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gross

― all-seeing eye of horus (psychgawsple), Monday, February 16, 2009 10:11 PM (36 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think VW were my #3 - it's a basically flawless album

It bested Badu by 33 points? Unexpected.

Matt, I haven't given VW a fair hearing. I might have to now. After I've finished the GGD second run-through. And maybe listened to Erykah.

i will say that vampire weekend really makes you appreciate the electrodribble by comparison

Lex c'mon this is classic sympathetic interpretation. You could just as easily say that "I know how you feel" is condescending in its assumption that she understands everything that other people go through.

except when you listen to how she sings that line, you wouldn't say this at all - she's not singing it as a statement of solidarity, it's just in a sympathetic "i've been there too" sort of way. it's like lauryn hill's "don't think i haven't been in the same predicament" on 'doo wop (that thing)'.

I'm a little deflated that Vampire Weekend didn't make #1, I was looking forward to seeing Lex and LJ going apoplectic with rage.

Oh I don't think The Lex is going to be pleased it beat Erykah Badu.
xxxxx-post hah

It bested Badu by 33 points? Unexpected.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, February 16, 2009 10:14 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i take solace in badu beating it in points-per-voter

I got tired of arguing the merits of the VW album to its detractors around June of last year, so I'll just say I'm happy to see it show up at #5 (expected it to be lower).

like i think i said before, v.w. remind of they might be giants with weaker tunes and worse jokes.

remind me of...

I mean, as a piece I think Saint Dymphna pretty much perfect, there's hardly anything I'd change, even the sections where nothing much happens. But at ther same time what I especially love is the little hooks and segments and refrains, like the guitar at the end of Desert Storm, that threaten to expand into entire tracks but never do. It's like it's full of unexplored possibilies that, if they'd jammed them out, would have seen the album take on a different but no less excellent shape.

^^^this was Matt DC before he deleted it

It works really nicely as a piece, especially from the midsection onwards, and the segues, although they shine briefly, have an almost necessary brevity to them; sure, there are lots of unexplored possibilities, but they ensure that the shockwaves from each section resound beyond their own lifespan, and they do this through strong narrative grasp. The thing flows superbly.

I'm not a big fan of the VW album, but it is at worst inoffensive. I think they left their best song of it (Boston aka Ladies of Cambridge). I'll be interested to see where they go from here, even though I don't "get" them yet.

I don't know what's more painful, Fleet Foxes just beating The American Dream or Vampire Weekend doing the same with FATBE​LLYBE​LLA.

"except when you listen to how she sings that line, you wouldn't say this at all - she's not singing it as a statement of solidarity, it's just in a sympathetic "i've been there too" sort of way. it's like lauryn hill's "don't think i haven't been in the same predicament" on 'doo wop (that thing)'."

Yeah well this is the more convincing statement. But this is the way to look at it, or at least it is for me. I think that Erykah's lyrics aren't so developed that you can win arguments based on lyrical exposition alone; just stating the lyrics doesn't clearly differentiate her from India.Arie or whoever. Then again I have a knee-jerk suspicion of stuff with lyrics that politically i might agree with, because usually it just makes me doubt and even hate my own politics. The stuff that I end up liking in spite of this is always in spite of the point of the lyrics; it comes down to performance or phrasing or lyrical style (as opposed to meaning).

FTR I don't think the album comes off preachy mostly because I come away with no idea what Erykah's trying to get across whatsoever (which I could never say for the pious broadsheet writers).

^^^this was Matt DC before he deleted it

Heh, I thought I'd hold that quote over until the album actually places, but what the hell, I've put it back now.

Two of my top three picks are yet to place, I'm either going to be overjoyed or pissed off.

I'm not a big fan of the VW album, but it is at worst inoffensive.

i'm sorry but can we not call an album that adopts the music of the impoverished and then throws like a jillion upper class-signifiers into the lyrics 'inoffensive'. also, that gd northwest/ivy league accentuation the vocalist uses is offensive enough even if you ignore any of the potential social implications.

i mean, i just plain don't like their music, but doesn't it bother anyone else that they MARKET the fact that they are ivy league kids?

what I especially love is the little hooks and segments and refrains, like the guitar at the end of Desert Storm, that threaten to expand into entire tracks but never do.

otm, and i feel like i find new ones every time i listen. or maybe it's just that there's so many little eddies in the flow that i keep forgetting them until i hear them again.

the trouble with the vampire weekend is that it executes its basic concept to a tee, and that its basic concept ("hey, what do you think afrobeat's lacking? i know, a white indie boy vocalist!" UGH) is totally reprehensible. the vocalist - i refuse to call him a singer - the vocalist's strangulated yelp might be the single worst sound that a human voicebox can make.

also i checked out some of that paul simon album in the wake of all the comparisons and LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL, basically. i can't imagine why anyone wouldn't just want to hear graceland instead.

can we please not have this argument again? please please please please please please please please please please

i'm sorry but can we not call an album that adopts the music of the impoverished and then throws like a jillion upper class-signifiers into the lyrics 'inoffensive'.

By this standard, no rock music would even exist.

at least not without the input of burt_stanton

Then again I have a knee-jerk suspicion of stuff with lyrics that politically i might agree with, because usually it just makes me doubt and even hate my own politics.

i am much the same, which is why NA was so mind-blowing for me! fyi the original argument was here

^^^heard one song from this, it was really really really really really boring

Considering that like, yesterday, on this thread you’d never heard of the band and then reacted to a song someone posted from the second album, we can note this as a well-considered pronouncement

(the album is indeed full of really boring songs, but fuck, ban l____ j_____)

8 zillion xposts cos this shit goes too fast

By this standard, no rock music would even exist.

would that it were so

apart from the yeah yeah yeahs

brilliant argument sir

xxp

"i mean, i just plain don't like their music, but doesn't it bother anyone else that they MARKET the fact that they are ivy league kids?"

What should they do instead? (genuine not-baiting question) Wouldn't Ivy League kids be kind of damned regardless?

I don't think this album sounds nearly as much like afrobeat (!) or even African guitar pop as people always say. I'm not sure if this is good or bad.

adopts the music of the impoverished and then throws like a jillion upper class-signifiers into the lyrics

"hey, what do you think afrobeat's lacking? i know, a white indie boy vocalist!"

I was going to say that anyone making the straight jump from afrobeat to Vampire Weekend is missing a few crucial steps along the way but then I remembered that my life is too short to argue about race, class and Vampire Weekend on the internet, which is why I never clicked on that thread again after January 2008.

Or what Tim said.

nobody has been this blatant about it in the past, johnny fever.

and yeah, i'll give it up. i haven't bothered to peruse the band's thread yet, so i'm in the dark about the lengths to which this has been discussed already

Yeah, the afrobeat influence is severely overemphasized by those critiquing it. Not by the music itself.

i think the VW defenders' tactic is usually to talk about how boring it would be to argue about race, class etc, as a means of avoiding the central issue, which is that DUDE. CANNOT. SING. AT ALL. his voice is just a horrible, horrible sound.

When you're given a song to listen to on an album thread by a band whose album is predicted to place, it's a fair assumption that the song is on that album. It's also fair to say that one is allowed to comment on the song based upon one's reaction to it. In other words, stfu.

so if they aren't aping afro pop what are they aping?

i mean it's just one influence but it is a strong one.

also- many bands come from upperclass backgrounds and do not name a song 'cape cod kwassa kwassa'

After Clap Your Hands blew up a few years ago, ANY indie band singer who can stay close to pitch is palatable.

Considering that like, yesterday, on this thread you’d never heard of the band and then reacted to a song someone posted from the second album, we can note this as a well-considered pronouncement

(the album is indeed full of really boring songs, but fuck, ban l____ j_____)

I mean, this is some of the most pompous BS that anyone's ever aimed my way here

(I had heard of them btw, in passing)

many bands come from upperclass backgrounds and do not name a song 'cape cod kwassa kwassa'

They didn't name that song, they stole it off the underpaid African roadie who really wrote it.

xxxpost - That's a stronger argument - I thought you were saying that it was offensive point blank that they were marketing themselves as Ivy League kids.

After Clap Your Hands blew up a few years ago

Thank fuck they've deflated by now. Horrible band.

I called it inoffensive because it is sonically so; if it doesn't grab my ear I'm not going to listen closer to be offended by appropriation or marketing or what-have-you.

Are you equally offended by Talking Heads, or Peter Gabriel or the Stones for, as was said, "By this standard, no rock music would even exist?"

Many (and yet not so) x-posts

So what if they named a song Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and it has non-western rhythms? Seriously, so what.

Vampire Weekend are as closely associated with the music of impoverished Africa as Led Zeppelin were to brokedown Mississippi blues...which is to say, not very close. It's a building block in an entirely different structure.

i think the VW defenders' tactic is usually to talk about how boring it would be to argue about race, class etc, as a means of avoiding the central issue, which is that DUDE. CANNOT. SING. AT ALL. his voice is just a horrible, horrible sound.

― lex pretend, Monday, February 16, 2009 4:34 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

lex this is far from the central issue, tho i am interested in knowing which indie bands, that you dislike, you think have "good" singers

Are you really interested?

i don't like the way he sings like shit, whereas i like the way other people sound sing like shit.

vampire weekend on the whole is fucking PANTS

i'm ready for number 4 - then let the top 3 predictions begin

lex this is far from the central issue, tho i am interested in knowing which indie bands, that you dislike, you think have "good" singers

elbow, for one - incredibly boring and bad but dude can definitely sing. um, manic street preachers? obv i dislike them v much but his voice is good.

the vocals are weak, but let's not forget the uh lyrics. "bryn" is some sub-max tundra shit.

i'm sorry but can we not call an album that adopts the music of the impoverished and then throws like a jillion upper class-signifiers into the lyrics 'inoffensive'. also, that gd northwest/ivy league accentuation the vocalist uses is offensive enough even if you ignore any of the potential social implications.

i mean, i just plain don't like their music, but doesn't it bother anyone else that they MARKET the fact that they are ivy league kids?

― all-seeing eye of horus (psychgawsple), Monday, February 16, 2009 5:27 PM (5 minutes ago)

yeah i have to go to a meeting so i'll have to see where this retarded argument goes but there's just so many levels of rong and point-missing in this statement that i pity the people who are going to have to deconstruct it.

wow xposts