Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

This record should appeal to me: I dig all of the blatant influences, am a fan of that late 70’s/early 80’s honky chateau, and seem to fall head over heels with bands that get a shitload of praise/hype/press before they self-destruct or implode.

I was there for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Strokes, The Knack, and a bunch of other bands that were later raped on the front pages of yer hipster zines and distanced by Rolling Stone after Jann proclaimed them the new Dylan or some other bullshit tag.

But I cannot get my head around Vampire Weekend.
There’s something fairly novel going on with their debut, it is a relatively unique disc that is deserved of some attention, but the second coming of the Talking Heads it ain't.

I think my problem centers around one line, “Fuck the girls from Wellesley,” hinting at a privilege that few of us could imagine and portending a direction of extreme importance as influential as an Icicle Works record. This is rock music for the Ivy League that’s about as far away from rock as one could get because, from the sounds of it, rock music is beneath the members of Vampire Weekend.

At least with the Heads you got the impression that the pale faced kids wanted to play guitar, but couldn’t get it right because their practice amps wouldn’t go loud enough.

Photo by Tim Soter

I bring up this band because 1.) Vampire Weekend is indebted to them and 2.) they haven’t bothered to put the kibosh on such nomenclatures like “upper west side Soweto.” The closest that these guys have gotten to South Africa is the gold that’s housed in their family’s jewelry boxes.

My issue isn’t with their race, but with the sneaking suspicion that the world music they cherry pick really moves them, because there's barely a hint of passion with their own results.

Vampire Weekend is a streamlined and pleasant record album from a bunch of Northeastern dudes that placate Afropop to the point where their friends…more importantly, the chicks at Wellesley…conveniently overlook any of the political, economic, or historical aspects of the genres it’s lifting.

At least the Heads sounded respectful. Vampire Weekend sounds like the music that “inspires” them is already beneath them.