Rock Hard Times: Vampire Weekend

Today In Rock History

April 25th . . . 1918 - Legendary jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald is born in Newport News, VA . . . 1923 - Blues guitarist Albert King is born . . . 1933 - Jerry Leiber is born in Baltimore. With Mike Stoller, he’s written witty rock hits like “Yakety Yak” and “Jailhouse Rock” . . . 1945 - Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba is born in Gothenburg, Sweden . . . 1945 - Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is born this day . . . 1950 - Steve Ferrone, drummer with the Average White Band and Eric Clapton, is born in Brighton, England . . . 1956 - Elvis Presley reaches top of US chart with Heartbreak Hotel, his first No. 1 . . . 1961 - Elvis Presley makes his last stage appearance for nearly eight years at Bloch Arena in Hawaii . . . 1964 - The Beatles have an amazing 14 singles on the American chart . . . 1967 - The Beatles perform “All You Need Is Love” during a global satellite broadcast . . . 1974 - Jim Morrison’s widow, Pam, dies in Hollywood at the age of 27. Police suspect heroin use may have played a part in her death . . . 1977 - Elvis Presley makes his last-known recordings during a live concert at the Saginaw (Mich.) Civic Center . . . 1981 - Wings break up after Denny Laine leaves the band. Paul McCartney says he will carry on as a solo artist . . . 1987 - Crowded House had their biggest U.S. hit when “Don’t Dream It’s Over” peaked at #2; U2 replace Beastie Boys at top of US LP chart with The Joshua Tree . . . 1990 - The Fender Stratocaster on which Jimi Hendrix played “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock sells at a London auction for $295,000 . . . 1994 - The Eagles played the first of two shows where they recorded their ‘Hell Freezes Over’ album . . . 1994 - A judge sentences Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz to 200 hours’ community service after he beats up a TV cameraman during River Phoenix’s funeral . . . 1994 - A judge determines that Michael Bolton’s “Love Is a Wonderful Thing” sounds a little too similar to the Isley Brothers’ “Love Is a Wonderful Thing.” Ya think? . . . 1997 - Warren Haynes and Allen Woody quit the Allman Brothers Band to tend to their careers as Gov’t Mule . . . 1999 - Funk star Roger Troutman, 47, dies in a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, after being shot several times . . . 2000 - Eric Clapton is reunited on a TV stage in London with his former Derek & the Dominos keyboard player Bobby Whitlock, for their first performance together in 29 years . . . 2002 - Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, the effervescent, sometimes volatile rapping member of the Grammy-winning R&B trio TLC, is killed in a car crash in Honduras . . . 2003 - The late jazz great Nina Simone is laid to rest in Carry-Le-Rouet, France . . . 2004 - Piano man Billy Joel drives his car into a house in Long Island. Nobody is seriously injured. It’s his third car crash in two years . . . 2007 - American singer Bobby “Boris” Pickett died of leukemia at the age of 69. He scored the Halloween anthem ‘The Monster Mash’ in 1962 . . .

Monday, April 14, 2008

Vampire Weekend

first blog here... way to rock out shoe and friends.. you've got a real classy place here.. already feel at home.. i've spilled red wine on the floor, drank all the scotch from the mini bar and my blog couch has a burn mark on it, from what i don't know..

i have to say i love the new Vampire Weekend cd.. i, like most people i've spoken with over the last couple months, have listened to this thing quite a bit and i'm impressed.. i have to say i know very little about where the band came from or what they are all about, but i dig it..

the songs are short and to the point.. musically, it is interesting as hell.. all sorts of instrumentation (strings, keys, harpsicord for christ's sake.. if you can make a harpsicord sound cool, you've got a good thing going).. i love the way they play around with their rhythym and cadence on each song.. sometimes on the beat, sometimes lagging all around it.

songs 2-4 are definitely the power plays on the record but it's the other songs on the record that do it for me.. "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" is a hidden gem at the end of the record... it's hard for me not to think of Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes when Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa comes on either.. love the playful bass and keys on "One (Blake's Got a New Face).. the production value is damn good too.. great dynamics on the background instruments, and lots of little things hiding and coming through right when you need it..

they've got some good stuff going on all over this record and for that, i give them a 4 Banana rating on my 1-5 Banana scale that i just made up..

ez

2 comments:

ShoeApril 15, 2008 at 8:14 AM
EZ's first post. Historic. I have the album as well, courtesy of Mr. Younge. Good stuff.
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jmlifeandtimesApril 17, 2008 at 11:51 PM
I came across Vampire Weekend last summer when I heard the single, Oxford Comma (The Oxford Comma is the comma before the and in a series, esentially it is an unnecessary comma that is inserted. I haven't listened to the lyrics enough to know why they chose this name). I was instantly intrigued. They released their first album in late January, and I must say that I had it marked on my calendar. They are from New York City and went to an Ivy League school, but I can't remember which one. On Valentine's Day, they played at the Wexner Center for the Arts to a sold out show. I wanted to go but finding someone with that dedication on Valentine's Day was impossible. The album is dope. There are a few songs that I don't care for, but the "Kids don't Stand a Chance" is a true gem. I also enjoy Walcott, which appears near the end of the album as well. For some reason, their sound tends to remind me of early stuff by O.A.R or Sublime. Quirky, jagged, off paced beats.
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