“Ice Cream Piano” begins with a healthy dose of guitar feedback and pronounced strumming, and then the first few lines of the album soothingly unfold, “‘Fuck the world’ / You said it quiet / No one could hear you / No one but me / Cynical, you can’t deny it.” It’s a surprising, but no less strong, sequence of phrases on which to launch Vampire Weekend’s fifth studio album, Only God Was Above Us. The album explores the status quo, including international conflicts, generational attitudes, and society’s unrelenting grip on historical traumas. And yet, Only God Was Above Us, named after a headline quote in the Daily News from a real-life Aloha Airlines flight incident in 1988, is not overtly political. Rather, it’s a musical commentary about fatalism and disillusionment, punctuated by an ultimate yearning for hope and progress. It’s the most cohesively inspired Vampire Weekend album yet, with the band diving head-first into a (mostly) New York City urban soundscape of grunge and grit (see the album cover image above) while not abandoning their gleeful chamber pop origins. Continue reading “Album Review: Vampire Weekend, “Only God Was Above Us””
Tag: Ezra Koenig
Show Review: Vampire Weekend at the Fox Oakland, 4/19/10 and 4/20/10
Vampire Weekend proved without a doubt at their two sold out shows at the Fox in Oakland that they are a strong band. I didn’t hear any mistakes either night. The drums, brought to you by C.T. (Chris Tomson) were solid, holding everything together. Chris Baio danced and played the bass masterfully. Rostam Batmanglij fleshed out the melody with keyboard and guitar and Ezra Koenig gave it all a focal point with his charm and strong vocals center stage. This was the third and fourth time I’d seen Vampire Weekend and I knew they could deliver a good show like this, but could they still surprise me? Continue reading “Show Review: Vampire Weekend at the Fox Oakland, 4/19/10 and 4/20/10”
Album Review: Vampire Weekend – Contra
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been impatiently waiting for this album to leak for months. The teasing release of “Horchata” made me super excited (it is still available as a free download on the band’s website). Then, the next leak brought “White Sky” which made me stop and wonder if I really would like the album, or if Vampire Weekend would take it too far from their roots of mixing indie rock with beautifully complex afro-beats. After 24 hours of listening pleasure I can tell you that Contra is everything you wanted whether you knew it consciously or not. Somehow Vampire Weekend took 2008’s indie-juggernaut Vampire Weekend and ran it through a strainer, taking it apart and putting it back together with a controlled modern twist giving us a record that is smart and fresh, while still sounding like the band we know and love. There’s a heavy hand with the production polish, but that is what makes Contra different enough to keep it exciting and new. Continue reading “Album Review: Vampire Weekend — Contra”