Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

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