Vampire Weekend - Step
Yes, it’s true: Vampire Weekend; after keeping hopeful fans at bay for a full three years, has written and recorded a third album. Now, if you are like me and have kept off your waiting pains by keeping their last album in near constant rotation, then you may have approached this news with trepidation. After all, what if Vampire Weekend changed their sound to cater to changing tastes, or what if they simply lost the magic of Contra? With these concerns and more I approached the singles (so far) from Modern Vampires Of The City.
“Step” begins smoothly with Ezra Koenig’s voice softly oozing over a simple bass line, and as soon as the drums hit you can tell that Vampire Weekend’s sound isn’t changing for anyone. While “Step” does not have the raucous charm of “A-Punk” or “Cousins”, listeners will find it reminiscent of their softer tracks, such as “Taxi Cab.”
While “Stay” steers away from the synthesizer fills and African beats of previous tracks, it does maintain the heart and flow that Vampire Weekend has become known for, as well as a few mainstays for the band. Such as Koenig’s delightfully off-tempo delivery and the trills of a harpsichord in the background. Unlike “Diane Young”, the first single whose keyboardless energy steers somewhat away from previous VW efforts, “Step” proves the band’s capabilities to make excellent, quirky, vibrant music remain unchanged.
Vampire Weekend is seemingly still dedicated to producing sing song anthems for lovelorn city wanderers, and if that’s your thing, be sure to check out Modern Vampires Of The City. when it drops in mid-May.
This guest post was beautifully written by owlien. Thanks, owlien!
The Bird and the Bee - “Rich Girl”
I chose this song to post to represent my favorites of 2010 for one reason: I haven’t posted a Bird and the Bee track from this album yet! Clever, I know. This is also one of my favorite Hall and Oates songs. Double win.
I feel like this album came and went pretty quickly. Released in March, there are 9 tracks, with one being an original, I posted it on my blog a few weeks ago. Check it out here. This album is pure pop magic!
Here is my list of favorite albums this year, in band alphabetical order:
Amy’s Favorites of 2010
- Best Coast - Crazy For You
- The Bird and the Bee - Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall and John Oates
- The Drums - The Drums
- Fences - Fences
- Vampire Weekend - Contra
LCD Soundsystem - “Home”
Remember how James Murphy used to excoriate hipsters and other artists? Yeah, now he’s turned his sights on us. It’s not pretty, but it’s tough love as Matthew says. I suggest we be thankful: Sound of Silver also ended with a sigh of a song about a home (“New York I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”), but here he removes the location and speaks to all of us. You’re afraid of what you need. A million music-critic-types are blurbing about how This Is Happening is an album about aging or whatever, but they are missing the big picture. Murphy’s our collective Cool Big Brother now and he’s got lessons to teach us. Pay attention.
Tristan’s Favorites of 2010
- LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening / London Sessions
- Matthew Dear - Black City
- Vampire Weekend - Contra
- Janelle Monáe - The Archandroid
- HEALTH - ::DISCO2
Vampire Weekend - “Ruby Soho” (Rancid cover)
I’ll be brief. This song is too good to pass up! Vampire Weekend definitely add their own style to this track, but the sound of Rancid shines through and makes me feel all nostalgic. Basically, this cover combines my past and present musical tastes perfectly. Download it for free here.
Do you really think we wouldn’t post a song from Vampire Weekend’s upcoming album Contra? Of course we’re going to post one! Since most of us are already familiar with the tracks “Horchata” and “Cousins”, I chose “White Sky”. I picked it because it was one of the tracks that stood out to me the most while listening to the album in its entirety; a close runner up was “Holiday”.
All in all, a good album, which is what we expect from Vampire Weekend. Contra, for those who haven’t had a chance to hear it yet, is currently streaming on the band’s MySpace if you’d like to check it out.
This is an excellent a capella version of Tuneage favourites Vampire Weekend’s Oxford Comma, as performed by The Carleton Singing Knights.
And if you liked that, the guy that uploaded the video also has 40-something more a capella versions of songs by artists like Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin, Grizzly Bear, Postal Service, and Daft Punk.
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
It’s hard to find a band as fun as Vampire Weekend. You literally CAN’T feel upset when you are listening to these guys. I’ve been dying to post something from them all day, but already used up my song post. Fortunately, I circumvented the system, and found an awesome video for you. I hope you enjoy; I certainly do.
