The Other Music live video series continues here with Vampire Weekend, capturing the kids performing "Mansard Roof" and "A-Punk" and talking about, like, being in a band and listening to music and stuff. This is the same set we wiped the early-AM fatigue out of our eyes for during CMJ; we remembered Ezra's guitar being locked into the groove better, but then, it was only 10:30AM and we were still two hours from our first Sparks on the day.
Inquiring about the guys' first concerts attended and CDs purchased is obviously a good angle for an interviewer from a record store like Other Music, but we imagine Will Hermes of SPIN's curiosity was extraspecially piqued by those confessions, 'cause they speak directly to his take on the band: In a four-star lead review, Hermes makes note of VW's blogger-approved "shiny, staccato, reverbe-free African-style guiar lines," and believes Ezra Koenig "clearly has a few iPods' worth of rock history in his head." To wit, here's where SPIN thinks VW cops their sounds:
- "A-Punk" sounds like English Beat
- "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance" sounds like The Police
- "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" sounds like Paul Simon's Graceland
- "One (Blake's Got A New Face)" sounds like Phish "playing new wave"
- "Campus" sounds like The Strokes
Pretty much the approach we just took to our review of Apes & Androids, so we ain't gonna knock it. Instead, we'll just say: Will, friend, you would have come off as a seriously prescient pundit had you said the whole thing sounded like the Batman Forever soundtrack. Instead, you just sound like us.
