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November 2, 2009

New Vampire Weekend - "California English" (Live In LA)

thumbnail icon: New Vampire Weekend - "California English" (Live In LA)

When not giving guitar lessons and/or soundtracking HP commercials, Vampire Weekend's performing new songs from Contra. Last week you saw and heard "Cousins." This time it's "California English." (Thanks for the tip and video, Jesse.) The band did it over the weekend at a free show at the Hollenbeck Rec Center Band Shell in L.A. ("California English" in California, etc.) The sound's a bit distorted, but it gives you an idea.

Note: This is "California English" and not the "Cousins" B-Side "California English Pt. 2."

Contra is out 1/12 via XL.

UPDATE: Two other Contra tracks VW have played live in the last few months (via P4K)...

"Holiday"

"Run"

Posted at 11:49 AM by brandon in
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18 Comments

Impossible to understand, but still cool to hear... sort of.

Posted by: John Praw at 11/02/09 11:57 AM  | Reply
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pretty sure it sounds 'distorted' because he's using a vocoder

also its sad that Little Giant is not gonna be on this album

Posted by: hipster d-bag at 11/02/09 12:07 PM  | Reply
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Or maybe a giant vocoder made all the instruments sound over-driven as well. That giant vocoder in the sky.

Posted by: brandon profile link  in reply to hipster d-bag's comment at 11/02/09 12:13 PM  | Reply
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The sound quality at the actual even was great! I'm pretty sure the distortion is due to the recording being so close to the speakers. I was actually surprised how well it sounded for it being on a stage at some random park.

Posted by: Dea  in reply to hipster d-bag's comment at 11/02/09 12:25 PM  | Reply
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So i guess Little Giant wont be on the record which is sad because it was great live

Posted by: Curtis Cobane at 11/02/09 12:11 PM  | Reply
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i'm guessing / hoping / praying that the cousins b-side "california english part II" is little giant

Posted by: genevieve  in reply to Curtis Cobane's comment at 11/02/09 2:47 PM  | Reply
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i was thinking california english part 2 was gonna be acoustic something, but you would think it would just be labeled "acoustic" and not "part 2"

it would be awesome if the b-side to Cousins was little giant, but it seems strange to re-name it. although 'california' does come up in the song little giant

Posted by: hipster d-bag  in reply to genevieve's comment at 11/02/09 10:26 PM  | Reply
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Considering their recent dates being Californiacentric and the name of this song, I'm guessing this album will be marketed as their "California album."

Posted by: Tom Pity at 11/02/09 12:29 PM  | Reply
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@curtis cobane

hopefully little giant shows up as a b-side to a single
or it could be renamed 'diplomats son' but i highly doubt it.

Posted by: hipster d-bag at 11/02/09 1:35 PM  | Reply
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Seems like melody is really taking backseat to lyrical content in these new songs. Bummer. Also, looks like auto-tune is alive and well.

Posted by: Jordan at 11/02/09 1:46 PM  | Reply
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One more cutey of a title...I don't know what the words for such a thing would be yet but it would probably sound best spoken by that guy who narates "Endless Summer"...

Posted by: Ascending Melody...Tahatian Moon at 11/02/09 2:14 PM  | Reply
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i cannot wait to here the studio version.

Posted by: brian at 11/02/09 2:38 PM  | Reply
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hear

Posted by: brian at 11/02/09 2:40 PM  | Reply
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Yea, where are the catchy songs!

Posted by: matt at 11/02/09 4:22 PM  | Reply
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Is it just me or is Ezra putting on a few pounds? He looks pretty chubby in the Holiday video especially in the face region.

Posted by: Mr_Blue_Angel_Dood profile link at 11/02/09 6:17 PM  | Reply
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They need to start putting trim pots on these phone recorders.

Posted by: jack mehoffer at 11/02/09 9:27 PM  | Reply
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sounds like t-pain singing vampire weekend due to the sound quality.

Posted by: DW8807 profile link at 11/05/09 3:06 PM  | Reply
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Haha, the beginning of the song sounded like Weezy or T-Pain. Still like the song though.

Posted by: Zooey! profile link at 11/09/09 1:33 AM  | Reply
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