Critique of Vampire Weekend & Contra

I care about the Oxford comma. I care a lot, actually, and I’m not alone on this one.

Vampire Weekend is a very special band to me. They’re easily on my top 5 bands of all time, and, if you know me at all, you know that I listen to a lot of music. I literally, and by literally I mean figuratively, consume it. Ever since I first listened to them, my opinion about them has never diminished. Their albums and I have gotten to know each other pretty well, and I can assuredly say that we will definitely we life-long friends.

Unlike a lot of my favorite bands, this band’s discography is relatively small. They have two records and a couple B-sides here and there. At first glance, it’s not a whole lot to work with, but after one gets into them, you realize how “full” each album is. There is a lot of substance to each album. Now, with a third album underway, I am revisiting this band. I am reminiscing, hard, and good music is good.

I have thought a lot about which album is better, Vampire Weekend or Contra. I have tried to come to an answer, and, honestly, I can’t. I really hate saying that because whenever I ask people that I expect one from them. I take this band so seriously, and I’m okay with that. However, there are low points on each album for me. The band isn’t “perfect” to me; they’re just really really close.

Vampire Weekend is their self-titled debut record. I don’t think that I recall Vampire Weekend ever being “unknown” or “indie.” Well indie, yes, but not really by definition. They just kind of blew up. I mean, this record was just that good. It’s got the generic indie-rock feel, but there are a lot of Afro-pop in the mix with some synth undertones. These 4 preps from Columbia University really did a good thing here. They created a new sound that, in my opinion, is easy to listen to and extremely catchy. It’s not exactly what you would expect when you first get into them based on their reputation. A lot of their songs have the same indie/prep-feel, but then you reach the song “M79” and it’s heavy use of strings kind of leaves you dumbstruck. You don’t really expect something beautiful like that to come from some guys who wrote the crowd-pleasing “A-Punk.” It doesn’t seem to “fit,” and I love that.

However, it’s not all sunshine and smiles for me on this album. I do want to listen and “digest” this band, and I want to be real with myself. I love them so much, but I want  to be able to critique them and figure out what I love and what I don’t. I don’t want to get to a place where they can “do no wrong,” even if it seems like they can’t. Anyways, “One (Blake’s Got A New Face)” has always been my least favorite. I don’t think it fits well where it is in the album, right before “I Stand Corrected.” On a bigger scale, I think it shouldn’t even be on this album. I think it would be better on Contra.

Now would be an awesome time for a transition. Here we go.

Contra is the latest release, and I love that they blazed a new path. Keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij really goes to town on his used of sequencers and sounds that are just plain weird. Frontman Ezra Koenig also goes crazy with the vocals. On “White Sky,” the chorus consists of frankly just some odd howling from Ezra’s part. He’s either in pain or trying to call for wolves but, you know, in a beautiful way. I love the proficient use of diction that permeates the songs. I don’t quite understand it all, and I don’t quite want to. It’s just incredibly fun to listen to. There are definitely up-beat and livelier sounds on this one. It’s the perfect album to pick songs for movie trailers of car commercials. “Holiday” and “Giving Up The Gun” would be my two recommendations for this album. It’s cool because we listen to this indie album, and one might not realize the African-music, ska, and dancehall influences on this thing. That’s what sets them apart. I really their sound as cultured, in a sense. It definitely adds in a brilliant way. I have always been a bit resentful as to how they choose to end the album. “I Think Ur A Contra” is this slow, beautiful ballad-like song that just kind of takes you away. Sounds great, right? Maybe. I just think it sticks out, and the end of the album is important, to me. It’s their “farewell for now,” but I think it comes rather abruptly.

What’s so cool to me is the reach that this band has. As I said earlier they definitely are indie, since indie has really become a genre of music at this point. I love that it appeals to not just one “type” of listener. The indie kids will always love them, and the preps now have a superhero to look up to. This band is very inviting to those who do not listen to indie music since it’s got the indie sound down, yet they manage to pair rad hooks with infectious lyrics that allow those non-indie kids to enjoy their music as if they were indie kids themselves. They break down stereotypes because I feel like their sound is wide enough to please both sides of the spectrum. It’s important to realize that music and appearance aren’t correlated and we can’t really “assign” bands or even genres to certain types of people.

The kids most definitely stand a chance.