Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

i appreciate that my inability to capitalize or use punctuation has led you to believe that i am very stupid though

uk version should be called probotector

it's a cipher you see, it means whatever you want it to mean

IKR u should move to NYC so we can start a band

doesn't ezra's "contra" just mean someone (a girl i assume) who's turned "against" him? but with (glib, irritating) political/historical reference thrown in just for fun.

eh really im asking because i have a halfway take on it but i dont want to embarrass myself by writing a thing and then having someone be all "lol @ u actually a contra is [meaning of slang term]"

surprised he didn't rhyme contra with sriracha to throw in more waspy signifiers

jam bands are kind of boring and vanilla; that is the thing about them. also they don't have "songs" per se, they have "jams"

hey max i think you are smart fwiw : )

i figured u just wanted to show off how much u know about video games ;-)

They've said their use of "contra" denotes someone who's disagreeable and pessimistic.

here i have c&pd the lyrics - noticed it has the word revolution in it - seems like tipsys prob right

I had a feeling once
That you and I
Could tell each other everything
For two months
But even without hope
With truth on our side
When you turn away from me
It's not right

I think you're a Contra
I think you're a Contra
And dear Contra
I think you're a Contra

My revolution thoughts
Live in lies of desire
I wanna trace them to the source
And the wire
But it's not useful now
Since we both made up our minds
You gotta watch out for yourself
So will I

I think you're Contra
I think that you lie
Don't call me Contra
Till you've tried

You wanted good schools
And friends with pools
You're not a Contra
You wanted Rock' n' Roll,
Complete control
Well, I don't know

Never pick sides
Never choose between two
But I just wanted you
Never pick sides
Never choose between two
But I just wanted you

I think you're Contra
I think that you lie
Don't call me Contra
Till you've tried

should have used "debbie downer" instead IMO

jam bands are kind of boring and vanilla; that is the thing about them. also they don't have "songs" per se, they have "jams"

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, January 19, 2010 2:36 AM (1 second ago) Bookmark

so like uh, balearic then?

max i would like to hear your theory

tons of bands that don't have "songs" are rad as shit

lol like balearic + 15 years of guitar lessons

IKR u should move to NYC so we can start a band

― max, Tuesday, January 19, 2010 2:35 AM (2 minutes ago)

nobody ever says "i shud move to the west of ireland so we can start a band"

"Contra" also rhymes with "horchata" in the kind of Dickinson-esque slant rhyme that college grad Ezra Koenig would have studied.

i know matt not having songs was not part of the value judgement

You wanted good schools
And friends with pools
You're not a Contra
You wanted Rock' n' Roll,
Complete control
Well, I don't know

Never pick sides
Never choose between two
But I just wanted you
Never pick sides
Never choose between two
But I just wanted you

eh i dont really have a theory im just interested in these lyrics w/r/t some of the things being bandied about in this thread--class signifiers, privilege, contrarianism/"trolling", "indie rock"

this band would be better if they didn't have songs IMO like were more jammy and didn't have lyrics or singing and had more horns and thumb pianos and buzzy synth shit and had a rad rhythm section and horns and were like super funky and trippy.

like if they were Nomo and not Vampire Weekend.

but Nomo is just band geeks from Michigan and wouldn't be that cool to breakdown on threads like these.

CONTRArianism/"trolling"

It's threads like these that make me wish...Momus was still here. ;_;

nomo has no class signifiers iirc

one other thing that didnt get pointed out when we were all being snotty abt the 96-pt futura bombs lyric upthread is how funnily and gleefully it plays w/ signifiers--i really dig the way that couplet pops up in the song

it also feels a kind of snide little "fuck you" to m.i.a.

what is the m.i.a. reference?

neon design-y war shit

maybe "fuck you" is a little strong--a snide little wink at m.i.a.

is that an example of works being 'in dialogue' with each other

"fuck you" would be too down market

WASPs dont curse, except at the help

if they serve horchatas to contras.

I assumed that in the context of the song "contra" meant a kind of rebel-against-everything, someone who is consciously going about to contradict or oppose all of the received wisdoms they're surrounded by.

So the chorus accusation "I think you're a contra" is kind of saying "I think you're just doing this for its own sake and there's nothing deeper going on".

And then when he starts talking about wanting good schools etc. and says "you're not a contra" he means "in fact you weren't even doing that, not deep down. Ultimately you wanted everything that your parents wanted for you." The rock & roll / complete control couplet to me means "you want it both ways, really" and the "well I don't know" bit means "I don't think that's possible ultimately".

Then the final bit is maybe saying that (back then) the singer would have gone along with whatever position you wanted to take in order to be with you.

tim u r smart

yah tim otm, also all those parts add up to a pretty tite description of a type

It reminds me of what feels to me like a fairly common modern fiction scenario where the male hero is so impressed by his sharp opinionated girlfriend that he just glosses over the inconsistency/superficiality of her positions until she dumps him for some hot rich dude.

Or maybe I'm imagining that this is a common modern fiction scenario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bUFqcDOfiw

nice! the drums on that song are fuckin monstrous

awesome

'horchata' is a catchy song but I don't really like having it in my head

Threads like this make me terrified to write lyrics. You can play a weird chord and no-one will blink, but stick in a few obscure words when you're stuck for a rhyme, and people will ruminate on them and conclude that you like to club baby seals.

guys it's pretty obvious that VW titling their second album after a synonym for "versus" is a nod to Pearl Jam

Giving Up The Glorified G

dope album

do i really need to read this thread? again??

Big feature on VW in the new issue of Relix btw (which gets sent to me in the mail, for some reason, even though I've never written for them.) Not as big as the Drive-By Truckers cover story or Pavement feature, though. (The latter has a sidebar from Trey Anastasio, who says "Pavement was the soundtrack to the second half of the '90s for me.") Also, Jon Pareles's review of VW's New York show in this morning's Times says it was their longest show ever, yet still completely unimprovisatory. Phish fans wouldn't approve of that, right?

longest show ever at 80 minutes.

honestly, a lot more bands would do well to keep their sets that short. when i saw Monsters of Folk play in Boston last fall, they played for an interminable three hours