{"id":2836,"date":"2010-04-26T19:40:57","date_gmt":"2010-04-27T00:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=2836"},"modified":"2015-01-07T13:52:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T17:52:00","slug":"this-totally-made-my-vampire-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=2836","title":{"rendered":"This Totally Made My (Vampire) Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ezra Koenig, the brainy singer from the brainy band Vampire Weekend<\/a>, did me the awesome service of bigging up this here brainy blog in the latest issue of Rolling Stone<\/em> (Issue 1103, 29 April 2010). One upshot is that I actually went out and bought something with Black Eyed Peas on the cover. <\/p>\n

It’s also the first time I’ve purchased an issue of Rolling Stone<\/em> since Kurt Cobain bodied himself. (I actually had a subscription back in the grunge days.) Rolling Stone ain’t exactly what it used to be (exhibit BEP), and I suppose it’s always been pretty MOR (even when selling counterculture), but it also runs some occasionally classic music criticism and longform expos\u00e9s. Plus, as our Vice President might say, it’s still a pretty BFD.<\/p>\n

I also get my name on the same page as ?uestlove and Russell Brand, so yeah, pretty cool. Here’s a scan of the bottom righthand of p.91:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’d like to return the favor in some way — not that VW needs my help or anything, having had the best selling album in the country when Contra<\/a> came out earlier this year. <\/p>\n

I have to admit I’ve been struggling to say something about Ezra & co’s music — in part because I haven’t really had enough of a chance to sit with it, & in part because, despite the obvious resonance with stuff I’m interested in, I tend not to listen so much to “rock.” But bands like Vampire Weekend or Tanlines<\/a> (who’ve been ringing in my ears since seeing them slay at SXSW) are slowly drawing me back into music-with-guitars precisely because of the way they’re engaging with the world beyond indie whiteness<\/a>. Also, how could a band with a song called “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa<\/a>” (two of my favorite things), or who make “reggaeton homages<\/a>” not endear themselves to me?<\/p>\n

In the continuing absence of an adquately brainy analysis of Vampire Weekend of my own (which is trickier to perform, I must confess, now that @arzE<\/a> and I are Twitterquaintances), I will instead point W&W readers — including any newcomers via RS\/VW — to some of the smartest responses to Contra<\/em> I’ve had the pleasure to read:<\/p>\n