Photo by David Greenwald
This was inevitable, right? Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut, in the grand tradition of many indie rock albums before it, is enjoyable, inoffensive,* and mostly forgettable. Pitchfork reviewed it this morning and apparently flew in on the same Afropop plane that the rest of the blogosphere (not to mention this week's Entertainment Weekly) did: "The first sound on the first song, "Mansard Roof", comes from Rostam Batmanglij's keyboard, set to a perky, almost piping tone-- the kind of sunny sound you'd hear in old west-African pop. Same goes for Ezra Koenig's guitar, which never takes up too much space; it's that clean, natural tone you'd get on a record from Senegal or South Africa," writes the generally clear-headed Nitsuh Abebe. If this is what co-opting world music sounds like in 2008, M.I.A. must be a Martian (but not like Lil Wayne). [Continue reading...]
While there's certainly a Worldbeat to the band's jittery grooves, it's impossible to listen to Vampire Weekend and not hear their less buzzed-about influences - the Anglophone ones. There's their Columbia U predecessors, The Walkmen, whose keyboard use and affected vocals they ape; or fellow New Yorkers Au Revoir Simone, whose "Fallen Snow" uses a near-identical keyboard tone to V-Dub's "Mansard Roof." The guitar lines and much of the drumming - when it's not skewing African - is just watered-down dance-punk, a dinosaur trend Pitchfork has apparently forgotten about.
If anything, V-Dub sound like Hot Hot Heat and every other middling, pop-leaning indie band that doesn't have enough balls to be the Walkmen, enough nerdy heartache to be Death Cab or enough talent to be the Shins. This is not an article on miscegenation, though I look forward to Sasha Frere-Jones' future 2,000 word rant on these guys; I'm merely pointing out that bands - or perhaps, reviewers - often hide behind the cover of a trend or influence, with the songs themselves going unexamined. An "edgy" style does not a great pop song make (see also: Panda Bear, but I digress).
Abebe compares V-Dub at several points to the Strokes - while the similarities are there, in location, stylistic elements and the band's likely trust-fund babyism - Is This It? remains a far more compelling document. The songs are fuller and more fleshed-out and Julian Casablancas, with his weary, boozy charm is simply a more charismatic narrator than Ezra Koenig, who just sounds insufferably preppy even when he's not singing about rich people. Don't get me wrong: the songs are good. They're simply too slight to deserve the praise showered upon them. This isn't going to stop some thousands of hipsters from downloading the album today, but time will tell if the band's songs hold up; Vampire Weekend is a January release and people will probably forget they exist (like the Shins - remember them? Nobody did last month) by September or so. Unless one of them punches up his girlfriend.
*An Oxford comma in action.
Vampire Weekend - "Oxford Comma": mp3
(Vampire Weekend is out 1/29 on XL)
Previously: Live: Vampire Weekend at Columbia University, 9.01.07
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Critical Backlash is a column where I complain about things. Click below for more.
Labels: 2008, Critical Backlash
posted by David Greenwald @ 2:00 PM 
Comments (20)
A band doesn't have to fall on either side of the sliding scale of emotions (whether it be the intensity of The Walkmen or the heartfelt crybaby cooings of Death Cab) in order to make music that is somehow 'memorable' or whatever throwaway meaningless word you want to deny the band the privilege of being labeled. Besides, if writing pop-songs with polyrhythms and nervous energy while using a new wave-keyboard instantly labels you as Hot Hot Heat (whom you're rather fond of comparing this band to), then I should just toss out all of my Elvis Costello, Devo, English Beat, and Specials records. They're such frauds!
But Hot Hot Hot isn't a very good band and all of those other bands you mentioned are, which is the point of using them as a reference.
I think their singer looks a little like me in that picture, but I would never wear my guitar that high.
Carman do you like this band, or are you just taking offense to Dave's "sliding scale"? Because I think they kind of suck.
Also, I doubt Panda Bear is particularly interested in either an "edgy style" or "great pop."
I'm sure he's not - that wasn't meant as a slight at the guy himself, as I think his intentions (and AC's in general) are good. It's the execution and the subsequent critical reception I'm talking about.
I gave it a listen just so I could refute Dave for fun and it's really grown on me. I agree with Dave that some of it is pretty slight, but there's some really great stuff on it like the stretch from "A-Punk" to "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" to "M79."
Regardless, I think saying that "this sucks" instead of making a huge thesis statement would've just sufficed, Dave.
This stuff is totally up my alley, anyways.
Lester Bangs could've just said "Astral Weeks slays, bros," but what's the fun in that?
i totally thot that the singer was greg!!
carman and dave need to find better things to do..
This album contains some of the best summery pop songs going, and I'm writing this from Australia where it is summer. Sure it may only be a 'phase', but shit its an enjoyable one, and I'll be surprised if coming into spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere that people aren't still re/discovering the joys of this music.
I have to agree that this band make slight, fairly unmemorable pop. How this scored an 8.8 is beyond me.
What's funny is that despite you tagging them as forgettable, you do seem to post a lot about them. Plus, your posting is just adding to the buzz about the band. You are contributing the epidemic you are critiquing.
The irony's not lost on me. But news is news.
i like this record
Posting about pitchfork's reviews of an album is not news.
Sure. But my previous posts on their tour dates and the "A-Punk" video are, I presume.
i haven't heard the record in its entirety yet, but from the few songs I've heard, I really dig it.
did you just bitch that the Shins weren't on more bloggers' "best of 2007" lists? are you f*cking kidding me?
Fucking geeks
First off: to the comments that get mad that Vampire Weekend is a pack of nerds. I agree, they are, but what's wrong with that? I'm done with the hordes of drunk "bad boy" musicians.
As for Vampire Weekend's non-memorable music...you forget, the point is to get famous and make enough money so they stop filching from Daddy's pocketbook. I have the feeling VW will break up and they'll go their separate ways via new hipper bands than before.
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