imo, all their albums are good to great and jam-packed with hooks. MV happens to be my favorite, too, but I won't argue with anyone who says Contra is best.
― Indexed, Thursday, 4 April 2024 16:55 (two months ago) link
Contra remains my favorite, but like j0rdan remarked yesterday, the queer back half colors my reaction.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:00 (two months ago) link
mvotc is full of piano lines you can sing, they're as strong as the vocal melodies imo
contra is my fav as well, but it's a matter of degrees with the first three. fotb is great tho, and seeing it live upped my appreciation. "jerusalem, new york, berlin" is my fav from that one.
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:06 (two months ago) link
the photo used for this cover art:https://i.imgur.com/AGfjNLr.jpeg
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:11 (two months ago) link
Looking at FotB I can sing at least Big Blue, 2021, Married in a Gold Rush, and Sunflower without having listened to it in awhile. I also think the 'jam band' thing is way overblown and probably repeated uncritically from the press release/interviews, I mean it's all tightly structured songs without any more instrumental breaks than the new songs.
Also it seems like they may as well make Ariel Reichstadt a band member.
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:16 (two months ago) link
the jam band-y stuff did come through in a live setting. they stretched "sunflower" out to 9 mins, for example.
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:18 (two months ago) link
contra is an album so jam-packed with ideas and hooks that they could have probably made an entire career out of the sound of just one of the songs on it
― ufo, Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:19 (two months ago) link
"mvotc is full of piano lines you can sing, they're as strong as the vocal melodies imo"
this is true of some songs on Contra as well. Taxi Cab comes to mind.
― anza808, Thursday, 4 April 2024 17:39 (two months ago) link
xps I like "Hannah Hunt" quite a bit too. FWIW, whenever I play Vampire Weekend, it's a 16-cut mix drawn from their first three albums, and placed right after "Run," "Hannah Hunt" makes a bigger impression.
The new one's not bad, but I'm still much more partial to their records with Rostam Batmanglij. They're still a singles band to me, and at least going by what's listed here as 'singles,' with the exception of "Horchata," the other 14 from those first three albums are pretty much the ones I go back to, along with "Obvious Bicycle" and "Hannah Hunt."
― birdistheword, Thursday, 4 April 2024 19:03 (two months ago) link
(Should clarify, the ones where Rostam was a full-fledged band member.)
― birdistheword, Thursday, 4 April 2024 19:06 (two months ago) link
It's hard not to miss Rostam. Even when you can tell they're still reaching for the same kinds of cultural/sonic juxtapositions (the stiff, properly enunciated choir next to the swing/R&B loop on "Mary Boone," for example), it still doesn't touch the innovation of something like "Diplomat's Son," which still sounds so novel and challenging and effortless and *pleasurable* to me.
― mike powell, Thursday, 4 April 2024 19:24 (two months ago) link
Curious - do any of you go back to Father of the Bride?
Just put it on last night as a result of this thread. (the post above where I said I wanted to hear "Harmony Hall" — I did!)
Still enjoyed it. I like singles from the three before it but as I'm sure I've said on other VW threads, I just don't like their rhythm section. It's a hangup for me, the songs feel stifled. I get that for a lot of people those albums work, but they feel claustrophobic and clipped to me. Singles are fine but too many songs in a row and it just feels kinda airless? I think that's a big reason I like the expansiveness and/or sloppiness of FotB.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 4 April 2024 19:38 (two months ago) link
My revelation on VW in a way came via “Warm Heart of Africa” — I had concluded I didn’t really like the band, but I loved that song and I was like, OK, I like Koenig with a good beat.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 4 April 2024 19:45 (two months ago) link
i probably rate all of their albums about equally. some aspects i like more about some vs others but it never really cohered into a stable strict ranking. fotb has the most bad songs, but it's also the longest, which should be factored in imo. they're a special band
― flopson, Thursday, 4 April 2024 20:42 (two months ago) link
fotb has the most bad songs, but it's also the longest
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Friday, 5 April 2024 00:08 (two months ago) link
duds on fotb: "sympathy", "sunflower", "we belong together"
duds on mvotc: "unbelievers", "everlasting arms", "finger back", "ya hey", "hudson"
― ufo, Friday, 5 April 2024 03:13 (two months ago) link
unbelievers is a banger, you are tripping
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 April 2024 03:27 (two months ago) link
that list of MVotC "duds" is bonko! lol
i'll give you "hudson" but the first 2 are standouts and "finger back" has grown on me.
FotB duds: "married in a gold rush," "my mistake," "sympathy," "we belong together" - that 3 song stretch from "married..." to "sympathy" is the nadir of the record for me.
― ripersnifle, Friday, 5 April 2024 03:40 (two months ago) link
I love Married in a Goldrush, it's funny and has a great chorus. I'll give you Sympathy, but We Belong Together is a good time. I like all of the Danielle Haim songs.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 5 April 2024 03:52 (two months ago) link
are you fucking kidding me
― ivy., Friday, 5 April 2024 03:55 (two months ago) link
would claim at least three of those as my favorite vampire weekend song
― ivy., Friday, 5 April 2024 03:56 (two months ago) link
"Ya Hey" IS their best song imo
― Vinnie, Friday, 5 April 2024 09:05 (two months ago) link
Midway through my first listen my reaction is that it’d be cool to hear Spoon do a full album cover of these songs
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 5 April 2024 11:58 (two months ago) link
I'll never get past the roboticized squeak in "Ya Hey."
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 April 2024 12:00 (two months ago) link
it's a decent lyric but the vocal effect is ridiculous, it's awfully plodding and the bass isn't enough to carry the song either. i have trouble understanding how anyone thinks it's one of their best
― ufo, Friday, 5 April 2024 12:06 (two months ago) link
happily surprised to see j-zone in the credits for a couple of songs here
― devvvine, Friday, 5 April 2024 12:41 (two months ago) link
never really fucked with them until a few years ago, when I spent an afternoon with the VW essentials equivalent on quobuz, but the indie rock channel via Sirius is playing nothing but the band's shit, the new record and songs they like, this morning it was Genesis "I Can't Dance" and Sean Paul "Like Glue"…
1. He may resemble Paul Simon in multifarious ways (has he acknowledged that he's into Simon?) but vocally he resembles Bob Dorough, uncannily so.
2. A motif that seems to pop up all over his works is this rapidly picked, ascending/descending guitar line…it suggests to me that he cares about fancy guitar playing and aspires to play really really well, way beyond what post indie rock guys typiucally wish to achieve…
3. There's this new song "Capricorn," he talks about recording it in an interview segment and wanting it to be heavy, but a new, original kind of heavy, in between Sabbath and shoegaze shit: and yet, it seems to me that incumbent on "heavy" is to be dark, mean, doomy, and this guy and his band are not capable of projecting that quality, and indeed the resulting recording is not recognizable as heavy.
― veronica moser, Friday, 5 April 2024 14:04 (two months ago) link
1. Yep.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 April 2024 14:07 (two months ago) link
They must have used some of his drum loops, presumably? (J-Zone)
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Friday, 5 April 2024 14:15 (two months ago) link
thought so, though he's been a session drummer for a while so possibly playing live? credited as drums for capricorn and hope
― devvvine, Friday, 5 April 2024 14:19 (two months ago) link
Sampled, he has a few posts about it on his site:https://jaymumfordmusic.com/
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Friday, 5 April 2024 14:23 (two months ago) link
hope everyone can come together and agree people giving j-zone money is a good thing
― devvvine, Friday, 5 April 2024 14:24 (two months ago) link
Also anything that gives Vampire Weekend better beats.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 5 April 2024 14:35 (two months ago) link
you're talking about the band that made "bryn" and "cousins"?
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 April 2024 14:48 (two months ago) link
duds on mvotc: "unbelievers", "everlasting arms", "finger back", "ya hey", "hudson"are you fucking kidding me― ivy., Thursday, April 4, 2024 10:55 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
― ivy., Thursday, April 4, 2024 10:55 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
Indefensible
― Indexed, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:04 (two months ago) link
yes, good examples of their clatter-over-groove rhythmic approach. which on a first listen I hear too much of on the new one too.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 5 April 2024 15:15 (two months ago) link
Having LOTS OF THINGS HAPPENING FAST on the drums does not equal "good beats."
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 5 April 2024 15:16 (two months ago) link
Hm. I never thought of business as a VW trait/weakness.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 April 2024 15:20 (two months ago) link
“bryn” is pretty rhythmically weird, with the clave and the african-inspired behind the beat groove.
cousins does have lots of things happening fast, but in a good way imo
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 April 2024 15:20 (two months ago) link
If you're looking for a traditional rhythm section, "This Life" from the last album is tight.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 April 2024 15:21 (two months ago) link
if you want clatter-over-groove it's there on mvotc but "bryn" and "cousins" have great drums
― ufo, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:23 (two months ago) link
"Bambina" is the best song from FOTB no one's mentioned. "2021," too. Both under 2 min. The way he plays with tempo and time is really alluring to me.
― Indexed, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:30 (two months ago) link
what i have learned from this flurry of thread activity is that some people love Vampire Weekend and some people do not like Vampire Weekend.
― alpine static, Friday, 5 April 2024 15:57 (two months ago) link
I do like VW but I kind of feel that I can't really be surprised by any new VW song any more. They seem to have settled into their musical identity, which is fine. They have a pleasant and recognizable sound. But for me to really get excited about a new VW song I think it would have to have something extra, like an attention-grabbing lyric or something. I listened to the FOTB singles a few times, and then kind of forgot about the album. I feel like the same pattern may repeat this time.
― o. nate, Friday, 5 April 2024 16:12 (two months ago) link
like an attention-grabbing lyric or something
Like starting your album with "Fuck the world"?
― Indexed, Friday, 5 April 2024 16:28 (two months ago) link
first listen...
stereogum distortion/"noise" discussion p relevant; this album gets chaotic noisy in really short bursts. from shoegaze to free jazz, it seems pretty intentional. "play it fucking loud" or whatever.
lol "connect" rips off dido/"stan"
the budget just seems to get bigger + bigger, the music follows. this was their second longest break between albums. hrmph. i can say right now, i like it way more than father. feels like an intentional move to create such "BIG" sounding music. it very much has a "classic" sound in the way it was recorded. those orchestrations on something like "the surfer" simultaneously recall fleet foxes + frank sinatra. maybe he's taken the 'pop music is the classical music of today' philosophy to heart + these are his attempts. idk, def sounds like vw... just a bizarro world variant where fela kuti + brian wilson are frequent collaborators. shaun ryder likes to hang out sometimes too.i'll leave lyric deep diving to more dedicated folks. he's got something on his mind, that's for sure. i'm just enamoured with the sound of it all. for now i'll just say it's really good + i like it a lot.
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Friday, 5 April 2024 17:30 (two months ago) link
Ok I like the Surfer. Sounds like trip hop mixed with 60’s psychedelic pop. Good for you VW. Well done.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 5 April 2024 18:04 (two months ago) link
Pravda also a highlight
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 5 April 2024 18:29 (two months ago) link
These dudes record more insouciant music than the analyses suggest and their lyrics portend; they make imaginary pop music that they think in an ideal world will get played alongside Jack Harlow.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 April 2024 18:38 (two months ago) link
that ambition on full display on the new record.
(shrug) i like the idea of music "saving the world" or whatever.
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Friday, 5 April 2024 18:43 (two months ago) link