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A few words for the others who don't know me. My name is Laurent, and I am an ex colleague of Raman from Dannon, where I met him a couple of years ago.
Now, I am not with Dannon anymore but, I still live in NYC, in Park Slope Brooklyn more precisely. And as you can notice it, for my accent, I am French.
So, I discovered the Vampire Weekend, who are from NYC, in 2009, little time after they released their 1st album (Vampire Weekend, 2008). I liked it. But not too much. Maybe, I got biased because the guy at my office in Barcelona, who liked them, C., was really not cool. And on top of that C. is a Real Madrid fan. So, I thought that they could not be a cool band if C. liked them. A bit stupid, yes.
Now, a few months ago, some cool Spanish friends, played the video Step (http://youtu.be/_mDxcDjg9P4) of their latest album, Modern Vampires of the city. Because the whole video is just about NYC, the city where have been more the last 2 years. I loved it.
I was reading about them to write this blog and it's funny they are related to the Broken Bells, because they toured with the Shins in the UK.
Then I listened to their latest (and 3rd) album, several times and started to like the band more and more. I even liked their 1st two albums! In Modern Vampires of the city, on top of Step, Everlasting arms is a pretty great song. It looks like some Paul Simon Song. I like their animated tone and the rhythm and they add. Ya Hey is also a must listen to song of the album.
Good listening!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ea19hqc6p6g1flt/wzjTQyehLG
Welcome Laurent, and awesome posting. Unlike some of my less cultured siblings, I loved VW's debut album and I can't wait to listen to this one. My wife, Sarah, and I saw them live in London a few years ago and they blew us away. Incidentally, we also saw The Shins in the same theatre, but in a different show.
ReplyDeleteReview to follow!
Thanks Rohan! I would love to see them in a show too. They must be very fun
Deletei can't get track #4 "Diane Young" out of my head. I guess it's better than "Everything is Awesome" from the Lego movie - http://youtu.be/StTqXEQ2l-Y - you're welcome
ReplyDeletenot sure about Everything is awesome...
DeleteI was really surprised to hear this song. It's obviously a direct rip off any number of sings from the fifties and yet they still manage to make it sound cool. I like to think they did it at the request of one or their mums. My favourite line - 'you've got the luck of a Kennedy'.
DeleteI quite liked Step, but I'm a sucker for songs about girls that have harpsichords in them.
DeleteYou like girls that have harpsichords in them?
DeleteI do like a good pluck
DeleteThis one got three plays on the first day, I really enjoyed it. 4.5 from me!
ReplyDeleteso, hate to be the guy who give positive reviews to everything. but this one is a solid 4
ReplyDeletei was super excited when Laurent said he'd be recommending the new Vampire Weekend. i never really got into them when they broke onto the scene, but the new album got a LOT of great press (one of Rolling Stone's top albums of 2013), so it was definitely on my "to listen" list
Only reason it's not a 5 (yet) is bc it took a few plays to get me OK with the slower numbers "Obvious Bicycle", "Step" (the latter of which is very Flaming Lip-sy), and started to peter out towards the end. it probably just bears more listening.
The more upbeat stuff is SOLID. i just can't get "Unbelievers", "Diane Young", "Hannah Hunt", and "Finger Back" out of my bobbing head. Lots of layers, great lyrics. Just
BTW - my coworker Jeff** recently told me about the "Step" remix, which is definitely worth a listen...reminiscent of the Grey album
http://pitchfork.com/news/53466-listen-vampire-weekend-share-step-remix-featuring-danny-brown-heems-despot/
**who i tried to recruit to MK but made some lame "i work at a startup and work too much" excuse despite his excellent taste in music + frequent show-going
This is a good album. 3.5. Happy to listen to it again. I saw them open for Animal Collective very shortly after moving to NYC, and have been a fan since.
ReplyDeleteI saw Animal Collective play in a field in the Welsh highlands. They were hammered and it was not great. Such a shame, great album.
DeleteI don't know what it is about VW. I like a couple of their songs a lot but mostly I find them repetitive. :(
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard their self-titled (presumably debut?) album I was very unimpressed with Vampire Weekend so admittedly I approached this album with some amount of prejudice. I really enjoyed the first two songs (Obvious Bicycle and Unbelievers) and had high hopes for the rest of the album but unfortunately for me it was all downhill from there. A lot of the songs contain sounds I find difficult to listen to, sounds that aggravate and annoy me. Particularly electronic distortion ("Worship You" @ 1:46) and gimmicky sounds ("Ya Hey" at 1:06 where Alvin and the Chipmunks make a guest appearance).
ReplyDeleteI was enjoying Hannah Hunt until his voice got all whiny and which point I wanted desperately to skip ahead. Or bludgeon the singer.
Hearing the Pachelbel canon chord progression in "Step" was a surprise, but it's an interesting song.
I really can't get into this album, I'm giving it 2.0 (the first two songs bumped it up from 1.5).
Good album (4)- nice upbeat, pleasant, almost dreamy feel to a lot of their songs. My fav song is Hannah Hunt - the beginning of the song drew me in. I would say I liked the first half of the album better than the second half.
ReplyDeleteI'mma give it a 4. I did like the layers for the tracks, and I tend to like more upbeat poppy songs in general. This is the only VW album I've listened to, and I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI had never really listened to Vampire Weekend, and was pleasantly surprised by their musical creativity and breadth. There are some great tracks on the album including Unbelievers and yes, Diane Young. However, there are a few dud songs on the album and in general, I think the album opens with strength and closes with a bit of a whimper. With more consistency, this could have been a 4* album but the weak ending knocked it down to a 3.5 for me.
ReplyDeleteHi Everyone,
ReplyDeleteRaman invited me to this here group yesterday. I'll give a fuller introduction of myself when I post my first album for group review (whenever that may be).
I'm going to give this album a less than stellar review if only because I so thoroughly enjoyed their first two albums so much and Modern Vampires of the City just pales in comparison. Also because this album appeared countless times on best of the year lists that I think maybe the hype was built up a bit more than the album can actually stand. It's certainly a fine album, and there are several outstanding tracks (Unbelievers and Worship You are the highlights for me). But every time I listen to it, I am supremely underwhelmed.
My biggest beef with it is that every time I listen to it, I have to fight to stop and just put on their first two albums. Also, I'm tired of albums about New York. Also, that goofy high pitched “yaaa” noise during “Ya Hey” just pisses me off. Sorry. 3/5 for me.
~jr