New Music: Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

Rating 7.4

I like it. Good clean fun. Little taste of Talking Heads here, a little Paul Simon flavor there, even an occaisonal Michael Kang playing Under African Skies sprinkled in with Travis on drums. However I can’t help but listen to it and not be satisfied. None of the songs really mean shit to me. The songwriting is just lacking for me right now but I don’t think it would be the case if I were two or three years younger. Songs of campus life just make me envious, and songs about the Northeast such as Cape Cod and Walcott(?) pack no emotional impact for me. I just picture Vampire Weekend in white boat shoes with sweaters wrapped around their shoulders playing badminton on a summer day in the back yard as they sip Arnold Palmer’s and laugh about how great their next semester at Columbia is going to be. But I like it and I want to put on my white keds and yupster out with these dudes, go lay in the Columbia quad and vote for Obama. The song that put the biggest smile on my face is the one with the chorus that repeats over and over, “Blake’s got a new face” ala the Kinks. More of a spring or summer record than a winter one, I can see myself listening to it through the year.