Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

The thing is, it doesn't matter that these kids aren't rich industry babies like The Strokes, the fact is they're worse than The Strokes, because they have the unmitigated gaul to reject the low drone of the proletariat.

http://embedded.eecs.berkeley.edu/Alumni/mehrotra/images/asterix.jpg

^^^
unmitigated gaul

They should cover some Liberaci

Burt is so CUTE and HILARIOUS

Vampire Weekend are flash-in-the-pan capitalist running dogs

One's perfectly valid subjective impressions are one's own perfectly valid subjective impressions, but when I see people write things like "I saw this band play a song about a bus on TV and I got an overwhelming sense of their smug entitlement," I cannot help but conclude that some small level of projection is going on.

I should phrase this as a question, though: is the feeling that they should act more serious, or look like they're trying harder?

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/03/vampire_weekends_snl_appearance.html

a lot of hype. more like VW = TV on the Radio

nabisco, I assume you mean projection not in the freudian sense, but in the sense of seeing something that isn't there? one person's smug is another person's self-confidence perhaps?

I'm not suggeting the band should be more serious or look like they're trying harder. the latter's a weird one... who thinks a band should look like they're trying?

I don't have the stomach to go back and rewatch their performance, but if a band's wide-eyed exuberance isn't contagious and/or convincing they are going to appear misguided at the least. maybe it *was* the sweaters.

one person's smug is another person's self-confidence perhaps?

normally i'd agree, but what struck me about their snl performance was that it wasn't the least bit self-confident. they appeared deeply frightened, and tremendously smug. i have to say, i've never seen anyone pull that off before.

U-Haul OTM right down to the "band is pretty good and brings out the doctrinaire rockist in their detractors"

OTOH I really like Hurting 2's suggestion that people bring Chairman Mao outta mothballs to really teach those privileged VW dudes a lesson or two about what's real

I wonder if the people who dislike VW for their socioeconomic posturing have the same feeling towards a filmmaker like Wes Anderson, who also tells stories from the perspective of the young and privileged.

film is a way different medium, with way different memes than rock. there weren't old blues directors and screen play writers crafting stories about being hopelessly broke. and then there's the whole punk rock thing and its roots in socialist situationist propaganda. that's what i think rubs people the wrong way. plus a lot of indie rock seems based on resentment about and making fun of success. plus maybe vw suck. haven't heard them

I hope I'm making clear that I don't dislike them BECAUSE they're privileged and making rock music. I more just feel like they lack guts, and that I not only feel that in the music, but in the way they present this sort of confused, uncertain picture of themselves by getting on stage in clothing that looks preppie but isn't especially nice or stylish.

I liked Darjeeling Limited, and that film obviously had a lot to do with privilege. I thought it made astute class observations without seeming snipey or hypercritical or didactic. It's partly about luxury and freedom softening the edges of grief without getting to the heart of it.

film is a way different medium, with way different memes than rock

I think I kind of see what you're getting at. Rock music came out of popular forms that arose from the less privileged segments of society, and its early stars were people who faced racial as well as economic prejudice - Chuck Berry, Elvis (the son of a truck driver), and so forth. Like blues, folk, R&B, gospel and country, forms that influenced and shaped it, it has roots in a salt-of-the-earth ideal of authenticity, one that finds nobility and honesty in suffering and poverty and the plight of the common man.

It's been kind of a dirty little secret of rock music since its early years that many of its most popular and famous artists have come from more advantaged backgrounds, but it's considered de rigeur for these stars to downplay if not conceal their origins and affect a more common touch. (There are countless examples: Mick Jagger came from a middle-class British background, but affected a Southern American accent and sung tales of a more louche and declasse experience; Bob Dylan came from a middle-class Minnesota background, but in his early days often spun tall tales about his background, to portray a much earthier and less privileged past). All this is quite different from the milieu and image of Hollywood, whose stars have always aspired to a kind of faux-aristocratic hauteur.

Way different memes, maaaan

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:A15TBoamUP-HAM:http://vbcroadrunners.com/db2/00171/vbcroadrunners.com/_uimages/Roadrunner2.jpg
"meme!"

vampire weekend could look better. the polo shirts they wear could be slightly more crisp and have more vibrant colors. i also find myself very disappointed by the way their jeans fit too. they're cut too long, thus causing the legs to bunch up near the ankle. it's like they're not even trying. because of this, i question their music

Hurting thinks they lack guts

They're obviously just going with the music-blogger flow

I wonder if the people who dislike VW for their socioeconomic posturing have the same feeling towards a filmmaker like Wes Anderson, who also tells stories from the perspective of the young and privileged.

-- o. nate, Wednesday, 12 March 2008 14:58 (45 minutes ago) Link

wes anderson's career is a pattern of diminishing returns for me. but I like shakespeare, whit stillman, and kieslowski's blue, so I don't think privilege-hatin' is my problem.

lawrence the looter makes an interesting observation about the disconnect in vampire weekend's delivery.

in the interest of science I tried to listen to their cdr yesterday but could only get through 2 songs. no repulsion, just disinterest. maybe I should hear the cd?

"spanish ways to roll along" (?A!!!A@)

i like the single, but in a quirky-one-hit-curiosity way, not a paradigm-fucking seachange omg wau way.

anyway they remind me a little of a cool fresno band called rademacher, who aren't yet polished enough to be anywhere near as famous as VW, and may not want to be.

lol, they make the News Hour

the new vampire hands record blows this shit out of the water if yr looking for vampire rock

lol microgenres

r&b trend poll

6/10

4/4

naw, you ain't heard the new Jahiem song in 6/10 time? Shit is crazy.

every time i see these dudes name i think of werewolf bar mitzvah

the new vampire hands record blows this shit out of the water if yr looking for vampire rock

There's also a band in Chicago called Probably Vampires.

^^ I'm not sure I'd entirely consider them vampire-rock, though, they might be something else

I mean, Chicago vampire-rock has been all downhill since Lake of Dracula

Is this thread still going? Has everyone not come to terms with the fact that this is a nice, catchy indie-pop record by nice clean guys and GOT OVER IT?

Don't forget Vampire Can't, the rad noize band!

ha playing kimmel right now with a hs marching band

totally rad

the bassist is the biggest fucking doofus of all time

vampire bar mitzvah
spooky scary
boys becoming men
men becoming vampires

i met them yesterday, job in Los Angeles, really nice guys.

and i like the album, even surprising myself as i thought it would get old fast, and told them so.

Terrible article:
http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2276328,00.html

...

OK, this is odder than I thought. I read that article this morning and was amazed at how bad it was. Then this evening I read an article on graphic novels in a recent LRB and was amazed at how bad it was. It seemed odd to be coming across such pretentious, twaddling, lengthy crap in two places on the same day. To compound it, the next LRB carries a sycophantic letter from Steve Burt with a correction to this, he says, GREAT piece on comics.

Then, getting that link above, I realized it's THE SAME WRITER. My goodness - this irritating chick is going to haunt us for years with her 'I was a depressed graduate student' BS.

Haha, Pinefox, if you look way upthread you'll actually find her posting here!

the new vampire hands record blows this shit out of the water if yr looking for vampire rock

Having just seen these dudes the other day = I concur.

nowai u guys vampire wolf is best

I wonder how many people here remember the time (2001) when The Strokes were seen as really important, and Tom Ewing launched a SPECIAL ISSUE of FREAKY TRIGGER with various people writing about them. The only one I remember now is Nabisco's very long article which argued, as far as I could tell, that the Strokes weren't a big Rock deal but a fun Pop group. I pretty much agreed, though felt this was fairly obvious. This thread feels similar to that.

I have hardly heard this band, but what I have heard I didn't really like. I can't believe Nabisco prefers their LP to Tigermilk. That says something surprising about where he, vs many of us in my country, is coming from. It would just be unthinkable for most pop fans I know to say such a thing. (This is circular, as most pop fans I know know each other because of Tigermilk.)

Nabisco uses words like 'eight-note' and 'the clear channels'. Am I the only one who doesn't really know what they mean? Nobody else has said that they don't.