Reviews

Music reviews

Review of Vampire Weekend's new album Modern Vampires Of The City

6.14.13

Vampire weekend has released a third album called Modern Vampire of The City after their much-recognized Contra and their first self-titled album. Not only has this excited their fans but MVOTC has already hit #1 a little over a week from its official release. So the question is, why? Vampire weekend’s previous albums have always been quite successful, but their name has only slowly grown since Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa made it as #4 on the Rolling Stone’s “100 Best Songs of the Year” in 2007. To add some more context, they have also always provided unique, indie sound influenced by African and World music (which you can easily hear in songs such as Horchata). You can listen to both albums and through Ezra’s vocals and the instrumentation you can hear Vampire Weekend’s rareness, but Modern Vampires of the City is quite different. It seems like their third album is the metaphorical graduation from the Cape-Cod “prep-sters” into classy New Yorkers. From the opening song Obvious Bicycle you can see that they are trying to experiment with their sound because the song mostly consists of strong piano, subtle percussion, and some dreamy back up vocals from Rostam, which contrasts with Contra’s opening song Horchata. Horchata is a prime example of Vampire Weekend’s previous style; more upbeat, with a lot of African percussion and Ezra’s vibrant vocals. Also heard on their previous albums, MVOTC uses lots of harpsichord throughout their songs but this time its not the same playful supplement they used in their other albums, but in Step it creates a classier tone to their music especially when it’s paired up with such beautiful piano and Ezra’s softer vocals. What really attracted me to this album and what really proved that they reached a new level of maturity was the many witty and clever lyrics they had in this album; “You’ve got the luck of a Kennedy” in Diane Young and “Stale conversation deserves but a bread knife” in Step. Right when I heard these different lyrics, they popped out of nowhere and once my mind took sometime to process it, I chuckled. It might be hard enough to understand Ezra’s vocals or lyrics, but he finds the perfect way to squeeze in witty remarks into their enigmatic lyrics. Their iconic songs from their old albums like Cousins or A-Punk along with Horchata, exemplify their old sound: jumpy vocals from Ezra, fast and upbeat rhythm guitar, poppy synths. In MVOTC the strong use of guitar is replaced by heavy piano, Ezra’s voice is deeper and darker, and you can hear less influence from other cultures but a developed new sound of their own kind. If you have fallen in love with their old music, you might be disappointed, but if you are open to a deeper, more developed Vampire Weekend then you are in for a pleasant surprise.   

Alt-J concert review from earlier this year

6.14.13

Most people these days associate concerts to crazy shows, where everybody is sweaty and letting everything loose while the band goes mad on stage. Sure, this is an understandable idea of an amazing concert but when people asked me the familiar question "Hey, how was the concert?" after seeing Alt-J, I had a little bit of difficulty finding the proper response. Now, Alt-J has become quite well known from their first (and only) album that has gained recognition and nominations such as the Brit Awards or NME. Their music is much different in comparison to other new bands. Alt-J has the beautifully well-composed ensemble of the smooth but whiney lead vocals of Joe Newman, the ambient and melodic guitar, the funky bass riffs, and other numerous elements to create their gorgeous and dreamy sound. And to add on to these components, even the lyrics prove to be beautifully descriptive and clever, which comes as a surprise considering it's difficult to even understand the lead singer. When I arrived at the 9:30 club (my usual spot for my concerts) I had no idea what to expect. Listening to their music before I had no clue what the atmosphere was going to be like, what they even really look like, or even if the lead singer's voice actually sounds like it does on their recordings. But I did go in with high expectations, and they definitely met them. When Alt-J stepped on stage, I could hardly believe it was them; at first glance they looked like a teenage garage band. Nonetheless, that first impression was lost right when they played the first chord of "intro" and their beautiful light display turned on. Although they weren't jumping around on stage, head thrashing like some of the concerts I've been to, they did show subtle confidence when they spoke to the crowd or how they held themselves when they preformed. So it obviously wasn't much of an raging, crazy kind of show but the music and their stage presence were so captivating that I was standing there either completely awe-struck, or singing and swaying along with the crowd. It was a much different kind of togetherness, which is an unexplainable feeling unless you've been to a similar concert. So I guess the response to that regular question of "How was the concert?" can be "Amazing, but you had to be there."