Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

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

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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