vampire weekend - only god was above us, out april 5, 2024

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

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.)

fotb hit #1 and they were playing pretty big venues that tour still, even some arenas. it's quite a drop off

they still do have some arenas booked on their upcoming tour

wonder if it bombing has anything to do with the billboard methodology changes around indie record stores or whatever it is?

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...

this one's quite a bit better than the most recent albums by any of those artists at least

maybe it's just a result of people losing interest after fotb

My album preferences after a dozen or so listens:

Modern Vampires
Contra
Only God
FOTB
s/t

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.

hoping to score some day-of discounted tickets for one of the MSG shows in the fall

this one's quite a bit better than the most recent albums by any of those artists at least

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).

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.

lol

fotb is also a double album. do they still count each "sale" of a double album as two sales?

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.

That photo is not the Ezra whom I fell in love with.

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

it had also been five years, which in another era was a long time but in the streaming era, well.

Yeah. Release performance is more often than not a referendum on the previous release... and they have been away for a minute... and no single really connected... and the last one benefited from bundling (though the earlier releases that didn't also bested this record's performance, right?).

Whether the music is good or not aside, they do seem as if from a bygone era. Like, how much Hipster Runoff-core artists still remains at the center of the pop universe? Lana for sure. There are others I guess, but it has been a long time. Also, 27 is a heckuva lot better than not charting (which is the fate of MGMT, of montreal, etc).

too lazy to actually look into it but Lana's critical/commercial peak came after her/the HRO era, no?

for me, this is becoming their best material.

too lazy to actually look into it but Lana's critical/commercial peak came after her/the HRO era, no?

First album was HR-era for sure. Not after that though (I don't think).

Has John Lennon weighed in on this goofy band's goofy album title yet?

another 26 albums were also above them btw

— ﹌ (@cyphariana) April 16, 2024

Wait a second, are we saying that FOTB is a New Jersey?

man, ya'lls obsession with that nj shit is completely beyond me. not trying to start a fight with anyone or you nate (because you specifically are rad, don't change), but... anything to avoid discussing the actual music, i guess. these days, seems like someone inevitably brings it up re:any new release by an established act. i get the concept i just don't get why you're all so smitten with it. anyway. /vent

uhhh my man until I revived this thread we were discussing the music

170 posts worth

Not sure #11 in the UK is much to sing about. All the Twitter terfs got Roisin to #5 and this week The Libertines made #1

fotb is also a double album. do they still count each "sale" of a double album as two sales?

It -- like alot of newer albums -- was only a double on vinyl. Otoh, most of the sales probably *were* on vinyl, so...

I do feel that Billboard's chicanery probably screwed a little with the new. Most of the people willing to buy this band's stuff on physical are going to do it at an indie shop. On that tip, they might even be waiting until this weekend and RSD to buy it there.

the New Jersey thread remains one of my favorite ILM experiences ever. to each his own, i guess.

anyway, VW is coming to my podunk town to play an 8K-cap amphitheater and they are better than any of the other dozens of bands playing the venue this summer. whether the place will be full or a quarter full, i'm stoked.

In my head FOTB was underwhelming not because it was a hollow recitation of VW’s winning formula but because it mostly jettisoned various components of that formula, which components turned out to have been a crucial part of the band’s appeal - this is really underscored by how precisely my increased enjoyment of OGWAU correlates to the appearance of a course correction. But maybe I am idiosyncratic on this point and the surprising arrangements and flourishes aren’t that important to most VW fans?

because you specifically are rad, don't change

Right back at ya, Austin.

I gotta ask what does it even mean to be a “new jersey” I’m reading without knowing what that reference is.

Every huge artist has their "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline

Not sure #11 in the UK is much to sing about. All the Twitter terfs got Roisin to #5 and this week The Libertines made #1

― groovypanda, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 19:22 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i wasn't singling it out as a good thing. the previous three were all top three. the scotland chart intrigues me though as i feel releases by long established rock/indie/whatever acts almost always do better there(?), even if the actual sales numbers are probably small

In my head FOTB was underwhelming not because it was a hollow recitation of VW’s winning formula but because it mostly jettisoned various components of that formula, which components turned out to have been a crucial part of the band’s appeal - this is really underscored by how precisely my increased enjoyment of OGWAU correlates to the appearance of a course correction. But maybe I am idiosyncratic on this point and the surprising arrangements and flourishes aren’t that important to most VW fans?

FOTB not a New Jersey.

I resist coming back to this one (although I quite like most of the tunes) because of the clattery, compressed production. In particular the drums — I hate them. I hate the way they sound, and I hate the space they take up in the mix. They actively annoy me while I’m listening.

I think I’m v much in the minority on this.

You are, but not alone!

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, April 5, 2024 3:16 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Perhaps inevitably from its grave debuting sales, it only lasted one week on either the US or UK charts. (Actually, I'd have expected at least a second week in the UK, at number 76 or something, but nah).

Only God Can Chart Us

Vampire Weakened

I dunno, they are playing 4 nights in London at 3-5000 capacity venues so I think there is still a solid audience for them (and two nights in Manchester) - I'm looking forward to it anyway...

They pretty much sold out two nights at MSG with over five months to go. Maybe they've already turned into a legacy act - no one buys the new stuff but they'll pay big for an arena show?

16 years since their debut album. For the stones it was basically Tattoo you (64-81). Yeah maybe they are legacy act for aged fans now !

Good episode of NYT Popcast hosted by Jon Pareles feat. Amanda Petrusich and Matthew Strauss

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/arts/music/popcast-vampire-weekend.html

without any evidence or argument to back up my position: my feeling is this would have performed better if they hadn't gone major

They did that a long time ago; I reckon over 90% of Vampire Weekend songs are in a major key

Get your limited edition VW metrocard:

https://www.amny.com/transit/vampire-weekend-metrocards-available-manhattan/

You’d think they’d have one with the album cover.