Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

this fool sounds like a Beltway pundit just back from "Meet the Press."

he's talking balls about 'juno'.

It's like the movie business. Films are here for a weekend or two, then gone.

this is how it always used to be duh. if anything films *hang around* too long "now" thanks to um television, video, dvd.

still he is right that vampire weekend suck.

I know it's a losing battle, but I actually wrote Bob about the Vampire Weekend thing. How he can't respect a band that can emerge from the music industry junk heap is beyond me, but hey, he's still loving that new Eagles album.

I just scanned that whole thing looking for any kind of comment that was actually about Vampire Weekend and/or their music, but I didn't catch any.

I'd forgotten another thing that wound up cut from the Pfork review (I'm bad at word counts): how I'd like to say that the upper-class vibe is somehow irrelevant to their music, but it's not; it's a minor selling point, definitely. I'm not yet sure why this is a problem. I'm not a person who'd ever cut up a goat's head, but if I want to feel a little bit like I am for 30 minutes, I can put on some Mayhem. And while Koenig only sings the phrase "adjust my tie" once on this record, the whole thing does have a sly, urbane, tie-adjusting feel to it. Someone used the word "aspirational" upthread, and yeah: I'm not sure why it would surprising for people to enjoy soaking in a little of that vibe for the length of this record.

it's because rich people are douchebags.

Yeah, that commentary is kind of unfocused and pointless, but I do generally agree with his "this is it?" feeling about them, and I do agree that the changing media landscape seems to have led to a lot of bands being pushed in front of our faces when they could use another 30 minutes in the oven.

xp, lol

REAX: Is the term "prep rock" being thrown around too much in explaining your sound?
EK: It all depends on what they mean by "prep rock." If by "prep" they mean "of or relating to blue and white striped, collared shirts," I'm all for it. That's the kind of bizarre, synaesthetic comparison that I like. If they mean "rock made by people who went to a certain type of American private school," they should re-evaluate. They probably don't even know who the real prep-rockers are. If someone feels strongly that they should know where their favorite bands went to high school, they should start researching.

I do generally agree with his "this is it?" feeling about them

what were you expecting exactly?

I generally agree with my Is This It? feeling about them

^otm

The thing is I can't buy into the aspirational element of Vampire Weekend because I don't find it convincing but I also don't hear a genuinely purposeful sense of irony about it. It's not that I have a problem with high-end brand references and boating, it's that I hear a bunch of kids who sound like they're awkwardly clumping around in their dads' too-big top siders.

I think Lefsetz's problem is that he's looking for 'durable' acts that can generate a career's worth of music. While he's sometimes ahead of the curve on music industry questions, it's evident that his generation really struggles to understand that the future of music is one of uncertainty and chance, with a handful of emergent acts.

but really i think he expected the return of rock 'n' roll from a band named vampire weekend and he got the sperry topsiders of indie rock.

I haven't heard vampire weekend yet, but if he's using Juno as an example of something GREAT that the audience built, then I already don't believe anything else he says.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=E5E1SlBN0jA
This song starts out pretty cool but the vocal is just so amateurish

http://internetvibes.blogspot.com/2005/11/post-hippie-domesticity_11.html

he doesn't say precisely what vibe his parents give off, but one could speculate. my parents just slightly precede the hippie generation, and in any event have never really participated in pop culture, music-wise, but i am well-familiar with the vibe in question.

i could very well be projecting, but my hunch is that at least some of them, koenig especially, have an ironic relationship with this stuff. they encountered it when they went to school with people who are richer than they are, or who are rich for different reasons, or who are where they are to a greater extent because they are rich than because they're intellectually-inclined. why do you assume their parents wear topsiders?

ahahaha that video that hurting posted is like watching michael cera do an impression of vampire weekend

this comparison with nirvana is interesting.. i don't mean the style of course, but attitude to music, idea, freshness.

koenig especially, have an ironic relationship with this stuff. they encountered it when they went to school with people who are richer than they are, or who are rich for different reasons, or who are where they are to a greater extent because they are rich than because they're intellectually-inclined

But semi-privileged kids having an ironic sensibility about even more privileged kids kind of lacks bite.

And the point isn't really whether they are or are not actually privileged and to exactly what degree and whether or not their parents could afford the top boarding school or sent them to Stuyvesant but had private SAT tutors or whatever. It's more that they seem to be striking some kind of pose regarding privilege but I don't find that pose very clear or convincing.

I’ve been listening to the album all weekend, wanting to like it… but, I can’t. My big problem is that it doesn’t seem to have any real urgency or purpose, like the whole thing is too music for people without problems. Part of that is probably the class signifiers, like it’s all just a joke or else a version of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” for people with Italian sofas.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say Vampire Weekend = most reneged on artist of 2009.

perhaps your problem of perception lies in your belief that they are striking a 'pose'

oh come on of course they're striking a pose, in the way that all bands cant help but do. their pose happens to be particularly well calculated and timed, sort of a nanny diaries or gossip girl for boys, and is making people get all in a tizzy taking imaginary sides on imaginary dichotomies like 'style v substance' or 'realness v fakeness' 'sincerity v insincerity' precisely because the pose is so front and center while simultaneously seeming natural and shamless, carefreee. and who doesnt want to feel carefree? i know plenty of people with problems who love VW. i have problems and i dont like them

MO MONEY MO PROBLEMZ

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the living fuck does any of that mean

don't trust rich people in Topsiders and no socks.

their songs are not good ok?

Spinning it for the last few days in the car and quite like it. Certainly not a world-changer but exceedingly pleasant. Backlash seems quite out-of-place for the content.

what? 14 hours and no new post for this thread?the hype is over?!
anyway, beside strokes,paul simon,talking heads and spoon, i hear a lot of "raincoats" on this album, and i like it.(and i don't mean on the lyrics of "a punk")

Actually, a bit what Zaxxon said, though in this case I was in someone's car listening to it yesterday. I don't think I'll need to hear it again but it was what it was.

i like tha fact that they don't try to impress the listener.
or at least thats what i feel.
as oppose to many of the recent years "hype" bands.

backlash isn't against bands, it's against hype

(most of the time)

If bands are "important" to the degree that people pay attention, then Vampire Weekend are important, at least for the moment. MSM is obsessed with the internet, and music blogs are obsessed with first-posting the indie-pop flavor of the week. That makes this kind of flashmob pigpile unsurprising, especially if the band is actually likely to sell. It's not hype; it's simultaneous head-turning.

Anyway, I don't think this band even exists. Vampire Weekend are taking place entirely withing SFJ's head, as he settles some sort of bet with himself.

My first exposure to this band was their appearance on Letterman.
I flipped it on about a minute after it had started. I guessed that it was Vampire Weekend and waited around til the end of their performance to see if I was right. Dave seemed to like them a lot, I wasn't really impressed.

Dave has impeccable taste. Their Letterman performance wasn't the best.

There was actually some moment in the mid-90s where I realized that while TV sound is always bad, Letterman's is somehow even worse; you'd think VW would be would be pretty easy to handle, sound-wise, but the bass seemed to get lost on this one. TV exposes their youngness and newness, too -- they're not the kind of band that's going to come across very commanding.

I kind of feel bad for bands, hinging promotional efforts on TV appearances -- it's a pretty awkward format for making first impressions!

yeah, everyone sounds shitty on Letterman

Sound was definitely thin. I was pleased that I correctly guessed who it was after only reading about them, though.

#22 on the UK charts NOT BAD

Christgau on Shepherd on Vampire Weekend.

Aaaaand... go.

haha

Summarized thusly: "If you're going to pick on VW (a) know your referents; (b) don't question their socio-political motivations."

oh no! being read by xgau! oh no!

I was about to say I promise to stop harping on VW as shitty afropop as that's obviously not what they're going for/people are getting out of it, but then xgau had to go and remind us the band calls their sound "Upper West Side Soweto" so nuts to that.

if people are digging VW as a brighter Shins or Nu-Hoboken or whatever, swellsville, but obv the band hasn't picked up on that.

Anthony you have no idea of the struggles we face every day in Morningside Heights, me and Vampire Weekend and Nellie McKay

No but seriously, here is one spot where we can agree completely: it would definitely not behoove this band to start thinking that Africa is their selling point, or that they need to approach African music more, or more authentically.

it would definitely not behoove this band to start thinking that Africa is their selling point

but don't they already?!