Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Harmony Hall piano sounds like The Charlatans’ “Just When You’re Thinking Things Over”.

Stranger is straight fleetwood mac to me

same

Isn't the Harmony Hall the same samba-like piano that has been on a bunch of songs since Sympathy for the Devil?

it reminds me of screamadelica

Stranger is def Fleetwood Mac, and the overall sonics of the album owe more than a little to Lindsey Buckingham.

otm brad. not the piano per se, but harmony hall also reminds me quite a bit of touch of grey, prob because they're in the same key.

Now with not only Danielle but the whole Haim !
https://youtu.be/Sub9jldNejc

only one listen in - the album opens with a great run up until "Married in a Gold Rush", after which it's more spotty. many of these songs seem surprisingly straightforward, without the knottiness that their previous albums had (I guess as Ezra has talked about), and I wonder if it will hold up to repeated listens because of that. but it was an enjoyable first listen certainly

and yes that piano on HH sounds like "Sympathy for the Devil", "Just When You're Thinking Things Over", "Freedom '90", and "Loaded" because all those songs basically use the same piano pattern

Stranger is complete Fleetwood Mac. Seems weird to be hidden so far at the back, absolutely love the sax in it.

The arrangement of Jerusalem, New York, Berlin makes me excited for the live arrangements of the shorter songs... but I'm a bit iffy on Ezra's voice in most of the live clips I've seen so far.

they've been doing a version of big blue that's 5 minutes and a version of 2021 that's approaching 7 lol

but I'm a bit iffy on Ezra's voice in most of the live clips I've seen so far.

yes, I thought the same thing. It's very weak/borderline off.
And someone mentioned their rhythm section upthread and it's also pretty weak in these live clips. The songs never really take off (which is a shame with 2 drummers !).

Anyway, after a week of listening to this a lot, I think my top 5 would be :
HH
This Life
Gold rush
Flower Moon
Jerusalem

yes, I thought the same thing. It's very weak/borderline off.
And someone mentioned their rhythm section upthread and it's also pretty weak in these live clips. The songs never really take off (which is a shame with 2 drummers !).

― AlXTC from Paris, F

Wow. To my ears he's never sounded clearer and stronger than in that "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" clip.

The songs never really take off (which is a shame with 2 drummers !).

― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, May 10, 2019 3:58 AM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they really are embracing 80s Grateful Dead!

Eheh, that kind of sets with gazillion guys on stage (2 drummers ! 3 keyboards ! 12 guitarists ! 1 triangle !) remind me of 80s/90s superstars extravaganza lame performances by people like Phil Collins, McCartney, Sting, etc...

Maybe Ezra is ready for a headband on stage...
oh wait !

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/94/a5/dc/94a5dc66e53835babe343bcc922bebde--ezra-koenig-vampire-weekend.jpg

Wow. To my ears he's never sounded clearer and stronger than in that "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" clip.

eh. I don't know it sounds very thin and shaky to me, not exactly in key.

I mean in pitch !

I thought of the Expanded Heads and it works beautifully.

He’s never been a great live singer tbh

I saw them once circa Contra and thought they were not a great live band. (Though I also was not a fan in general, so that didn't help.) But I love the large band in that Kimmel clip and the way they expand the song at the end. Would totally go see that.

For me, whatever constitutes VW on this album and tour is way more interesting than previous incarnations. But since I didn't really like them before, it doesn't surprise me that some people who did don't like this version.

Or Fallon clip, I mean. Get my Jimmys mixed up.

Fascinating. I've seen them twice and they were tight as hell, especially performing the Contra material when I expected horrors.

saw them headline a festival a couple years after MVOTC and I thought they were surprisingly well-suited to the moment. helps that they have so many tunes.

they've been doing a version of big blue that's 5 minutes and a version of 2021 that's approaching 7 lol

― ufo, Friday, May 10, 2019 4:33 AM (seventeen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fuck me up

Shout out to Ezra in the headband. Hope we get a Walk of Life cover soon.

fuck me up

― k3vin k.

those fallon performances rule

I'm never entirely convinced about the whole band as a live band. I think there was an element of them leaving a lot to Rostam and because they had a "no noodling" rule the arrangements were very tight and dependent on sequenced stuff I think it stifles the feel of a live band.

I really dig those new arrangements and I do think the mix could be somewhat to blame on the Fallon ones, but This Life just doesn't seem to have the same swing as the recording.

I've only ever seen them in a festival setting — and seems like that's the only place I'll ever see them at this rate — but it definitely work at that size where everything's a bit smushier sonically.

Jokerman ! Great cover.

https://youtu.be/89w8npePkVc

Re: « stranger » being a FM song, otm.
I can almost hear Buckingham !

headbands, dang, this is getting to be War on Drugs for post-grads

Fascinating. I've seen them twice and they were tight as hell, especially performing the Contra material when I expected horrors.

If you put an “up” in front of tight, that would tally with my experience. What I got from it was a lot of energy but not much motion, if that makes sense. An engine revving in neutral.

i love this band

i know i shouldn’t care but i don’t care for this little piece of writerly flair in mike powell’s review

Now we have Father of the Bride—a looser, broader album than Modern Vampires, the great sigh after a long holding of breath. There are still moments of conflict, but in general, you get the sense the band is just relieved to have run the gauntlet of their existential doubts and come out relatively unscathed, grateful to be here. A glass of wine? Why not. Make it white, and if you’ve got it, a little ice.

i also disagree with the characterization of modern vampires as anxious and haunted. it sounds incredibly calm and self-assured to me, slightly detached. it’s cool that ppl can hear such different things in it tho :) listening ‘hannah hunt’ feels like an entire movie

I wrote a few things.

curious if scottpgwp has come around to this yet. i felt bad for him and his gf reading that post upthread lol. i love nearly all of the album now. no idea if it’s their worst (maybe bottom 2 would be this and contra?) it has their worst songs, but also many of their best, and i love the way ezras songwriting has matured, anyways i can’t even remotely rank their albums just love them all so much

really good writing alfred

It's their worst, but I like it too.

thanks!

I've re-listened to all their records over the past week and while I really like this one, it's probably my least favorite. it's also their most sprawling and weird, so maybe this will be their wowee zowee and it'll end up being my favorite.

modern vampires > contra > VW > father of the bride

I tried going back and listening to the earlier ones to see if my appreciation of this one would make me like them more, but no such luck. They still seem airless, itchy and precious to me. I like a few individual tracks on each but can't tolerate them in toto, whereas I've had the new one on repeat all week. So ... yvwmmv.

now that I've had a couple more listens to digest this album, atm I'd put them Contra < VW = FOTB < MVOTC. several highlights, and it's cool to have a sprawling album where the quality is this high. "Sympathy" is the only track that I can't get into

"Bambina" would have been high on my Under 2-minutes ballot had it been released when we did that poll

you get the sense the band is just relieved to have run the gauntlet of their existential doubts and come out relatively unscathed, grateful to be here.

This is a.... weird take on an album that has "Harmony Hall" on it

after much deliberation, i've decided i like 'rich man'. that is all.

you get the sense the band is just relieved to have run the gauntlet of their existential doubts and come out relatively unscathed, grateful to be here.

This is a.... weird take on an album that has "Harmony Hall" on it

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Sunday, May 12, 2019 8:07 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah but all the existential dread is so artfully woven in with the whole headbands and tevas lolz that i think this really is what a lot of people get out of it, and want out of it, sighing about how the world -- or, a world, certainly not everyone's world -- is fucked, over an iced white wine. they really do foreground the easy-breezy aspect of their lives both in their art and its accoutrements, so for people to have that as their prime source of enjoyment for VW doesn't seem very surprising