album of the week: 6.3

Vampire Weekend
Modern Vampires of The City
(2013)

why you'll love it:  a unique sound, catchy as hell, lots of neat touches
why you'll hate it:  not that many standout tracks, can get too weird or boring in second half

The Vampire Weekend I talk about in this review probably isn't the one you hear on the radio.  It's probably also not the band they themselves want to be.  Subjectivism is one of the wonders of music, isn't it?  Coming from an upbringing of punk rock, and at the same time hating the actual scene, leads to things like enjoying Vampire Weekend.  Their wealthy prissiness style is just vague enough to be taken as frivolous or ironic, and catchy enough to never feel pretentious.  They're a perfect palette cleanser for when I get sick of genre discussion or general rebellious hypocrisy.

Vampire Weekend's self titled debut had just enough of that style to make me run with it and act like they're the new Pizzicato Five.  The 2010 follow up, Contra, sounded more like the "Maui beach house" record, with a lot more pop and reggae.  Modern Vampires of The City returns to the Hamptons, and sounds more like Vampire Weekend than I ever pretended Vampire Weekend sounded like.  This album is much more restrained, not so concerned with hits.  Only "Diane Young" speeds up the pace.  It's an obvious single, but does a lot with voice modulation and break-beat; so it doesn't come off as nauseatingly radio friendly as "Holiday"

While the sound may be more gala ball than ever, that doesn't mean they don't experiment.  The second half of the album has a few strange decisions.  There are high pitched yelps of "Ya-Hey" and … what sounds like a vuvuzela run through a crunchy synth mod in "Worship You".  Weird decisions like these won't win over casual fans; but my twisted mind that pretends this band is like some evolved form of Shibuya-kei absolutely loves it.

I gotta say I also enjoy all the subtle references to old testament scripture throughout the album.  It doesn't seem to be making any kind of deep criticism or message; but i really love it when an album has a theme to it, even if there is no point to it.

You have to be in the right mindset for it, but I really do feel this is their strongest album yet.