Monday, January 4, 2010
Cream Calendar Vampire Weekend Play The Ryman April 5
Posted by Adam Gold on Mon, Jan 4, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Two years ago, I had a friend. Let's call him Josiah. Josiah had what I'd call "good" taste in music. One day, he put on a CD and started excitedly dancing around and singing about Oxford commas and Cape Cod. At first, I laughed and said, "Josiah, why are you getting so into Jimmy Buffett right now--are you rocking out to this ironically?"
Then the next track started, after throwing up a little in my mouth, I was forced to proclaim, "Jesus fucking Christ Josiah, you just followed a Jimmy Buffett song with a Sublime song, why the fuck would anyone do that ever? Are you a sociopath and I've just never noticed?" Josiah looked perplexed. "What are you talking about?! This isn't Sublime or Jimmy Buffett." "It isn't?" I said. I was seriously trippin' at this point. Then it clicked. "Dude, Josiah, why did you buy a new Paul Simon record? Do you know who does that? No one." At this point, we both realized that neither of us were joking. Josiah said simply "Dude, it's this band of kids from the Hamptons who just got into Graceland. They're called Vampire Weekend and they're the most original and exciting band of 2008!"
Upon realizing that the musical scat of this collegiate batch of cultural imperialists was what the kids were listening to, I quickly convinced Josiah to eject the Vampire Weekend CD so I could play him some Fela Kuti. By the end of track one, the VW disc sat liquefied on the table, melted by the heat of the (Afro)beat. That was last time my friend ever listened to Vampire Weekend.
Those of you who were less fortune than Josiah and managed to get swept up in the long Vampire Weekend: You'll be super stoked to know that--according to The Ryman's Twitter--the band will appear at the hallowed auditorium on Monday, April 5. (Tickets go on sale Friday.) So get ready to bust our your white-belt-and-Birkenstocks combo for an evening of PBR chugging, noodle dancing and hippie music for hipsters. Honestly, I'm fairly surprised that Vampire Weekend are still a hot enough commodity to command a date at The Ryman--that band just seems so "last decade."
For all you hippies who like your tepid, clean tones and non-rock without pretension, you'll all be happy to know that Phisherman Trey Anastasio also appears at The Ryman on Feb. 26. Tickets for that six-string nightmare go on sale Jan. 16 via Ticketmaster.
Comments (47)
Showing 1-47 of 47
Why is everyone so condescending about Phish/Trey Anastasio? And Vampire Weekend. Just enjoy the music for what its worth.
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We all know that the Cream staff (in particular this self-important douchebag) likes his music drenched in pretension.
That being said, we are all proud of the fact that you know who Fela Kuti is. WOW! You are sooooo fucking hip. HAHA!
There's also this really obscure album called "Graceland" by Paul Simon that seemed to have influenced this band. I wonder which band your "friend" would stop listening to if he heard that album.
I don't think VW sound anything like Jimmy Buffett or, God forbid, Sublime. They do, however, do a great Paul Simon. I think the important thing is, as ever, the songs. And they do have some good ones, if you hadn't noticed.
And everybody is so condescending about Trey & Phish is because, simply put, they suck. And they seem to attract large groups of hippies, and I can think of little that would be more damning.
maybe if they'd sold graceland for my "life in the bush with ghosts" they're crakerisms would be more tolerable. i'll have my hashsoup extra psyche please-no late 80's beach party scene exit movie music for me
I called them Pat Boones once, from which I'm sure they're still stinging. I do like Graceland, though, so obviously I don't know what I'm talking about.
This sounds like a clash of ideology right hur. I am firmly in the camp of Fela on this one. I hate it when people tell me 'it's all about the song, guy!' That's no excuse for this whitey blando shit, at least in my book. Phish is guilty of the same thing, but at least they can play their instruments well. But in both cases, I hear no tension, and tho Phish will attempt some dissonance from time to time, it remains unconvincing.
Then again, being someone who loves Fela and Bush o' Ghosts this much, I might not attune to that which makes VP 'go.' Thats fine, I can confess to not get it. Give me a good beat or some genuine weirdness: the art of the pop song bores this one to death.
So is Midlake totally gross because they obviously love Fleetwood Mac? If you wear your influences brightly on your sleeve are you stepping up for ridicule or is it the being adored by hipsters that may be ignorant to the influences that makes for such a response?
Hating in VW is absolutely fine in my book but I'm just curious what gets one band the giant thumbs down for being derivative but another gets a pass?
I only heard about Fela Kuti because of the big Broadway play. It's also how I learned about Billy Joel.
I've never heard Midlake, so can't really speak to that, but VW have always struck me as a group copping a style without infusing any of their own personality. Beyond what's purely superficial, I don't know that there's much to their music they can claim as their own.
Depends how the influence is used. In VW's case it just sounds like they're a bunch of over-educated trustafarians misappropriating influences they could never understand.
Supposedly, when Paul McCartney went to Lagos in 1972 to record what would later become "Band on the Run" he planned on enlisting the services of some Nigerian musicians. Fela Kuti caught wind of this and lambasted McCartney both from the stage and in person for "stealing black man's music."
I think if Paul McCartney—a former fucking Beatle—is to take that kind of shit for trying to be a poser, than VW deserve their share as well. After all, "Band on the Run" is a classic, VW is not.
I only allow myself to like the purest, whitest, most European pop music. Any other musical influence is to be looked upon as suspect.
All criticism aside, Gold did his friend a great service, and I commend him for his effort. That he went straight for the 101 with Fela only shows how urgent the matter was.
Lay off Phish for once. They're a band that a large group of people love uncontrollably because they enjoy them, not because it's hip to love them like all the bands you say you enjoy, Mr. Gold. Pull your head out of ass for one fucking blog post.
Or Talking Heads and the Dirty Projectors?
Oh wait, they're making "African" music and ripping off Fela Kuti too, nevermind. They suck.
So you're comparing Vampire Weekend to The Talking Heads? What a joke. My problem isn't with artists being influenced by African music, it's with this particular artist being influenced by African music. Ever seen "Ghost World"? Vampire Weekend are the Blues Hammer of afrobeat.
Pitchfork Media + Weekend at Bernie's = Vampire Weekend
or
Vampire Weekend are the Go West of hipster garabe.
lotsa buzzwords in vampire weekend criticism these days: pitchfork, overpriviledged, white, over-educated, misappropriating, hipsters, graceland. Anybody have anything relevant they want to add to this well-worn laundry list of red herrings?
"My problem isn't with artists being influenced by African music, it's with this particular artist being influenced by African music."
That, in a nutshell, is why you're constantly criticized for being a self-important hack. Trying to attack or defend based solely on your taste just means you're a shitty writer. Back it up. WHY? Why is David Byrne ripping off black people aesthetically better than some Candian kid ripping off black people? You're judging them based on your impression of their image. And I don't even like Vampire Weekend. Try this: write for an audience that doesn't include yourself.
The only thing you convinced me of is that your friend "Josiah" isn't as much of a dick as you are. And yes, I've seen Ghost World, you guys used that same joke last year.
FYI, Blues Hammer never goes out of style when you need a quick comparison point for whack-ass music.
So, you're saying that I'm constantly criticized for espousing my opinion? Is that not the objective of being a critic?
To answer your question, the reason why Byrne ripping off "black aesthetics" is better than VW is because Byrne added his own idiosyncrasies to the equation—-these guys just sing about orchada and shit--as well as actually enlisting musicians who know the genre. That's not to mention that he did it 25 years before these kids. The reason I don't like VW is that, in addition to their whack lyrics and sounding like Sublime to me, they misappropriate world music to boot. Sorry if that's not as compelling as "Remain in Light."
Afrobeat specifically is music that has an American influence to it, so it's a give and take to have American music later influenced by afrobeat. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that when these guys do it, while singing about yacht trips to the Caribbean or whatever, the irony just kills me. The thing is, if I actually thought the songs were good then I wouldn't even care who they were blaspheming. They'd just be The Strokes of fake African music.
Talking Heads use the influence better because the music actually contains their personality. Through their songs you know that they are geeky, nerdy folks. They use an ingredient that isn't theirs, but it's one part of a more complex mixture. You learn little about Vampire Weekend when you listen to them. Both bands are equally gimmicky, but I don't think that alone makes a band bad.
It's not a red herring if it's true. A lot of "buzz words" were used to describe George W. Bush. They included Carlisle Group, Haliburton, oil, war, drunk, with, power, nationalist and nepotism. They were all relevant too.
I think I saw these guys on a Carnival Cruise a few years ago but they were called something different.
?? srsly devil's advocate? study up a bit(again, dig on the conceptual impetus behind my life in the bush with ghosts) and it's glaringly obvious why vw is open to trashing-
it's like all the bands ripping off radiohead and jeff buckley 10 years ago-the hacks lift the formal qualties of the music:in jb and rh's case it was the weird chord voicings, the soaring falsetto vocals, the extreme dynamics, the washed out timbres and foreboding abstract lyrics- but ignore the cultural context of what the music was a reaction against or celebration of. Remember the band "ours"?
That picture is actually 3/4 Vampire Weekend. The other dude is Peter of Peter, Bjorn and John. Maybe next time try using an accurate picture in your article.
This shit reads like a script for a hipster comedy sketch for SNL. Ya'll are a bunch of fucking tools.
lolcatz, I'm not defending the band, merely pointing out the lack of substance in the post.
LOL at the cream for hating on Phish.
any Phish show is better than some arms folded, check out my new outfit, indie band of the week show at the end. (which I love going to)
I just got back from Miami where I saw Phish four times and your indie bands can never touch their shows or atmosphere. A four night run where there are no repeats? Nope, indie bands don't and CAN'T do that.
I concure with Gold, he is a critic and he is opining on this band. That's his job. I don't always agree with him, but god damnit, it's entertaining.
I am a huge fan of Fela, Talking Heads, and Paul Simon. I also happen to dig VW and some Phish. Fucking shoot me, I take critical writing with a grain of salt, because my perception is my own. So if Gold doesn't want to light up a bowl with me while listening to Harry Hood, then we will just put on Goat. Such is life.
Oh, @ Fluffhead. Phish doesn't repeat because it's pretty much the same people at every show. How people can follow that band is beyond me.
Stinks like shit. Wait it's just every critic's wordy opinion piling up in the corner. A corner that fans don't even acknowledge - only other hack critics who can't even make decent art themselves. Then use their deep-seeded insecurity to judge others.
The African influence is just one aspect of VWs sound, and since when is it not cool to incorporate different and varying influences into your music? That's how exciting and creative sounds are born. There would be no rock n' roll if a bunch of white kids weren't influenced by African Music.
Is blues African music? Rock 'n' roll without call and response is still rock 'n' roll, right?
It's always been curious to me how some bands get a lot of hype and then get hated on like this. It's like how on Pitchfork's readers poll every year the top artists of the year are usually the same artists who are listed as the most over-rated artists of the year. Then there are some bands that you just CAN'T say a bad word about, like Radiohead (for the record, I agree with Spin. I think that Radiohead has gotten boring). I'm also pretty sure I'd get stabbed in some circles of people for saying that I think that Grizzly Bear isn't that great. It's just a matter of taste, and Adam is entitled to say whatever he wants about Vampire Weekend. If you don't agree with him (I don't) then who cares?
I'm guilty of not wanting to listen to a band because of all the hype. I didn't want to listen to Vampire Weekend for a long time because of it and when I finally did I found I liked it. Same for me with the Hold Steady.
But I have to say, Adam, you probably should have made sure that all of the guys in that picture are actually in Vampire Weekend. That guy on the left is not in the band.
Show is almost sold out, so who gives a fuck what Adam says...thanks for the hard-earned assholes.
Your Friend,
Ticketmaster
Exactly, who does give a fuck what Adam has to say?
http://www.nashvillescene.com/events/nite-nite-cd-release-feat-the-worsties-and-dj-ichabod-373771/
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