Does anyone really know what happened to Vampire Weekend? Nine months ago a storm of publicity and positive critical and hipster reviews were pouring in upon these ivy league trendsetters. What happened since then? Are they like Flight of the Conchords and they just couldn’t come up with any solid new material? Is there a lingering tease that more goodness is coming? Ok, to be fair they did do a spot on SNL, they landed a song on Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, but there really hasn’t been enough meat and potatoes to justify the hype.
All that being said I have stumbled upon a few tracks that are definitely worth a listen. I highly doubt any of these are good enough to make everyone remember just who Vampire Weekend is, but they’re worth a quick download and I’m almost positive they’ll find their way onto at least one mixtape you slap together.
mp3 : Vampire Weekend - Everywhere (Fleetwood Mac Cover)
mp3 : Vampire Weekend - Exit Music (For a Film) (Radiohead Cover)
mp3 : Vampire Weekend - Ottoman
The Radiohead cover is my favorite of these three tracks and, to be honest, I do think their original song Ottoman shows a bit of promise for the future of Vampire Weekend. I just can’t imagine their album appearing on many year end lists come December. Seriously, has anyone listened to it, even once, in the last six months? Does anyone even remember the album title?
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i’ve been listening to it all year, maybe i’m the only one?
it’s a good album, but it feels like it’s just disappeared.
They’ve just finished touring in the UK, they were amazing!
And it was in The NME today that they’re planning the second album, apparently trying to shake off the college inspirations.
I don’t know where you have been but they are everywhere. They have been talked about pretty consistently from pretty much all blogs, publications etc. They just sold out 4 NYC shows etc..
umm…this doesn’t really make sense. The usual process is for a band to release an album (Vampire Weekend, for example), then tour, and in about 2 years release another album. Vampire Weekend came out, as you pointed out, 9 months ago ? What do you mean what happened ?? Not all bands are Los Campesinos ! and can release their second album about 6 months after their first. And um reviews of an album tend to stop coming out as frequently after its been out for 9 months. As for hype, they are currently one of elbo.ws/hypemachine’s most blogged bands, and pitchfork is still writing articles about new singles they are releasing. So…yup. I don’t get your point.
i love how defensive people are getting because of this post. it’s awesome.
i actually kinda feel the same way about vampire weekend as you do TWF. I felt like people stopped mentioning vampire weekend’s name just as fast as they started.
I don’t think that’s Vampire Weekend’s fault, and i certainly don’t think they make bad music, but i think that sometimes the media creates this hype that makes it nearly impossible for any band/musician to live up to…
I still listen to their record! and its called.. *drumrolls Vampire Weekend.
I think it’s better kept this way if people stopped hype-ing them.
It got pretty old.
i agree with adam and D. it feels better now that the hype has died down, but it just left me wondering what happened. they used to be mentioned literally ten times a day and now there’s not much to be heard about them.
and the question about the album title was a bit of a trick question, glad it got a smiley face.
I so agree with billy, the album was good but…where are they? I personally love Ottoman, their new album is gonna be great.
really loving that Chromeo remix of Kids Don’t Stand a Chance making the rounds and their collab at Woodies is rad http://woodies.mtvu.com/video/1599538 don’t think they’re disappearing just yet…
I agree!! I was just thinking the other day that I hadn’t listened to their album in at least 3 months. I dug it out and listened to it again. I look forward to these tracks, thanks.
What I love about the internet - predictions can be revisited for prophesy or hipocracy.
In my opinion, the problem with Vampire Weekend is that they are essentially a gimmick band (i.e.: they took Paul Simon’s sound, wrapped it in a cute little preppy white Ivy League package, and sold it to a new generation). VW rose to popularity largely because of blogger word-of-mouth and the combination of being just accessible enough but just underground enough to be considered ‘cool’.
And unfortunately, their fans (the aforementioned hipster bloggers and trendy, impressionable college kids) are a finicky bunch who will abandon them and hop onto the next ‘cool’ band as soon as it comes along. This is the problem they’ll face in creating their second album. Do they just do more of the same or are they going to try to grow as legitimate artists and risk losing their fan base? You can call this the “Panic at the Disco” effect if you like. Exhibit A:
Debut Album - “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” – apprx. 2m sold worldwide
Sophomore Album - “Pretty. Odd.” – apprx. 600k sold worldwide
VW will likely carve out a nice niche fanbase, just as PatD did, but they were never even as big as PatD, and it would probably be a mistake to say they have any kind of legitimate staying power. Certainly there is a market for inoffensive frat party background music, but I’m not sure if you can build a serious long-lasting music career off of that. Maybe.
A haiku, in honor of how wrong you are:
Yes, still I listen
And daily anticipate
the next sweet weekend.
Tyler,
I’m pretty sure you stole that wrapped Paul Simon’s sound in a cute little jacket shit right from someone else’s review. I will admit they were probably listening to Graceland when they made this album, but i really don’t think they are similar enough to justify your comment.
I didn’t take that line from anywhere, though I think most people who don’t like VW agree with that line of thinking, so it wouldn’t surprise me if something similar has appeared elsewhere.
Alright, slow down. What is the worry here? That Vampire Weekend hasn’t put out two platinum albums in the last two weeks. These guys need time to go tour, to experiment, and to get this next album right. “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” coming out on vinyl is also exciting. Let’s not be so quick to write off a band that put out such a hot debut album.
Plus, “Walcott” was on Grey’s Anatomy. How do I know that? My girlfriend makes me watch the show.
Let’s see how this next album is. Then we’ll find out what the boys have under their preppy loincloths.
I’ve been listening to them all year. They are def on my top 2008 list. I don’t get tired of that album…great music for driving like an asshole!!
me and my friends still talk about them, I played a-punk in a set the other night :????
vampire weekend’s debut album is probably the most cohesive and consistent album of 2008.
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good luck
Tyler… Umm the thing about PatD sophomore album is that… It kinda sucked.
I’m so excited about VW next album it’s ridiculous! My older sister showed them to me last year and now I can’t stop listening to them, I can safely say they are my favorite band.
I never would have thought of that