Very surprised by how much I like this one. I went in thinking eh, seems like a retread, let's keep expectations low, and came out the other end thinking "this is the best thing they've done since Contra." I don't think any one song on here is as good as "Diplomat's Son," but as an album I think it's great. Probably helps that I didn't really listen to the singles, so I'm hearing it as a whole.
Standouts for me at the moment are probably "Gen-X Cops," "Mary Boone," "The Surfer," "Capricorn." I have other thoughts but can't seem to articulate them yet.
― Lily Dale, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 02:16 (five months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kisi5ZIjxo
oh this one is really cool
― ufo, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 04:03 (five months ago) link
Played this record on repeat over the weekend. It might be their best? Modern Vampires 2.0, which I'm not complaining about. Love its melodies and flow -- it is a brisk listen and the first album I've heard in some time that makes me want to hit play immediately after it ends. There are so so many incredible sonic studio details that I find thrilling that somehow do not distract...filters, strings, horns, choirs, tempo shifts... I will get around to listing them out at some point. I would love to hear the demos because I suspect the transformations would be remarkable.
Favorite tracks: "Classical," "Connect," "Pravda," "Hope"
― Indexed, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 15:22 (five months ago) link
Yeah I’ve played it so much it’s hard to believe it was only released 5 days ago ! I do think it may be their best produced album and totally agree about the fantastic sonic voyage it is.
― AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 16:33 (five months ago) link
man i really love that bonus track
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 9 April 2024 17:07 (five months ago) link
I would love to hear the demos because I suspect the transformations would be remarkable.
Made me like the song more, actually
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs0GOt3BY6E
― mike powell, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 17:25 (five months ago) link
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/vampire-weekend-added-to-coachella-2024-weekend-1-set-times/
Included on them are a surprise last minute addition, Vampire Weekend, who play on Saturday (4/13).
― Bee OK, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 22:01 (five months ago) link
^ yep. called that weeks ago when the tour schedule dropped!
― DT, Tuesday, 9 April 2024 23:21 (five months ago) link
On one hand, I respect them for sticking with tradition, but on the other kind of annoyed that Japan only bonus tracks are still a thing in 2024.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 9 April 2024 23:35 (five months ago) link
Only given a couple listens so far but the production is a lot more interesting than the melodies, many of which are similar to earlier VW songs. "Connect" is my favorite and feels almost entirely like a studio creation
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 12:44 (five months ago) link
kind of annoyed that Japan only bonus tracks are still a thing in 2024.― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, April 9, 2024 4:35 PM
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, April 9, 2024 4:35 PM
firm agree. i'm boycotting the song tbh.
― interstellar anthropologist+music philosopher, (Austin), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 14:05 (five months ago) link
they still buy cds in japan! if we still bought cds at target, there would still be target bonus tracks
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 14:13 (five months ago) link
lol, considering that you can now listen to the bonus tracks instantly, what's the difference?
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 14:37 (five months ago) link
The "Gen-X Cops" demo is exactly what I expected.
― Indexed, Wednesday, 10 April 2024 19:35 (five months ago) link
whoahoaoaa this album is awesome!!!!!!!
― ivy., Wednesday, 10 April 2024 20:09 (five months ago) link
i think my favorite so far is "connect," which is just jazzy and weird enough to feel like it could've been on the glass beach album from this year
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Friday, April 5, 2024 7:24 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink
agreed
― ivy., Wednesday, 10 April 2024 20:10 (five months ago) link
Makes sense. "200" and "Slip Under the Door" are Glass Beach's VW songs.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 April 2024 20:21 (five months ago) link
loooool these dudes joined Goose, the new jamband scene darlings, for a 37-minute "Gen-X Cops > Cade Cod Kwassa Kwassa" last night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLlVcnCW-vU
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 11 April 2024 14:36 (five months ago) link
great album
― flopson, Monday, April 8, 2024 1:05 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
upgrading this to “fantastic album.” i just adore everything about it
― flopson, Thursday, 11 April 2024 20:15 (five months ago) link
My wife pointed out that the beat from Mary Boone was lifted from Primitive Radio Gods and now I can’t unhear it.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 12 April 2024 16:33 (five months ago) link
Which itself was borrowed from Soul II Soul's "Back to Life", which is why Soul II Soul is credited for "Mary Boone".
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 12 April 2024 16:45 (five months ago) link
oh ha, I didn't see that credit.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 12 April 2024 18:05 (five months ago) link
ha, I only just saw it last night, tbf
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 12 April 2024 18:13 (five months ago) link
daaaaamn -- it debuted at #27. Their last three albums debuted at #1.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 00:09 (five months ago) link
stream numbers on spotify seem pretty low too
I want to listen but can't stand the compression
― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 06:55 (five months ago) link
okay let's give this a whirl
― imago, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 07:49 (five months ago) link
oh I like how blown-out the production is
― imago, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 07:52 (five months ago) link
don't really like the songwriting. impressive sounds put to the service of the usual courtly humdrum
― imago, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 08:00 (five months ago) link
they are really impressive sounds mind
― imago, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 10:09 (five months ago) link
i'm coming around on this a little but it's really such a contrast between how good the production & arrangements are and how the songs themselves are just generally ok at best
― ufo, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 10:18 (five months ago) link
agree entirely, but my expectations were lower so I'm probably more impressed by the production than I'm disappointed by the songs
― imago, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 11:49 (five months ago) link
it's at #11 in the UK (and #4 in Scotland). surprised to see it bombing in the US.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 13:31 (five months ago) link
i'm still extremely impressed by the production, it's a return to the brilliant creativity of contra. i just wish the tunes were as good but i'm coming around to the moodier, more suspended thing it's going for here
wonder if it bombing has anything to do with the billboard methodology changes around indie record stores or whatever it is?
― ufo, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 13:44 (five months ago) link
the worst songs on this are "gen-x cops" and "hope". "capricorn" and "mary boone" are at least a much better & more interesting version of what they were doing on mvotc. "ice cream piano" is probably the best tune on the album but the least impressive arrangement? the arrangement is still good it's just not really impressing me with how novel it is like a lot of the others. i'm really coming around to the chaotic, jazzy, suspended feeling of "classical" and "connect"
the overall feeling of the album makes me think they've been listening to like, cornelius and 90s shibuya-kei stuff? "broken washing machine" especially
― ufo, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 14:00 (five months ago) link
y'all know infinitely more about chart expectations and performance than i do, but do we think very many people really care about Vampire Weekend at this point? some New Yorkers, probably, and some aging Millennials, music critics and some stray Time Crisis / Grateful Dead fans, but otherwise, i don't know who we're expecting to push this album higher than ~#27. (and i love them, to be clear.)
― alpine static, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 14:52 (five months ago) link
fotb hit #1 and they were playing pretty big venues that tour still, even some arenas. it's quite a drop off
― ufo, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:02 (five months ago) link
they still do have some arenas booked on their upcoming tour
― ufo, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:03 (five months ago) link
That certainly won't help their chart positions, but... if we're comparing apples to apples at the record store chain I work at, we sold around 1/3 the copies we sold of "Father of the Bride" first week. Big drop-off.
Seems to be happening to a lot of artists of (very roughly) their vintage? Last albums by MGMT, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Jack White, etc... all artists of a certain age, all headed to the "play the old songs for us" phase of their careers, it seems. It comes for the best (and worst) of us...
― mr.raffles, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:10 (five months ago) link
this one's quite a bit better than the most recent albums by any of those artists at least
― ufo, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:21 (five months ago) link
maybe it's just a result of people losing interest after fotb
My album preferences after a dozen or so listens:
Modern VampiresContraOnly GodFOTBs/t
― Indexed, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:23 (five months ago) link
i think it's simple. in order to sell 127k, you need a lot of normies to buy in. "harmony hall" and "this life" were crossover hits, getting some adult contempo and triple-a play, not just the regular alt-rock radio and xmu spins, while none of the singles from this gained any traction. that still matters at the tippy top of the charts.
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:25 (five months ago) link
hoping to score some day-of discounted tickets for one of the MSG shows in the fall
― (•̪●) (carne asada), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:26 (five months ago) link
I believe it. The reviews have been great for sure.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
VW monthly listeners on Spotify fairly anemic compared to what one might imagine. I have to order Cage the Elephant this week, so was looking them up, and they have double the monthly listeners that VW has. And that's after their last album stiffed (comparatively).
― mr.raffles, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:29 (five months ago) link
Had Billboard changed the rules about counting album/ticket bundling by 2019? If not, the handling of this for FOTB felt a little like cooking the books. I went with my best friend and her husband. When the tour went on sale, he bought the tickets, each of which were supposed to come with *1 COPY* of the album on either vinyl or CD (he chose CD). So we had three copies coming our way. Except they kept sending him follow-up emails about "Have you picked your albums yet? Please pick your albums!" and he replied every time until one day a box showed up at their apartment containing *12 COPIES* of FOTB on CD.
We kept three and flipped the rest.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 15:33 (five months ago) link
lol
― Indexed, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:01 (five months ago) link
fotb is also a double album. do they still count each "sale" of a double album as two sales?
― the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:02 (five months ago) link
if you have a way to get around the paywall there's a billboard.com article from when FOTB went no 1 that answers a lot of these questions
https://www.billboard.com/pro/vampire-weekend-father-of-the-bride-no-1-billboard-200/
Of Father’s 138,000 unit start, its 119,000 in album sales were driven largely by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer for the act’s upcoming tour, which launches in June.[...]Father earned just 1,000 in TEA units and 18,000 in SEA units. The latter figure translates to 20.29 million on-demand audio streams for the set’s songs in its opening week — the biggest debut streaming week for a rock album in 2019.
[...]
Father earned just 1,000 in TEA units and 18,000 in SEA units. The latter figure translates to 20.29 million on-demand audio streams for the set’s songs in its opening week — the biggest debut streaming week for a rock album in 2019.
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:27 (five months ago) link
That photo is not the Ezra whom I fell in love with.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:30 (five months ago) link
even putting aside the ticket bundling thing, i think the arc makes sense if you think of album sales as being more so reflective of the public's opinion on the previous album. there was a lot of enthusiasm coming off of a critical/commercial peak in MVOTC that was reflected in the enthusiasm for FOTB, which is their most divisive album, hence them shedding some part of their audience w/ the subsequent album
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 17 April 2024 16:33 (five months ago) link