I had a rare opportunity before me. It doesn't happen often that a band gets really buzz worthy and yet by the time I get a hold of the album I know almost nothing about them. So rather than do what I usually do, which is, read about a band and do research as I'm listening to them, I decided to just play the album and take it entirely on its' own merits. The only thing I'd heard about them beforehand was the track "A-Punk", which is played incessantly on Indie 103.1, and that they are all the rage right now.With that, I sat down this morning and put on my headphones and went off into about 30 minutes and 11 tracks of Vampire Weekend. My first impression was that these guys listened to a lot of David Byrne, Paul Simon, a little bit of reggae, and something else. I couldn't quite nail it until they actually said his name in "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" - Peter Gabriel. I also think that secretly, one or more members of the band has a copy of Bruce Hornsby and the Range on vinyl that they sit and listen to in the dark with a solitary candle burning in the window, but I digress.
Those are all pretty influential names I threw out in that last paragraph. But don't think I'm drawing quality comparisons between Vampire Weekend and the likes of Paul Simon. The production quality on the album is sharp. The vocals are well layered without being over-processed. The instrumentation is rich and full - lots of strings, horns and piano. No doubt someone dropped some cash on this album. Therein lies the problem.
I noticed early on that almost every track I listened to mentioned either New England in some form (Hyannisport, Boston,) or college (Oxford). It wasn't long before I pictured the entire band wearing khakis with pastel sweaters tied around their necks and all sporting names like Chip, Blaine and Chet. Their sound went from sort of a 'world music' sound to a 'don't we sound cultured' put on. I couldn't take them seriously by the time the 30 minutes was up. And yet, I could see more than ever why they were the big buzz band(more on that later).
Okay. Before I go on with this review, I'm going to stop and go do some research and some reading. When I come back, I may contradict myself or look foolish even.
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I'm back. Did you miss me? So, Pitchfork gave it an '8.8'(whatever that means) and said, "...they play it all like indie kids on a college lawn, because they're not hung up on Africa in the least", and "plenty of people have found reasons to hate Vampire Weekend from the first note, many of them having to do with their prep aesthetic and Ivy League educations".
Stereogum listed them as a 'band to watch' and said, "these are indie-pop gems of a different cut, pulling on the world music bend of Paul Simon's Graceland and late Talking Heads, wrapped in literary barbs and ample alliteration".
Fader said, "Four dudes hailing from the far reaches of Morningside Heights and the grassy confines of Columbia are bringing Afrobeat-infused indie-pop downtown and they’re bringing it in rumpled Oxfords and Topsiders!"
Okay, so obviously, I wasn't too off the mark. But the million dollar question is, are they any good? As usual, I can only offer my opinon (and some samples). In this case the answer is (a qualified) no.
Why, you ask? Two reasons. The first is not their fault, the second is. This might be a bit of a diversion, but this is my blog, so I can make statements like this: Vampire Weekend are not 'indie' in any sense. I already loathe categorizing bands. By the same token, there is a big difference between Gwar and Beethoven and it's sometimes useful to have phrases that help easily explain the differences. But in this case, labeling Vampire Weekend as 'indie-pop' is not something that helps describe their music, but instead helps to sell to a demographic.
Let me paint a scenario for you. Vampire Weekend, instead of getting hyped by all the rock blogs, gets picked up by a label that specializes in afrobeat or world music and signs. They get pitched and promoted that way. Would they still be on the cover of Spin? Doubtful. You'd be hearing about them on world music and afrobeat blogs, but not Stereogum. But these are white college kids. So slap the 'indie' tag on them and all of a sudden they're hip and should be lumped into discussions about the Klaxons or Conor Oberst. Those three artists have ridiculously little in common with each other. In the case of Vampire Weekend, I don't think they did this intentionally (although I wouldn't put it past some Ivy League kids to do just that), but the whole band seems like it came out of some focus group. All the little pieces are in the just the right place. It's all so wholesome and yet edgy!
Which brings me to the second reason I don't like Vampire Weekend. I don't believe them. Their music sounds like someone approached it as a mathematical problem. There's no dirt there, no fire. Both rock and afrobeat sounds are cut from emotional cores - anger, joy, frustration, fear, sex, love. There isn't any of that in Vampire Weekend's work. It comes at you like a brand new Ipod: Clean, well packaged, easy, meant for mass consumption, glossy and pretty. In fact, this band might be the first band that was born to be on an Ipod.
Going back to my rating system (which I haven't used in a bit), I'd never play this band during a set. Not because I'm not a huge world music fan (which, I'm not), but because they wouldn't bring any life to a club.
MP3 - Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
MP3 - Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
Purchase through Amazon - Vampire Weekend
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