Vampire Weekend Played Madison Square Garden with Angélique Kidjo and Despot, 9/6/19

Ezra Koenig dressed for Vampire Weekend's MSG show.

Modern Vampires of the City

I've been a big fan of Vampire Weekend since their 2008, self-titled debut. Their twee-ish, intelligent pop and sense of humor sit right in my wheelhouse. With the release of this year's Father of the Bride, the band embarked on a new direction -- understandable, following the departure of founding member, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij. Vampire Weekend became fully Ezra Koenig's band, and he took them down roads they hadn't explored before, like 70s AM Radio country rock, jammy interludes, and lyrically direct songwriting. To me anyway, the result is Vampire Weekend's fourth straight classic record; and I was looking forward to the opportunity to finally, after a decade of fandom, catch them live.

The bonus here was that, a few years ago, I loaded CoolDaughter 1's iPod Touch up with the first three Vampire Weekend albums; and she grew into sort of a super fan herself. The plan for this show was for her and CoolMom to accompany me. I went through Ticketmaster's "Verified Fan" process and got us general admission floor spots for Madison Square Garden. As the day got closer, my initial excitement started to turn to stress as I thought about the very distinct possibility that we'd get stuck standing at the rear of the floor, unable to see, and with no seats.

[Note: I toyed with the idea of requesting photo credentials for the show; but I figured, rather than work and be separated from my wife and daughter, I'd just hang with them and enjoy the show. I'd love the opportunity to shoot Vampire Weekend one day; but, this time, I just settled for some shots from the crowd with the Sony RX100 mark IV.]

I picked CD1 up from her second day of school, and we drove straight to the train with plans for a 4:30 arrival into the city. I cajoled CoolMom into leaving work early to meet us, and she obliged. Other than some people who had managed to figure out that you could show up earlier in the day to secure a wristband guaranteeing your place in line, we were some of the first GA ticket holders to arrive. The amazingly polite and friendly MSG security team seated us, in order, in the Hulu Theater, so we wouldn't have to wait in the rain, and marched us into the venue at about 5:30. By the time all of this was said and done, CoolMom, CD1, and I were just one row of people off the barricade at frigging Madison Square Garden. It reminded me of the Bruce Springsteen concert CD1 and I attended back in 2012. We were in for a long night. Despot, the opener, was set to hit at 6:30; and Vampire Weekend have been playing 2+ hour sets for the whole tour. I chose to ignore the pain I was already feeling in my nearly-fifty-year-old feet and ankles, and I decided not to think about how much worse it would be by the end of the night.

Queens rapper Despot kicked of the show backed by DJ / producer E.Vax and a sextet of inflatable tube-person dancers. Despot was one of the original hosts of Ezra Koenig's Beats 1 Radio Show, Time Crisis. He's also been part of the NYC hip hop scene since the 'aughties. He reminded the crowd that he never, ever releases music; and, so, what we got was the rare opportunity to hear any of his stuff. He closed with his one and only officially released single, "House of Bricks;" and a few in the crowd around us rapped along.

Despot

Despot

Next up was Angélique Kidjo. Born in Benin, Kidjo is an international star who bridges African, Latin, R&B, funk, and jazz through her work. Her set featured all of that including a cover of Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime" and a march through a singing MSG crowd during "Afrika." When Kidjo announced her final song of the evening, there were screams for more.

Angélique Kidjo

Angélique Kidjo

Vampire Weekend hit at about 8:35 and launched into what may have been their longest-ever single set in front of their largest-ever crowd. They opened with "Bambina" from Father of the Bride and then set off on a set that included almost everything I could have asked for like "White Sky," "M79," "Step," "Diplomat's Son (with a little "Pressure Drop" interlude)," "Hannah Hunt," and audience requests "Ottoman," "Obvious Bicycle (+ a little "Son of a Preacher Man")," and "Run." I would've liked to have heard "Giving up the Gun," but that's just being greedy. CoolDaughter 1 enthusiastically bopped and sang along with all of her favorites and handed me her phone so that I could shoot a snippet of "Step" over the heads of the people in front of us for her.

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

Songs like "2021" and "Big Blue" got jammy, extended treatments with guitarist Brian Robert Jones displaying some amazing virtuosity. Multi-instrumentalist Greta Morgan took center stage to perform Danielle Haim's vocal part on "Hold You Now," while Ezra played to the crowd in the rear. Bassist Chris Baio, in his NY Rangers t-shirt, bopped as enthusiastically as always; and drummer Chris "CT" Tomson was a force on the drum set. The band also employed a second drummer / percussionist and a few sets of keys.

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

All of the people in the seats, as well as most of the people on the floor (not us for some reason), received wristbands that automagically glowed different colors during different parts of the show (blue during "Big Blue," red for the lyric "The Lobster's Claw is sharp as knives..." during "Walcott"). It made for a pretty striking sight when you scanned the sold-out arena.

In a first, Steve Lacy joined Vampire Weekend on stage. They joined forces for a cover of Lacy's own "Dark Red" followed by an extended and hard rocking version of "Sunflower." Angélique Kidjo came back out to help with set-closer "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin."

Those requests I mentioned were part of the encore. That encore also featured a huge confetti blast along with giant bouncing, inflatable globes that skipped along the crowd during "Walcott."

Confetti

"Walcott"

Vampire Weekend ft. fan who requested "Ottoman" (in IKEA bucket hat)

The set lasted somewhere around 2 hours and 50 minutes. I was in pain from standing for 6 or so hours. So were CoolMom and CD1. But it was one of the best live show experiences I've had in a long time, made super-special by having (most of) the coolfamily along with me. As we walked towards the exits, CD1 leaned on me and said, "You're the coolest dad ever." I gave myself the CoolDad moniker as kind of a self-deprecating joke when I started this thing, but I feel like she may have really meant it; and it felt great.

The rest of the snapshots are up in the Flickr gallery.

Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride, 2019

Album Review

Since their self-titled debut in 2008, Vampire Weekend have released -- as far as I'm concerned -- three almost flawless albums. The combination of jangly, guitar-driven, twee pop, intelligent lyricism and wordplay, inside jokes, and even some subtle and good-natured ribbing of their critics places Vampire Weekend high on the list of "stuff that CoolDad digs." Vampire Weekend, Contra, and Modern Vampires of the City chart a course from post-college young-adulthood to more serious concerns about spirituality and mortality. All three albums are masterpieces of 21st century indie pop, and 2013's Modern Vampires of the City stands as the crown jewel of that group.

So, Vampire Weekend released three era-defining albums. Then, they kind of went dormant -- as a band, anyway. Frontman, Ezra Koenig, had cameos on songs by Major Lazer, SBTRKT, and Chromeo. He was one of the writers and producers on Beyoncé's "Hold Up." Koenig produced the animated series Neo Yokio for Netflix, and he hosts the bi-weekly Beats 1 radio show "Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig" (a must-listen). The rhythm section of Chris "CT" Tomson (drums) and Chris Baio (bass) each developed their own solo projects. Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Rostam Batmanglij, officially and amicably left Vampire Weekend in 2016 to focus on his own solo work.

In the six years during which all that was happening, there were rumors of a fourth Vampire Weekend album, stories of Koenig's hitting the library to do research for songs, even a supposed title: Mitsubishi Macchiato. But it wasn't until January of 2019 that Koenig made an official announcement, kicking off a monthslong roll-out by revealing the new album's initials, "FOTB," and providing a schedule of three, monthly double single releases.

And here we are. Vampire Weekend, now a trio, released Father of the Bride on May 3rd. It's an 18-song, double (in vinyl form) album that takes some big steps away from the band's previous world music-via-Johnny Marr (and Peter Gabriel, too) sound. There are several nods to country-inspired, AM radio pop. The album's even got a few, little jammy flourishes.

Opener "Hold You Now" is one of those AM radio, country duets. It's one of three such duets that feature Danielle Haim. Along with "Married in a Gold Rush" and the Celtic-textured "We Belong Together," these duets anchor Father of the Bride thematically. "Complicated relationships" seems to be the overriding theme on the album. The three Haim duets give us a pair of characters who are drawn to each other -- meant for each other, even -- but who recognize that the complications of life will drive them apart.

While not technically a duet, Danielle Haim features prominently on "Stranger." It's a song about the ways in which a solid relationship can provide stability in a world that's going nuts.

The relationship theme isn't restricted to individuals, though. Father of the Bride also deals with bigger picture relationships. The album's first single and album standout, "Harmony Hall," with the line "Anger wants a voice / voices wanna sing / Singers harmonize / Til they can't hear anything," points out that it's easy for like-minded individuals to shut themselves off from outside ideas. On "This Life" (or the song I like to call "This Charming Brown-Eyed Vampire Weekend"), Koenig says in the final verse, "Darling our disease / Is the same one as the trees' / Unaware that they've been living in a forest." It's easy to focus on our own, micro-level existence while ignoring our place in the wider world.

It's possible, I think, to read "Big Blue" and "How Long?" as a pair of songs taking that "our place in the wider world" concept to humans' relationship with the environment. Whether the Big Blue that Koenig addresses in that song's short poem is the earth, the sky, or the ocean, he momentarily recognizes its importance and wonders whether that recognition will stick or if he'll go back to taking it for granted. On "How Long?," one of the best songs on the album not released as a single, Koenig asks "How long til we sink to the bottom of the sea?" and, perhaps, laments the lack of any substantive solutions to address the looming disaster: "What's the point of getting clean? You'll wear the same old dirty jeans."

"Sympathy" and "Jerusalem, New York, Berlin" could be dealing with relationships of the geopolitical variety. The former, with its raving Spanish style, points to anti-Islamic sentiment in the West; while the latter addresses the complex relationship between the Jewish diaspora and the modern state of Israel.

That's a lot of heavy stuff, I guess. But Father of the Bride doesn't have to be a deep, cerebral listen. It contains some of Vampire Weekend's best pop songs like "Harmony Hall," "This Life," and the beautiful "Unbearably White," which is a little bit more of that good-natured ribbing of critics, I think. "Bambina" had me thinking back on a song like "Cousins" with some of the clatter that Koenig and producer / right-hand man, Ariel Rechtshaid, threw in there. There's some psychedelia and jam-bandy-ness in the Steve Lacy-assisted paring of "Sunflower" and "Flower Moon." And, as I've mentioned a couple of times, there's the soft / dad-rockiness of the duets with Danielle Haim.

I'll admit that some of this is so different from what Vampire Weekend have ever given us before; and some of it is so different from what I would usually enjoy (Did I mention that there are three country-type duets?), that it took me a while to come around on the sound of some of these songs. Koenig and co. got the benefit of the doubt from me, though, on the strength of their past work. While I'll probably be hitting play on some songs here ("Harmony Hall," "This Life," "How Long?," "Sympathy," "Stranger") more frequently, there are definite rewards to be gained by taking in Father of the Bride in its entirety at least once in a while.

Father of the Bride is out now on Spring Snow / Columbia.

Northside Festival, Day 4: Brian Wilson, ROSTAM, Hinds, 6/12/16

Brian Wilson

Pet Sounds

My first-ever Sunday at Northside Festival. Even though I have tickets to his September show at Red Bank's Count Basie Theatre, I wasn't going to miss my opportunity to see Brian Wilson and his band perform The Beach Boys' 1966 masterpiece, Pet Sounds, in full. It was a beautiful day. It would be an outdoor show. Madrid's Hinds and ROSTAM (formerly of Vampire Weekend) were on the bill. How could I pass?

I was a little nervous about the fact that a badge didn't guarantee entry to the show since this one wasn't free. Instead, it was a benefit for the Open Space Alliance; so ticket holders got priority. After a couple of beers with Justin of Dentist before his band's show at Muchmore's, I headed over to the park and waltzed right through the gate. Hinds were due at 6:30, and about as many photographers as I've ever seen (up to that moment) for a single show massed along the railing as the young women from Spain posed and mugged for photos before their set.

Hinds

They played a short set featuring songs from their excellent debut, Leave Me Alone. Just like at South By Southwest, the band were all smiles throughout their set and charmed the crowd. Their songs are simple and full of garage rock twang, reverb, and group vocals. Theirs is one of my favorite records of 2016. Afterwards, the members of Hinds milled through the crowd or worked their merch table talking with people and posing for more pictures.

Hinds

Following Hinds, ROSTAM (former Vampire Weekend composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Rostam Batmanglij) took the stage backed by a string quartet. Several of the songs bore the hallmarks of the more chamber poppy selections in the Vampire Weekend catalog. At various points throughout the set, ROSTAM brought out guests including Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot, Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen, and Angel Deradoorian. He performed a song with the latter pair from a secret, upcoming project.

ROSTAM

As the time got closer for Brian Wilson and his band to take the stage, the crush of photographers waiting along the rail for access reached epic proportions. I planned poorly and got a spot towards the back of the line, ending up with a lot of Wilson's piano in my shots. At 8:30, the band took the stage; and we filed into the pit. Before getting into the main event, Wilson warmed everyone up with a few non-Pet Sounds classics. Wilson introduced each song -- "California Girls," "I Get Around," "Surfer Girl," "Don't Worry Baby," "Wild Honey" (w/ Blondie Chaplin), "Sail On, Sailor" (w/ Blondie Chaplin) -- with an anecdote like, "I wrote this one when I was 19" or "I wrote this in my car." He kept up the witty between-song banter all night.

Brian Wilson

"Okay, now we're gonna play Pet Sounds." And, with that, the band kicked into that album's opening track, "Wouldn't It Be Nice." Wilson introduced "You Still Believe in Me" with, "This next song isn't really a rock and roll song, but it's about a guy who messes up all the time and his girl still loves him anyway!"

Al Jardine had a spot right next to Wilson's piano, and acted as Wilson's partner in crime throughout the set, thanking the audience throughout for singing along. Jardine's son Matt handled most of the falsetto work, and the harmonies sounded great on several of the songs. Brian Wilson's voice obviously isn't what it was 50 years ago, but hearing him sing these songs and seeing him appear to enjoy doing it so much has a charm all its own. The band, which included two drummers, was on point all night.

I almost always well up during "God Only Knows," and I felt it starting to come on as "Sloop John B" drew to a close. I managed to hold it together, though.

Following "Caroline, No," Wilson shouted "Good vibrations!" and the band launched into that one (which comes pretty close to "God Only Knows" as greatest Beach Boys' song of all time), closing the evening out with more classics -- "Good Vibrations," "Barbara Ann," "Surfin' USA," and "Fun, Fun, Fun."

Brian Wilson and Al Jardine

I made my way back to the car on a real high from the day. I don't think it's really possible for me to overstate the influence of Brian Wilson -- and, specifically, Pet Sounds -- on almost all of the music I personally listen to every day. Hearing the songs outside as the breeze (Okay. The WIND.) blew through the crowd was amazing and made for a beautiful Northside Sunday. The only thing that would have made it better would've been if CoolMom were there to dance with me. She's coming with me in September.

Pictures from all three McCarren Park sets are up in the Flickr galleries.

CoolDad's Top 5 Favorite Choruses of 2013

All For "One"

The chorus is the most important part of any pop song. If it's a good one, then you remember the song and turn up the radio every time the song comes on, waiting for your chance to sing along when the chorus comes around. I'm not talking about silly earworm type things like, "I live for the applause, applause, applause. / I live for the applause -plause. / Live for the applause -plause." For me, a great chorus comes from either setting some clever wordplay to a memorable melody or from getting a big idea into, maybe, just a few words that stay with you.

I'm gonna come right out and confess something: This list is really just a vehicle designed to let me tell you how much I love my number 1 chorus of 2013. I think, though, that building a list just so that you can have something sit at number 1 is a useful exercise. It made me think about all of the other great choruses from this year and why number 1 stood out from the crowd.

Oh, and there won't be any Katy Perry or Maroon 5 on here. Nothing against them, but I really only hear those things in the minivan. I'm gonna stick to the stuff I really loved.

5. "Life" -- Modern Hut

"I'm not proud of the things that I've done in this life. / But that's alright / 'Cause I will die."

Joe Steinhardt and Screaming Females' Marissa Paternoster take turns on this line both to open the song and after each of the verses. I guess -- like most of the record -- it's kind of a downer.

This can be read as, "I'm worthless, but that's ok. Eventually the world will be rid of me." I prefer to take the slightly more upbeat angle of, "Life is short, so I'm gonna keep plugging away, doing the best I can, even though I kinda suck at it."



4. "I Need My Girl" -- The National

"I need my girl. / I need my girl."

It makes sense that one of Matt Berninger's simplest, most easily understood songs would contain this very simple statement about missing his wife. I know that when I'm separated from CoolMom for any length of time -- even though I keep myself busy with the kids and other things -- I find myself saying the same thing to myself in the quiet moments.



3. "Runner" -- Laura Stevenson

"The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts! / The summer hurts!"

Stevenson's Wheel isn't about the cycle of life or the changing of seasons. Instead, it's often about futility, plodding, and dealing with life's relentless beat downs. When it first comes around, this chorus is preceded by the phrase, "Like a steady beating."

I think we can all remember periods characterized by personal lows from which we thought we'd never dig ourselves out, and this chorus captures that for me.



2. "Ohm" -- Yo La Tengo

"'Cause this is it for all we know / So say goodnight to me / And lose no more time / No time. / Resisting the flow."

This chorus is, basically, the mission statement for Fade. Indie rock veterans, Yo La Tengo, made an album about aging and the passage of time. To me, anyway, Fade tells us that life is really just a collection of moments. Some of the smallest can be the most special, and it's important to recognize and remember them.



1. "Step" -- Vampire Weekend

"The gloves are off. / The wisdom teeth are out. / What you on about? / I feel it in my bones. / I feel it in my bones. / I'm stronger now. / I'm ready for the house. / Such a modest mouse. / I can't do it alone. / I can't do it alone."

Maybe, for my money, the best song in the Vampire Weekend catalog. There's a lot going on here, but I love this chorus. When Ezra Koenig says that "What you on about?" I smirk every time. I'm not even sure why -- just the way he says it, maybe.

"Step" and its chorus contain all that people love and hate about Vampire Weekend: The precious chamber pop, the overly literate lyrics, and a density of references. I tend to like all those things.

Ezra and the band are older now. They're not kids anymore, and Modern Vampires of the City really has them exploring some of life's bigger issues. "Step" harkens back to some of the stuff on their first record, like "M79," and almost makes fun of that product of the younger Vampire Weekend while improving upon it by leaps and bounds.

80 Degree Edition: Crowd Funding, Book Review, Vampire Weekend

Recap Friday

Just wanted to point out a few things:

There are a couple of crowd funding campaigns going on right now that I think deserve your attention:

Eternal Summers have a pre-order project going on PledgeMusic to finish their third LP. Correct Behavior is one of my favorite albums from last year, and the band's singer / guitarist, Nicole Yun, was kind enough to answer some questions over email for me.

Local Americana act Harper's Fellow are doing something similar over at IndieGoGo. They'll be using some local Asbury businesses to complete their record, and they'll be donating 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the record to help with Hurricane Sandy relief.

I also did a review of Jesse Jarnow's book, Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the Rise of Indie Rock.

Speak Into My Good Eye has the review I did of the upcoming album from Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City.

So have a look at all of those if you like.

And rock on...

Vampire Weekend Premiere Two New Songs

"Step" / "Diane Young"

As promised earlier in the day,

We're dropping two new songs from MVOTC in ONE HOUR
— Vampire Weekend (@vampireweekend) March 18, 2013

Vampire Weekend have given us two new songs in advance of their upcoming Modern Vampires of the City.

"Step" is somewhat reminiscent of "Ottoman" from the Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist soundtrack. The upbeat, electronic rockabilly of "Diane Young," like "Giving Up The Gun" or "California English" from Contra, takes the band's sound in sort of a new direction while still retaining a lot of what makes Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend.

Each of these songs just reinforces the fact that what I've always found cool about Vampire Weekend is their uncoolness, if that makes any sense.

Modern Vampires of the City is out on May 7th, and you can get a limited 7" of the two songs released today on April 9th.

New Vampire Weekend Album In 2013

May 7th In the U.S.

Vampire Weekend have taken to their website to announce the as yet untitled follow-up LP to 2010's Contra.  I really enjoyed both Contra and the band's self-titled debut.  And I especially liked the way Contra seemingly pre-empted some of the anticipated backlash over the band's success with lines like:

"When the taxi door was opened wide / I pretended I was horrified / by the uniform and gloves outside / the courtyard gate," from "Taxi Cab" and

"Cuz if that Tom's [natural toothpaste] don't work / if it just makes you worse / would you lose all of your faith in the good earth?" from "California English."

The album will be out on May 7th on XL Recordings.

Looks like it will be a fun spring.