The Severed Cortex

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Weekend/dp/B0010V4TZU/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1211250365&sr=8-1

What can be said about this overly hyped CD that hasn't already been said? Well, here's my two cents.

There was a ton of hype surrounding this release. The question was always why? Four kids in a band from a university is nothing new. Four kids from an ivy league university singing songs about the well to do and literature probably shouldn't even merit a mention in any self respecting rock and roll library. Or pop music library for that matter. But these kids leaked a few tunes out early, a buzz ensued, and by the time the record released there were thousands of people anxiously waiting for it. And it turned out to be pretty good because it used a very good formula that's been used a couple of times before. And it's a formula that's worked before. Place a decidedly afro pop beat to western pop music and voila, the result is a pop classic with a world beat sound. Paul Simon did it best with Graceland. It worked so well that he even tried it again with Rhythm of the Saints, which was good, but it fell far short of Graceland in my opinion.

Vampire Weekend clearly listened to it at some point in their past. I'm not saying they copied what Paul Simon did. They didn't. Like I said before, I'd call it copying the formula of combining American pop music with any variation of what we egocentric Americans like to call world music. The combination is lethal for listeners because no one has ever been able to listen to any derivative of African music and not been able to resist the urge to dance a little. Even if that just means bobbing your head back and forth like whitey. And of course, everyone knows that once you start dancing, a chemical reaction occurs in the brain that makes you say hey what a minute, this music does not suck. And Vampire Weekend does not suck. So what if they copied a well known formula. They created a brand of pop that exposes the greater masses to a form, however western-ized, of music they would not normally be exposed to. And that's a good thing, especially when the lyrics are a little tough to relate to like I found them. Discussing the arts in high society or taking weekend trips to Cape Cod are things I've done very little of. Actually, I've done none of that. My exposure leans a little more toward a .38 Special catalog of songs, but I can appreciate those who can relate to the high society lifestyle while managing to poke fun at it for what it is.

Pop music is meant to be a sort of throwaway genre. Thus the moniker 'Pop'. But over the years, some of that pop music has stood the test of time. Do I think Vampire Weekend will stand the test of time like Paul Simon's Graceland or other eponymous gems like say, The Cars? Maybe. I haven't bought a lot of music this year, but it's by far the best thing I've bought. I think it beats everything put out last year, and yes that includes The Shins who I so dearly love. I might go so far to say that this maybe even beats the releases from 2006 too. In other words, I think that this release is much more important than your ordinary CD. The question now is where will Vampire Weekend go from here. The bar is set pretty high, but my money is on them to build on this.

By far, my favorite song on here is Campus. I find myself humming this at all times which is what brilliant pop music of the highest quality will do for you. But I love the whole disc. One (Blake's Got A New Face) comes a close second for me, but I can see where not everyone will gravitate to that song first. Much like Paul Simon's Graceland, each song becomes more catchy each successive listen and at some point you'll find yourself unable to stick to one tune as your favorite. If you have $9.99 to spend, I encourage you to buy this.