Vampire Weekend

SNL Sound-Off: Vampire Weekend

By Hilary Hughes Mon., May 13 2013 at 3:00 AM
Categories: Saturday Night Live, Vampire Weekend

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I really, really didn't want to like Vampire Weekend's Saturday Night Live stint on the eve of their forthcoming record, Modern Vampires of the City. I'm one of those haters whose ears bleed at the mere mention of an Oxford Comma, I think they sound like the soundtrack to a fancy Hamptons beach party I can't afford, and if they come up in conversation, I'm the one who makes an awkward "Hey I listened to Paul Simon's Graceland too GIMME A GUITAR AND SOME NANTUCKET REDS BRAH" joke that rarely goes over well. I didn't find them entirely deplorable, but the flailing and falling-all-over-yourself thing that happens when someone gets into a heated defense of Contra or the "inventive" nature of Vampire Weekend's plucky pop-rock numbers that you forget the second the song's over, I find them eye roll-inducing at best. They don't do it for me lyrically, they don't break any ground sonically, but for whatever reason, they're fun and I'll still dance my face off to their shit--and this is why their performances of "Diane Young" and "Unbelievers" have me in a bit of a bind.

See also: Play Guitar the Vampire Weekend Way

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The Law

Vampire Weekend And Contra Model Ann Kirsten Kennis Have Settled Their Lawsuit

By Maura Johnston Tue., Aug. 16 2011 at 9:00 AM
Categories: The Law, Vampire Weekend

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A year or so ago the woman wearing a polo shirt on the cover of Vampire Weekend's Contra—Ann Kirsten Kennis, who claimed to have been made aware of her picture being on the album cover by her daughter—filed suit against the band and its label, XL, for appropriating the image of her without her consent. Last week, Kennis asked a Federal court in Los Angeles to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that she had reached a settlement with the band and the label.

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Video

Watch Vampire Weekend And The Black Keys Do A "Sell-Out-Off" On The Colbert Report

By Rob Harvilla Wed., Jan. 12 2011 at 9:42 AM
Categories: Colbert Report, Featured, The Black Keys, Vampire Weekend, Video

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Well this is outstanding. Both the Black Keys and Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig showed up on Colbert last night to argue about who's gotten their music in more commercials. Koenig: "Are you challenging us to a sell-out-off?" Black Keys' Dan Auerbach: "Bring it on, Cape Cod!" Colbert: "Clearly you have both equally whored out your music!" Somehow the "musicians trying to be comedians" woodenness of it all only makes it funnier. This is Colbert's best bit in months; watch below (both bands show up around 4:30), and lament only that there was no way to get Pomplamoose involved.

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Year In Review

Zach Baron's Top 10 Albums of 2010

By Zach Baron Thu., Dec. 23 2010 at 12:00 PM
Categories: Das Racist, Drake, Fabolous, Featured, Kanye West, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Rick Ross, Superchunk, Titus Andronicus, Vampire Weekend, Year In Review

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Guess who? Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.
Alright, let's do this, before I change my mind. With apologies to The-Dream, Sleigh Bells, Ted Leo, Kylesa, Swans, Zola Jesus, Marnie Stern, and all other vestiges of my punk rock past, and especially you Nicki Minaj, who missed both of my lists this year. How that happened I still don't understand, but onward, before it's too late. Half of these records are about mental breakdowns; the other half are about beating the whole world. I relate to both sentiments:

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Year In Review

Rob Harvilla's Top 10 Albums Of 2010

By Rob Harvilla Thu., Dec. 23 2010 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Baths, Featured, Kanye West, Local Natives, Marnie Stern, Sleigh Bells, The Dream, Titus Andronicus, Vampire Weekend, Warpaint, Wolf Parade, Year In Review

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Naturally, this dude is involved
Distilling a full year of furtive, easily distracted, constantly overwhelmed listening down to a mere 10 albums is a ridiculous, agonizing, thoroughly loathsome undertaking, and yet here we all are, pulling nine fully formed sonic universes together and capping it off with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, because that's what we all did in 2010. Try Warpaint's morose "Undertow" when you want to feel sorry for yourself, Sleigh Bells' spectacularly violent "Straight A's" when you want to feel sorry for whoever you're about to punch in the face, and the morosely spectacular "Runaway" when you want to feel sorry for, well, Kanye. This was my year, with all the distractions finally, mercifully filtered out.

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Cover Songs

Vampire Weekend's New iTunes EP Includes Their Cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm Goin' Down"

By Rob Harvilla Tue., Dec. 21 2010 at 5:06 PM
Categories: Bruce Springsteen, Cover Songs, Featured, Vampire Weekend

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Any last-minute digital-music shoppers out there are hereby advised that there's a new six-song Vampire Weekend EP up on iTunes today, mostly reprising their own work but including the whimsically bloopy cover of Springsteen's "I'm Goin' Down" that surfaced earlier this year. Given that the Boss is capable of being plenty whimsically bloopy himself, this isn't exactly blasphemous -- Ezra Koenig may not sing "I remember back when we started/My kisses used to turn you inside-out" with the same, uh, degree of credibility, but who among us can? Below, an earlier version; just keep these guys away from "I'm on Fire" and we'll be fine.

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SOTC Roundtable

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Redeeming M.I.A.

By Zach Baron Mon., Dec. 13 2010 at 2:00 PM
Categories: Featured, Kanye West, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., SOTC Roundtable, Superchunk, The National, Titus Andronicus, Vampire Weekend, Year In Review

Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: Rob Harvilla, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. We'll be here all week!

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Dear Rob, Sean, Rich, and Maura,

I believe, as per our esteemed colleagues over at ILM, that the tortured anagram that Rob is looking for here is BLAND: Beach House (it's like you knew!), LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, the National, and Deerhunter. I like exactly one of those records, so fine with me, but before I start gassing on about how inspiring I found James Murphy to be in 2010, I believe there was a sprawling three-part opening question to be addressed. Let's take a moment to recall that at roughly this time last year, two smart critics, Sasha Frere-Jones and Simon Reynolds, were gently declaring hip-hop as we knew it dead. (Sasha: "If I had to pick a year for hip-hop's demise, though, I would choose 2009.")

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SOTC Roundtable

Was 2010 The Best Year For Music Ever? Five SOTC Critics Discuss.

By Rob Harvilla Mon., Dec. 13 2010 at 9:00 AM
Categories: Beach House, Critical Wonkery, Featured, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, SOTC Roundtable, Soulja Boy, Vampire Weekend, Year In Review

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Great song, at least
Welcome to Sound of the City's year-in-review rock-critic roundtable, an amiable ongoing conversation between five prominent Voice critics: myself, Zach Baron, Sean Fennessey, Maura Johnston, and Rich Juzwiak. Let us acknowledge at the onset that we are ripping this off from Slate so hard, but though maybe let's think of it as more of an homage, the way the Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" pays tribute to "(I've Had) The Time of My Life." Whether this is a wise analogy will be a central question undertaken by the panel.

For now, though, let's start by deciding, once and for all, if this really is The Greatest Year for Music Ever.

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Year In Review

The 10 Biggest Music Stories of 2010

By Zach Baron Wed., Dec. 8 2010 at 11:00 AM
Categories: Arcade Fire, Coco 66, Dr. Luke, Drake, Featured, Gathering of the Juggalos, Hard Festival, Jay-Z, Jelly Pool Parties, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Pavement, Rick Ross, Santos Party House, South Street Seaport, Vampire Weekend, Year In Review

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Ah M.I.A., it just wasn't your year, was it? Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.
In 2010, Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire both had #1 records. LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, MGMT, the National, M.I.A, and Sufjan Stevens all had albums debut in the top ten. Kanye West joined Twitter. Drake started a riot in New York. Converse opened a recording studio in Brooklyn. M.I.A. went to war with the New York Times. Pavement reunited. Juggalos went mainstream. From our vantage point, this year in music was one of the most lawlessly entertaining--purely ridiculous, even--in a long, long while. So in the spirit of the deluge of year-end lists even now beginning to rain down upon us (don't forget to vote in Pazz & Jop!), we figured we'd look back on our ten favorite storylines of 2010. They weren't necessary the biggest, but they were the ones that SOTC had the most fun with, and the ones we cared most about.

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The Law

Tod Brody, The Vampire Weekend Contra Photographer, Is Now Being Subpoenaed Via Email

By Rob Harvilla Tue., Nov. 30 2010 at 10:52 AM
Categories: Featured, The Law, Vampire Weekend

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Lest you forget, the Vampire Weekend lawsuit, wherein former model Ann Kirsten Kennis was quite surprised to find her face plastered on both the cover of Contra and various walls, is rolling onward, albeit slowly and in increasingly unorthodox fashion, given that no one can hunt down the guy who took the picture and sold it to VW in the first place. That'd be the elusive Tod Brody, who is hereby advised to check his email.

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