THE BORE

General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 06:22:51 AM

Title: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 06:22:51 AM: Shamelessly aping the Paul Simon this time around ('White Sky' is practically a cover of 'Diamonds in the Soles of Her Shoes' fer chrissakes), but to excellent effect. It's a fine sophmore effort- More of what we liked, less of what we didn't. It's also a little weirder, whic.h is nice. 'Cousins' does a nice job of channeling XTC. I really liked the first record, it was an incredibly tight package of white boy AfroPop. This is pretty much everything the first one was, just weirder and more adventurous.

A-! But really, 'White Sky' is the broadest theft of Paul Simon maybe ever. To great effect, but it's freakishly similar to Diamonds...
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 06:25:51 AM: Also, best use fo auto-tune since T Pain convinced us Chris Brown was worth listening to.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Olivia Wilde Homo on January 04, 2010, 07:17:00 AM: Leper this filth
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 08:18:57 AM: love the first vampire weekend but haven't even bothered to listen to the second one after Horchata was released.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 08:24:14 AM: Quote from: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 08:18:57 AM
love the first vampire weekend but haven't even bothered to listen to the second one after Horchata was released.

You didn't like Horchata? You may like the rest of the record. I really loved Horchata
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: ch1nchilla on January 04, 2010, 08:45:41 AM: Horchata is miserable and it reminds me of a commercial jingle, but I like the rest of their newer singles well enough so I'll definitely give the album a spin.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 09:22:53 AM: Quote from: ch1nchilla on January 04, 2010, 08:45:41 AM
Horchata is miserable and it reminds me of a commercial jingle, but I like the rest of their newer singles well enough so I'll definitely give the album a spin.

Horchata is the 2nd weakest song. There's one called 'Giving Up the Gun' that sound like a Savage Garden b-side. It's awful. But everything else is really lovely. There's enough going on here that even if you hate one track, the next sounds nothing like it. There are some really nice, quiet baroque pop moments (Taxi Cab, I think U r a Contra), some really obscure British-pop (Think Madness, not Oasis) moments (Cousins), some expansive world-pop gestures (Run). California English is great- An auto-tuned slice of AfroPop that really hits all the right notes, it's the perfect Sophomore album song.

Generally everything here just feel tighter and more adventurous, it's a better realized album than Vampire Weekend. Which is good and bad. Part of VW's charm was it's out-of-nowhere appeal, I wonder how this one will hit knowing that folks are expecting it.

Large chunks of this record are really, really melody-driven. They sound like they took a huge cue from that Discovery album I WORSHIPPED and no one else did.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 09:25:49 AM: It's also substantially less guitar driven. The drummer got a promotion, which is great because there are some really great percussive moments in here, too.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 09:44:21 AM: I'm with Eric P–every single I've heard from the album (Cousins, White Sky, Horchata) simply bores me and I'm finding no real inkling to get hyped for the new record. And yes, I did love the first one.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 09:55:17 AM: I'll also chime in and say that I thoroughly enjoyed that Discovery album, too.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 10:01:11 AM: i don't really have a problem with afropop for white folks (quelle surprise considering my known hatred of major lazer and my dismissive labeling of it as "dance hall 101"), but Horchata was just too... twee, i guess.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 10:08:48 AM: Quote from: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 10:01:11 AM
i don't really have a problem with afropop for white folks (quelle surprise considering my known hatred of major lazer and my dismissive labeling of it as "dance hall 101"), but Horchata was just too... twee, i guess.

I abhor Major Lazer. I liked Horchata's sense of ambition if nothing else.

Now I'm going to say two contradictory things: If you did not liek any of the 3 singles, you will probably not find anything else here to like. DId you really hate those singles? I could see not getting Horchata, but Cousins was great! White Sky is a shameless, shameless Paul Simon theft-fest, but it's a GOOD Paul Simon theft-fest. WHen was the last time we got a band who could ape that sound so well?

That said, the entire spirit of this album feels somehow informed by that Discovery album. It's just spacier, sweeter, more lovable? I don't know. I didn't LOVELOVE the first album, I guess I'm finding more of what I wanted in here.

Or maybe I'm still in love with the time I saw THE VERY BEST (The greatest show I have ever gone to, by the way) and Ezra showed up and did a very good job of being a white boy busting out AfroPop with an actual African on stage.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:10:28 AM: Yes, I agree with that 100% Eric P. To be honest I've been a little saturated by the latest craze of afropop in music these last two years. I loved Return to the Sea by Islands, really enjoyed the first Vampire Weekend record, and thought the latest Very Best release was awesome, but I just feel like it's everywhere now. At least with Islands, Nick Thorburn is all self aware about it (especially with Vapours, which doesn't even really sound like anything he's done in the past)

edit: yes, the Very Best rocks. awesome album
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 10:12:40 AM: TBH, i have only heard Horchata. I figured I'd wait for the full album before listening to anything else from them.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 10:13:56 AM: Quote from: BrandNew on January 04, 2010, 10:10:28 AM
Yes, I agree with that 100% Eric P. To be honest I've been a little saturated by the latest craze of afropop in music these last two years. I loved Return to the Sea by Islands, really enjoyed the first Vampire Weekend record, and thought the latest Very Best release was awesome, but I just feel like it's everywhere now. At least with Islands, Nick Thorburn is all self aware about it (especially with Vapours, which doesn't even really sound like anything he's done in the past)

edit: yes, the Very Best rocks. awesome album

I saw Islands at this party catered by some Top Chef guy and they ran out of free beer and Islands played like 3 songs and then the singer walked off stage, came back on stage, hit the guitarist, left the stage and then they were like PARTY IS OVER. Fucking sucked.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:14:26 AM: if you have free time:
http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend (http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend)

just finished it. It's okay, but I definitely liked the first more.

I should clarify that Cousins has grown on me, I like it a lot now.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:15:50 AM: Quote from: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 10:13:56 AM
Quote from: BrandNew on January 04, 2010, 10:10:28 AM
Yes, I agree with that 100% Eric P. To be honest I've been a little saturated by the latest craze of afropop in music these last two years. I loved Return to the Sea by Islands, really enjoyed the first Vampire Weekend record, and thought the latest Very Best release was awesome, but I just feel like it's everywhere now. At least with Islands, Nick Thorburn is all self aware about it (especially with Vapours, which doesn't even really sound like anything he's done in the past)

edit: yes, the Very Best rocks. awesome album

I saw Islands at this party catered by some Top Chef guy and they ran out of free beer and Islands played like 3 songs and then the singer walked off stage, came back on stage, hit the guitarist, left the stage and then they were like PARTY IS OVER. Fucking sucked.
:lol Sounds like Islands. They are notorious for bipolar performances. Was this just recently or a few years ago? The new 4-piece band is apparently a lot more relaxed and fun. My buddies saw them in Columbus last year and said they were fucking great.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 10:19:16 AM: Quote from: BrandNew on January 04, 2010, 10:14:26 AM
if you have free time:
http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend (http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend)

just finished it. It's okay, but I definitely liked the first more.

I should clarify that Cousins has grown on me, I like it a lot now.

The leaked version is just a MySpace rip.

Anyway!: It was like. Jeez, almost a year and a half ago.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 10:26:56 AM: I listened through it once, but the sound quality of the Myspace tracks are so bad that it's effecting my overall opinion, so I'm gonna wait a couple more days.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 10:27:20 AM: yeah. 64kbps is horrible
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:43:52 AM: Is it seriously 64? Jesus :lol

Gillo: Yeah a year and a half ago was a bad time to see Islands, they were pretty shit around then. Nick got all angry and kicked out like all of his band members and formed a new band, yet kept its name Islands. Vapours is my second favorite album of the year, and I think it's certainly one of the most underrated albums from last year.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 10:48:32 AM: yeah i had a few tracks up from some previous projects just fucking around and in the eula it specifies your quality rate.

i was like "whatever" because it was free hosting when no where else really had that
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Tauntaun on January 04, 2010, 10:48:38 AM: Paul Simon is awesome.

[youtube=560,345]AE3kKUEY5WU[/youtube]
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:54:08 AM: at least post a paul simon song relevant to the genre at hand!
[youtube=560,345]OafqYNCzq5U[/youtube]

god, best album of the 80s
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Tauntaun on January 04, 2010, 11:01:51 AM: That's an awesome concert. :rock
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Howard Alan Treesong on January 04, 2010, 12:29:19 PM: Graceland is one of my favorite albums of all time ... god damn
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: fistfulofmetal on January 04, 2010, 12:30:41 PM: the chick on the cover is pretty hot
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Phoenix Dark on January 04, 2010, 02:15:50 PM: heard there was 8-bit stuff on the album

listened to album

turned it off after 3 minutes
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 03:00:30 PM: are you into 8bit music now?
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Phoenix Dark on January 04, 2010, 03:08:20 PM: It's always appealed to me, can't say I've heavily looked into it recently. I've heard a couple Vampire Weekend songs and they didn't appeal to me, but the 8-bit news definitely peaked my interests
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 03:10:38 PM: ah ok.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 03:23:05 PM: Quote from: Phoenix Dark on January 04, 2010, 03:08:20 PM
It's always appealed to me, can't say I've heavily looked into it recently. I've heard a couple Vampire Weekend songs and they didn't appeal to me, but the 8-bit news definitely peaked my interests

Contra has a few bleeps and bloops from what I can make out of the murkiness, but whoever spoke of "8-bit" might've been referring to Batmanglij's collab project, Discovery.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Phoenix Dark on January 04, 2010, 03:24:39 PM: it was omg rite on GAF :(
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 03:26:03 PM: :lol :lol :lol
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 03:35:05 PM: i think we're done here
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Powerslave on January 04, 2010, 03:37:04 PM: sometimes you know a band sucks just by looking at their name
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 03:54:39 PM: oh god yeah like Helloween
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Tauntaun on January 04, 2010, 04:03:07 PM: Quote from: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 03:54:39 PM
oh god yeah like Helloween

:yuck
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Powerslave on January 04, 2010, 04:06:50 PM: or metallica
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 04:12:45 PM: or the beatles
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Powerslave on January 04, 2010, 04:14:25 PM: and muse
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 04, 2010, 04:16:45 PM: or any black metal band name taken from something to do with Tolkein
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 05:42:03 PM: Quote from: Phoenix Dark on January 04, 2010, 03:08:20 PM
It's always appealed to me, can't say I've heavily looked into it recently. I've heard a couple Vampire Weekend songs and they didn't appeal to me, but the 8-bit news definitely peaked my interests

You'd really, really, really like Ananmanaguchi.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 04, 2010, 05:43:58 PM: Also, next day ruminations: THere are no songs on Contra that are roomy. Nothing like Mansard Roof or A Punk, songs which have decidedly few moving parts. Everything is big and tight, but maybe charmless?
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 05:50:02 PM: I'd say that's a pretty fair statement. Nothing moves real well in this album, I feel. Cousins is good, and I like that California song, but nothing hooks me like Mansard Roof, Oxford Comma, A Punk, Campus, or Walcott did to me.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 06:28:00 PM: Now streaming at NPR.org, but I'm not sure if the quality is any better: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122213523
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 10:36:27 PM: Retail rip is out thurr too :shh
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:39:36 PM: Listened to this three times and I'm still meh on it
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 10:47:44 PM: I'm finding this to be much more tolerable, enjoyable even, now that it doesn't sound like my ears are stuffed with dicks.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 04, 2010, 10:49:16 PM: you don't like that sensation?
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 04, 2010, 10:57:59 PM: Oh, I like a nice bell-end ringing in my head every once in awhile.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 05, 2010, 12:07:52 PM: Nevermind, this album is shit. I think Green Man would love "Give Up the Gun". SMH at that track.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 05, 2010, 12:13:42 PM: Quote from: RoboJ on January 04, 2010, 10:57:59 PM
Oh, I like a nice bell-end ringing in my head every once in awhile.

"what does that sound like?"

"ding-dong"
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Flannel Boy on January 05, 2010, 01:28:05 PM: Quote from: Eric P on January 05, 2010, 12:13:42 PM
Quote from: RoboJ on January 04, 2010, 10:57:59 PM
Oh, I like a nice bell-end ringing in my head every once in awhile.

"what does that sound like?"

"ding-dong"

:rofl :rofl :rofl
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 05, 2010, 01:39:41 PM: Yeah album isn't very good. They're coming to Nashville in April though and I know for a fact that they're a great live show. So there.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 05, 2010, 01:58:17 PM: Quote from: BrandNew on January 05, 2010, 01:39:41 PM
They're coming to Nashville in April though and I know for a fact that they're a great live show. So there.
i heard they stand there and play instruments and the songs are just like the album, except with out the production added bits like strings and such, which sounds to me like it would be a fuck awful mess to actually attend
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Robo on January 05, 2010, 02:05:56 PM: By the time I saw them last year, they were filling in those gaps with electronics and samples.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Eric P on January 05, 2010, 02:30:23 PM: ok that's a bit more comforting to hear
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 05, 2010, 02:46:22 PM: I've watched videos of their live shows and they sound fine. ???
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Powerslave on January 05, 2010, 03:28:52 PM: HEY GUYS OUR BAND IS CALLED VAMPIRE WEEKEND BECAUSE HAVING WEIRD NAMES IS SO EDGY AND WE DONT CARE
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 05, 2010, 03:33:06 PM: Yeah, cause that's exactly why people like them.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Powerslave on January 05, 2010, 04:35:25 PM: people like them because they have shitty taste. Besides that wasn't my point.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 05, 2010, 04:44:33 PM: it was still a shitty post, you're a shitty member

shit
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: Powerslave on January 05, 2010, 05:48:13 PM: Look man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything I said about Vampire Weekend and their fans. Can't we just forget about all this?
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 05, 2010, 06:13:31 PM: fuck you shithead

spoiler (click to show/hide)
i'm kidding playa
[close]
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: GilloD on January 06, 2010, 09:18:18 PM: http://www.kempa.com/2010/01/04/absolutely-surreal-excerpt-from-a-new-yorker-profile-of-vampire-weekend/

What the fuck. So weird.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: TakingBackSunday on January 06, 2010, 09:42:09 PM: :lol Tom DeLonge is such a fucking hack. Mark Hoppus 4 life

edit: So I've listened to it a few more times and it's a tad better than I was making it out to be. I really like Holiday, California English, Run, and Cousins. I don't mind Horchata, White Sky is aight. The rest aren't great. Still not nearly as good as the first album, but this isn't a bad follow-up.
Title: Re: The new Vampire Weekend is pretty good!
Post by: ToxicAdam on January 07, 2010, 01:56:56 AM: Just heard Cousins today, I think it's great.

Too bad the rest of the album is blah (apparently), but that's kind of the norm today for a band's second or third album.