Record Label: XL
Genre: Indie Pop
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com
So Vampire Weekend are the biggest indie buzz band right now. They’re all the rage on the Sirius indie rock station. They’re being written about everywhere for their innovative afro-pop fusion music, with lyrics about prep school and pop flourishes. And yet, when I heard it, I felt like it was all too familiar.
And then it clicked. These guys are no different than Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, or Goldfinger, or any of the early 3rd wave ska bands that hit it big by copping ska music and really making it inauthentic in a kitschy way. Thing is, most of those bands never really got that much critical praise, in or outside of the ska scene. In fact, they were constantly accused of being too fake or shaming the traditional Jamaican sound. And this is why it upsets me that Vampire Weekend are being praised for doing more or less the same thing but with Afro-pop music.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a pretty damn catchy album, and the sound tends to work for them, what with the catchy guitar lines and bubbly keys. If anything, the drums is where the band really pull away from Afro-pop, even the type that Sting and Peter Gabriel shifted towards in the 80s; instead of heavy bongos and various traditional percussion instruments, they mostly opt for a traditional drum set. The notable exception, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, in fact references Peter Gabriel. These guys are also really great with pop hooks, and this album is full of them. But my problem with the whole thing is that these guys are so smug about all of it. The whole record sounds like it’s one big project made just in time for Black History Month or something. The band sound like they really have nowhere to grow inside of the micro-genre they have created for themselves. There isn’t really much of a relistenable quality, especially after a couple of listens. The lyrics get more and more painful with every listen, just like every ska song I ever listened to that was about ska itself.
I sort of hope that these guys come out with a follow-up album that is just absolutely dreadful, and everyone will look back and realize these guys really weren’t that great. Or what they were great at was being fake. I was right about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah when nobody else would believe they were a one trick pony. I just hope Vampire Weekend don’t start campaigning for Darfur or something.
Bottom Line: Criminally smug and inauthentic Afro-pop mixed with indie rock; these guys are the new ‘it’ band, but they’re about as long-lasting as ska in 1999.
Notable Tracks: Mansard Roof, A-Punk, The Kids Don’t Stand A Chance
Overall Rating: