The Naked Truth About Vampire Weekend, Or, Nice Boys Playing Banal Music

Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
XL Recordings

Armed with a song Rolling Stone listed as one of the 100 best of 2007, Vampire Weekend are poised to invade hearts, music stores and all mediums of media with this week’s debut of their self-titled album. Every member of the Brooklyn-based band is a Columbia University grad, and, aside from their degrees, they’ve got both the fan base of rabid college students and the steadfast support of hipster indie blogs to prove it. They’ve been featured in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Herald and Nylon Magazine. Fader.com interviewed them. They recorded a session with NPR. Countless blogs are already heralding their debut as one of the best records of 2008, and the tides of January have yet to die. So does the album live up to all the hype? Much like Vampire Weekends’ music, the answer is quite simple: no.

It’s frightening what monsters a cursory knowledge of music and an indiscriminate sensibility can cook up together. For all the hype, Vampire Weekend offers nothing new, nor exciting, nor even musically-interesting. Their self-described “Upper West Side Soweto” sound is really just simple, accessible pop, lightly tinged with African rhythms and reggae melodies.

Because of this, their music bears more than a passing resemblance to Paul Simon’s sonic-fusion on Graceland. I have to assume that this is the reason fans and critics alike have bought a seat on Vampire Weekend’s bandwagon. What they seem to be forgetting is Paul Simon could pen a song about doing his taxes and it would be ten times more lyrically imaginative and emotionally evocative than anything Vampire Weekend could ever write.

Further, it is insulting to bands that play Afro-centric rock extremely well. Bloc Party, Dragons of Zynth, and TV on the Radio (the latter two of which are NYC-based bands themselves) are especially active and relevant right now. And though people like to cite African music and Paul Simon as Vampire Weekend’s musical forebearers, their music just as often sounds like your neighborhood ice cream truck circling amiably around the block.

Lyrically, the band fares a bit better. The imagery they carve is sometimes even poetic: I see a mansard roof through the trees/I see a salty message written in the eaves/the ground beneath my feet/we are garbage and concrete [“Mansard Roof”]. The songs are peppered with obscure references: Oxford commas, Dalai Lamas, mansard roofs, cancer center Sloan-Kettering, Pueblo huts . . . the boys of Vampire Weekend are obviously well-rounded in their educations. Still, when these references are used as mere ornaments in the band’s recurring themes of unrequited love with keffiyeh-wearing, Louis Vuitton-clutching compulsive liars, it’s hard to take the intellectual-depth of these Ivy Leaguers very seriously.

“Mansard Roof” is Vampire Weekend’s least offensive song, perhaps because as the opening track, the listener has not yet grown weary of the the band's cloying and tedious sound. Lead singer Ezra Koenig’s vocals strike an interesting balance between Rufus Wainwright and Paul Simon, and tagging along are a basic reggae melody and sharp drums. Sure, it’s catchy. So is Tuberculosis.

Despite being Rolling Stone’s 67th-ranked song of 2007, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” is derivative tripe. Its three-note guitar line is so prosaic and irritatingly repetitive, it is difficult to imagine a person being able to sit through the full track even a few times; putting it on a “best-of” song list is truly laughable.

By far, the best pieces of instrumentation on the album are the orchestral chamber sounds that open “M79” and weave throughout the album’s prophetic closer, “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance.” Even so, these deviations are too few and too slight to wipe away the muck of monotony surrounding them. Similarly, in “One (Blake’s Got a New Face)” the band introduces Atari electronic tones into their entrenched reggae pop. It’s a commendable idea to experiment with sound, but the result is truly horrific. It is forced and gimmicky, a prefabricated plastic nightmare pretending indie rock sentiments.

Still, as the hype suggests, there is a definite market for this kind of pop punk. Saccharine though Vampire Weekend is, many people will be sold for precisely that reason. Also important in today’s culture: the band presents an appealing image. They are good-looking boys. They wear dress shirts and khakis. And not only do they wear dress shirts and khakis – they wear them while playing gigs. And they’re Ivies. So they’ll procure support from a decent subsection of consumers, namely preppy university students and teenyboppers stuck in that weird limbo between Hannah Montana and Green Day. Not exactly the sort of fan base most rock musicians want. But, hey, they’ve hoodwinked a lot of people so far. They might not even have to get real jobs for another few years. Which was probably the point of the band in the first place, because in the end, they just sound like a bunch of frat boys pretending to be Paul Simon.

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You can slag off to Spin if you want Vampire Weekend mp3s. These two are much more worth your time, however:

Dragons of Zynth - "Breaker"

TV on the Radio - "Providence" (feat. David Bowie)

In the Shadow: Hatcham Social's "Jabberwocky"

So so so so. No no no no, "So So Happy Making," is not a phrase Japanese strumpets whisper into the eager ears of foreign businessmen and American soldiers. Although, I suppose it could be. But, for our purposes, it is Hatcham Socials' second single -- to be released on February 18th by Loog Records. It's a charming ditty, and, as they say: "twee as fuck." Paired with gutteral explosion "Berlin" as its b-side, the single makes for quite an excellent record. It is available on 7" or cd, and I really can't recommend it enough.

Still, going quietly unnoticed whilst nestled snugly between other songs on their myspace profile is "Jabberwocky," a song that has been an IV to me in recent days. In a stroke of genius, Hatcham Social decided to record the famous Lewis Carroll nonsense poem in spoken word, but backed with an addicting melody and perfect rhythms. The result is two minutes of senseless bliss. Check it out for yourself here.

To buy the "So So Happy Making" single, head over to Loog.

Lightspeed Champion Tallies Best Yet of '08

Falling Off the Lavender Bridge
Lightspeed Champion
Domino

So the head-ache-inducing cacophony of chaos that was Test Icicles did in fact serve a purpose beyond hedonistic revelry. Dev Hynes, former guitarist of that now-defunct band, has released his highly-anticipated solo album, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, under the moniker Lightspeed Champion.

Hynes smartly surrounded himself with alt-rock veterans during recording and production of the album, sequestering himself in Oklahoma in a house owned by Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). Mike Mogis, also of Bright Eyes, produces and provides musical accompaniment, while Brit songstress Emma-Lee Moss (Emmy the Great) offers backing vocals nearly all the tracks. Also lending their voices at various points on the album are members of Tilly and the Wall, Cursive and The Faint.

The result is perhaps the loveliest aural incarnation of personal despair since Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy in 2005. If that seems strange coming from a former Test-Icicles member, I’d have to agree. But Hynes makes his separation from that band immediately clear in the opening lines of the album on “Galaxy of the Lost”: Hate to think what would happen/if I started to drink like you/maybe I would loosen up/pour me another gin. An ex-Test-Icicles musician needs loosening up? Unexpected, to say the least.

Still, where Black Sheep Boy was more, say, Battleship Potemkin, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge is The Royal Tenenbaums. While the lyrics reveal a person struggling through an intense web of depression and self-doubt, the music itself is upbeat experimental pop. And Hynes does sprinkle self-deprecating humor throughout, lightening the mood a bit before inevitably diving back into melancholia.

This juxtaposition of light and dark was captured brilliantly in the video for “Galaxy of the Lost,” which, somewhat disturbingly, features children’s television-styled “monster puppets” puking up fur-balls which mutate into monster puppets which puke up fur-balls, etcetera, until the room is filled wall-to-wall with frothing, puking puppets. Perhaps, though, the best juxtaposition of light and dark is Hynes himself, whose internal state is deftly hidden behind a friendly, if slightly quirky, exterior.

Musically, Hynes has somehow bridged a gap between his birth land, Texas, and England, where he has lived since early childhood. Thoroughly Brit pop, his music still draws largely on the country-western soundscapes he encountered as a young boy in Houston. Other influences seem to have no derivation; the song “Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk” could be comfortably at home in a Gershwin musical.

Anchoring Falling Off the Lavender Bridge is the ten-minute-long “Midnight Surprise.” It incorporates all the elements the album possesses: pop sensibilities, funereal lyrics, unconventional interludes and radiant harmonies. Its immense length only adds to the complexity. Like a short story in music form, it transports the listener to a place out of time, where suppressed emotions exist freely and memories long-faded vie for attention. For ten minutes the listener can live here – longer, if he so chooses, because pressing repeat is just that easy. But staying for an extended time can paralyze a person with indulgent self-examination. The pleading last line “Shoot me into sleep” takes on an entirely new meaning, then, and as the words repeat and the music fades, listeners will have to decide for themselves how many times to visit this perfectly insular place.

Other stand-out tracks include the previously mentioned “Galaxy of the Lost” and “Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk,” along with “Tell Me What It’s Worth” and “No Suprise.” But, really, there are no weak songs here. An album this well-crafted and complete is such a rarity in today’s trend-of-the-moment singles bands. That it is also a 21-year-old's debut is, frankly, astonishing. Some credit must be given to the excellent production work of Mogis, of course. But the majority goes to Hynes and his elegant reinvention of sound post-Test Icicles.

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To pre-order Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, go here.

Listen to "Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk".

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"Galaxy of the Lost" vid:

Debuts in the News: Lightspeed Champion, The Pan I Am

Falling Off . . .



Take a moment. Breathe, relax. Lightspeed Champion's full-length is finally here. After months of teasing us with his brilliantly quirky singles, Dev Hynes' first solo album, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, will be released in the UK on Jan 21st. The North American release will debut on February 5th. Track list for the LP:

1. Number One
2. Galaxy of the Lost
3. Tell Me What It's Worth
4. All to Shit
5. Midnight Surprise
6. Devil Tricks for a Bitch
7. I Could Have Done This Myself
8. Salty Water
9. Dry Lips
10. Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk
11. Let the Bitches Die
12. No Surprise (for Wendela)/Midnight Surprise (Reprise)

Can't wait 'til the end of January/beginning of February for your Lightspeed fix? "Tell Me What It's Worth," another single from Falling Off the Lavender Bridge will be released tomorrow, Jan. 14. Get it here in three different pressings (one CD, two vinyls).

Buy the album directly from Domino Records, or through Amazon in the U.S. or U.K.


Larrikin Debuts Band, Play


Ed Larrikin, former frontman and creative force of sadly-defunct Larrikin Love, showcases his second project, The Pan I Am, for the first time outside London on February 2nd, in Oxford. The Pan I Am has its roots in the same Thames-folk rock sound as Larrikin Love, but The Pan I Am is more experimental: freer in its form and musically bold. Adventurous, ambitious, thrilling. Plus, violins raging a jagged mania so intense they could be the aural manifestation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." If I were in the area, this is a debut I would surely not miss.

With The Pan I Am's debut album completed and slated for a possible July release, Larrikin's whirlwind of production still hasn't slowed. His one-act play, Camusflage Krokodial, will be featured at the London Word Festival, on March 8th. The Pan I Am will also play an acoustic show at the event. More info go to: www.londonwordfestival.com




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www.myspace.com/lightspeedchampion

www.myspace.com/thepaniam