Love or hate the band, Vampire Weekend has done an unimpeachable job branding itself. Their most recent record oozes undergraduate, Ivy League-educated, New York hipster pretense (by the second track, we’ve heard about horchata, balaclava and Richard Serra). This in mind, the folks over at GQ blog The Verge (yes, the same magazine that ranked college douchiness) have assembled a list of 16 words and phrases Vampy Weekend needs to include on its third LP.
It begins:
Start a pool in your dorm! If “Sriracha” doesn’t get a name-check on the third record, we will eat a Tretorn.
And, to the tune of “quattro formaggi,” it only gets better. Check it out.
Any discussion about Contra, Vampire Weekend’s sophomore effort, has to begin with its album cover. Then it’s got to touch on why their music is just as classical as it is tribal, the album as party and Ezra Koenig as David Byrne. But first off, that girl.
What adorns the sleeve of the vinyl, or gazes out from the CD case, or peers up at you from a diminutive iPod screen, is a picture. Her expression is blank, her yellow Polo collar floppily half-popped, her lips slightly parted. The photograph is clearly old, aged; it screams “prep,” the 80s lifestyle buzzword that’s been slapped on Vampire Weekend to the point of meaninglessness. The image is striking, vivid, alive. It’s art, a genuinely stylish example of what was recognized as emblematic beauty in a bygone era. If you want to kneecap the photo’s value because of an issue with the girl’s aesthetic, than you’re exactly the type of person that Ezra Koenig and co. have no time for.
Hell, a significant bunch of the consumers of Contra will probably never see its cover, considering the manner in which most music is consumed today, but that’s not how it’s meant to be.
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The Fader has just posted part one of its year-end “Listmania 2008,” which offers something a little bit more unconvential than most year-in-review lists. Some of the best rankings include:
Top Five Band Names That Consist Primarily of Gender References
5. Man Man
4. She and Him
3. Me and Women
2. Women
1. Girls
There are also three different lists pertaining exclusively to Lil Wayne. Among them:
Top Ten Things Lil Wayne Doesn’t Do, According to Lil Wayne On Tha Carter III
10. Owe you, like two vowels
9. Rap, he films movies
8. Fantasize
7. Have to get his tooth fixed
6. Write sh-t, cuz he ain’t got time
5. Have the answer
4. Wanna finish
3. Know what you are on
2. Give a f-ck if you see him
1. Care
They also remind us of Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig’s college blog and their favorite tertiary characters from The Wire. For the rest of the post, check here.
UPDATE: Check out part two here.
Justin Vernon. Courtesy rcrdlbl.
A whole 17 days before the year ends, we did it. We summarized the best our favorite music of 2008 on our humble blog, and its name was Justin Vernon. The Jagjaguwar re-release of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, our favorite album of the year, made it into six of our nine lists, all in the top five (that was a lot of single-digit numbers, more coming). The lists had three mentions of “re:stacks,” two of “Skinny Love” and one of “Lump Sum.” Some other numbers after the jump.
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Justin Vernon. Courtesy New York Press.
10. Lil Wayne. Tha Carter III.
Tha Carter III makes a case for itself from virulent opener “3Peat” all the way to the amusing political piece “Don’t Get It.” The concept is simple: fill an entire album with songs that sound like singles, paired with worthwhile guest-appearances and Lil Wayne’s singular, codeine-laced style. The voice of hip-hop in 2008 was Weezy, not Ye. -Brian Contratto
9. Sun Kil Moon. April.
By now, Mark Kozelek fans know what to expect from his music. The Ohio-born musician makes the case for classic songwriting. April is stripped down, instrumentally sparse–just as, if not more, honest and powerful than anything else in 2008 and as good as anything from his past two decades of music-making. -Andrew Hibbard
8. Vampire Weekend. Vampire Weekend.
Had Jack Kennedy skipped out on politics and moved to Africa, this could be the soundtrack to his life. Vampire Weekend is marked by its catchy vocals, catchy guitar, catchy drums—hell, even the album cover is catchy. Don’t believe the hype and don’t listen to the backlash; these four gentlemen deserve an honest listen. -Kevin Lincoln
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