Vampire Weekend

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Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Are you sure they'll play Boston? I can only imagine them playing about 30 seconds of it at the end of a Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa or something.

Weirdly enough, they've been playing it a lot since Lollapalooza. It's probably because so many people downloaded that pre-XL version of the album, so it's not like Jonathon Low or something.

So they've played it five of their last six shows – always after A-Punk – and even at one of the Falls apparently. I like those odds.
 

class78

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Weirdly enough, they've been playing it a lot since Lollapalooza. It's probably because so many people downloaded that pre-XL version of the album, so it's not like Jonathon Low or something.

So they've played it five of their last six shows – always after A-Punk – and even at one of the Falls apparently. I like those odds.


Gotta hate getting attached to a rarely played track. I would love if they played Taxi Cab but that's extremely unlikely.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Gotta hate getting attached to a rarely played track. I would love if they played Taxi Cab but that's extremely unlikely.

They've been closing the set with Obvious Bicycle - I'd love for them to do Young Lion instead.
 

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class78

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They've been closing the set with Obvious Bicycle - I'd love for them to do Young Lion instead.


Yeah, surprised they don't open with Obvious Bicycle, perfect track to set the tone for the rest of the concert. It would make sense if they open and close with the corresponding tracks from the album they're touring.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Well that was really, really good. Lived up to the ludicrously high expectations. Solid set throughout and everything went quick, which is an indicator of a great show.

They started really strongly, though me and a mate tended to guess which song was coming next. The live debut of Finger Back and Worship You was interesting – I knew they were going to churn out something for the first time, but Young Lion it wasn't to be. The bangers went down well, as they should. Then Hannah Hunt was tidy, which is an understatement but also a real nod to them considering how complex that climax is. I think One is a bit past its use by date. Walcott was phenomenal.

One disappointment was they didn't have a whole lot of banter with the crowd. They didn't play Don't Lie and thus the Song 2 cover. But that's about it. I'm not huge on California English so I would've preferred something else, but hey.

Oh yeah, and that's got to be the best smelling show I've ever gone to. Probably has something to do with the ludicrous amount of girls between 12-17 I've seen at a show.
 

The Passenger

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Can't believe I haven't got around to the new album yet. Will do this week or so. Has come highly recommended. Their first two were very good, but you could still feel they something else in them.

Seen them live at Festivall Hall (sigh!) - Despite feeling like I was in a prison it was an excellent gig. They are really good performers. One of the few times we're I've been in a gig at Melbourne and the crowd sucked though. Gave them nothing and anyone who looked like they were having fun was frowned upon.

Seen them again at Oxegen in 2010 and once again was top notch. Pity it was ******* teeming like you wouldn't believe so had to watch from the shelter of the bar. I would have gone in for the mud bath but the chick i was with wasn't that sort of lass. To be fair not too many chicks would have gone in for the mud bath.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Interesting you saw them at Festy Hall and they had no fun. This last gig was pretty sweaty and intense, not too hectic like some gigs there, but it was certainly enjoyable. Plenty of toffs not letting you push through but they did when I lied about "oh I have to tell my mate his mum's sick." Shout out to you if you saw me – you're a prick and I hate you.

And yeah man, MVOTC is amazing. Simply so good.
 

The Passenger

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Interesting you saw them at Festy Hall and they had no fun.

The band was brilliant, but 80% of the crowd were being dicks. Just standing around. I found a little pocket of fun with about 20 or so other people and we danced around made fools of ourselves. It was class taking a few seconds to look around and see peoples disapproving faces. dickheads anyway.

Listened to the new album today at work, ended playing it a couple of times. it's quality. possibly their best although all 3 are very even. gotta listen at least 10 times before you can make a true comparison. i realised pretty quickly i had listened to the album before at a mates about a month or so ago but i was blind as *. vaguely recognised a few of the tunes.
 
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It's definitely their best.

I'm not sure they've got another gear but if they can make another LP as cohesive as MVOTC that'll do just fine.
 
I saw them at Byron Bay Falls, having previously seen them at Festy Hall in 2010. Unfortunately my mate was being a complete w***er, so my mind was a bit preoccupied. Crowd were crappy as well, you know how it is at festivals (and in particular, new years eve festivals).

Anyway, the band were really tight. Everything sounded meticulously perfect. I think I would have liked a little more rawness and excitement in them, but that's just me being picky. They didn't really make an effort to connect to fans, though. Ezra almost looked upset to be there at some points.

I guess I "get" MVOTC a lot more now. Not that I didn't before, but it sits better with me now. Hannah Hunt is now one of my favourite VW songs, and probably my favourite off the album.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Anyway, the band were really tight. Everything sounded meticulously perfect. I think I would have liked a little more rawness and excitement in them, but that's just me being picky. They didn't really make an effort to connect to fans, though. Ezra almost looked upset to be there at some points.

They've been touring a fair but and just seem absolutely cooked, which is fair enough. It's usually like that for Australia unless you manage to go to Splendour. The benefit is you see bands work a good setlist.

But yeah, Ezra's a real New York boy. It wouldn't surprise me if he was feeling homesick or something. Seemed a real douchey crowd. I was watching a video of the flare that went up near Baio, and Ezra had this look like, you know, they'd timed A-Punk perfectly for New Years, now people have taken away the moment with being feeling awkward and apprehensive about having a good time.
 

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james Dean

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I d/l MVOTC a few months ago, and kind of dismissed it. After seeing P4K rate it as album of the year, I went back to it and man I can't believe what I was thinking! Amazing album, and worthy of album of 2013
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Rostam has officially left the band.

I'll be blunt: where did that come from? I suppose the timelines between Ezra wanting to get this album out this year and Rostam wanting to release a lot of solo material this year didn't really align, but I just dismissed it. Unfortunately it ended up being foreboding and the two shall never again meet.

Vampire Weekend are a rare, special band, and I don't think I can come up with a band more exciting right now. MVOTC promised so much and built gigantically on their last two albums. They really changed their palette and Ezra's lyrics improved, or at least changed, a relative amount upward and ever since it was released I've been quizzical and excited about LP4. It's over the top but man, I genuinely, really, seriously thought LP4 could have been our OK Computer.

I will be happy to see the band end. Ezra is obsessed about the perception of the band, its trajectory, and its future status of retrospect. He wants it to be right and perfect, and he clearly thinks about it. Maybe this maudlin perspective will see him just be blunt and cut it out.

Rostam clearly wants to be Brian Eno. That's cool. But man.

It sounds like he'll take on a role as de-facto producer and a guy who constantly helps write three or four songs per album, but still...

http://pitchfork.com/news/63158-rostam-batmanglij-leaves-vampire-weekend/
 
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Rostam saying he wants his identity as a songwriter and producer to stand on it's own is a weird thing to say. I wonder if he feels overshadowed by Ezra, who is clearly the most popular member of the band and seems to be the guy that people identify the band with. Or they might just simply see the band going in different directions for LP4, who knows. I always felt Rostam was the real brains behind the bands sound given he played most of the instruments on the album, while Ezra focused more on the lyrics, so I'm feeling pretty apprehensive about their next record now. I agree that LP4 has/d huge potential based on the fact that they said they saw the first 3 records as a trilogy of sorts, so it's all up in the air at the moment.



I really like the song EOS that Rostam released though, so his solo stuff should be good.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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Rostam saying he wants his identity as a songwriter and producer to stand on it's own is a weird thing to say. I wonder if he feels overshadowed by Ezra, who is clearly the most popular member of the band and seems to be the guy that people identify the band with. Or they might just simply see the band going in different directions for LP4, who knows. I always felt Rostam was the real brains behind the bands sound given he played most of the instruments on the album, while Ezra focused more on the lyrics, so I'm feeling pretty apprehensive about their next record now. I agree that LP4 has/d huge potential based on the fact that they said they saw the first 3 records as a trilogy of sorts, so it's all up in the air at the moment.



I really like the song EOS that Rostam released though, so his solo stuff should be good.
This podcast is really insightful. Ezra makes me proud to overthink and be so future-historical about life and your mark on the world. It's also just great listening to his voice and the fact he seems conscious and proud of the fact him saying things is just spluttered thoughts... but they're never naff, they're always fairly interesting points. I listened to this on a bus from London to Manchester. It was special and rare.

http://www.stereogum.com/1801965/li...fects-podcast-from-tanlines-jesse-cohen/mp3s/

I think they all see the band as irrelevant. I think I mildly disagree. I see starting a band as irrelevant: you will get nowhere, you have no cache, you are outdated and lame. But being in one already means you are rare and at the tail-end of something special, and one of the last. I think Rostam wants to be Brian Eno or Damon Albarn, and be someone who's known as 'Rostam doing another project' not 'Rostam from Vampire Weekend's side project.'

In my opinion, if you have two projects strong enough, people will know your name regardless.

Devonté Hynes is the modern popular indie version of this. In fact, Dev Hynes should be looked at as an absolute pioneer. All we want is a name to get behind and know about and follow on Instagram. We don't want a heroic band anymore – because no one wants to care about a bassist and drummer... and no one wants to be a bassist or a drummer.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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I got hell into Harmony Hall once the video dropped. Great clip, great song.

Big Blue is pretty cool, don't mind Sunflower – I've had the melody in my head since a clip of it leaked – but it needs to be longer. I also don't really see the need to feature Steve Lacey. Unless he came up with the guitar line, but I doubt that.

My main issue with this era is how badly it's being promoted. The album cover has been unveiled via... pre-orders which became public to basically promote some shows in London. Isn't your album art a big deal? They're just teasing way too many things and it's a constant barrage of 'oh tomorrow we'll tell you something, the next day we'll give you the initials, oh this is the song title, here's a visual, here's a music video...' It's shockingly annoying.
 

NotAMagpieBogan

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I really like Sunflower, but I’m not huge on Steve Lacy being ‘featured’ on it. Collabs and featured artists on songs is really overdone nowadays, and half the time it is just to create hype. Steve Lacy doesn’t particularly stand out on the track either, so he could’ve just been a cool addition to the writing credits of song.
 

Silent Alarm

sack Lyon
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I really like Sunflower, but I’m not huge on Steve Lacy being ‘featured’ on it. Collabs and featured artists on songs is really overdone nowadays, and half the time it is just to create hype. Steve Lacy doesn’t particularly stand out on the track either, so he could’ve just been a cool addition to the writing credits of song.
It seems weird he's created, unless of course he came up with the guitar line.

Vampire Weekend used to be Ezra writing most of the song with Rostam guiding it, adding to it, and producing it. The Chris's would play their instruments on the record and I guess add their opinions here and there. Now Ezra writes the songs and gets Ariel to direct and produce it while getting whoever's in town and down to put their twist on things, to add some gang-vocals, play a guitar line – this is all according to Ezra, too.

So if you're going to do this Frank Ocean thing where you either go 'yo sing this in your own voice' or 'I wrote this guitar bit, can you just noodle on it for 20 minutes? Make it sound... country... or... rustier' then just add it to the credits. If they're singing a verse alone then give em the 'feat.' treatment. Otherwise... just accept that it's part of the process, and their thanks are in the liner notes.

fwiw apparently there's a heap o songs with Steve Lacey. He at least did Flower Moon but he could be on the other 'flower songs.' But apparently there's songs leftover which weren't for Father Of The Bride; could be for Steve's new album or could be for something else.
 

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