Postcards from the iTunes Society

Campaign and Heads in the Sand-related business has left me about eleventeen decades behind the pop culture curve, but I was trying to catch up today by listening to some Vampire Weekend. Consequently, having obtained the tunes, I put "vampire" into the search box on iTunes and started listening. Suddenly, I'm thinking to myself "this one song sounds awfully derivative of the Arctic Monkeys." Then I clicked over to find myself listening to "Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..." by, of course, the Arctic Monkeys.

Long story short -- Vampire Weekend is pretty good (Arctic Monkeys, too).

Comments

the same thing happened to me . . .

Posted by nattyb | February 20, 2008 2:24 PM

Of course, king sunny ade is no slouch.

Posted by BlindJoeDeath | February 20, 2008 2:28 PM

If you want to write about something hip and political do some reading on Tagoo.ru -- a kind of cross between Napster and Google hosted in Russia. Wired's Threat Level blog has been talking writing about the explosion of file sharing in Russia and it's effect on Russia's ability to join the WTO. I think Russia might actually advance freedom online by trying to stick it to the west with massive copyright infringement. What does Russia care about intellectual property when they have oil and natural gas?

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/02/tagoo-is-down-i.html

Posted by joejoejoe | February 20, 2008 2:30 PM

You'd have been really confused if "Vampire/Forest Fire" off the Arcade Fire's EP had played next.

Posted by Trevor J | February 20, 2008 2:42 PM

Dude! You are behind! Vampire Weekend is soooo January!

Posted by James Gary | February 20, 2008 2:49 PM

http://www.myspace.com/vocodermirage

go there (no account needed to listen)

They are my latest infatuation.

Posted by Becker | February 20, 2008 2:53 PM

did anyone catch arctic monkeys @ 930 around spring of 2006?

I think they were in the middle of some 70 city tour. anyway, they mailed it in with a 40 minute set.

Posted by nattyb | February 20, 2008 2:53 PM

If I search my library for 'vampire' I come up with Roky Erickson's Night of the Vampires, which I'm pretty sure is cooler than either what you got or what you were looking for. (Listened to some Vampire Weekend samples, and they sounded a lot like...a lot of other stuff. Meh.)

Posted by Tom Hilton | February 20, 2008 3:01 PM

I'm seeing them on the 23rd.

Posted by M | February 20, 2008 3:08 PM

(Listened to some Vampire Weekend samples, and they sounded a lot like...a lot of other stuff. Meh.)

I heard a song in the bar the other night, and I asked the bartender, "Is this the new Arcade Fire?" and before he could answer, someone at the other end of the bar (it's that kind of neighborhood) said, "No, it's the National." And as it happened, the song was actually by Peter, Bjorn and John--but it might as easily have been Vampire Weekend.

My question, then, is: am I just getting old, or do all the indie band of the last couple years sound exactly the same? I mean, it's worse than the MTV hair-metal situation in 1988. Please advise.

Posted by James Gary | February 20, 2008 3:19 PM

I saw Vampire Weekend last weekend at the MFA in Boston. It was a great show. I liked the ep that came out last year, and the new full length (or really the ep + a bunch of new songs) is really enjoyable. I can't get some of the tunes out of my head (Mansard roof mostly). But the show was lively and very entertaining. They had more edge live as well.

Posted by brudy | February 20, 2008 3:28 PM

"Long story short -- Vampire Weekend is pretty good (Arctic Monkeys, too)."

I'll buy that... but I'm not hearing the musical connection. Derivative, really?

Posted by cmholm | February 20, 2008 3:57 PM

I went to high school AND college with the drummer of Vampire Weekend AND, believe it or not, beat him in a Jeopardy-style math competition during high school. How sweet is that?

Posted by R. Vangala | February 20, 2008 4:44 PM

EVERY Arctic Monkeys show is 40 minutes with no breaks.

We still get tons of Brits who come to Boston just to see them live in a smaller venue though.

Posted by anon | February 20, 2008 8:39 PM

The Vampire Weekend album is nothing mind blowing, but it sure is enjoyable. However, I finally bought the Yeasayer album, "All Hour Cymbals," and I can't stop listening to it.

Posted by Alex F | February 20, 2008 11:21 PM

I feet that the samples on iTunes sounded a bit like a high school Flaming Lips cover band trying to play the Arctic Monkeys or Arcade Fire. Vampie Weekend seems to be the only band that makes the Arctic Monkeys, and before them the Strokes, seem underhyped. Meh.

Posted by Reality Man | February 21, 2008 1:41 AM

Still hoping for a new Corrs album end of this year...

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | February 21, 2008 6:24 AM