Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Modern_Vampires_Of_The_City.jpg

Modern Vampires of the City is the upcoming third album American band Vampire Weekend, slated to be released May 6, 2013 on XL Recordings.

Tracklisting

1. "Obvious Bicycle"
2. "Unbelievers"
3. "Step"
4. "Diane Young"
5. "Don't Lie"
6. "Hannah Hunt"
7. "Everlasting Arms"
8. "Finger Back"
9. "Worship You"
10. "Ya Hey"
11. "Hudson"
12. "Young Lion"

Yeah!

10. "Ya Hey"

dealbreaker.

Lol

"Ya Hey" vs. "Hey Ya" vs. "Ho Hey"

That cover is like a puree of the last three years of indie album cover aesthetics.

"Obvious Bicycle"!!

Love the cover but wish it didn't have the title written like that

"Modern Wankers of the City"

it begins

hah sorry, nothing against these guys, that's just what I saw when I first saw the picture of the cover!

It would make a better title.

hey fuckers, ever heard of leading?

good god i hope that doesn't turn out to be some horrible new design trend

I have come to think of the sans-serif Vampire Weekend cover font as their version of Boston's guitar-spaceship.

Then felt I like some Whiney of the skies
When a foul planet swims into his ken;
Or like young Markers when with eagle eyes
He star'd at Tom DeLonge — and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild embed —
Silent, upon a peak in Williamsburg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1t%41%59mMjLdY

hi

Grayscale!

modern vampires of the city sounds like a sfar comic

http://www.fanboy.com/archive-images/vampire-loves-06.jpg

are the arctic monkeys still popular?

This is such a great album. My favourite of the year so far.

I wanna hear :'(

Co sign DL

this is the first of their albums I've dug the whole way through

ugh jealous of you guys who've heard it already ugggggggggghhhhhhh

Really wanna hear this new album

Give it!

I can wait.

vampire weaksauce

Try harder

more like, modern vampires of the shitty!!!

but seriously, i'm looking forward to this

yawn

i can't find this, going to have to wait.

Ilx pre-covers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX46e4GtlXM

also

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mDxcDjg9P4

I'm somewhat obsessed with Step, and with the old Souls of Mischief song it's based on.

"Step" has ambitious lyrics!

"Step" always makes me so fucking giddy for some reason

If not a hardcore stanner, I've at least always been sympathetic towards VW. But listening to these two tracks above, I think we might have parted ways at this point. They aren't bad songs. I just find my interest in hearing them has entirely evaporated.

I freely admit I lasted thirty seconds into "Step," thought "Fuck this" and moved on.

I was thinking that this fool is the only singer who can sing against this arrangement without collapsing into preciousness.

Ha, I just felt it fully careening into said preciousness and had too many flashbacks of run of the mill indie rock albums I've heard in recent years. Ah well.

Step is fantastic, love the effect on Koenig's voice during the chorus.

Step is great.

I am quite surprised by Ned's reaction. I think Step is the best thing they've done. I don't really 'get' Diane Young though....maybe it will take a few more listens. My sister would be upset by the video as a Saab owner.

yeah what a waste of a beautiful 900 cabrio

both these new songs are pretty good imo

I had the same experience as you with Vampire Weekend and kind of dismissed them as a bit flimsy and lightweight. I couldn't really understand why people were rating them so much. I think it was the last album that really turned me round to them and made me revisit the other two

yeah, same, was quite impressed with Step, Ya Hey and Hannah Hunt - funny it would take an "ambitious" album to make me embrace their more lightweight stuff

Yep same here. I still can't get into Contra much, but I liked the first album way more after hearing the third

I ranked them this way:

Contra
Modern Vampires
s/t

i think i'd rank them in reverse order of their release dates

all three are so tied to the time in my life I heard them. can't think of another band I followed in real time that had significant, fairly evenly spaced gaps: I was 15 when the debut came out, 17 at Contra, 21 at Modern Vampires. Love them all, and somehow the simplicity/minimalism of the debut's melodies and its uncomplicated prep school lyrics remain fresh for me. Ezra is an underrated guitarist imo, and it's only on the debut where he really shines throughout as a player because almost all of the songs rest on his riffs.

cousins is the blistering showcase for the chops of all four guys.

yeah that one is the only 'throwback' on Contra, which is so wonderful & diverse it feels like a greatest hits comp. iirc there isn't a guitar riff driven song on Modern Vampires, though Unbelievers feels close.

rostam's piano is the main driving instrument on MVITC, which is fitting if it's his swan song.

that album is Ezra/Rostam for the most part, with the other two letting their parts get filled in later.

yeah Modern Vampires is more architectural, not as colorful as Contra but similarly fussed over. there's much more negative space on Modern Vampires whereas Contra is like a layer cake. they're both 'studio records' unlike the debut which gives the impression it was recorded in a day or two.

Meditations on death are easier to come by in pop than meditations on class, so i rate the debut over Vampires, and Contra over both

imo the emphasis on death and aging is exaggerated, that sort of class critique and observation is still all over Modern Vampires. Contra feels like 10 self contained stories and the other two are more conceptual & hang together.

all the negative space on Modern Vampires just makes it feel hollow to me, there's little to support the weight of the orchestration etc. easily has some of their weakest songs in Everlasting Arms, Finger Back, Worship You and Hudson.

Contra is easily their best

To the fans:⁣
I know that 5-6 years is considered a long time between records. Personally, I think it’s a dignified pace befitting a band that’s already placed three albums in stores but everyone has their own sense of time. (I swear the time between 3 & 4 felt shorter to me than 2 & 3. I may be in the minority on this one.) ⁣
⁣
This album didn’t really take any longer to write/record than MVOTC. We just took more time on the front end to chill. I’ll admit I may have stretched out the mixing/mastering process (aka THE END) a little bit cuz spending half the day with my family & half the day at Ariel’s is my ideal life-rhythm & it’s painful to say goodbye to that rhythm.⁣
⁣
Many of you have been hungry for information and we’ve given you very little. I don’t like talking abt a project while in the middle of making it. I usually regret everything I say cuz it turns out to be wrong (so disregard anything I may have said in the past 5 years.) I thought abt making a recording diary to tide over the people leaving intense comments but…to me, the album IS the recording diary…man.⁣
⁣
It’s called “FOTB” (well those are the initials - that’s a VW tradition) and it’s 18 songs. Picked the name a few years ago. At some point early on, the album drifted from the Mitsubishi Macchiato aesthetic. It was a helpful guiding principle tho. Working titles are important too.⁣
⁣
It’s a lot of songs but they all belong there. (If you disagree, you can always say it was 6 songs too long & make a lil 12-song playlist version of it.) At first, I wanted to make two 23-song albums on some human chromosome shit but then 23&me started doing Spotify playlists and I don’t know…felt we’d been scooped.⁣
⁣
Is it a double album? The vinyl will be double so…yes? It’s about 59 minutes long. We can talk more abt that later – if u care. To me, it’s just FOTB.⁣
⁣
Anyway, we’re gonna start releasing music next week. After all that waiting, you should have the general schedule:⁣
⁣
-There will be three 2-song drops every month until the record is out. 1. hh/2021 2. s/bb 3. tl/uw. (plans can change that’s the plan)⁣
⁣
Thank you for ur patience,⁣ Ezra

Free Of That Batmanglij

fuck off back to (not releasing music)

that cute spelling is an ice pick

18 songs

christ, ok

maybe it's their paramore s/t idk

Fans of the Band
First of the Bushes
Flannel on the Back
Flight of the Bongchords
Fight of the Bentury
Frosting on the Bake
Figuring out the Brexit

How could 6 years between projects not be long? How long is a human lifespan?

All power to them to take as long as they want, but it just is long

he's been reading george rr martin

oh finally!

nice that they're being generous with the rollout after all this time

Fear Of The Bark?

Fampires Of The Bitty?

very excited about a double album. 6 years is a long time between records but as he said those first three are so of a piece and concise. this is a new era. I'm really curious to see what this sounds like, and what they do with that sprawl.

I hate that 59 minutes is considered a "double album" these days /harrumph

i feel like 'double album' is completely meaningless these days when drake keeps releasing 80 minute albums but only the 89 minute one was called a double album

it's always been contextual... Godspeed You Black Emperor put out something 28 minutes long and it's an EP. the thing about this band that unites all the records is concision. not only are the songs & arrangements super tight but the albums are short. they're perfect single LP's, not much room for stretching out or getting weird. sure, MVOTC has its moments, but I'm surprised VW are putting out a record that's a double LP. it changes expectations completely. it probably won't be a retread or stale like I feared.

also I bought a blackSUMMERS'night vinyl record off Amazon cause it was crazy cheap but when it arrived I was deeply annoyed to find out it was a 2xLP pressing. it's only 46:50!! xp

Speakerboxx/Love Below (two CDs) is 130 minutes.
Sandinista! (triple album, double CD) is about 140.
Both Use Your Illusions together run 150!

xp yeah that's annoying for a 46 min album, but 59 minutes would always be a double? i mean, when records were standard.

stoked

Yes, 58 min albums are typically pressed to two LPs but it still feels wrong to call it a "double album"

I know I'm being a tiresome pedant but I'm following my heart

still love Ezra

6 years is a crazy long time between two albums (it's basically the time between Please Please Me and Abbey Road !) but I'm glad it's finally coming and that it's a double (whatever that means nowadays).
Curious to hear how they manage without Batmanglij, especially for so many songs...

he's supposed to be involved to some degree still

xp It's also longer than The Smiths' entire career

Late to the party but looking forward to new Vampire Weekend music!

And this long of a wait is ridiculous for such a young band, they are not the Cure.

yea

New single out.

hell yeah, haruomi hosono sample on 2021

They quote Finger Back on Harmony Hall, lol. Really don't know what to think of it.

Harmony Hall is pretty nice - a bit longer than usual for them but the way they stretch it out is fun enough. i like the Hosono sample on 2021 too

i'm not blown away by these tracks but i like the general vibe of them a lot and the production is much much nicer than on MVOTC too so i'm optimistic enough

For a second I thought Harmony Hall was a snide attack on Batmanglij, but he worked on it, so I don't think that's the case. Reading up on Harmony Hall and Owenism, it's a pretty stark image.

Someone create a new thread.

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride