When you review (or try to) one record per week, fatigue has a way of setting in. I’ll admit to staring at a new CD with the same dread with which I look at the second treadmill from the right as I step on board each morning for another monotonous sweat. It’s really pretty sad. In general music and sweating should never be boring.
That’s why it’s wonderful when once in a while you pull something completely fresh. You pull something sharp. It hits you like a menthol breeze, and instead of another 30 on the same old treadmill it feels like jumping into the pool for the first time all over again.
Vampire Weekend is that perky little record I needed to keep me going. Really good stuff I must say. Worth purchase for certain. With a name like Vampire Weekend and a single called “A-Punk” I must say I was expecting something pretty rock & roll. I was thinking Lost Boys black leather jacket. When a colleague described their sound as “Paul Simon-like,” I was immediately curious.
It’s not that often that one lyric can suffice as an entire record review, but that’s the case with Vampire Weekend’s self titled debut. On “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” lead singer Ezra Koenig croons, “But this feels so unnatural Peter Gabriel too.” And that’s pretty much it. The magic of Vampire Weekend is their unexpected cocktail of sound. The instruments have a very world music, African vibe going. But Koenig’s vocal is as milky white as Ferris Bueller singing in the parade. The result is an odd pairing of world music with a prep-school vocal. Could Vampire Weekend be a Paul Simon Graceland cover band, sure? But in 2008 this is a very fresh sound, and I think it’s super cool the kids are digging it on their MTV.
In short the Vampire Weekend record kicks major ass. It’s the sort of record that bums me out because I live in Minnesota and it’s still February. When I hear it I want to have people over and have this pumping through the outdoor speakers (note to self: get outdoor speakers). And the joy is there from the start. The very first bump of “Mansford Roof” takes us to Koenig’s original vocal to drums and hand drums that keep the pace.
The Vampire Weekend record does boast songs that rise to the top. “A-Punk” is the two minute party single burning up MTV. “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” is the closest to a Paul Simon joyride. Koenig somehow turns simple lyrics like “is your bed made? Is your sweater on?” into little packets of Nutra Sweet. The Vampire Weekend boys met up at Columbia University so it makes sense there are real smarts behind the lyrics. “Oxford Comma” is a street smart flip of the bird to the heavy starch of the class system, “who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma . . .his accent sounded fine to me.” And it’s also a great tune. “The Kids don’t stand a Chance” is the story of a hippie kid forced to set his alarm and go to work everyday. If there is a dip on the record it comes somewhere after a very hot start including instrumental juggernaut “M79” and Vampire Weekend’s own “Don’t Stand so Close to Me” tale “Campus.” The first seven tracks are superb, only on a brief section starting with “I Stand Corrected” does Vampire Weekend sound like they’re coloring inside the lines. The magic of this new band is the contrast, surprise and delight.
There aren’t many dips on Vampire Weekend. Overall their preppy world music sounds goes down like cream in your coffee. The strange contrast in sound has been described as “Upper West Side Soweto” —how great is that?! The Vampire Weekend is like the soundtrack of “The God’s must be Crazy” only instead of finding a Coke bottle it’s an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog that lands in the Kalahari Desert. The sound is part Police, part Paul Simon, and yes part Peter Gabriel – mixed with a whole lot of the rest of the world. Unnatural . . .maybe. But it sure sounds right.
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