Pages tagged “Vampire Weekend”

Picking a “best of” list reminds me of all of the philosophical barbs one runs into when judging music. Instead of expounding upon what makes up my definition of a "top album," I’ll keep things simple.

1. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (Beggars/XL/4AD)

Here's the list of my top albums of 2008, which I begrudgingly cobbled together after being told, no, I was not allowed to vote for last year's Everybodyfields album in all ten spots. Don't believe anyone who tells you music journalists have it easy! Life is hard.

We've just released our collective Top 50 at Paste, and there's been the usual response both on our site and others' about what you think we missed, what we got wrong and what the list really should have looked like. Since this was a collaborative effort with votes from staff and some of our regular critics, everyone would have made this list a little differently, including me. Here's my personal top 10 (i.e. the actual 10 best albums this year).

1. Bon Iver—For Emma, Forever Ago
Some albums stampede their way into your brain, others creep in during the middle of the night and lay claim to some hidden corner forever. Justin Vernon's debut is one of the sneakiest albums since Sam Beam whispered his way into my cerebral cortex in 2002.

Check out Paste's top 50 albums of 2008...

The boys of Hot Chip sure have had a massively busy 2008. They just put out a new album in February and have been touring ever since. Now, they're talking new EP's, tour dates and songs. Nope, you're not confusing them with Coldplay (though you'd be forgiven, those boys have a lot going on as well.) Hopefully new live drummer Leo Taylor, who recently finished a solo album, isn't ready to run for the hills quite yet.

For those who have never been to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, picture an impenetrable mountain fortress. A skyscraper’s worth of stairs runs up and around the main stage, and two towering, triangular rock formations jut forth from the earth, framing an indescribably vast, epic scene.

Austin has its SXSW and ACL Fest; New York has CMJ; Chicago has the Pitchfork Festival while Seattle and Bumbershoot remain hand-in-glove. Even as the music industry suffers through another in a long line of financially declining years, the list of noteworthy regional music events nevertheless goes on and on with nary an end in sight.

Vote in PasteMagazine.com's latest poll...

And it feels so unnatural, Peter Gabriel too. Forget the Summer Olympics, the real passing of the torch will be taking place in the recording studio. With Big Blue Ball finally released after cooking on the shelves of Gabriel's Wiltshire recording studio for nearly two decades, the former Genesis frontman will be dropping the sledgehammer on the heir apparent to his afropop superstardom: Vampire Weekend. As Stereogum reports, Gabriel plans to cover VW's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", which cheekily namechecks him.

Without cheating, close your eyes and try to name one summer festival Vampire Weekend is not playing this year. Can’t do it, can you? But the weird part about these festivals is this: Even if, say, the band was up against one-twenty-seventh of The Polyphonic Spree, Vampire Weekend would still not be headlining. Until now, that is.

What’s struck me so far about Bonnaroo is how friendly everybody is. I suppose some would chalk it up to the festival being in Tennessee, but I'm not so sure-- I'm from Chattanooga, and I've experienced no shortage of surly Tennesseans in my life, most of them in large groups. Plus, almost everyone we talked to yesterday was from out of state-- way out of state. And I can see the draw. This place is just unlike anywhere I've ever been. It's like a little city, but also a county fair, but also a giant backyard party, but also a sprawling, dirty outside mall—an extraterrestrial shanty town plopped down on earth from the planet Tie Dye.

I came to Bonnaroo yesterday looking forward to the music, but as surprisingly tight as Vampire Weekend was last night (they played like a band that's been around longer than three weeks) and as surprisingly big Nicole Atkins' voice is, the best thing I saw was Zach Galifianakis. Bonnaroo has been doing a comedy tent for years, but this was the first time I'd actually gone. I was more familiar with his awkwardly uncomfortable skits, like this ad for Absolut:

In our May edition of the "Paste 7" I called your attention to the free e-card website, someecards, which features electronic greetings that are witty, sometimes crude and very timely (example, a whole slew of cards dedicated to this summer's blockbuster movies). Categories include: Anniversary, Breakup, Cry For Help, Flirting, Get Well, Somewhat Topical, Workplace, and more.

But there is one category that has been glaringly omitted: Indie.

But don't worry, someecards masterminds! I've gone ahead and made some mock-ups for you! Might I suggest these additions to the someecards collection, inspired by some of my favorite indie musicians?


(Inspired by The Black Kids)


(Inspired by Camera Obscura)

Music festivals are growing and reproducing at a frightening pace. Just recently, we’ve heard about Outside Lands, Dickson Street and Roxbury. Well, get ready to further complicate your summer-travel plans, as we bring you the latest installment of The Summer of Many Awesome Musical To-Do's: Pemberton Festival 2008.

The name might be less exciting than, say, Langerado, but the aptly titled event, which is located in scenic Pemberton, British Columbia, is ready to blow your mind with its array of sweet sounds and commitment to environmental sustainability (hydro-electric energy, carpooling initiatives, farmer’s markets).

And what constitutes those sweet sounds? Well, there are the youngish megastars, including Coldplay, Interpol and Death Cab For Cutie; the oldish megastars, including Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z and the Flaming Lips; the old-but-awesome megastars, including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers; and the megastars-in-training, including Vampire Weekend, Black Mountain and the Secret Machines.

In other words, Pemberton is a festival that caters to some seriously diverse music interests. See you in British Columbia, July 25-27. Tickets go on sale March 28.

Related links:
PembertonFestival.com
VampireWeekend.com
TheSecretMachines.com

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Slip on those boat shoes, duck under that chandelier, and dash to your record store! (Careful, don't get your shirt all wrinkly.) Vampire Weekend, that collection of smartly-dressed, Afro-pop-playing Columbia University kids, finally released its debut album Tuesday via XL Recordings.

To celebrate this momentous and long-awaited occasion (we've christened it Vampire Week), Paste offers you a video tribute to Vampire Weekend:

First, see our Video of the Day from Dec. 10, "Mansard Roof."

Second, watch decidedly the most charming video from the new album, "A-Punk." (Hats, scarves, fish gloves, flashing lights...what more could you want in a video?)

And last, but certainly not least, La Blogotèque's Take-Away Shows recently gave Vampire Weekend a prestigious spot among the laundry list of enviable musicians they've featured with their beautiful Vincent Moon-directed videos. The three live performances they filmed on buses, strolling sidewalks and turning courtyards to concert halls, can be watched here. Songs performed include "Mansard Roof," "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance," "Walcott" and "One" in their entirety, but the videos also include snatches of other songs in between, like "Oxford Comma."

As if that wasn't enough, the quartet also appeared on NPR's World Cafe with David Dye Jan. 24. You can listen to the show at NPR.org.

A flurry of press has surrounded the pointy-fanged and Oxford-shirted group as they've toured solo and behind some impressive headliners over the past year. The roar has reached a new pitch with the band's self-titled debut. With several rave reviews (including ours) under the band's collective belt, Vampire Weekend is riding the hype waves to a couple dozen North American and U.K. cities leading up to Coachella in April.

Dates:

January
30 - New York, N.Y. @ Bowery Ballroom
31 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Popscene

February
1 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Amoeba Music
4 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Amoeba Music
6 - Washington, D.C. @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
7 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unitarian Church
8 - Willamstown, Mass. @ Willams College
9 - Boston, Mass. @ Museum of Fine Arts
11 - Toronto, Ontario @ Horseshoe Tavern
12 - Ann Arbor, Mich. @ The Blind Pig
13 - Cincinnati, Ohio @ Gypsy Hut
14 - Columbus, Ohio @ Wexner Center for the Arts
15 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Andy Warhol Museum
21 - London, UK @ ULU
22 - Wolverhampton, UK @ Wolverhampton Civic
23 - Oxford, UK @ Oxford Academy
24 - Brighton, UK @ Audio
27 - Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
28 - Glasgow, Scotland, UK @ Classic Grand

March
6 - Orlando, Fla. @ The Social *
7 - Clewiston, Fla. (Big Cypress Indian Reservation) @ Langerado Festival
8 - St. Augustine, Fla. @ Cafe Eleven *
9 - Atlanta @ The Earl *
10 - Birmingham, Ala. @ The Bottletree *
19 - San Diego, Calif. @ The Casbah
20 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ El Rey
22 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Independent
23 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Rickshaw Shop
25 - Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge
26 - Seattle, Wash. @ Neumos
27 - Vancouver, British Columbia @ Richards on Richards
29 - Missoula, Mont. @The Badlander
30 - Boise, Idaho @ Neurolux

April
1 - Denver, Colo. @ Bluebird Theater
25 - Indio, Calif. @ Coachella

* - w/ The Walkmen

Related links:
VampireWeekend.com
Vampire Weekend on MySpace
Paste 4 To Watch: Vampire Weekend

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Release the stars: A rave-worthy debut from a brainy, rangy band

When a record has not only no bad songs but no bad moments, when basslines bounce like rubber, when drums do more than keep time—when they roll and tumble in hypnotic patterns—and when vocals glide between the mannered crooning of an over-privileged indie boy and the spastic yelping of a shocked dog, well, what are we supposed to do? Not love it? Vampire is Anglo-Afro fusion on par with Graceland. It sounds like David Byrne fronting Orchestra Baobab. It sounds like The Strokes with a sense of humor. It sounds like indie rock simultaneously gentrifying and miscegenating—despite rumors to the contrary, the neighborhood’s getting better, more interesting and more colorful. These days, it ain’t just surly white dudes playing shitty guitar for other surly white dudes. Indeed, this cosmopolitan quartet has streamlined ska, post-punk, chamber music and Afropop into a glorious ultramodern groove.

Stamped with the 4 To Watch seal of approval and an ultra-favorable review of its debut album in the February issue of Paste, Vampire Weekend will soon celebrate its Paste-love with a series of tour dates.

Of course, we can't take all the credit, because, as we’ve noted, the band has quite a few admirers. But questions of causality aside, the tour is a happy event.

The event is made happier by four southern dates, when Vampire Weekend will share its bill with The Walkmen. The bands’ joint appearance will also be a happy event for Columbia University, the alma mater of 100% of Vampire Weekend and some members of The Walkmen. After 2007, Columbia needs the good publicity.

Dates:

January
17 - London, England @ Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen
29 - New York, N.Y @ Bowery Ballroom
30 - New York, N.Y @ Bowery Ballroom
31 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Popscene

February
1 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Amoeba Records (in-store)
6 - Washington, D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel
7 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ First Unitarian Church
8 - Williamstown, Mass. @ Williams College - Currier Ballroom
9 - Boston, Mass. @ Museum of Fine Arts
11 - Toronto, Ontario @ Horseshoe Tavern
13 - Cincinnati, Ohio @ The Gypsy Hut
14 - Columbus, Ohio @ Wexner Center
15 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Andy Warhol Museum

March
6 - Orlando, Fla. @ The Social *
7 - South Florida Everglades, Fla. @ Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation (Langerado)
8 - St. Augustine, Fla. @ Café Eleven *
9 - Atlanta, Ga. @ The Earl *
10 - Birmingham, Ala. @ The Bottletree *
19 - San Diego, Calif. @ The Casbah
20 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ El Rey
22 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Independent
23 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Rickshaw Shop
25 - Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge
26 - Seattle, Wash. @ Neumos
27 - Vancouver, British Columbia @ Richards on Richards

* with The Walkmen

Related links:
VampireWeekend.com
Vampire Weekend on MySpace
The Walkmen on MySpace

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Click above to watch "Mansard Roof" from Vampire Weekend. Look for the album January 29, 2008 out on XL Recordings.

Vampire Weekend was one of 2007’s big breakthroughs (and with the Jan. 29 release of its self-titled debut, probably one of 2008’s, as well), and is now a Paste 4 To Watch band to boot. To commemorate the band’s big year and to get you excited for the release of Vampire Weekend, we offer you a video.

Said video shows the band playing “I Stand Corrected,” a song from the new album, at the studios of Los Angeles’ Indie 103.1 FM. It’s a nice, spare track, and when it’s over, you’ll probably want to bold, highlight, and circle Jan. 29 in your calendar (if you haven’t already done so, of course).

Related links:
VampireWeekend.com
Vampire Weekend on MySpace
Indie103.1.FM

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Members: Christopher Tomson (drums), Ezra Koenig (vocals/guitar), Chris Baio (bass), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards, vocals)
Fun fact: Vampire Weekend was born in early 2006 out of dorm-room collaborations at Columbia University.
Why they're worth watching: The band has shared marquees with Animal Collective and The Shins. A full-length debut is due in early 2008.
For fans of: Talking Heads, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Paul Simon

On the surface, Vampire Weekend has little in common with Vlad the Impaler, the legendary tyrant who inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For starters, Vampire Weekend is a topsider-clad 21st-century American band that has won favor among many with its brand of “polite punk,” while Vlad was a 15th century Romanian prince who won favor among very few by skewering his detractors and displaying the carnage in his front yard. Punk, maybe. But hardly polite.

“It’s a bit out of nowhere, but I think that’s better than something really literal, like The Martha’s Vineyards,” drummer Chris Tomson says of the contrast between his band’s sanguine name and its clean-cut, khaki-clad persona. “But I don’t think that anyone has shown up thinking that we’re a goth band.” Indeed, with breezy lyrical references to obscure punctuation, 17th-century French architecture and Ivy League co-eds, Vampire Weekend’s fusion of retro synth-pop, jangly guitar riffs and Afro-beat flourishes is as distant from gothic doom and gloom as Cape Cod is from Transylvania.

But like the Impaler himself, the band understands the benefits of a defined public image. Vlad solidified his own with the help of a few sharp sticks and some unwitting volunteers; Vampire Weekend has spilled no blood, but is no less deliberate. “In the first couple rehearsals, we talked about a vibe that we wanted we have,” Tomson says of the upper-crust aesthetic that permeates the band’s lyrics, onstage dress and even its concert fliers. “It’s kind of a joke, though I’ve read a couple things where people don’t get that we’re winking, so they’re just kind of upset, like, ‘You fuckin’ rich kids!’”

Lighten up—it’s not like they’ve killed anyone.

Reasons why you, as an independent music fan, must love Vampire Weekend:

* The blogs won't shut the hell up about the band.
* Its members are snazzy dressers (see above).
* They are also pale white men from New York (see above).
* Paste is featuring the band as a "4 To Watch" artist in our next issue (spread the word).
* The guys play guitar, keyboard, bass and drums in a manner that is pleasing to the ears.

Perhaps you've never heard the pro-Vampire Weekend argument laid out so convincingly before. But regardless of whether you think the group is awesome or just the greatest band of the 21st Century, know this: it is releasing an album, touring and otherwise taking over this fair nation of ours one pierced neck at a time.

The group's self-titled debut rises from its casket (har har) on Jan. 29 courtesy of XL Recordings. It features 11 songs, entitled as follows:

1. Mansard Roof
2. Oxford Comma
3. A-Punk
4. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
5. M79
6. Campus
7. Bryn
8. One (Blake’s Got A New Face)
9. I Stand Corrected
10. Walcott
11. The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance

With the new release comes a cross-country trek. Dates below:

November
16 - Haverford, Pa. @ Haverford College - Lunt Baement
23 - Cleveland, Ohio @ Beachland Tavern
24 - Bloomington, Ind. @ Waldorn Arts Center
25 - Lexington, Ky. @ Old Tarr Distillery Warehouse
27 - Norman, Okla. @ The Opolis
28 - Denton, Texas @ Rubber Gloves
29 - Austin, Texas @ The Mohawk

December
1 - Phoenix, Ariz. @ Casa Blanca Lounge
2 - San Diego, Calif. @ Casbah
3 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Echo
5 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Independent
7 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ Kilby Court
8 - Denver, Colo. @ Bluebird Theater
9 - Omaha, Neb. @ Slowdown Jr.
11 - Chicago, Ill. @ Schubas
12 - Pontiac, Mich. @ The Pike Room at the Crofoot
13 - Toronto, Ontario @ El Mocambo
14 - Montreal, Quebec @ Club Lambi
15 - Cambridge, Mass. @ Middle East Underground

Related links:
Vampire Weekend on MySpace
Google Video: Vampire Weekend - "Oxford Comma"
The Fader: Vampire Weekend Vants to Rock Your Face!

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.