CD Charts
Welcome to The CD Charts, here you will find all the latest and top selling Music cds available to buy online. You can search and locate the best selling Music cd's and have them delivered to the door. We have a large selection of Music all with reviews.
Back to Home Page > Go back a page
Music : Vampire Weekend
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Rating: 
- Snappy, Bouncy, Stale
Many here berate Vampire Weekend for being derivative. I take exception to this. At the end of the day, what pop act isn't?
Each of the influences cited repeatedly in these reviews--Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and David Byrne--has plenty of predecessors from whom they've borrowed plenty. So, bumming a chord progression here and a measure there is hardly a crime. It's called inspiration.
Vampire Weekend's problem is not that it borrows, but that it fails to compliment its application with a truly distinguishing signature. There's simply too little depth and it comes across more as a cover band than anything else.
On the first pass, I missed this, thinking that "Mansard Roof" was unique lyrically and that the rhythmic structure of "Oxford Comma" was interesting. Still, there was something missing. The second time through, "unique" and "interesting" yielded to "cute (in the college freshman sense)" and "gimmicky." By the third run, I no longer cared. It was already stale.
Then I stumbled upon "One (Blake's Got a New Face,)" which I found to be flat-out lame. Minimalist synth, strained vocals, Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" wrapped in a Noughties New York foil and re-served. They even went so far as to place a sub-title in parentheses. That did it for me.
So, if you're throwing a frat party and need some peppy background noise, pick-up a copy. For anyone else, listen to the Amazon streams, catch a few YouTube clips and claim with voguish pride that you've heard them.
Rating: - Crazy
Vampire Weekend. Self Titled? Creative. As I listened to the album I realized I constantly felt like I was in Garden State 2. I thought Zach Braff was gonna show up and say "Good Tunes, right?". I know "hipster" types will probably love this album more than getting asymmetrical haircuts, but I just don't get it. The music isn't "bad", but its just not great either. Its just kind of there. Perpetually going but not really doing anything. Its more like if paint drying had a theme song it would be Vampire Weekend. If my Grandma came over I might put on this album because I know there is no way it will give her a heart attack. That's kind of what this album is. It just is.
How can Vampire weekend make an album with out having any sort of crescendo? Its like they decided to do a concept album where they wanted to put lyrics to elevator music.
Don't get me wrong, I can see how people might enjoy Vampire Weekend. They have the "hipster" sound. Under produced, weird lyrics, the vocal track is pushed to the front,.....etc., but I usually like my music with a pulse.
At least Walcott is decent.
Rating: - Eighties, they're living in the eighties...
Take four spoiled prep-schoolers, a mind numbing amount of hype, squealing girls and an eighties music sampler, mix them up and what have you got? Vampire Weekend, that's what... Oh the boys can play and the music is mildly appealing but so what. Adam Sandler could make a living as an eighties retro singer, but I don't need to buy it. VW have great taste in music: The Police, Peter Gabriel and The Specials/English Beat Ska thing. If you like that type music do yourself a favor and buy the originals. In ten years, VW will be filed away in the "where are they now?" section of pop culture. A note to VW: Stop trying to be British. Take pride in your AMERICAN selves and enter the twenty first century...
Rating:
- Pop, but I mean that in a good way
Note that even the people that don't rate this album highly still tend to have some positive things to say (e.g., fun to play at a party). It's unabashedly derivative pop, but is that bad?
The production values are high; these guys know how to play their instruments, though they're not prodigies. Best tracks? "Mansard Roof" (what the heck is a Mansard Roof?), "Oxford Comma" (drops the F-bomb right off the bat in a bubble gummy way), "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance," and the Youtube video for "A-Punk" is great silly silly fun.
Go ahead and play the samples if they're on Amazon. Vampire Weekend gets into their riffs pretty quickly, so you'll be able to tell pretty quickly if they're your cup of tea, or not.
All in all, a nice album to have in a collection. In 20 years they'll end up on a "K-Tel's Greatest Hits" holographic music cube with their songs running next to Tony Orlando's "Knock Three Times" or Melanie's "I've Got a Brand New Key." And I mean that in a good way!
Rating:
- Good, but not great
An impressive debut album, and yes it is pretty original- they sound a lot like the police and the shins mixed into one poppy sounding band- but while they are creative, only about 2 songs really stand out. All of the songs sound a bit the same, but it's not necessarilly a bad thing. The main problem, in my opinion, is that the album opener and closer (probably the two most important songs on any album) are pretty weak. But all in all it's definatly worth picking up for any indie fan, and I have high hopes for a great sophmore album.
- Snappy, Bouncy, StaleMany here berate Vampire Weekend for being derivative. I take exception to this. At the end of the day, what pop act isn't?
Each of the influences cited repeatedly in these reviews--Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and David Byrne--has plenty of predecessors from whom they've borrowed plenty. So, bumming a chord progression here and a measure there is hardly a crime. It's called inspiration.
Vampire Weekend's problem is not that it borrows, but that it fails to compliment its application with a truly distinguishing signature. There's simply too little depth and it comes across more as a cover band than anything else.
On the first pass, I missed this, thinking that "Mansard Roof" was unique lyrically and that the rhythmic structure of "Oxford Comma" was interesting. Still, there was something missing. The second time through, "unique" and "interesting" yielded to "cute (in the college freshman sense)" and "gimmicky." By the third run, I no longer cared. It was already stale.
Then I stumbled upon "One (Blake's Got a New Face,)" which I found to be flat-out lame. Minimalist synth, strained vocals, Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" wrapped in a Noughties New York foil and re-served. They even went so far as to place a sub-title in parentheses. That did it for me.
So, if you're throwing a frat party and need some peppy background noise, pick-up a copy. For anyone else, listen to the Amazon streams, catch a few YouTube clips and claim with voguish pride that you've heard them.
Rating:
- CrazyVampire Weekend. Self Titled? Creative. As I listened to the album I realized I constantly felt like I was in Garden State 2. I thought Zach Braff was gonna show up and say "Good Tunes, right?". I know "hipster" types will probably love this album more than getting asymmetrical haircuts, but I just don't get it. The music isn't "bad", but its just not great either. Its just kind of there. Perpetually going but not really doing anything. Its more like if paint drying had a theme song it would be Vampire Weekend. If my Grandma came over I might put on this album because I know there is no way it will give her a heart attack. That's kind of what this album is. It just is.
How can Vampire weekend make an album with out having any sort of crescendo? Its like they decided to do a concept album where they wanted to put lyrics to elevator music.
Don't get me wrong, I can see how people might enjoy Vampire Weekend. They have the "hipster" sound. Under produced, weird lyrics, the vocal track is pushed to the front,.....etc., but I usually like my music with a pulse.
At least Walcott is decent.
Rating:
- Eighties, they're living in the eighties...Take four spoiled prep-schoolers, a mind numbing amount of hype, squealing girls and an eighties music sampler, mix them up and what have you got? Vampire Weekend, that's what... Oh the boys can play and the music is mildly appealing but so what. Adam Sandler could make a living as an eighties retro singer, but I don't need to buy it. VW have great taste in music: The Police, Peter Gabriel and The Specials/English Beat Ska thing. If you like that type music do yourself a favor and buy the originals. In ten years, VW will be filed away in the "where are they now?" section of pop culture. A note to VW: Stop trying to be British. Take pride in your AMERICAN selves and enter the twenty first century...
Rating:
- Pop, but I mean that in a good wayNote that even the people that don't rate this album highly still tend to have some positive things to say (e.g., fun to play at a party). It's unabashedly derivative pop, but is that bad?
The production values are high; these guys know how to play their instruments, though they're not prodigies. Best tracks? "Mansard Roof" (what the heck is a Mansard Roof?), "Oxford Comma" (drops the F-bomb right off the bat in a bubble gummy way), "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance," and the Youtube video for "A-Punk" is great silly silly fun.
Go ahead and play the samples if they're on Amazon. Vampire Weekend gets into their riffs pretty quickly, so you'll be able to tell pretty quickly if they're your cup of tea, or not.
All in all, a nice album to have in a collection. In 20 years they'll end up on a "K-Tel's Greatest Hits" holographic music cube with their songs running next to Tony Orlando's "Knock Three Times" or Melanie's "I've Got a Brand New Key." And I mean that in a good way!
Rating:
- Good, but not greatAn impressive debut album, and yes it is pretty original- they sound a lot like the police and the shins mixed into one poppy sounding band- but while they are creative, only about 2 songs really stand out. All of the songs sound a bit the same, but it's not necessarilly a bad thing. The main problem, in my opinion, is that the album opener and closer (probably the two most important songs on any album) are pretty weak. But all in all it's definatly worth picking up for any indie fan, and I have high hopes for a great sophmore album.