Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Oh man are these boys ever polarizing. In a few short months, New York’s Vampire Weekend has become a lightning rod in the music underground. Well I wonder why. They’re from New York, they play the wealthy Columbia grad part, they also play catchy, tight, polished indie rock. Oh and they come with a mountain of hype. Sound familiar? Well first things first, let’s focus on the actual album. Of course this LP, released by XL, is basically the exact same as last year’s self recorded Blue CD-R. The songs have been polished up a little bit but the same spare recordings that delighted fans last year are essentially the same. However two new songs were added for the debut and one removed. One of the new songs, M79, is a richly ornate chamber pop piece that adds strings and classical piano to their familiar sound and is a welcome addition. Yet the song left off, then known as Boston now known as Ladies of Cambridge b-side, was easily one of the best songs of the early recordings and its ashamed that they chose to leave it off. The rest of the album is a somewhat unique take on Afro-pop a la The Police and Paul Simon’s Graceland. Songs like Oxford Comma and A-Punk add a wide array of percussion, jittery guitar, and ethnic keyboards to the clinical indie rock sound. It’s amazing just how much the music stands up on repeated listens. Singer Ezra Koenig yelps about girls and kaffiyehs. His lyrics often have a subversive slant where he pokes fun at his own well-to-do upbringing. Of course all this just gives critics of the group more ammunition. Granted, bourgeois white Ivy League grads taking the styles of Indigenous African music is enough to make any liberal uneasy. Yet the band is able to pull it off so well that it just sounds like some dudes listened to some African records, added their favorite parts, and decided to have fun. Vampire Weekend have modest aims and more than surpass them. Not every band has to be Husker Du and fight the good fight. Sometimes its ok for a band to just play music that makes the listener smile and Vampire Weekend are certainly good at that.

Score: 8.3

Times New Viking - Rip It Off

When punk first broke in 76, much was made of the pissed off vocals and sloppy guitars. Punk seamed to be more about attitude than musical chops. However the best of the these “first-wave” punk bands (The Clash, The Buzzcocks, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones) knew how to write a good hook. The pop smarts of these bands is why we keep returning back to Singles Going Steady or love to yelp along to Violent Femmes records. Times New Viking knows how to write a good hook and a great shout along chorus and it’s exactly this bratty catchiness that makes Rip It Off such a great album.
First off, those worrying that their move from the specialized Siltbreeze label to the major indie Matador would force TNV to clean up their sound have nothing to fear. The static haze that engulfs much of their songs remains and acts just as another instrument much as it did on last year’s The Paisley Reich. The album opens up with a heaving guitar line where the drums and keyboards soon join with the shouting voices of Adam Elliott and Beth Murphy to create a fantastic opening salvo of noise and melody. The fact that they are writing full songs with beginnings and ends help make this album feel much more accomplished than their previous work, where even their best songs felt like mere sketches of a good idea. Other songs such as Another Day and The Early 80’s are nothing more than fantastic indie pop songs drenched in lo-fi haze.
And really that’s the whole point of Times New Viking. Without the shouts and “tin-can” production they would probably be a justly loved indie pop band and I’d be making comparisons to Orange Juice and Television Personalities instead of The Undertones. However the dirt and grime of this release adds to the overall effect and helps separate TNV from the rest of the crowd.

Score: 8.6

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

After a tepid sophmore effort that suffered from a much too safe approach, British Sea Power return the grandiose rock that characterized their wonderous debut album with their third LP, Do You Like Rock Music?.
Starting with feedback, a military drum march, and chants, openening prelude "All In It" fades into the first true song "Lights Out For Darker Skies" and what a song it is. Massive riffs and drums prolong the song foward while Gang of Four-style guitars pepper the song with sharp notes. Midway through the initial fury draws to a halt before shooting up for a fantastic finish that climaxes with swaths of feedback showering the listener.
The next few songs follow this formula with singers Yan and Hamilton taking turns dispensing thoughts on the modern world mixed with peculiar historical allusions while the guitars continue their epic ring. Many bands strive for this "epic" sound these days and many fail or let their ideas become too muddled and lose focus. The Annuals come to mind. However where many of those groups fail, British Sea Power succeed by never letting the over whelming sound mask the smart hooks of their pop. The songs are able to contain remarkable structure throughout the album.
After an initial coda at the beginning of live-favorite "Atom", Yan entails "I'll be the first to admit this a bright and halted age". Thankfully, we have him and his bandmates to record it for us.

Score: 9.1