Thursday, January 17, 2008

Vampire Weekend and Yeasayer

Here's a few NYC bands that should be blowing up the spot in 2008:

So, if you've read a music blog in the past 3 months you've probably seen these guys being hailed as the Next Big NYC indie band, which sucks, because they deserve way more credit than that derivative label implies. Describing themselves as an "Upper West Side Soweto Band", Vampire Weekend integrate the sounds of reggae, surf rock, Afro-rock and Beatles-esque chamber arrangements in such a deceptively simple way that, on the surface, you could mistake them for a pop band. Actually, its a pretty sophisticated combination, merging the mutual good vibes of African/Island music and ragged indie-ness, like if Graceland had been made by The Shins. I'm completely addicted.

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"


"The Kids Don't Stand A Chance"



Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend



In the same vein of whitey indie world music, Yeasayer sounds kind of like TV On The Radio if they took way more drugs and developed a hard-on for Porno For Pyros. Which is to say, they sound pretty awesome. There's a strong Middle Eastern influence to their music, which gives their songs a hard, almost funky edge, and many of their songs reach a Zeppelin-level of rocking out, yet its all grounded by folksy vocal harmonies that sound like drones, weaving their way around and through the noise. Some mezmerizing shit here.

"2080"


"Wait For The Wintertime"



Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

1 comment:

Felipe said...

you have a handsome blog