Boards
In Defense of Vampire Weekend
I'm guessing the DiS backlash has really begun after the jools performance.
As you can guess i'm a big big fan of vampire weekend so far. the tracks on my itunes have racked up an average of 70 plays since getting the album a few weeks ago. I haven't been as interested in a media darling band since Interpol first came out with turn on the bright lights. I sincerely think they write really tight pop songs.
Now, what I do understand is that Vampire Weekend is certainly not for everyone, certainly for people who are hype-phobic. Their music can at worst be described as plain, but never offensively bad. their songs never reach obvious crescendos like, say a Godspeed song, and no they don't use alot of instruments, nor any effects, so their own tonal vocabulary is very small. they also don't write songs that use weird harmonies and melodies compared to radiohead or grizzly bear. they aren't interested in pushing the boundaries to rhythm like tool.
In terms of their image, people can be upset by their affluent look, that they aren't going to lie and say 'we only care about music', they openly talk about clothes they like and have been exposed in style magazines for their preppy look. This has obviously been the selling point of VW, that they're oh so kooky because they don't dress like topman catalogues (although i'm sure they'll soon get their shoddy production line to make some horribly screen printed rugby shirts)
but at the end of the day they write music that is honest, understated, bright, and most of all fun! it would be ridiculous if they wrote songs about how their lives are so hard to live, or that they're a bunch of drugged up lovers, they're possibly the most honest band out there that's being hyped by NME. they write songs that are relevant, although exaggerated, to their campus lives.
what i like most about them is that they're part of the new 'scene' of african influenced indie music. We have foals, who say they love afrobeat, but in truth have more in common with reich and battles than fela kuti. America at the moment have it so much better with Dirty Projectors, High Places, El Guincho, Mi Ami, Ris Paul Ric and Dengue Fever. I see VW as the outright poppy band to all the artists i've named, and are most aligned with the indie aesthetic, as they aren't as innovative as the previously mentioned artists. yes they are the Paul Simon/David Byrne to Mi Ami's No Wave leanings.
so yeah, i'm now probably gonna be told i thought about it too much and i should go back to listening to...i dunno, One Night Only? that's something to really think about