Finally, right?! Today you guys finally got to hear the album that’s been making people go crazy on both sides of the Atlantic, in every newspaper, magazine, and blog you read. Even Pitchfork can’t resist their Columbian charms, giving the self-titled debut a Best New Music stamp. All the way from Harlem (ha) to the spotlight; it’s a real riches to riches story, and, it couldn’t have happened to nicer guys (seriously). With all that out of the way, there’s only one thing left: the backlash. They’ve been on our radars for just about a year, right? It’s about time.
OK, not quite yet. According to NY Mag‘s crystal ball, the saturation point, which will take the band from being buzzy to being overhype-y, will be hit with the conclusion of tomorrow night’s sold-out Bowery Ballroom show; in other words, tonight’s sold-out Bowery Ballroom show is your last chance to say-you-were-there-when, before saying-you-were-they-when is like totally passé. This is, in fact, what the not-so-distant future possibly maybe holds:
In late 2008, after Vampire Weekend has guested on Saturday Night Live, sold out the Theater at Madison Square Garden for nine consecutive nights, and licensed songs for commercials for every product in Apple’s lineup, Zach Braff discovers a hip, new underground band called “Vampire Weekend.” He adds them to the soundtrack for his new movie, a coming-of-age story about Zach Braff sleeping with whichever currently popular 22-year-old actress is the hottest. He explains in the CD’s liner notes: “Their songs sound like Graceland by Paul Simon, another artist with which I am newly familiar.”
Vulture has the rest of the trajectory which, worry not A-Punk t-shirt owners, includes the all-is-forgiven/backlash-to-the-backlash phase, tentatively scheduled for the third album, after they’ve come to terms with P4K’s 1.3 drubbing of the sophomore effort.
Fun and games aside, Vampire Weekend’s enjoying a crowning moment: they are the Strokes, the Arcade Fire, the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Arctic Monkeys, the Beirut, the Peter Bjorn & John of the day. The record’s out today — it’s very good indeed — and the tour starts … now:
01/29 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom !
01/30 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
01/31 San Francisco, CA @ Popscene
02/01 San Francisco, CA @ Amoeba Records
02/04 Los Angeles, CA @ Amoeba Records
0206 Washington, D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
02/08 Williamstown, MA @ Williams College Currier Ballroom
02/09 Boston, MA @ Museum of Fine Arts
02/11 Toronto, Ontario @ Horseshoe Tavern
02/13 Cincinnati, OH @ The Gypsy Hut
02/14 Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center
02/15 Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum
02/21 London, England @ ULU
02/22 Wolverhampton, England @ Civic
02/23 Oxford, England @ Academy
02/24 Brighton, England @ Audio
02/27 Manchester, England @ Academy 2
02/28 Glasgow, Scotland @ Classic Grand
03/06 Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/07 South Florida Everglades, FL (Langerado)
03/08 St. Augustine, FL @ Café Eleven
03/09 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/10 Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree
03/12 – 03/16 Austin, TX SXSW
03/19 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
03/20 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
03/22 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
03/23 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Shop
03/25 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
03/26 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
03/27 Vancouver, British Columbia @ Richards on Richards
03/29 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
03/30 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
04/01 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
04/25 Indio, CA @ Coachella
UPDATE: Bowery Ballrom looks like it was fun last night. Anybody go while it was still cool to like them?
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Boo Urns, I say. Boo urns.
That is pretty damn funny. God, the hype is going to kill them. Poor guys. Of course, I mean “poor” as in I feel sorry for the beating their gonna take.
At least they’re putting it all on the table with a tour like that – US, UK, and Canada, with 2 huge festivals in the mix – I’m glad their first SF show is this week because they’re going to be worn the hell out 2 months from now.
I enjoy Vampire Weekend a lot but it’s no 8.8. The album doesn’t really feel like a full concept or anything, it’s more like 2 EPs stuck together, though the first half is really good… It’s sort of a dumb score. Hissing Fauna only got an 8.7 andd everything you know. Oh well, I guess Pitchfork sux.
for me it’s not the hype that causes the backlash. it’s the shitty, obnoxious music.
i predict MTV in one month or less. they are already in target and in the window at virgin megastore union square. i dont know, i think that bands need the chance to grow and to go through some shit before they blow up.
this is like the strokes all over again – and look what happened to them
Vampire Weekend: The Movie
http://blog.limewire.com/posts/1138-Trailer-Vampire-Weekend
they’re already on mtv u and mtv 2…
oh well,
i saw ‘em live and they put on a good show. but, here’s to hoping they can break the limitations of their sound. VW are in danger of having every song sound the same.
hype or no, this first effort is solid. jump on the bandwagon lest ye come off as pretentious.
Their music is meh, but their whole rich-kid new england preppy persona is what’s cool about them (however contrived it may ultimately be). I been rocking topsiders and oxfords and shit without irony for years. I wonder if the band’s popularity will spark a trend where hipsters dress more like their parents.
i’m with anon. it doesnt take hype and backlash for me to dislike music that isnt good.
THEY’RE ROWESOMECK
“it doesn’t take hype and backlash for me to dislike music that isn’t good.”
[boom]
[QR5 do "the Paul Simon thing" alot better] >>
http://www.qr5.com
SPELLCHECK NEEDED HERE.
At least one of their songs is OK.
the hype is ridiculous on this shit. pitchfork dude tried to say they sounded like orange juice the other day. the hell’s he listening to?
i wonder if they’ll be on anyone’s 87th generation ipod in 20 years.
jea.no.
it becomes backlash once a good band starts getting popular. no one complained when vampire weekend was SG’s band to watch.
also, honestly, how many of the bands you listen to now will you listen to in 20 years? (i can think of one, personally). scratch that, considering you’re at a music blog right now and probably visit other ones too, how many of these bands will you listen to next year?
oh, btw, this band was never good to begin with.
no, really. they straight up just suck.
lucky for them they never had (or needed) day jobs eh?
i plan to listen to silent alarm in 20 years.
thank you!
http://www.virb.com/maeshi/videos/29407
[been done]
wow this album is really piss poor junkfood music. i wish i had not even bothered to steal it.
yecch.
They’re not that bad, not that great. They’re just an average band that got caught up in the big ole hype machine (ha!). It just sucks for them cause now they’ll never please anyone ever again.
@us, we [in between]: Yikes. I can’t believe it took 8 people to make music that shitty! That takes effort.
“lucky for them they never had (or needed) day jobs eh?”
I know that Ezra taught high school in Bedstuy (i think) for at least 1 year if not 2.
as I’ve been saying since August (what, they really broke in July?) they will be the next Clap Your Hands Say Who?
i have to say, even the most hard-core haters of hype and bullshit gimmick indie bands i know *still* love Vampire Weekend. so those of you popping up to anonymously/semi-anonymously take your shots, you just look like the jowls on mitch mcconnel.
Seriously. This album is not 8.8 or Best New Music worthy. Especially not if P4K is going to give Black Mountain’s new one a mediocre 7.ish score. Don’t get me wrong I like Vampire Weekend, but it gets so much less good after track 6 or so, which is crazy for such a short album.
It’s sad when a band’s trajectory can be planned out like this. Boo to hype.
I only heard them for the first time last week, and I’m already sick of them. I’m sure they’re nice guys and all, but the trust-fund-brat shtick really rubs me the wrong way. Having said that, I wish them success, because there are a lot of very successful bands that I find it quite easy to ignore.
And hey, if they get huge, better them than Times New Viking!
Retarded anon blog commenting types pissed off nobody likes their band/cubicle bound douches with too much free time, will always find something creative to hate without putting their name on said hate. You kids should own up or shut up. Or spend the time you just wasted making something. Seriously. All you are good for as a result of stringing some poorly crafted “criticism” together in the form of a one liner, is lending hot air to the already prevalent entropy that’s been consuming the universe since the beginning of time.
to the haterz-
guess what? i am eating a cookie and enjoying “oxford coma.” BOOYAH.
well said, dang
to whitechocmacadamia-
i guess you don’t share vampire weekend’s passion for grammar and spelling.
anyway, i think “oxford coma” is a bauhaus song.
WHOOP THERE IT IS.
They have a cool name, at least.
well, actually, vampire weekend was already playing on MTV between show while credits were rolling on Monday night. So, no need to wait a month for them to be on MTV already done.
um i really like 4 of their songs that i got from hype machine and i feel like i might keep on liking them for another month or so. for new bands that’s kind of as awesome as it gets anymore.
God forbid a new band make a well-crafted album thats….dare I say it….catchy?????
The youngster hipsters are whining in their PBR right now, something like “Animal Collective was robbed!” blah blah blah.
That, and what derf said.
I like their Daytrotter Session a lot. I just bought their album. Went thru it once. Good enough. I guess everyone just forgot about Bishop Allen?
-Let’s all hate on Vampire Weekend.-
“VW play sucky music…”
-We look cooler if we say that we never thought they were any good from the start.-
“I hated them back in July. Fuck that. They sucked at birth.”
-Oh and the fact that they’re getting hype must mean we were right in the first place since no one worth listening to ever gets hype.-
“I only listen to music that most people don’t like because I have better taste.”
Too bad we’re all wrong.
See recent quote from Yannis Philippakis of the Foals in NME:
“I’m not really that interested in whether a kind of music’s commercial or not – if it’s good, it’s cool. I like Gwen Stefani but then I like stuff that will only sell three records. I won’t not listen to something because it’s commercial. That’s a weird idea that you enjoy a band but then the moment they become more palatable to more people all of a sudden they’re not as cool. There’s something almost elitist about it, like you’re only into bands that are part of some secret Masonic thing – free masonry – secret handshake, the way you fold your letter when you send your demo to the press. Popularity’s good, it means we get to eat, otherwise we’d be washing dishes – the more pop kids that like our music the better.”
Seems like a good amount of the Vampire Weekend haters out there don’t like them because their name is everywhere lately (not all since it is okay to not like their music). As Yannis says, it’s kind of ridiculous to dislike something just because they are getting some attention. God forbid an indie band should make money or acquire new fans.
I agree with Katie above and the many others who’ve said the same things. Just as long as the hype doesn’t get to their heads and they start to refuse to speak to sick children and their own mothers.
oh those poor young, rich, attractive, ivy-league grad boys. whatEVER will they dooooo when the backlash comes about?!?! HEAVENS TO MURGATROYD!!!!!
i echo the first gentleman’s jeer of “boo-urns”. boo-urns to this band. BOO-URNS.
What backlash? Folks posting comments here? Maybe New York scensters will get all whiny, but that’s as far as it will go.
You actually prefer Black Mountain’s portentous Led Zeppelin posturing to VW?
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m bored to tears by all of this sad-bastard music.
Black Mountain and their ilk should take a cue from Homer Simpson and change their name to “Sadgasm” just so I know to keep the fuck away.
Jesus? when did music become so humorless?
this band sounds way more like sublime than paul simon. could you not all too easily envision them doing “santeria?” that sounds like a vampire weekend song, only sublime is the, uh, original?
VW is Guster for the new generation. Bo-ring.
http://www.virb.com/maeshi/videos/29407
what ever happened to liking a band (or not liking them) and then going about your business? why do you have to share? when people knowing whether or not you like a band becomes more important than the actual feeling, that’s where the hype steps in. listen, enjoy, or don’t enjoy, and then don’t whine to everyone else about how your opinions don’t line up.
@ minorrockstar:
Why would you come to a COMMENTS section at a MUSIC BLOG to complain about people sharing their opinions on music? How about this: Whatever happened to people who have *nothing* to contribute to a discussion (unless pointing out that there is a discussion is somehow relevant), either reading comments (or not reading them) and then going about their business? Troll.
On point:
VW… seriously? I really doubt anyone will be talking about this band for very long. I have a feeling the hype cycle will be longer than their careers. The music’s nothing outstanding, the playing is amateurish, full of specific references to New England that very few people are going to get or find as “brilliant” as an over-educated Music journalist from Connecticut will, all on purpose I’m sure. Sounds like a filler description for most indie-pop bands out today. p4k admitted (twice, by my count) that they’re buddy-buddies with this band, so I can’t take anything they say/rate seriously. Like any ivy league grad, VW are probably going to be hit pretty hard with how little money there is in music, and they’ll move on to something more lucrative/less annoying to everybody who started listening to music before 1997.
But in the meantime, enjoy the preppy boy psuedo “African” Strokes music.
The album is nice, but it’s just that – nice. It’s pleasant music, but certainly not earth shattering. If you’re evaluating it as an afro-pop record it does not compare favorably to stuff put out by the likes of Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, etc., at least not with the instrumentation, but the lyrical content makes it endearing. It’s okay, but certainly not what it’s been blown up to be. And I think we could all agree that if they were from somewhere in the midwest, they wouldn’t be getting all the press.
@ haters of the haters – grow up. do you really think internet comment boards are for constructive, positive dialogue? take your heads out of your own asses for a minute and realize a couple things:
1. it’s okay to hate vampire weekend because they suck AND because they’re an overhyped scum guzzling blog band.
okay, just one thing. you’re on your own for the rest.
Liking a band despite the hype is the new hating a band because of the hype.
@ NLP:
I think that’s a good point. All the Afro-pop references this band garners really give the short shrift to actual Afro-pop music. I personally don’t hear it in VW’s music so much (clean guitar tone = African inflected? Huh? Flutes from a Mellotron?) Maybe in the end, some adventurous listeners will want to know what all that talk is about, and they’ll go explore some lesser known world music, which wouldn’t be a bad thing… unless we end up with a bunch of rich kids who hear one foreign import and decide to start a band.
Robbit: “also, honestly, how many of the bands you listen to now will you listen to in 20 years? (i can think of one, personally). scratch that, considering you’re at a music blog right now and probably visit other ones too, how many of these bands will you listen to next year?”
I am very sad for you. If you are such a music elitist that you have found nothing that you will listen to in 20 years. great music has longevity and if you have not found stuff you love that much, I am sorry.
It seems presumptious of bloggers / journalists to think that people don’t like a band explicity IN REACTION TO people liking it. How about this for an alternative theory? A well liked band will probably get at most 25% of listeners to enjoy it. The more exposure a band gets, the higher the percentage of fans and detractors. There are people who don’t hate VW BECAUSE other people like it, but who heard about it because other people like it and THEN decided they disagreed (follow?).
I heard them before I knew they were a big deal and it just wasn’t my thing. Sorry. I stopped listening to Paul Simon and ska in the 90′s and have been embarassed by it ever since. I’m just scarred, and I don’t think they’re amazing enough to change to mind.
Its my impression that Vampire Weekend is likely a band whose hype machine is built from independant wealth (possibly?), connections (definitely: see pitchfork), and a few catchy tunes (definitely). This doesn’t make them bad, its just frustrating to see how these things work if you are rooting for the underdog (bands that have no money or connections) which is, I think, what many of you folks sound like you would like to be doing.
It seems to me that many indie bands are successful by these means. Some are deserving and some are not. Hopefully, the test of time sorts it all out. Otherwise, us listeners really are just sheep.
I have a problem, first and foremost, with the fact that they make music that is fundamentally dull and soulless. On top of that, they manage to push nearly every button I have about classism, priveleged eurocentric reappropriation, rock & roll, and the hype cycle. I don’t feel like I’d hate them nearly as much as I do if they’d been seen as the mediocre pop band they are, presented themselves unpretensiously, and found their level (which, to be fair, would probably have been a 6.4). Instead, they’re going to (probably) blow up to the whole NPRcadeFire level and stay glued to the cultural dashboard for the next 9-10 months. Fortunateley, we’ll probably forget about them by the time year-end lists come out. They’ll simply slip into being a curious nadir of this era of music criticism, and we’ll all joke at our own expense about having “Oxford Comma” stuck in our heads (whether we wanted it there or not) for like a week in the summer of 07′.
Nothin but a bunch of haters. Leave the five boroughs, stop letting other people influence your opinion. If a band gets some publicity, good or bad, listen to them and form your own opinion. don’t believe or disbelieve the hype, note the mention of their name and make up your mind on your own.
I just checked this album out this morning, and I thought it was poppy, crisp, and refreshing. Nice dig for a morning listen.
Does it have longevity? I find for myself that the enduring albums delve into acoustic mantras and soulful climaxes, so the Gonzalezes/Drakes and Lidells/Reddings will probably receive consistent rotation for years to come. But that doesn’t mean that a little Vampire Weekend/Sublime (I thought the same thing erik) isn’t welcomed to mix it up every now and again.
Who cares about the politics of image if the music brings you pleasure. Thanks for making my feet bounce this morning VM.
i dig the album.
reminds me of early police.
I’m really happy for the guys. They do a great show, they’ve got some awesome music, and they deserve everything they get.
I just can’t help feeling some of that left-behind thing, since I’ve been listening to them since early last year and now everybody is going to love them. Oh well, they just go into that box marked “No, I swear, I’ve known about them this long!” along with The Shins and the Killers.
Music doesn’t have to be earth-shattering or ground-breaking to be good. If it sounds good, if it makes you want to dance, cry, or laugh — that’s awesome, who cares about anything else? I hate this website and myself for reading it all the time.
I tried to get a Times New Viking hate-train going, and no one else jumped on.
Colin, you really sound like a damn fool. Who cares how long you’ve known about Vampire Weekend? Congrats for finding out about the Shins before Natalie Portman and admitting to liking a shitty band like the Killers.
i don’t get it…this music is really embarrassing. it’s so awkward sounding…like a high school ska band or something.
i wish they woulda got big for L’Homme Run. Pizza party is the jam.
Who fucking cares how long they last? Seriously, stop worrying about what you’re going to hate in 5 months.
you know who else i heard is awesome? the strokes, the strokes are awesome.
your favourite band sucks.
i’ve been a music elitist since i first understood the very concept. so yeah, theres that.
the thing is, people find excitement in discovering new music. i can abide by this. the problem arises when people start dumping this music for no longer being new. of course, people’s take on when music is no longer new is subjective. then the backlash begins. the excitement is lost and the search for something new continues. its a cycle, which is always going to be around. its natural and attempts at trying to outlaw this ideology is futile.
i will now leave you with a quote, which has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this…
“lives are like retractable pencils, if you push them too hard they’re gonna break…”
stick it together people…
i don’t think we should judge a band by their hype and the way they dress and the college they graduated from. i think they’re a good band, i think they make good music. i wonder whatever happened to judging a band based on the music they make.
last night at the bowery WAS fun, by the way…
what ever happened to letting a band release a couple records before dismissing their stuff as tired and boring. what are all you people gonna say if (albeit a big if) VW drops one of the best records of this generation on their second go-round. or even on their 3rd or 4th.
just saying all this backlash is a little pre-mature for a tight, rhythmic group with a talented singer and good songwriters who just put out a promising debut.
dont you think we should let people have careers before saying that their careers are over? i mean seriously… their first record came out yesterday people
God… Times New Viking is awful. I heard them on KEXP and was in complete shock. I didn’t know Matador was accepting demos from junior high kids with Garageband software…
ps. is it so hard to imagine people might not like a band because of the music? Sometimes it’s more than a knee-jerk reaction to hype. Sometimes people just aren’t interested.
two more cents…
-good catchy pop songs
-least african music ever
-kinda punchable
-benneton ad ca.’87
-good catchy pop songs
-shit is moving too fast
-blogs have too much power
-pop will eat itself (not the band- ouroboros)
-boo-urns to accelerated consumption
Who really cares??
They certainly write nice little pop songs, but the music is nothing groundbreaking.
So they have been on your radar for a year? What, do you want a prize for that? What if Zach Braff puts them on a soundtrack? Is he ruining something pure? Who cares…it’s music. It’s meant to be heard.
I don’t get all this posturing. It’s pretty lame.
They’re already on MTV. Sorry, angry hipsters.
im pretty sure, at least from my standpoint, that the issue here is that there are many many other groups deserving of a big push that havent and probably wont get it. oh well, its all the same in the end.
cant wait for the vampire weekend Gap ad
I just downloaded Stereogum’s year end dump of 500 or so mp3s onto my itunes as a mixed playlist. Some are new to me, some are not. Some I never want to hear again. Every once in a while something comes up that makes me stop, check out who it is, and write their name down. So far, that’s happened with two songs by Vampire Weekend (among others, of course). I’m not going to get their name tattooed on my back, but I’ve enjoyed hearing their music so far.
Believe it or not, there are a lot of people out there who like music because of the way it sounds.
i give everyone who keeps talking about the exact pitchfork numerical rating and giving their own ratings a -2.2.
he sees a mansard roof through the trees or something
i think pitchfork kind of just does the best new music thing for fun, to see how much influence they have. they try to break or make buzz bands with scores and see how it works.
their music is enjoyable…for about a week.
RA RA RIOT is much better, IMO
and in terms of bands WORTH hyping about….right now the FOALS are it for me
Stereogum got it right.Except for the “good album” part. I don’t know why these guys are getting so much hype?
They sound just like another Hot Hot Heat, Rooney or The Kooks. They all SUCK.
Can’t wait for everyone to realize just how mundane they are.
Mansard Roof was mediocre. A-Punk is good, but not good enough to make me want to pick up the album.
With that said, any guesses for what day their first live TRL appearance happens? Possible Vampire Weekend/LCD Soundsystem/Good Charlotte/Soulja Boy/Usher tour in the future?
The album is fantastic. I really love it unlike most of the people here. It’s pretty much everything I wanted from them.
@ Uryu Ishida
Who wouldn’t want to see VW and Mr. Boy Tellem’ share a stage. maybe they can all come out and “crank that” and “superman” some hoes while singing “Campus” (best song on the album)
“shit tastes so good”
what is everyone’s beef with fun, happy music? who gives a shit about cred when someone finds genuine success? no one has had such an organic and meteoric rise in a long time. so suck it up and smile! you know you can’t resist it with these guys anyways. is that so wrong?
I hate to admit that I know this but…A-Punk was used on the t.v. show “Friday Night Lights” awhile back. Still a great song but I think that’s when it when it(they) became “uncool” in some circles. Not in my circle mind you. Afterall I’m watching a tv show on Friday night.
You know what else sucks? All your moms. All of ‘em.
Someone made a brilliant (albeit obvious) comment that music is meant to be heard.
Believe it or not, this theory is true.
I know it hard for some of you to accept that your favorite band writes songs for mass consumption, but you need to understand that it was not intended solely for your elitist ears.
Seriously, grow the fuck up and share. Allow me and everyone else to enjoy the band/album/song without having to worry about you poisoning the well because such and such band is not your personal “secret” anymore.
Talk about false advertising. That sounded nothing like vampires nor weekends. Lame!
Does this sound the same as the Blue CD-R?
I’ve come to realize that Stereogum’s main function is to catalog Pitchfork-readers responses to Pitchfork.
On that note, did anyone read the Pitchfork interview with Rostam Batmanglij (whichever one that is) of V. Weekend? He used the word “awesome” sixteen times. The mere fact that the interviewer didn’t make fun of this is a testimony to their hype right now.
“God… Times New Viking is awful. I heard them on KEXP and was in complete shock. I didn’t know Matador was accepting demos from junior high kids with Garageband software…”
holy ditto!
IS HIS NAME REALLY BATMAN!? THATS AWESOME!
VW are Carson Daly’s music pick tonight.
Let it begin.
1960s – Controversial and muchly hyped bands play their music. Thousands of screaming teenage girls throw their sweatered chests against windshields everywhere.
2000s – Controversial and muchly hyped bands play their music. Thousands of thirty year old men throw themselves at their keyboards, hamfists a’ flappin.
hahaha nice, bort
If you hate NY preppy bands you’ll really hate these bastards…they’re from Minnesota!
http://ambledown.com/artists/thewarsof1812.html
Last fall, I listened to one song and was indifferent. but all of this got me curious again so I listened to the la blogotheque sessions. This is good stuff folks!
i didn’t knew there were so much hipster pussies in stereogum. don’t you have something beter to do people, like fixing your hair or spending two hours wondering what’s hip right now to wear.
just leave music to people who listen to it, without giving crap whether it’s the new cool shit or not.