinions about, and people will circle around into some general agreement that these are catchy and likable ordinary songs, the kind that come on in bars and people smile and go "oh yeah, this was a nice tune," etc. It's interesting how their detractors object to their being branded the Amazing New Thing, whereas their supporters tend not to claim this -- the claim tends to be that they made a particularly solid/likable pop record.

What I'd be interested in hearing, detractor-wise, is an argument for why that sort of record doesn't belong in people's lives -- what's wrong with having that one pleasant, breezy, well-written indie record in your season's buying that you use the way I'm imagining people will use this one. (I mean, you can want something riskier and bloodier and with more fire, and even the legendary 12-CD-buyer has 11 other chances at that, but ... why get galled about this doing something else rather well? Unless your complaint is the suspicion that those other 11 will be the exact same thing, which doesn't really have anything to do with the quality of this one.)

8) i do it becuz i care

Has anyone heard the House Of Blondes album? Mastered by the same people. Similar NYC literate indie pop. Very interesting.

This is great though. Just so... enjoyable.

-- Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:34 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

lol

Haw!

nabisco otm re strokes comparison. it was the first thing i heard when i started listening.

this is a cute enough record but I don't hear gabriel influence much at all; simon, yeah. you do realize this album is about three steps away from being the dave matthews band, though, right? I mean, really. but it's pretty good.

you do realize this album is about three steps away from being the dave matthews band, though, right?

um, yeah?! :D dmb is way less popwise or compositionally astute or pretty or intelligent tho.

great show tonight, btw.

or tasteful, if you care about that sort of thing

Results 1 - 10 of about 55 for "vampire weakened". (0.13 seconds)

nabisco otm

What I'd be interested in hearing, detractor-wise, is an argument for why that sort of record doesn't belong in people's lives -- what's wrong with having that one pleasant, breezy, well-written indie record in your season's buying that you use the way I'm imagining people will use this one.

first off, "what's wrong with one pleasant, breezy well-written album?" is a hair away from "when did you stop beating your wife?" I mean, boo fucking hoo, dude. the "argument" is basically that you can find stronger vocals, hooks, and grooves from afropop-jackers of twenty years ago (not to mention afropop itself), and that the difference in quality makes the album not particularly pleasant for the "detractor." How hard is that to get?

and please don't follow this with the "i'd like detractors to specifically name the twenty better afro-pop jackin albums they prefer" argument

also, folks who say the strokes album is full of "likable ordinary songs" aren't seeing the forest for the trees. The Strokes have a very idiosyncratic, atypical style, one that's manna for fans of Feelie/New Order jacked up trebly drone strums and slurred vocals. They're NOT ordinary, it's still subculture pop. And when people call those kind of albums "ordinary," its usually blinkered indie "my world is the world" logic.

"likable ordinary" implies that those who don't need it are the freaks, rather that the music is niche bubblegum

The first afro-indie band were probably Red Guitars and there's more than a touch of their 'Marimba (Jive)' in some of Vampire Weekend's tracks. Jerry Kidd had a less sweet way with a melody; and as they were socialists from Hull the Red Guitars were unlikely to be caught up in the Ralph Lauren cardigan controversies that seem to be the main objection to the VWs. Sure the Red Guitars would be pleased that class war is alive and well.

its possible that i might hear the pleasure in vampire weekend when i look past the groove that feels minimal and tepid compared to larger combos and the singer who has a lot of typical indie flaws compared to even paul simon and david byrne, but as of now I'm still kind of hung up their inability to provide the pleasures I usually expect from this kind of thing.

and the singer who has a lot of typical indie flaws compared to even paul simon and david byrne

PAUL SIMON AND DAVID BYRNE ARE NOT CHOPPED LIVER!

jeez, it's like everyone's all dissin' simon on this thread, like vampire weekend ever wrote a song as good as mrs. robinson or had chevy chase in their video. don't even start w/r/t to the talking heads, this is majors vs. minor leagues.

As far as I know, Vampire Weekend have yet to steal arrangements from Martin Carthy or break UN sanctions.

(this is where we need Geir to come in and say that the apex of afro-indie fusion was Dance Into The Light by Phil Collins)

as long as you have chevy chase in your video you can commit genocide for all i care

Steve Gadd vs. this weak-ass drumming

the drumming live is v different from that on the record

better?

There's what four Afro-pop moments on this entire album? Some of which last for a bar or two, hence my point about them being flourishes more than anything else. It's possible they're being overdebated here because people just aren't used to hearing them at all in indie pop in 2008.

does anyone else think theyre purposely needling w/all the waspy signifiers - i just watched a video of them riding around in a sailboat!

YACHT ROCK 08!

Next B-side will be a cover of Toto's Africa.

THAT WOULD BE SOOOO AWESOME

I'm just kidding around with all the VW hate, but no, they actually are blue-blood types. They were connected to some of the richest and most powerful students and in the most exclusive clubs at Columbia--it's not surprising how almost every NYC media outlet lifted them up to the sky for an entire year out of nowhere, especially since there are definitely better, harder working bands in New York right now.

There are better, harder working footballers than Andy Reid as well but it doesn't stop me having a soft spot for the fat bastard.

Whenever I hear or read the name of this band, I can't help thinking of that (UK television) car advert set in a therapist's office, with the midlife-crisis guy singing 'Hot-tub weekend...'

Steve Gadd vs. this weak-ass drumming

-- Jordan, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 16:48 (24 minutes ago) Link

whOaTM

You know, just because a band ironically needles all the signifiers of their upbringing, it doesn't mean they're still not using them to their advantage.

THE PLOT THICKENS: http://blog.limewire.com/posts/1138-Trailer-Vampire-Weekend

ince there are definitely better, harder working bands in New York right now.

who cares how hard they work?

are you actually serious about that?

Working hard is great, but if you aren't good, should people give a fuck?

I mean, it's great that you can afford to sod off because you know you got the tunes. Who wouldn't?

haha those two voice rvws are nuts. talk about limited critical horizons, all it takes is some lacoste shirts and a roland amp for people to completely lose their shit

This may have already been mentioned a couple times in this thread, but a lot of this VW hate reeks of jealousy. Those shitty Village Voice columns are great examples. If you want to hate a band because they strike you as boring or uninspired, fine. But hating them because they remind you of Reagan for some fucked up reason is ridiculous.

Ridiculous, yes, but how is it jealous?

http://www.infoshop.org/img4/class_war.gif

Okay, maybe that specific article was more stupid than jealousy, but a lot of the other complaints arise from the "they got too big too quick! undeserving! my band works harder!" camp.

er, the first VV column was positive.

It's like the Strokes ... those kids parents were NYC big shots, so in 2002 people in New York made a big to do about that. It's just how it is now.

so what!

xp

those kids parents were NYC big shots, so in 2002 people in New York made a big to do about that. It

like you?

http://www.northernsoul45s.co.uk/images/large/CHRIS%20CAMPBELL%20%20YOU%20GOTTA%20PAY%20DUES%20%20LARGE.jpg

You know, just because a band ironically needles all the signifiers of their upbringing, it doesn't mean they're still not using them to their advantage.

yah totally - brilliant marketing - well played rich kids!

I don't care that much, the music's not for me, but ... remember a time ... when four scumbags from Queens could make it big in New York, or a nerdy working class art school drop out ... those were the days maN!! when rent cost $4 on the -real- Lower West Side

i mean all these burt stnadonds being all waah we wouldnt even be talking abt them if they werent so privileged - dont u see youve fallen right into their trap

and no burt i dont remember that i was 4 and living in california so there

Anthony, you bring a lot of vigor to your arguments up there, but not a lot of consistency!

(a) Part of what is meant by "ordinary" is my belief that nobody is really listening to this for "Afropop-jacking"; people are listening to this for well-made happy eighth-note indie. If the problem you are having with this album is that it's not good compared to Afropop, then you are looking for the wrong thing

(b) CLEARLY "ordinary" means ordinary within its indie context; you start saying the Strokes are still ordinary subculture music (no duh), but not ordinary in a broader context (no duh); these dudes, similarly, are manna for fans not of Afropop or Afropop-jacking but of a kind of naturalistic laid-back indie; but all you've made there is an argument that they're non-ordinary in a broader context, too (haha which would make anyone who's ever said "OMG this indie band is so routine and uninteresting" fully blinkered)

But fuck's sake, the accusation of "my world is the world" blinkers is just plain bizarro and context-missing, unless you seriously want every post on ILX to say "oh yeah, this Spoon song is pretty ordinary (in the specific context of Spoon's position in modern-day indie blah blah blah, not the geological sense)"

P.S. I would kinda like the list of who provides same-thing-better, but what we come down to either way is that some people find an album well-made and some people aren't feeling it; what's interesting is that pre-internet this was considered normal, not divisive, whereas now everyone who doesn't much care about a record enters into a sighing match in a comments box somewhere. Point being we got at this a little upthread: some songs here do it for me, right now, as much as "Love Plus One" might -- they don't for you. It'd be fascinating if we could get at why, but I don't know that it's possible, especially with these guys: there's something about the tidiness of their music that makes it hard to latch onto specific elements and have good/bad debates about them. So yeah, I would totally like to hear who you think provides the same thing better (to which my response will inevitably be "no, you've got it wrong, that's not what people are getting out of this").

http://rws-blog.rhapsody.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/01/29/africaindiethumbnail.jpg

P.P.S. Boo-hoo indeed -- yet I was just saying elsewhere that I can think back to listening to the Ocean Blue in high school or whatever and being fully aware that someone somewhere would find them boring and wimpy, but of course you could still listen to and talk about it without a Stanton sitting in the corner telling you so

This isn't "boo hoo why can't people listen to one pleasant indie record in peace," it's more a question about expectations, about: (a) criticizing records for what they aren't, rather than what they are, and the gap between the critic and the consumer/chatterer, and (b) the manufacture of "controversy" and polarization and argument over what is essentially the most normal situation imaginable -- a clump of people really enjoys a record, but OF COURSE lots of people just aren't feeling whatever they saw in it, something true of everything in the universe ever

im thinking the effortless vibe is exacerbating the class war complaint here

(Ha, J, I was saying that about their sense of unconcerned happiness, earlier -- and wondering whether, if they seemed miserable, it would be different. As it is, they get the "smug" and "privileged" lines in part because they sound pleased and joyous.)

lol rich kids everythings so easy for them (including but not limited to writing and recording songs)

This thread has been stunningly consistent in its arguments. I keep reading the same three reasons why VW is OK and the same three reasons why they are not OK (though Burt is not helping on that front). Which means exactly what Nabisco is saying--some people like a record and some people do not.

So all the non-music stuff is red herrings. Class signifiers or whatever, there is nothing so interesting in the VW backdrop/context that it requires a bunch of criticism and analysis to understand it. I think these guys are absolutely manipulating the hell out of the media but that doesn't mean that we need to care/play along.

there's something about the tidiness of their music

great comment, that does come somewhere towards setting a context in which discussion of their stuff could be usefully possible.

my 2p: it's tidiness and difference at the same time that makes something stand out (and that can mean to be adored and hated). something has to jump out as different sounding but also be believable in the sense that you believe the people doing it are completely on top of what they're doing. that's what draws (me at least) in. it's there in elvis's early recordings, it's also there in why me and my son can't work out why 'mansard roof' is catchy.

xxxxxxpost, jeez

then, music aside, there's the class thing, which seems to be riling everyone. not every band can be left wing and working class.

lol rich kids everythings so easy for them (including but not limited to writing and recording songs)

Not to drag it deeper, but they're like in the 2% of bands in New York who probably never complained about how expensive a fucking rehearsal space is.

I think these guys are absolutely manipulating the hell out of the media but that doesn't mean that we need to care/play along.

otm, but we also don't need to assume that because they are of a particular class they are inherently better at manipulating the media.

yah n theres definitely happiness and even generosity there - suggesting that this might be more than just breezy indie rock

not every band can be left wing and working class.

This is totally true, and, yes, it's really unfair to judge Vampire Weekend on their class alone.

BUT i think the disconnect is happening is because they're rich in INDIE ROCK. Underground rock (from the indie/punk/DIY tradition) traditionally rewards hard work and effort. Major labels are supposed to make the cinderella stories, indie labels traditionally signed bands that were in for the long haul, lots of touring, etc. I could be RONG, but Matador would have never signed such a green band 10 years ago, would they?

Blogs fucking up the game.

x-post yeah Whatever, I think they saw an easy path to publicity because they're "not like most bands" in their appearance/background (or the fact that they don't feel the need to bury their background) and went for it. Their "hanging out with" profile in the NYT on Sunday was hilariously bad.

But yeah, manipulating the media is certainly not a class-based skill.

So all the non-music stuff is red herrings. Class signifiers or whatever, there is nothing so interesting in the VW backdrop/context that it requires a bunch of criticism and analysis to understand it. I think these guys are absolutely manipulating the hell out of the media but that doesn't mean that we need to care/play along.

i think its totally valid to dislike a band for any reason you want. how do we separate out the non-music from the music?

Nobody should be allowed to record an album unless they are poor, their parents are poor, and they have only very limited access to recording studios. I'm kidding Burt.

I honestly have no opinion on this band, I just like arguing. But witnessing this whole thing from ground zero has been pretty interesting - they've been the media favorites for over a year now, even before they released their CD-R. I remember reading a lot of the little "alt"weeklie rags, and Vampire Weekend has been the unanimous favorite ("these guys are going to be huge, trust me"), even without actual music released.

Having friends in the media doesn't really hurt to get a thumbs up every now and then, and getting that first bit of attention is pretty crucial. It doesn't judge their musical merit, but I think people are understandable in resenting that kind-of easy, meteoric rise because of connections.

i think its totally valid to dislike a band for any reason you want. how do we separate out the non-music from the music?

Yeah I mean sure dislike a band for any reason you want but the whole VW discussion (not maybe in this thread but in the media in general) has been "I like VW 'cause their music is enjoyable" followed by "I don't like VW because their clothes/education make me uncomfortable" which is sort of retarded and will never go anywhere.

1) VW has toured a lot in the last year. i think at least two trips around the US. (sure they might have more $$ flexibility to make that happen, but they have put their feet to the concrete)

2) Other bands w/ Columbia grads. the Walkmen, Animal Collective, Aa. None of these bands get dumped on for getting critical NYC help like VW, is it just 'cuz they sail yahts and wear lacoste?

3) the VW cd is okay. but not Great.

This thread has been more like "I like VW 'cause their music is enjoyable" followed by "I don't like VW because there is other music like it that is better" followed by "NYC just ain't what it used to be," which is a step up, maybe.

maybe its bad timing for vamp week blowing up while the economy is falling apart

there are two americas

Well, yeah, 90% of NYC bands.. and writers... etc.etc... of note are in the Ivy League sphere of things (if you include Ivy League dropouts). A lot of it is really good, but it's definitely interesting. Who knows what it means???????

guys all but 2 of the songs on the album were recorded and circulated before they were signed so is it not possible that the ppl at xl said "hey this would make a really good album, and as luck wuold have it, they've already been written up in the new york times! we might make some money out of this!!"??

and tbh ppl bitching about them never having to slum it are either a. delusional b. jealous c. grasping at straws or d. all of the above, and most of all living in some crazy vacuum where this shit is supposed to matter

Matador would have never signed such a green band 10 years ago, would they

Well, they only distributed them, but the path here is not all that different from Belle & Sebastian's, no? Initial self-made recordings charm people with spare, natural sound, circulate through fans and critics, etc. Only in this case it's like remastering Tigermilk for your first wide release.

The idea that these guys are cleverly manipulating the media seems like an evil-genius fantasy that's probably better phrased as "they have good PR." And sure, money is involved in what was probably their wisest move, which was investing in the recording session this album came out of -- in the short term, at least, I suspect they'd have wound up with a worse record if they'd had to wait it out and record on a label's dime, rather than swinging it themselves and having their keyboard player as the producer. (Which is, ha, TOTALLY indie -- just possibly indie by way of having enough money to put into your project!)

Funny story, PR-wise: the first time I ever heard of these guys was while riding the subway home from work, and their singer was talking with an older woman about how his band was doing, and how they were starting to think about which publicity group they should go with; I couldn't resist asking someone else he was with what band it was. He did not sound like a canny evil genius, for what it's worth. Phrases like "we're exploring our options" may or may not have been involved. I dunno. He had a nice shirt, though.

you might like only musicians who have "paid their dues" because you identify w/ it but it's crazy to say that other people should do the same

the first time i heard of these guys was from j0hn d, i think: http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com/2007/06/great_new_band_alert.html

see guys all you need to do to get a good review on p4k is to befriend their writers in the subway

saw them open for somebody. i remember when my GF was asked who opened she said some boring guys

nabisco, do you think this is as good as tigermilk?

haha them is fighting words: I don't know these people at all, I just live in the neighborhood

her: "they're called vampire weekend, they're playing this weekend"
me: "yeah, i'll have to check that out (yeah right like I'm gonna go check out some random Columbia band)"

Re: Tigermilk -- that's hard; I never heard Tigermilk until after hearing the next two, and after that it didn't seem particularly revelatory, since I'd already soaked in B&S's thing; I'm not particularly into it! I'd usually rather listen to Vampire Weekend than Tigermilk, yeah, but if I were somehow first-exposed to both at the same time, who knows. My main point was just that both blow in in this casual way that kinda reminds you of root song-as-song pleasures and makes other things seem clenched and trying-too-hard

Nabsico, maybe "manipulated" would have been better phrased as "fucking with". I have to believe that's what they were doing in this piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/fashion/27nite.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"Fucking with?" Maybe this makes me an Upper West Side prep, or something, but that sounds like normal four dudes goofing off over a meal.

Haha, they have yet to do any press more than two blocks from my apartment

So yeah, I would totally like to hear who you think provides the same thing better (to which my response will inevitably be "no, you've got it wrong, that's not what people are getting out of this").

How about the Homosexuals?

Cause Co-Motion?

a certain ratio?

but that sounds like normal four dudes goofing off over a meal

Exactly, except there's the NYT writer there who is going to drape their goofing off in all this gushy prose about how great they are. Just thinking of myself, if I leave the interview saying "Oh don't forget boys, we've got that big trip to Lacoste tomorrow," I know that that's getting printed.

Orange Juice ftw

RIYL: Sublime

Homosexuals = nuts

Cause Co-Motion = yes, totally, except so far as I've heard these guys are still releasing 7-inches with rickety trebly early-Television Personalities production, not smooth-sounding LPs with consistently good songs

A Certain Ratio = nuts

Orange Juice = yes, absolutely, though gee, might be a bit hard to pitch the Times with a profile and a story on Rip It Up

I'd be the happiest boy in the world if Cause Co-Motion released a really solid front-to-back LP, for sure

lol debating the origins of the lime rickey is "intellectual showmanship"

It's like the Strokes ... those kids parents were NYC big shots

in case anyone's buying the jealous Nude Spocks here, pls to present the evidence that these kids' parents are NYC big shots.

xp, yeah i'm kinda embarrassed for the author of that article

So yeah, I would totally like to hear who you think provides the same thing better (to which my response will inevitably be "no, you've got it wrong, that's not what people are getting out of this").

the embassy?

if the hype on Vampire Weekend was simply "hey schmindie bought a new hat" I wouldn't feel the need to rip on these guys, cuz yeah, most schmindie bores me. But I rarely see them talked about in the context of say, Hot Hot Heat, but rather their afropop-jacking forebears. which inspires the negative comparisons to the Talking Heads' Naked.

Likewise, when the Strokes were seen as the forefront of a "rock is back" tidal wave rather than a bunch of guys in denim who want to slur over "Love Vigilantes" (which I enjoyed, btw), I could understand if somebody who thought they were more Eeyore-over-Unrest than ROCK would start honking noses.

ooo, Tough Alliance is good too.

Homosexuals = nuts

Oh, I disagree. The Homosexuals were way, way ahead of th curve in terms of fusing a kind of indie pop with world music. And they were much more ambitious and better pop song songwriters than VW. I don't get this idea that VW are good songwriters. Their songs don't seem particularly interesting to me.

But I rarely see them talked about in the context of say, Hot Hot Heat, but rather their afropop-jacking forebears. which inspires the negative comparisons to the Talking Heads' Naked.

I prefer the Afro-pop jacking of early Talking Heads - Naked is actually pretty spotty. There are Vampire Weekend songs I like as well as or better than "Nothing But Flowers" - but so far I haven't heard any as good as "Once in a Lifetime" (though that's hardly a criticism).

It's nice to have something to look forward to - I think I'm going to stop by my local record shop and pick this album up tonight.

(That wasn't quite the question though, QN: the question was more what records would constitute adequate replacement for this one, to people who have a purpose for this one. Maybe we just differ on this one, but I find it really hard to imagine the Homosexuals slotting into someone's life and listening in the way VW does, appealing in the same way. And obviously people don't buy records to serve purposes like "I need to hear a fusion of a kind of indie pop with world music," they buy records for purposes like "me and my boyfriend enjoy singing along with this in the car.")

Tough Alliance threw me for a second, but yeah, there are certain songs I can see having the same effect these guys have, only for a slightly different audience. An overlapping one, but also people coming from a different place.

Haha Anthony your sentence structure up there pretty much says "I am ripping on this band because of people who write about them," which is understandable but, you know. I doubt this was premeditated by VW, but the obvious lesson = if you throw in one tiny marginal influence from elsewhere, people will spend enough of their word count talking about it that they won't just be pointing out the obvious peers you sound like. (Except there's another way VW score, with a sound and production aesthetic that doesn't sound quite enough like most peers to actually point it out.)

Why is it wrong for people to dislike something? I think there's this weird obsessive "positive bias" in the Anglosphere that it's worse to dislike something than it is to like it.

You are doing your best to erode that, for sure

the Anglosphere?

Ludus.

a reason why people might dislike this band is a perceived lack of emotional depth...i.e. the entire album has no sense of pain or struggle, lust or intrigue. who ever thought that being inoffensive and well-to-do was ever worth a ticket to stardom?

jesus and mary chain.

And obviously people don't buy records to serve purposes like "I need to hear a fusion of a kind of indie pop with world music,"...

But I definitely know people who buy records based on just this sort of thing. And the way that VW was initially brought to my attention by others was largely by way of them mentioning, "oh, there's this band called Vampire Weekend; they kind have this indie with Afro-pop thing going on." i.e., their influences as the selling point

That's a description, not a selling point! The selling point is the next couple sentences that go "I really like their songs, they're very catchy etc."

this is some of the worst music ive ever heard.

I don't think that's true.

xpost

I mean none of their upcoming fans is watching MTV2 and going "if only a band would come on next that brought world influences to an indie templ-- hey, eureka!" I'd anticipate a lot of them who hear "A-Punk" and never think of Africa at all, but feel like it was peppy / sunny / low-key / etc

they kind have this indie with Afro-pop thing going on

See, if all I had to go by was that description, I would have run screaming from Vampire Weekend. To me, the combination of Afro-pop with indie in theory sounds about as appetizing as dill pickles with peanut butter - which makes it all the more amusing when you hear the music and it actually sounds pretty good.

i just watched "mansard roof" on youtube.

it reminds me of like if the decemberists jammed with one of those italian organ grinder dudes with a monkey, they should wear boater hats that would be pretty sweet.

it's not terrible but damn u all really like this more than "you can call me al"????

the song "a-punk" is a lot better

the main riff reminds me of "time bomb" by rancid

does anyone remember Macha? -- their indie/world music thing seemed a little more interesting to me

And obviously people don't buy records to serve purposes like "I need to hear a fusion of a kind of indie pop with world music," they buy records for purposes like "me and my boyfriend enjoy singing along with this in the car.")

That's why I mentioned the songwriting issue. The Homosexuals make me want to sing out loud, clap along, take their music everywhere I go. It's wonderfully catchy pop. I can't speak for others, but VW's music doesn't inspire me that way. It don't think it's exuberant or catchy or full of life.

Someone mentioned Dave Matthews earlier; I actually think VW doesn't sound that diff from the Samples. In the early to mid 90s, when I was in college, just about every college/hippie mountain town had a quirky pop band that was a mix of They Might Be Giants, a little Phish, and a little world music/reggae. That, to me, is basically what this band does. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it comes off kind of soft.

Seems to me VW use afropop like Kid Creole used funk -- as a frame to contain and propel their singer/songwriterly impulses. Which are mighty formidable for a bunch of 22 year olds. I saw last night's show too. I also saw Talking Heads in '77 and for that matter Paul Simon's Graceland show. And while last night was neither of those, it was an excellent showcase and fwiw the audience seemed to be having a better time than those at either of the more historic events. I stood upstairs where I could pretend to be someone's parent.

It's a longstanding tradition for ny art bands to set musical and stylistic parameters within which they can excel, and then have people wonder how much of their act is real and how much a put-on. Ramones being the obv example. The Ramones were street kids from the outer boroughs, so they made themselves the platonic ideal of that. It's an extension of the idea "write what you know."

I mean, if you don't channel your creativity into some kind of framework, you wind up with the horrible let-it-all-hang-outness of that opening act with the harmonium. Devil something. Speak Of the Devil? Devil In the Details? Devil May Care? I sure didn't.

I stood upstairs where I could pretend to be someone's parent = one of things in that post that makes me go <3

indie anthropologists of the distant future should note that that's a heart

i love music

kill me now

Seems to me VW use afropop like Kid Creole used funk

That's an interesting point. But I think Kid Creole was much more convincing as club music, as a creature of rhythm. That's why I find him more interesting. Then again, I like grooves.

a reason why people might dislike this band is a perceived lack of emotional depth...i.e. the entire album has no sense of pain or struggle, lust or intrigue.

this is a very reasonable response for anyone who doesn't know how to read or understand lyrics

this is some of the worst music ive ever heard.

lol, awesome

a reason why people might dislike this band is a perceived lack of emotional depth...i.e. the entire album has no sense of pain or struggle, lust or intrigue.

this is a very reasonable response for anyone who doesn't know how to read or understand lyrics

ad hoc attacks are cool for people who can't think of anything interesting to say

explain to me to emotional depth of vampire weekend.

learn to read :D

they are way more rusted root than dave matthews

yr a couple months behind me there

*sigh*

there's no debating a vampire weekend fan.

gabbneb was into rusted root before it was cool

they are a little rusted root, a little but .moe

*bit

gabbneb was into rusted root before it was cool

sad but true

fred durst has "emotional depth." so does staind. also, nickelback.

i'll have to refrain from reading this thread or else i will hate this band

oh wait...too late

TS: this vs. the 2008 primaries thread on ILE

http://www.celebrityvalues.com/images/eddie_vedder_295.jpg

It seems perfectly valid to find thing lacking in blood or fire -- I'd disagree with Gabbneb and say that extends to the lyrics, too. They're not a bloody or a fiery group, it's true. (Blood and fire leave stains on blazers.) I suppose I get my blood and fire elsewhere, and come to this for rather different reasons, ranging from sedate joy to less-sedate elan, or something. Given the winter release, it's almost escapist; when spring comes it'll be less so.

But another thing I find interesting about it is that it accidentally winds up confronting what constitutes "blood" and "fire" -- e.g., does eschewing distortion and less-controlled sounds really mean a lack of blood and fire? Not doing these things is a lot of what makes them sound a little different from some of their immediate peers. I don't think they're bloody or fiery in the least, it's true; is part of my interest the fact that they run with that, unselfconsciously, without using the standard musical signifiers that might suggest it to people? This is kind of where the "refreshing" part comes from.

does anyone remember Macha? -- their indie/world music thing seemed a little more interesting to me

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 3:17 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Oh yeah. I saw them live once. "The Nipple Gong" ruled.

Vampire Weekend is music for chicks that work at Urban Outfitters.

I like the idea of a band using a really clean, minimal sound that brings in some cool rhythmic influences into good songs. I just don't like this band's execution very much at all.

I'd disagree with Gabbneb and say that extends to the lyrics, too.

I didn't say they had blood and fire - they're not Metallica or the Indigo Girls - I rejected the premise that "the entire album has no sense of pain or ... lust or intrigue."

Vampire Weekend is music for chicks that work at Urban Outfitters.

lol, California

who ever thought that being inoffensive and well-to-do was ever worth a ticket to stardom?

http://elbo.ws/
http://hypem.com/

I don't listen to much indie rock, but a band who does the above really well = Field Music. They're not jacking afropop obv., but their percussion arrangements are sick.

xp to myself

oh sorry:

Vampire Weekend is music for chicks that work at Urban Outfitters and gabbneb.

how do you not i am not a chick who works at urban outfitters?

sorry again.

i wish gabbneb was a chick that worked at urban outfitters, a lot of them are hot

i'm not available, max, and yr a little kid

youre also not hot

It's a longstanding tradition for ny art bands to set musical and stylistic parameters within which they can excel, and then have people wonder how much of their act is real and how much a put-on. Ramones being the obv example. The Ramones were street kids from the outer boroughs, so they made themselves the platonic ideal of that. It's an extension of the idea "write what you know."

this is right on -- keep in mind i haven't even heard this album yet, but it's clear VW are a band that are easy to argue about, which means there is some crystal clear conceptual work going on (lol "branding"). PREPPIES PLAY THE AFRO-INDIE. << that could be a thread title without this band even existing and the same argument could have happened. an interlocking handful of a few clear ideas: shit, countless thousands of bands never even get that far. i guess i should hear this band.

http://stopthemadrassa.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/orangemedium2.jpg

The Kids Don't Stand a Chance = The Last Waltz Theme?

fred durst has "emotional depth." so does staind. also, nickelback.

-- gabbneb, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 4:52 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Oh, my.

Opeth too

pathos, really

k

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, why does anybody care? It's just inoffensive indie-pop. Have you guys not heard Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin? IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. O_O

Nice, I will def check them. lol, that a funny name too!

rap dudes and conspiracy theorists,

plz feel the internet vibes:

http://internetvibes.blogspot.com/2005/08/vay-kay-blog.html

Since when was blood, fire, and grit all that was good about music?

Note my use of an Oxford Comma there.

WHOO GIVES A FUCK

I think these guys should "interpret" some White Lion cartoons. Or perhaps even "cover" them.

Wait...

they were a New York band too

i think chaki is right

maybe this is the NY band they should be more like?

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/img/music/anthraxman.jpg

We don't have any finished recordings as a full band but Rostam did a sweet techo remix of our first song "Walcott." He also made a nice website for it:

Aww, dead link! Especially since ... mostly speculating, but I'm pretty sure the reason these guys work is that Koenig turns out good indie-pop song, and Batmanglij is the one who can structure and organize them so they have the depth and the movement.

1. Mansard Roof 2:07
2. Ladies of Cambridge 2:45

Single release from this New York indie band with a taste for African sounds and ska. Big noise about them; highly recommended!

description from what.cd lol

wow @ anthrax

nyc can and has done a lot worse than anthrax over the years

that photo is amazing - their style is impeccable - except im not sure why they all need to be wearing hats?

they are just "hat guys"?

how do you go from that to having this fucking thing on yr face :(

http://www.kingsize-usa.com/uploaded_images/Rock-The-Bells.7.29.07.Scott.Matt.Sen-776580.jpg

srsly the most passive aggressive facial hair ever

they have a straight up ska song on the album. i dont see why that description is very "lol."

stfu chak-head

Chaki OTM. There are at least as many third wave ska moments on the album as there are juju ones.

i listened to 'ladies of cambridge'. are all of their songs such fey studenty bullshit?

chutup theres no horns or jumping

wtf are you in denial or something? telling people to stfu for pointing out the obvious? jesus fucking christ.

listened to 'oxford comma', ans: yes.

sry chakhead j/k - but no i dont think its v ska - also i have no idea what 3rd wave ska is

listen to the song "boston" by vampire weekend. that is 3rd wave ska.

but what of the horns and jumping?

they were jumping when they were recording that song. horns are not needed in 3rd wave ska.

but, to make up for it, 4th wave ska is played by the entire brass section of a minor philharmonic

Yes, VW does do some straight up ska, but it's more 2 Tone than anything.

LOL @ jhøshea's idea of ska being solely fueled by the kids who wore JNCO pants at his high school.

its more like 1/2 assed.

its my personal belief that people who know abt the different types of ska should just sit quietly in the corner until called upon

your beliefs are also 1/2 assed.

the people in my high school who were into ska wore little suits and rode around on scooters

did you go to school in japan?

http://us.ent1.yimg.com/images.launch.yahoo.com/000/026/736/26736298.jpg

uuugh

yes that is the type of music your precious vampire weekend play. face it, asshole!

lol chak

wtf are you in denial or something?

A lot of indie kids are these days. They don't want to admit that some of their most fave bands over the last four, five years have much in common with jam band culture, ska, Ween, TMBG, and other frat-hippie classics.

i went to high school w/those very guys there

I don't hear anything ska-ish except very vaguely on, yeah, "Ladies of Cambridge." Call it standard-lowering if you want, but I just appreciate hearing an airy indie-pop record that has as much rhythmic flexibility as they do, the way they can slide from rhythm to rhythm within a song -- like "Bryn," which starts out with 6-beat bars and then drops over into a straight 6/8. (That might be the wrong way to put it.) Which isn't, you know, rocket surgery, but it's a good habit for them to have.

Part of why I don't entirely dig the addition of "I Stand Corrected" is that it skews way further in a building 8th-note Strokes-pop direction; it's a perfectly likable song, but if they wrote like that all the time, I wouldn't be able to listen to them nearly as often.

nabisco you dont hear anything "ska-ish" on the song boston? you are not that dense. fwiw i kind of love Sublime.

listen to the song "boston" by vampire weekend. that is 3rd wave ska.

it's called "ladies of cambridge." it's not on the album.

oh

they renamed it to make it doubly preppy-sounding.

dreaming of boston is a total downer

i live in cambridge so fucking thanks, vampdire weakend.

And "A-Punk" is ska in a Police way.

haha chaki u mad again

boston is way more preppy than cambridge massachusetts which is waht theyre talking abt

I didn't even notice the great line in Bryn until this chick pointed it out - http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2008/01/29/Music/Preppy.Sure.But.Who.Cares-3173537.shtml

max dude DO NOT f w/chakis ska trust me

P.S. QN I don't know many indie kids who would have much problem with Ween and TMBG associations -- I don't know about the really young ones, but those two are standard middle-school / high-school / college listening for plenty of indie non-kids.

Also the "four/five" years bit is weird -- the done thing in the 90s was to call out post-rock for being not THAT different from listening to jam bands or Medeski Martin & Wood or whatever, and the past four/five years have been well past the point where the indie masses turned off on all things Tortoise-like

xpost - yeah Chaki we are talking about the same song, Boston/Cambridge. You could call that kinda ska-ish, sure. I just can't remember hearing that sort of thing anywhere else on this, though -- lemme try and think over it

is it funnier to call a faux mighty mighty bosstones song 'boston' or 'ladies of cambridge'?

def boston

maybe the lyric should have been about 'the middle east'