Vampire Weekend

For the love of all things holy and sacred, what hasn't been said about Vampire Weekend. Can I possibly enlighten you further? I first wrote about them back in August of '07 and was anxious to see how things shook out for the current indie darlings. Well, like many indie darlings before them they've hit mainstream with an appearance on Letterman and when you do a simple "vampire weekend" search on YouTube it returns ~665 results. I genuinely like Vampire Weekend. I'm not going to sit here and write that I know where their career is going to go, or say they suck because I want to be edgy, or say they have room to grow. It's just irritating in some ways to see a band become successful and then get dissed because they're successful. Isn't that what all artists want anyway? Don't they want to be acknowledged for doing good work? Don't they want to actually make money doing what they love? I totally understand people enjoying the feeling of "discovering" a band and claiming it as their band baby. They tell only their closest friends, and spread the gospel sparingly because they see them as a crown jewel in their indie music crown of smugness. I can admit to doing this on occassion. I'm okay with saying that, because I enjoy the music. I'm not saying a band is great just to say I know them, or just to impress another music geek. I want to tell people about music I enjoy, music that I can listen to over and over. Vampire Weekend is a solid young band. They manage to sound "fresh" because they drawn from less likely predecessors like Paul Simon or Peter Gabriel. It's not only this fact, but also they mostly manage to do it well. They aren't going to change the world. They aren't going to sell out The Meadowlands. They're going to be played on the radio and people that don't know much about music will like them. Their music is fun, smart, and generally happy sounding. I could tell this was most likely going to happen when I saw the in concert a week or so ago. I had gotten wind that the audience was a mix of longtime fans and newbies just by overhearing conversations and looking around. I kinda knew it was downhill when a friend told me that her mom "really liked this new, cute band named Vampire Weekend." OF COURSE your band is going to lose street cred when moms start liking them. Nothing is as cool when your mom likes it at the same time you do. That is an immutable law of nature. (Love you mom).

Anyway, enough of my ranting and raving. Vampire Weekend's debut self-titled album is really good. It's not going to blow your mind or make you change religions, but it may perk up your ears and put a little bounce in your step. Because I have an affection for cover songs the song posted below is Vampire Weekend covering one of my favorite Radiohead songs. I know, I know it can't possibly do the original justice, but it's still interesting to hear their take on a classic song that is (already) 10+ years old. I could go on and say how much I was appalled by the review of the concert I went to in Variety by Steven Mirkin. I swear, the review is so bad and scathing I wouldn't be surprised if the dude is 45 and stayed for the first 3 songs and left to beat traffic (very L.A.). Hope you enjoy the track below.

Georgie James - Places

I have an automatic affinity for Georgie James because they are from the same place as myself (relatively): Washington, D.C. I wouldn't go so far to say that the District of Columbia is a hub for indie pop rock, but then again I never explored the underbelly of it's music scene to find out. The band is made up of John Davis (formerly of Q and Not U) and Laura Burhenn. When Davis' band dissolved in 2005, he met Burhenn through the D.C. music scene and they bonded over similar tastes in pop music from 1950s-1970s. They self-released a demo in 2006 titled Demos at Dance Place. Either way, Georgie James came to my music collection because I heard a song they composed for NPR's Project Song series from All Songs Considered called "Monument." This track isn't on their album but sparked my interest enough that I sought out the album. In no way was I disappointed.

Their debut album on Saddle Creek Records is Places. It's a solid album through and through. Places is nice. A perfectly nice debut album. Georgie James doesn't try to be anything but themselves, which is admirable in and of itself. It sounds nice. It's well recorded. It's well produced. It's nicely arranged. It's nicely sung and played (even nice enough for a 7.4). For the most part, Davis and Burhenn alternate who sings and who sings harmony. This works out well as their voices mesh in a unique way that doesn't sound too perfect, but doesn't make you want to stop listening. Overall, the album is listenable all the way through, and may stick with you or it may not. But I've come back to it when I want something nice and familiar and I don't have to think about too much. As I said, it's quite a nice listen. Now it's your turn:

Vampire Weekend - Live at the El Rey 3/20/08

Vampire Weekend played to a sold out house at the El Rey theatre last night. I was lucky enough to get in and stand in the front row. Here is the story in picture form from the evening. Reactions and video a little later.


NEW SONG: White Sky

Beirut - The Flying Club Cup

Zach Condon aka Beirut is the type of artist that makes you feel somewhat inadequate. When you combine his age (22), prodigious talent (multi-instrumentalist and vocalist), with his high-caliber and unrelenting output (2 albums released 15 months apart) you feel like you've accomplished so little. Well, maybe you don't but the thought has crossed my mind (with the ultimate example being John Keats). Either way, I try not to think about it and just appreciate it for what it is: an exceptional artist hard at work creating. Condon has said that he started recording music in his early teens and dropped out of high school in Santa Fe, NM at 16 to travel through Eastern Europe where he was exposed to Balkan gypsy folk music that infused his debut album Gulag Orkestar (2006). On that album he played accordion, keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, mandolin, ukulele, horns, and glockenspiel while taking up vocal duties too.

Beirut's newest album entitled The Flying Club Cup (2007) really shows off everything that was promising on his debut. His exotic but not too exotic sounds, his love of piano-driven song making, his manner of building towards an apex 3/5ths through the song, and his wonderful love of string accompaniement (arranged by Owen Pallett aka Final Fantasy). The entire album is an enormous layer cake. Layers of sound, instruments, vocal tracks, and emotions. While the music is dense it manages to remain immensely satisfying. Beirut takes you to places you've (probably) never been all while recording at his home in Brooklyn, NY. In many ways he sounds like Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Sufjan Stevens, and Jeff Magnum (Neutral Milk Hotel) all rolled into one. He displays passion and feeling beyond his years that manages to come across with sincerity, while also displaying a sense of virtuosity in his arrangements. How about a video too, since it's Friday.

BEIRUT - Nantes - from The Flying Club Cup

Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight

Great Northern is the product of L.A. - based musicians Solon Bixler (former guitarist for 30 Seconds to Mars) and Rachel Stolte coming together to create this dreamy folk-rock indie pop quartet. While all those monikers may be confusing they're able to blend personal styles and vocals to create rich layers and textures with great orchestration. Both Bixler and Stolte take turns singing, which creates some great and interesting harmonies. They occasionally take turns singing within one song which gives the feeling of dialog or story going back and forth.

This debut album Trading Twilight for Daylight (2007) is pretty solid throughout, with a few standout tracks that are, simple put, catchier than the others. The album has just enough "rock" in it to keep it from floating away or being incredibly corny. All the tunes have a firm melodic foundation, and are layered with strings and keys while still having some great guitar licks.

The Clientele - God Save The Clientele

While The Clientele have been around for a number of years, it hasn't been up until recently that their music has been getting more and more notice. Their second album Strange Geometry (2005) was their first with Primal Scream producer Brian O'Shaughnessy and notable for it's scaled back reverb and addition of string orchestration. The group is made up of Alasdair MacLean (vox/guitar), Mark Keen (drums), James Hornsey (bass), and Mel Draisey (violin, keys). Even though they are from London, they are more famous in the U.S. than at home in the U.K. They are signed to Merge Records, and therefor labelmates with such acts as Spoon, Arcade Fire, M. Ward, and The Magnetic Fields.

God Save The Clientele (2007) is a bit of a misnomer. They really don't need divine intervention, because this album is already pretty holy great. Alright, that was lame. Either way, the album is a pleasure to listen to. It's reminiscent of harmonic Beatles and The Byrds. The range of emotions and dynamics on this album will make you kinda sad, breathe joy into your life, and make you coast off into a dream-line state. Each track is consistently good, and never feel like they're missing a step. While most songs are mid-tempo, or slower ballads, there are a few quicker paced songs that juxtapose the others quite nicely. This is quintessential indie pop music. It's not breaking down any archetypes, but it also isn't cookie-cutter Top 40 bullshit either. Hope you enjoy.

2 For Super Tuesday

Well, once again I have neglected my loyal familial readership. Hopefully I can make it up to you today with a double-dip of music reviews that have been simmering too long -- almost to the point of ruining the pan...if you follow that extended metaphor. Let's jump in, shall we? Good, great, grand, wonderful.

The Besnard Lakes are from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are fronted by a husband and wife duo by the names of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas. While the band is currently a 6-piece they have had members come and go in the last ~5 years to get them to where they stand today. They presently reside on the Jagjaguwar label (with the likes of Black Mountain, Bon Iver, Okkervil River, Wilderness, and Sunset Rubdown). A few groups come to mind when listening to their current album: Broken Social Scene (for the focused wandering and orchestration), Band of Horses (vocal tone on many tracks), Beach Boys harmonies on occasion, and voluminous guitar reverb of Queen. If all that sounds intriguing or impossible, just give it a listen. It's pretty remarkable when it all comes together.

The newest album The Besnard Lakes Are the Darkhorse (2007) came out last year and was nominated for the venerable Mercury Prize. It's a pretty great album that begs to be listened to in one sitting, on a couch, in front of a couple large speakers. The volume doesn't need to be blasted, but rather let them take you through varying dynamic shifts. It's an album that I wish I listened to more often, and I can already guess I'll hear something new each of the first 10-15 times I listen to it. That's part of the great thing about albums, right...discovery? I vote Yes.

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The second artist of the Tuesday Blue Plate Special is: My Brightest Diamond otherwise known as Shara Worden. She rose through the ranks as a member of Sufjan Stevens' Illinoisemakers during his tour in support of that state's album. After completing that tour she recorded her debut album Bring Me the Workhorse (2006). While this album isn't "new" I would consider it "lesser-known." Ms. Worden combines elements of opera, cabaret, chamber music, and rock throughout the album. It's a unique blend of musical styles and approaches. There are humming guitars, pizzicato cellos, and airy harmonies to create a wide array of tunes. The thing to be celebrated most is the fact that she graduated college with degree in Classical Vocal Performance, so when she belts out a note of glissando, it's impressive to say the least.

The album as a whole is pretty heady stuff. She is able to blend various indie aspects of a great rhythm section, her strummed guitar, gorgeous strings, and her powerfully confidant voice into an album whose weight would crush a lesser artist. She somehow pulls it off with aplomb. I would look out for her next release tentatively titled A Thousand Shark's Teeth through Stevens' Asthmatic Kitty label.