Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
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Free Music Notes for Vampire Weekend
Free Music Review: Infectious and delightful
Hit: 4 Stars
I am not a likely listener for this, as all the folks it is compared to and contrasted with are utterly unknown to me. If I need to be deeply schooled in indie/alternative/some-other-adjectival music, then you can ignore my opinion. But if a guy who enjoys many kinds of music, and whose listening library probably includes far more genres than the average illegal-downloader, has any validity, this gets an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Many years ago I heard an LP by a previously unknown-to-me band named Squeeze. East Side Story was, and is, a tour de force of pop music. Extraordinary arrangements, brilliant songwriting, charming and skilled musicianship and singing, variety that was not there to fulfill some requirement, and a hit single that wasn't even among the three best songs on the LP made a record that was hard to beat. And, as my LP advertised in a sticker on the outside, the darn thing was full! 14 songs of 100% pure beat and no filler, with, in my opinion, 13 of the 14 qualifying as excellent.
For the first time in over 20 years I'm having a similar response. My daughter, who was not yet born when I purchased East Side Story, and is quite well-informed in the indie/alternative/obscuro/crackpot music circles, thought I'd enjoy this, and she was spot on again. (Last thing she suggested was Sigur Ros.) Unexpected, surprising, smart, funny, clever and incredibly well put together, this CD delightfully reminds me of the pleasure I had discovering Squeeze. With two exceptions. First, this thing ain't full. 34 minutes is a bit stingy these days, though if this is what they had, I'd prefer it to padding it with dregs (which I think they already did with two of these cuts.) But this much invention sure makes me long for more. And second, there is a lot more uniformity to the flavor. If they did go beyond those 34 minutes, I would certainly hope they could use a different sound. Keeps it from being a 5 Star release, but "Good job, guys" from a terminally unhip oldster way outside your target demographic.
Free Music Review: Nothing like Graceland.
Hit: 4 Stars
Rock critics are a lazy bunch. They kinda have to be to churn out review after review so there is no great incentive for them to dig deep into the influences of an act when they have to meet deadlines. So let's set the record straight on a few things about this act. This album does not sound like Paul Simon's "Graceland." It's not an over-produced pop mess produced by a hack who got a bunch of African musicians (Who he didn't pay by the way) to make his trite and sappy love songs sound neat and exotic (When I had it foisted on me by college acquaintences in the mid-80's it still sounded bland and over-baked). So enough with the Paul Simon comparisons!
Almost as weak are the Talking Heads comparisons. Sure, Vampire Weekend share an affinity with The Heads for Afro-pop but that's where it ends. Vampire Weekend's vocalist doesn't have Byrne's annoyingly spastic vocalizings. More often than not he sounds like Sting and the band like early Police, especially on "Blakes Got A New Face". Other influences strike this older listener: The Feelies, Orange Juice, Haircut 100 and The English Beat. There's a bit of the early 80's yen for jangle pop mixed in as well. Refreshing after the spate of grunge, faux punk and emo indie shoe-gazing we've suffered through for tooooo long now!
The band are tight and melodic and also show a capacity for baroque classical arrangements on tracks like "M-79." Their lyrics are bright and clever, perhaps a bit too clever in that the band has an "in joke" going on that it will take the listener several plays to grasp, if they ever do. This is a promising first album by a young band that deserves the hype! I especially recommend it to fans of early 80's guitar-oriented New Wave.
Free Music Review: nice frothy party music
Hit: 4 Stars
I think some reviewers here are taking this band too seriously. It's not meant to be a masterpiece, folks. But it goes great with beer and pretzels. Real well. David Byrne knew what he was talking about (for once).Free Music Review: Awesome Album!
Hit: 5 Stars
To keep it short, this is an awesome album. I find it very relaxing to listen to pretty much any time of day, especially after listening to death metal (which is my favorite). I also like very much that Vampire Weekend uses many African beats. Its different, and they use them very tastefully.Free Music Review: Solid Album
Hit: 5 Stars
I stumbled onto Vampire Weekend on the internet and decided to get a preview of what this band could do, before I considered ordering the MP3 Album. The vocals sounded catchy enough for me to gamble on them and I'm glad I did.
They have this harmonic melody that enthralls you to listen to every track, with no breaks in between. I read a review about someone saying that there were no memorable tracks, but I'd have to disagree. There are quite a few songs that can easily become singles and the other songs are still pretty well polished. The only con I could find was that there wasn't any more tracks, because I can't get enough of these guys. If you're in a need for an album that you need to relax the soul, Vampire Weekend is for you.