The blogger-mandatory track post that Chris Walla didn’t get around to yesterday was this cut of “Campus” in its pre-Vampire Weekend form (and so we fired Chris Walla). The song credit goes to Rostam Batmanglij (The Crazy Scarf Loving One), who also gets mentions in the press for arranging the string sections that pop up on his band’s debut album, on songs like this and “M79.” The original version reveals itself to be a gentle and string-bathed lilt, with soft vocals to match the sweep. It has all the charm of a lazy sunny day of people watching on a college campus, which from where we’re sitting, would charm the pants off of us right about now.
Better than the album track. Fluxblog agrees and expounds:
[That this version predates the album incarnation] is troubling, at least in that I believe that the band severely diminished the charm of the song by downplaying its lovely, graceful melodies by performing it in their typical Afropop-goes-mall-punk style. (Let’s be really really really really real about this: Vampire Weekend are basically the Ivy League’s answer to Sublime.)
Vampire Weekend is a band that has a record that is out on a label. Don’t pretend you don’t know.
[Rostam and Peter pic from VW's sublime set @ Other Music during CMJ '07]
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I like both versions to be honest. These guys make great pop songs, and whoever says they suck is just pissed cause they’re popular. Its truly pathetic the backlash they have gotten. At least there not like the strokes who are rich prep kids pretending to be scuzzy rockers. pricks.
agreed also islands are little bitches
oh oh grover , you got your maps all backwards . islands are definitely not little bitches !
why cant you deuces (james & grover) just say the nice stuff you want to say about vampire weekend, and leave other bands out of it? you dont have to hate islands or the strokes to like vampire weekend, or vice versa.
Deuces? You mean douches?
I don’t hate the strokes, but i always hear people complaining that VW are just some rich prep kids. Do you want them to fake who they are like the Strokes? Thats all I was saying. And yes, i like islands as well.
those two up there look like they just finished a satisfying rim job session with each other.
shit eating grins to say the least!
vampire weekend is the worst band ever to be hyped by the internet machine.
humiliation, internet.
worst band ever to be hyped by the internet.
humiliation, internet.
not better than the album version! the BEST PART of that album is the drum / bass thing in the last 30 seconds of campus.
i like islands too but not half as much i like vw. i don’t know, there is a huge moral conflict raging about this.
it seems that everyone who likes vampire weekend, hates islands, and everyone who likes islands, hates vampire weekend. and all the vampire weekend fans things islands are huge asses or something, which is completely mistaken. i dont see why people just cant like both, or like one and not hate the other.
oooh the other one is great too, less cutesy, more feeling – but both are really great
I don’t like either islands or vampire weekend.
LEAVE CHRIS WALLA ALONE!!!!
i like vampire weekend and islands AND the unicorns. in all of your facessss
thank you andrew, i fully fully agree with you, we can like islands and vampire weekend AND the unicorns – ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
zzz
Who said you have to hate one or the other?
BTW, Walcott is the best song on the album.
This is an interesting version, but I still like the original better.
i like vampire weekend , islands , and the unicorns too .
i like islands, unicorns, and vampire weekend. But, if someone said to me, “hey, aren’t Vampire Weekend just a more commercialized version of Islands?” I would say in response, “Yes, you’re probably right.”
abe vigoda
i like island and vampire weekend.
yum, his asshole tastes great!
*GRIN*
the original version of “campus” i will admit does demonstrate a glimmer of musical talent. does this make vampire weekend even more loathsome because, on some level, they deliberately choose to suck?
i need artwork
Rostam is the new Panda Bear.
I’ve listened to Vampire Weekend, Arm’s Way, and The Unicorn’s and I liked it all. But I did like Vampire Weekend the most, which doesn’t say anything bad about Islands. But then when Nick starts making fairly nasty comments pegging VW as uncreative and claiming that he’s already done what they do and they’re not worth anyone’s time, he comes off like a prick who thinks he deserves more attention than anyone else. Bitter’s the wrong attitude.
BTW who else loves Ladies of Cambridge from VW’s MySpace Transmissions set?
PANDA BEAR?!
PANDA BEAR!
no.
Both versions are good. I thoroughly enjoy both the Islands and Vampire Weekend. Return to the Sea and Vampire Weekend are two of my favorite albums released over the last couple years. Arm’s Way isn’t bad but its no Return to the Sea. Nick Thornburn is being an ass though. Maybe he’ll make up with VW and they will collaborate. That would be awesome.
Uhm. I like Islands. And I like Vampire Weekend.
Why are mommy and daddy fighting?
Love this. Love them.
And yeah, love Islands too. AND The Strokes. So there!
i think it would be kind of cool for him to release a cd or some more mp3 of his original work if he’s got anymore. i like both verison myself to by the way. its also both funny and sad that fluxblog said there the ivy leauges answer to sublime but i suddenly realize its sad but true. who cares though sometimes to get what you want heard you have to make it a little poppy am i right?
love it
reminds me of john cale
and yeah, i’d love to her more too
Love the “Street Hassle”-ish violins. Wish they’d made it 11 minutes long.
vampire weekend are terrible. T-R-B-L. . . Terrible.
and no, Rostam is not the new Panda Bear. Not even on the same level. . .
vampire weekend is terrible. T-R-B-L. . . Terrible.
and no, Rostam is not the new Panda Bear. Not even on the same level. . .
The Fluxblog blurb is music snobbery at it’s best. Why does the fact that they went to a good school have to be held against them? (I think this point is played up way too much by the media as well)
Sublime have been hugely overplayed to the point that hearing them now makes me throw up but they were a really good band that have changed the face of music by coming out with their own unique sound and that’s why were talking about them. If both bands were still undiscovered I think the story would be different and there wouldn’t be so many haters.
I don’t think its right to slag both bands for being accessible, that’s what good pop aka “popular” music is supposed to do, its not their fault that backpackers and frat boys pick up on them.
I feel sorry for people that can only appreciate music that no one else listens to so that they can feel alternative and special.
i could never really get myself into Vampire Weekend. Their music sounds good but not original. Here’s a short review I’ve written about them in my blog:
You can almost hear anything on Vampire Weekends self-titled after Mansard Roof EP (their debut), but in a mediocre level. It?s a weird fake feeling I get and I?m not sure if it?s right or not. But many melodies do not sound original to me e.g. the violin on ?M79?. The band has mixed some pop-rock with afro-pop melodies; they (the afro-pops) keep themselves way apart from what Ezra Koenig is doing. He has a voice between The Shins? James Mercer when he?s singing normally and Band Of Horses? Ben Bridwell when he sings on a higher note but either way fails to escape from a teenager level and the lyrics barely climb up that ladder. It?s a bit too optimistic to compare Vampire Weekend with Peter Gabriel and Talking Heads, maybe they are too inexperienced for that. All I can point out from their self-titled is a guitarless Sublime in their self-titled (only listen to ?A Punk? to figure out the resemblance). Sublime?s late Brad Nowell used to employ the same tricks pretty much. Of course it?s always pleasant to listen to what Vampire Weekend has made but I still doubt on the originality factor. And if all I?ve uttered so far is nothing but nonsense, the albums? most influential material has been put on the first half of the disk. But comparing to pretentious colleagues like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco who simply make songs for girls under 12, Vampire Weekend is second to none and things I just threw out does not mean the album is not fun at all! Not every album sounds like Beach Boys? Pet Sounds. And I have to add the album art from now on to the list of worst album covers of the 2008. Take a look at it for God?s sake!
PS: Notice that the title of the post is “Vampire Weekend Keyboardist Leaks Original “Campus”
Enough said.
His voice sounds better on the album version. Well, different if not better. I can’t really tell.
Backlash against a really great band that’s popular now? Couldn’t have predicted this!
This is great, I’d love to hear an album of this
VW’s album = okay
VW live = really okay. good, even.
I’m sure they needed an album version that translates well to a live setting. As a case in point, ever heard M79 on the album? Great track. Ever heard it live? The parts where the strings should have been just don’t translate.
The only cause of confusion is why Rostam doesn’t sing as much. I guess that makes Ezra the Michael…and Rostam the Tito.
I guess L’Homme run is testament to that. (Not really).
Seriously, the VW hype is insane, every couple of years, some white kids play black music and you doofwads think they’re the best. thing. ever. I suggest you go listen to Vusi Mahlasela and think about how easy it is for white rich kids to practice and get signed and all that jazz, and think about living in Africa and being persecuted for creating music like Fela Kuti did, then think about these whitewashing cracker ass ivy league hipsters appropriating african style music for whiteys, I prefer the uncut stuff…
Hey Angelo…you’re the racist asshole.
By the way, I preferred Youskxkhzzuke’s early work. Gjuujaksu was amazing as well. Have you checked out them?
the reason VW got big is because they have catchy songs and an image. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I fucking hated them for a while because of their lame image, but you have to give it to them, they write songs.
Write a fucking song, HEALTH.
maybe ‘Gum should do away with the ‘thumbs up or thumbs down’ on these comments to keep people like James & Grover from getting click-happy with those who do or don’t agree with them..
i certainly prefer the original version to the album track, it’s much more pleasant and sweet with all of the strings.
everyone needs to get over this whole needing to be original thing. nobody can be truly original. which isn’t to say that vw stole all of their material, they’ve just combined all of their influences… like every other band today. and why does everyone care that they’re ivy league preps? it shouldn’t affect how you think of their music.
also, i like vw, islands, the unicorns, and the strokes. i could care less who is “faking” and who isn’t.
vampire weekend are better than radiohead
my comments are better than yours
my hair is combed more fashionably
la is better than ny
hell or heaven?
hey pete
pretty sure that vampire weekend aren’t that good, they’re just a lil bit different than anything else that is hyped right now.
fuck all the bands you all mentioned in this post, none of them are worth 2 squirts of piss.
I have to admit that I’m not crazy about the song but I like both versions of it. I tend to lean more to this version of it just because I love classical music. But I would listen to both of them anytime.
Thank you