Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

well, it's a second record

I haven't heard the whole album yet and barely remember the songs I listened to upthread but the entire Pitchfork review comes across to me like dude's attitude while writing was "thank god they stopped fucking around with polyrhythms and did some good, comfortable white music" and, when he read back his first draft, he panicked and went "how many adjectives can I throw in here so that people won't notice how fucked up my thesis statement is"

― far too much asshole flesh (DJP), Monday, May 13, 2013 10:17 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

They hardly just play 'white' music. They're using reggae samples and screw-vocals and rap-choruses. They're still omnivores, it's just not so focused on rhythms from Africa and the Caribean anymore.

Is any critic capable of praising this album without misreading and underrating the first two?

I think the defunct blog is still relevant though in terms of Ezra's interest in pursuing cultural connections. The writer picks up on one example - the new album was heavily influenced by reggae, in terms of subject matter more than sonics, hence the double meaning of the biblical references. And his observation about the font harking back to the vampire movie years ago is smart.

lol at the idea that vampire weekend have ever been underrated by critics

That's not what I said. I mean the first two have been retrospectively downplayed in order to praise the new one.

I do think DJP's paraphrase of Dombal's point is really unfair though.

the gold fact
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/1012

Internet Vibes redux

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/vampire-weekend-ezra-koenig-style-0513

Mike Powell's Spin review:

http://www.spin.com/reviews/vampire-weekend-modern-vampires-of-the-city-xl/

And people will probably continue to hate them with an elemental passion because they are friendly, urbane young men who make great use of harpsichords

yes this is the only possible reason anyone could hate them *slow hand clap*

pity those friendly, urbane young men, so widely hated just for who they happen to be ;_; ;_;

At least it's not ukeleles.

Lex, out of interest, why do you hate them? I've only ever seen you mention Ezra's voice, which is fair enough, but is that it?

lex sometimes forgets whether he's in his twitter echo chamber or the ILM echo chamber

TBH if I didn't like Vampire Weekend's music I would probably get immense enjoyment out of vocally hating them, they've just got one of those aesthetics.

love mike powell but this review is a small eternity with a lot of smh moments

What's hatable about their aesthetics?

the VW songs i've heard (ie selected singles, dunno which ones were from which albums though) have pretty much all been really polite and fussy but also really insipid and dull - like you know how jon brion's productions can be eye-rollingly fastidious but at least he also has a knack for the rococo? VW remind me of that but in, like, beige. it seems boringly nostalgic in a way i can't put my finger on/haven't thought much about, like it should be the soundtrack in some twee artisanal café. oh and their lyrics are just excruciating, non-stop cringe whenever i've paid attention to them

love mike powell but this review is a small eternity with a lot of smh moments

It doesn't hang well together at the end but he does a much better job of describing the shift in musical inspiration than Dombal does.

totally agreed

VW write songs whose characters are how the audience wants to see itself. I guess it's self-loathing.

haven't read anything by dombal in an age but he's responsible for some really fucking dreadful stuff in the past

i feel like everything powell writes should be hashtagged #deep or #life or #wistful or some shit, he has a nice vocabulary but it's so precious. i guess that is apt for this band

Lex, I love you, boo, but please don't use the "x sounds like it should be played in y" line.

The thing that gets me past the politeness barrier of a lot of VW material (specifically Contra since I know that album better) is how intricately arranged it is.

Sometimes it does grate massively, like on "I Think Ur A Contra", but OTOH you get great things like "Run" and "Horchata"

What's hatable about their aesthetics?

That it singularly unappeals?

I don't know, I've been venting on this a bit on Twitter myself. They are clearly an accomplished set of musicians, I have no doubt of their skills, etc. etc per Dan's comment just now. AND YET.

Understanding as I am to Lex's depiction in a narcissism-of-small-differences way (both in terms of his approach and the fact that I eat at plenty of said cafes, so it goes both ways), I think the project as outlined in Mike Powell's review inadvertantly illustrates my general problem in a concise fashion -- their initial approach was at best pleasant to me but not deathless, and after initial spins I shrugged at both earlier albums. Now shifting to a 'back to the American heartland' approach is even LESS designed to interest me, which admittedly shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me, and praising a band for sounding more varied than the National or the Arcade Fucking Fire is real 'in the kingdom of the blind' stuff. Also I was asked if I was paying attention to the lyrics, which is always the last thing on my 'to notice' list. So in the end it's like, "Great, good on you, have fun...over there, away from me, thanks." Glad you're all happy if you are but wow is it not interesting to me, not at all.

They're a bit like the Flaming Lips or Belle and Sebastian or something in that their aesthetic seems fine or actively enjoyable if you're on board with the music and if you aren't it's a real "god help us if there's a war" kind of reaction.

Hahah nicely said, that.

haha OTM

I have no idea why they clicked for me because bands like this usually trigger kneejerk revulsion in me but I just dig these dudes.

idk why people go on about the characters in VW songs as though they're particularly well drawn rather than a bunch of cultural reference points clumsily thrown at the song in the hope a couple will stick

because most ppl are a bunch of cultural reference points clumsily thrown together hoping a couple will stick

not really joking

idk why people go on about the characters in VW songs as though they're particularly well drawn rather than a bunch of cultural reference points clumsily thrown at the song in the hope a couple will stick

Yeah come on you haven't really paid any attention though have you?

I wouldn't say I actually enjoy VW lyrical content or their image or anything but I really enjoy their music and their whole approach to sound so I'm prepared to overlook things than would be insufferable in another band.

idk i find the whole "they've moved away from their idiosyncrasies back to tom petty and the national" idea off the mark

American Heartland is a bold exageration, also.

Yeah come on you haven't really paid any attention though have you?

i remember actually reading ALL the lyrics to one of their past albums because what i heard in the single horrified me so much

I mean it's a bit like how Taylor Swift lyrics basically sound like collections of banalities to me (NB I am 100% pro-banalities in pop songs) and I'm really not interested enough in the music to even bother to look for these alleged insightful character studies or whatever.

idk i find the whole "they've moved away from their idiosyncrasies back to tom petty and the national" idea off the mark

It's not really supported by "Diane Young" but as a thesis statement it's a good bit less offensive than "they've stopped playing African music and started playing things that are more comfortable"; I'm reacting less to whether the statement is true or not and more to how badly I want to slap the author for making it.

(oh btw I finally was tricked into hearing "I Knew You Were Trouble" for the first time this weekend thanks to an unfortunate cab ride and it's pretty clearly the best thing Taylor Swift has ever done, benefiting largely from not really sounding like her in the backing music or vocally)

i wouldn't really say character studies are t-swift's thing so much as situation studies. i guess i'd probably talk about pistol annies (and that entire axis of country) as purveyors of the best character studies in pop right now.

Yeah but the Pistol Annies comparison doesn't actually work because I like them.

xp "nostalgic" is such a weird criticism to make

They're a bit like the Flaming Lips or Belle and Sebastian or something in that their aesthetic seems fine or actively enjoyable if you're on board with the music and if you aren't it's a real "god help us if there's a war" kind of reaction.

OTM. Part of VW's attraction to me is how often I hover between being disgusted. But then their lightness is the other part of their attraction.

That's why I find "beige" another odd choice in Lex's critique. They're unapologetically divisive.

Man, they have hooks and hooks and hooks and they tumble out over each other and it's great. That's why I like them. That and the awesome sound and space.

"Their music is locally sourced!"

"PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLES."

Lather rinse repeat.

nah i mean "beige" musically (although aren't most famous people above a certain level inevitably "divisive") - as fussy and intricate as their music is i can't help thinking it should perhaps be more exciting

define "exciting"

this isn't really a new problem with music discussion but it's pretty annoying to have this type of discussion using a woefully inadequate, wholly subjective vocabulary almost guaranteed to keep people from understanding each other

Agreed. I think they're dead exciting.

'eeww critically acclaimed hipsters'

From the NPR interview re the song "Obvious Bicycle":

Batmanglij: This song is interesting because it evolved. It started with a very hectic drum beat that I made, and that inspired me to play piano, and I just played these simple piano chords that came very quickly. I was listening Plastic Ono Band, the John Lennon album a lot, and that might have had some inspiration on me.

It's all John Lennon's fault