Sucking Blood.

To keep up the trend of projecting on this band, here goes my 2 cents on Vampire Weekend. (Like an ivy league Madonna for the oughts, Vampire Weekend lets everyone play out their expectations & ideas & passions etc. From disregard, to hate, to disdain, to love & rapture, to class warfare, to whatever see here here here here here here here, & here. And maybe like any good thing, where you stand might say more about you than anything about the band, because really, is there really that much to say about VW? They're fine, their album is good (not great), they really don't seem to have any big agenda and/or deeply insightful things to say. People like to about their look, their ivy league cred, their clean sound & their open use of world music garnish (among other non-typical indie-rock touches - these guys aren't stupid (hopefully), so i imagine they are aware the borderline offensiveness of the ironic descriptor of Upper West Side Soweto - the deeper irony being that I've heard race residential/class divisions in Manhattan described being as stark as SA apartheid aka seriously kind of fucked when you look at it). The other story pitched about'em is the internet king-making hype machine which frankly is NOT-THAT-INTERESTING. They do something a little new, pretty well, and have a concise BRAND (which might be revealed as poorly developed in the future as it gets a closer look. How willing is Ezra to put the hammer down on his phish head buddies when the brand needs to be saved and/or XL starts pitching in their two cents on their newly minted possible cash cow?)

What purpose does VW serve for their fans/critics/etc? A tough question that probably has something to do with class/structure/power & I don't know if I want to venture there (ask This Blog if you really need to know).

But what do I think? I really like their album. Are there better indie-pop bands right now? Is this better than Pants Yell! or the Shot Heard Round the World album or even close to classic B&S? Yes, No and really is that really the point? And luckily for me (and maybe unexpectedly and unlike my political allegiances) the closer I get to bands and music that I kind of like - even when based on shallow signifiers - the more I like them. These guys are actually piddling around w/ out good idea of what they're doing or what they MEAN? GREAT! Give me some more. Unless yr Cpt. Beefheart or Mark E. Smith or something, I kind of prefer fumbling to proclamations of WE ARE MAKING SERIOUS ART from my rock'n'roll (or even from my art).