What’s On My iPod?
Artist: Vampire Weekend
Album: Contra
Label: XL
“Rhyming ‘horchata’ with ‘balaclava’ and ‘aranciata’ isn’t witty, it’s twee,” hissed a friend of mine on a Facebook posting over a month ago. No, it isn’t clever, but does not lack color, humor or contradiction—strengths that most Vampire Weekend detractors avoid or miss entirely. Previously, I misconstrued their subtle slaying of class and culture as praise for it and deemed them likeable snobs. I have learned that there is deeper meaning to this band and on Contra, Vampire Weekend shine.
Contra continues with album number one’s core sound while expanding it. Vampire Weekend’s two longest cuts were its most ornate. Here, they’ve dipped back a bit from their punch and kick while adding layers of keyboards and voices. “White Sky,” a paean to Midtown Manhattan, with its 12/8 rhythm, mechanized-soweto percussion, gorgeous backing vocals, and scrolling broken chords is a prime example of this change. The slant rhyme couplet that introduces the catchy wordless chorus seems vague, is vague at best, “You waited since lunch / It all comes at once.” It questions the need for all the observations and name-checks that fill the verses. Yet, are they merely decorative? Hardly. Yet, Ezra Koenig’s wordplay is not merely decorative. The power of a song like “White Sky” is that it poses interpretative possibilities.
What haters may miss on Contra is the extension of Vampire Weekend’s themes. The complacency of the presumably well-off couple in “Taxi Cab” is followed by the desperate working class lovers in “Run” which includes one of Ezra Koenig’s best lines, “We mostly work to live / until we live to work.” Then there’s the infectious “Giving Up the Gun” which is about burning out with a chance for renewal. The darkness of the homosexual relationship in “Diplomat’s Son,” as co-penned by Rostam Batmanglij, is probably the most complex character sketch they’ve attempted yet.
In all, some will look at the cover and see that young, white, polo-wearing female and assume it’s vapid. She may not be the Mona Lisa, but she surely is not American Apparel. Some may only hear surface noise and claim its just candy. Contra surely is sweet sounding on the surface, but fortunately there is a lot of meaty substance underneath. Rating: A
Artist: Washed Out
Album: Life of Leisure
Label: Mexican Summer
Chill-wave? Glow-fi? Are any of these indie-subgenre tags really necessary? Washed Out is Ernest Greene, a Georgian musician and singer who makes nostalgic 80s synth music which is gauzy and atmospheric enough for the beach, but not upbeat or coherent enough for the dance floor. I find it soothing. The brevity of the EP (extended play) keeps the listener from losing patience or falling asleep. You may feel the sound is all around you, but you won’t care enough to dig much further. This lil’ 19-minute EP goes for only $5.50. Rating: A-
Blair Fraipont, a long-time Rehoboth resident, lives in New York City. He can be reached at blairfraipont@gmail.com.