i'm waiting for my very own sufjan type singer who bases each of his albums on a different Louis Auchincloss novel.
meanwhile i didn't even know that Louis had died! R.I.P. Louis. I love you big time. (just coming in on the newswire.)
i should start an ILB thread for him.
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Alfred, your time is now.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
personally would love to hear VW cover Fuck Like a Beast
x-post
― The Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 1 February 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
i wrote an AMAZING review of the Rushmore Soundtrack for the rolling stone album guide. i wish you could all read it. i think they ended up not printing it. i go into the whole hidey-hole salinger prep school worldview. one of my better reviews.
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Riding the wind, forever on a bar tab.
The Decembrists got there before me.
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 February 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Alfred, your time to do something ten million times better than the fucking Decembrists can ever goddamn dream of is now.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:25 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm skeptical of the magnitude of the "appropriation" happening here, because so far as I can tell, there are basically two very small, common things this band has picked up on in African/Caribbean music and figured out how to apply to indie pop:
1. That clean guitar tone, and the idea that you can use guitar as a melodic/harmonic instrument. Most bands like them build everything up from rhythm guitar chords; guitar is the spine of everything. VW figured out how not to do that -- their guitar is all one-note lines and double-stops, and it never takes up much space.
2. The idea that you can have a "guitar" band without rock drumming. You can use lots of different rhythms and play them sorta light and distant -- more like percussion than rock drumming.
Those seem like the two big inspirations taken, and they're both things that make them put together their songs in a way that's pretty different from the vast majority of indie bands with guitars. Both of those things are more like "useful concepts" than really trying to imitate African or Caribbean music. (On the few occasions that they really try to imitate, it can be kinda embarrassing! Like those "Blake's got a new face" backing vocals.)
DISCLAIMER: My earliest experiences of music involved my dad going back and forth between east-African folk records and A Flock of Seagulls, so I may be warped in some way that makes this stuff seem more normal than it is.
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Monday, 1 February 2010 20:27 (fourteen years ago) link
didn't see your R.I.P. thread, alfred! just started one on ilb. nobody will care there either.
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
the woodentops will never die. apparently.
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:30 (fourteen years ago) link
ok who's turn is it?
― plaxico (I know, right?), Monday, 1 February 2010 20:30 (fourteen years ago) link
I remember dude from WASP was asked if he wrote his own songs and he said, "shit no, i can barely read"
― zvookster, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Ezra Koenig in 2013:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7UG2IghngM
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:32 (fourteen years ago) link
i wouldn't even mind if they covered penelope tree. they should have at it. another good b-side idea. that's how generous i'm feeling right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFxbgdkD9i8
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
they will NEVER be as great as this, but that's okay! at least they're fucking trying! what the fuck have you done? (sorry, i always resort to minor threat lyrics when i've had too much coffee.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ouBnu9AQcU
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:35 (fourteen years ago) link
CAUTION: POLITICALLY INCORRECT TRIBAL RHYTHMS AND JUNGLE NOISES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9zfNlV_Fio
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:38 (fourteen years ago) link
(morrissey was soooooooooo taking notes when that album came out...)
Ever read this, Scott?:
Frontman Bid's arch vocals gave the band a wonderful camp quality, and it was probably his lyrical smarts that alerted a young Morrissey to their presence; they were even one of his favourite groups before he formed the Smiths. Johnny Marr recalls first meeting Morrissey and flicking through his singles collection that Morrissey had whittled down to just 10 seven-inchs. Along with some girl groups and T-Rex, were the Monochrome Set. This must have impressed Marr, because they too were one of his favourite bands.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:40 (fourteen years ago) link
i never read actual confirmation before! you can totally tell though. it's very obvious.
― scott seward, Monday, 1 February 2010 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Read The Embezzler; I just did.
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 February 2010 20:47 (fourteen years ago) link
i never thought of the 'blakes got a new face's as a caribean/african/whatever thing, seemed more like a standard pop music vocal trick thing to me. there aren't (as m)any of those goofy amateurish moments on 'contra' and i kind of miss em. on s/t it was like they sent it off into the world before they had time to comb it over, this one's maybe been scrubbed a bit too clean.
― samosa gibreel, Monday, 1 February 2010 21:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Really? I don't think it's atrocious, or anything, but those group backing vocals on "Blake" feel to me like they're starting to replicate a kind of west-African harmony singing, which ... that's one point where certain sensors start triggering. Being a new-wave / indiepop group that learned a few neat tricks from elsewhere -- that's great. Trying to provide what "elsewhere" provides -- not so much. But yeah, that's sort of the last time -- maybe the only time -- I've felt like they stepped on that line.
― oɔsıqɐu (nabisco), Monday, 1 February 2010 21:46 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah but those vocals are great on the little break near the end when there's the coughing noise so
― plaxico (I know, right?), Monday, 1 February 2010 21:48 (fourteen years ago) link
to me it sounds like those chirpy bird-like doowop harmonies. haven't heard very much west african harmony singing though, so i'm probably just wrong. tbh i probably cringed first time i heard it, too, but now it's one of my favourite bits. i like it went bands make innocent little mistakes, or risk sounding silly.
― samosa gibreel, Monday, 1 February 2010 21:53 (fourteen years ago) link
ecuador with ac wher u from btw?
Waterford - home of Brendan Bowyer, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Val Doonican, and half of late 60's art-rock pioneers Nirvana.
― ecuador_with_a_c, Monday, 1 February 2010 21:57 (fourteen years ago) link
ah ok i didn't know ur were irish and then u said some things
― plaxico (I know, right?), Monday, 1 February 2010 22:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I just bought Contra because of this thread and I am very happy with it.
― PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! (HI DERE), Monday, 1 February 2010 23:00 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah a lot of lex's argument falls down for me here bc i like this album so much that it cant suck as much ass as he keeps tryna tell me?
― plaxico (I know, right?), Monday, 1 February 2010 23:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Lex's argument is basically the inverse of that - I think basically a lot of this argument comes down to "ultimately all of the things you are saying are good/bad about this music can also be considered bad/good if you'd only share the same basic attitude towards it that I do."
There's no knock-out argument that is gonna make half the people here suddenly say, "woah, you are right, this was amazing/terrible all along, how could I be so blind and foolish??!?!"
― Tim F, Monday, 1 February 2010 23:18 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i meant exactly what u said i was just joshin tho
― plaxico (I know, right?), Monday, 1 February 2010 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah obv - i'm a bit humorless tho so like to spell things out.
― Tim F, Monday, 1 February 2010 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
u r awesome tho
― plaxico (I know, right?), Monday, 1 February 2010 23:29 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N7abHPqTgo
― velko, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link
So these guys could use a stronger singer but they don't really need one. Not entirely convinced I want to hear some of these songs live (imagine missing that super-convoluted melody on "Horchata" and the trainwreck that would follow, yikes) but ultimately these guys are one of the few early-80s-thru-00s-prism bands I've heard that I've found instantly appealing.
― PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nPPAiDK_BA
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 17:29 (fourteen years ago) link
btw I HATED this song in November, but live performances like this made me notice how well they handle the convoluted melody (and Koenig handles the shouty part well).
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
ha, I am more bothered by how out of tune the backup vocals get than I am by the lead singer
this dude isn't my favorite new vocalist or anything but he certainly knows how to write for his own voice
― PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! PIES! (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 17:40 (fourteen years ago) link
That SFJ article on Brighten the Corners is apt. Pavement did often deploy signifiers of upper-middle class privilege in their lyrics (which were at least as abstruse and literary as Vampire Weekend's). They made the class connection quite explicit in "You Are a Light", off their following album. Malkmus sings about a university exchange program: "Senior year abroad/I ripped the pea out of the pod/In store for three months of exile in Spain/Where was the danger?" and then rhapsodizes about a fast car: "I drive a stick. Gotta love it. Automatic/Everybody's gotta ride in something". That last line especially, with its languid wistfulness and self-aware irony, is proto-VW.
― o. nate, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 19:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Have not read this yet, but there's an interview up on PopMatters:
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/119497-the-kids-dont-stand-a-chance-an-interview-with-vampire-weekend/
― ksh, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:00 (fourteen years ago) link
The interview's with their drummer, actually.
― ksh, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Hearing them today (in the background at Borders) made me think that the Graceland comparisons weren't just facile, but that both really do contrast the average-white-guy voice with the instrumentation.
― rogue whizzing (Eazy), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, I’d never played drums in a band before this (Laughs). That was because, the first couple of practices we had I was supposed to play guitar. But we kinda couldn’t find a drummer and I could kinda play, so I thought I’d try and do something.
I hope I play parts that are fairly unique. But at the same time ... I don’t really know what I’m doing, in some respects.
― velko, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Awesome!
― Blue Fucks Like Ben Nelson (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 22:53 (fourteen years ago) link
drumming for me in general is like... a huge plus if it's AMAZING (like say, on the first bloc party album) but otherwise rudimentary drumming doesn't bother me at all. i guess i think of spoon who doesn't have a great drummer but mics their drums well and gets great sounds, which is cool.
― ratface killah (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:30 (fourteen years ago) link
that live version is great -- & ezra is wearing sneakers
― ratface killah (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:34 (fourteen years ago) link
a lot of people and drummers think jim eno is an excellent drummer though
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:34 (fourteen years ago) link
i probably don't know shit about drumming idk -- i can't think of any spoon song where i'm like "holy shit the drumming!"
― ratface killah (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:36 (fourteen years ago) link
i think a lot of it is how well he blends into the songs and how he really lives by the band's commitment to minimalism and economy in his drum parts. like there's nothing "complicated" about the drum part on "the way we get by" for example but i can remember every single fill he plays in that song.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:38 (fourteen years ago) link
i think spoon's drumming is impressive to me because the band as a whole seems so drilled-down. britt daniel doesn't do much on guitar either but they do a lot of rhythmic interplay with simple elements. it's a more-than-sum thing
― goole, Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link
i guess when i said "not great" i meant "very economic and tight"
― ratface killah (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 23:39 (fourteen years ago) link