New album: Modern Vampires of the City
So, while everyone else is talking about Reading & Leeds lineups (Biffy, Foals, etc) I'm going to have a jolly good rant about Vampire Weekend. Obviously, that's entirely because Vampire Weekend are great and in no way related to being bitter about not going to Reading OR Leeds... again.
First - the news. Today Vampire Weekend, rather cryptically, announced that their new album will be called Modern Vampires of the City and released on May 7th 2013.
After tweeting mysteriously for several days 'VW', '#MVOTC', 'LPIII' and 'MMXIII' i.e. 'Vampire Weekend', '#Modern Vampires Of The City', 'Album 3' and '2013', it was clear that they were on the brink of the announcement. This morning the tweet read just 'NYT classifieds'. Fortunately, I can rely on a couple of trustworthy music journalists (and a photo...) that lo and behold in the lost & found: 'Modern Vampires Of The City May 7, 2013'
As seen on Pitchfork http://pitchfork.com
Two hours later and it was official. Now, I can spend the next four months hoping that the new album will match up to their previous efforts.
I first heard Vampire Weekend when they released their single A-Punk and was immediately drawn to the sheer madness of it all. The whole track hangs together on what seems like a thread - as though any second it could all descend into chaos. I don't think that my 19 (ish) year old self had really heard anything like them in new music - I suspect it was the last time I really loved anything in the chart. Next came Oxford Comma - the whole track is so simple when you break it down to it's component parts, but it manages to maintain it's unpredictability, a theme that ran through the whole first album and into the second.
I have two memories that stand out about Vampire Weekend. Many years ago (four years ago) I worked in a well known high street music retailer (HMV). A man approached the counter - not unusual as you might imagine - but when he opened his mouth I realised I was dealing with a first class w*****. "Excuse me my dear, please could you tell me which of these two Vampire Weekend albums, might be considered more Afro-pop? I'd like to listen to some Afro-pop". Oh Lord...
The second is seeing Vampire Weekend live when I DID make it to Leeds Festival. Singer Ezra Koenig strolled onto the stage in some khaki shorts, a plain t-shirt and his loafers. I glanced to the person next to me - we'd only heard the first album at this stage and we weren't quite sure how they were going to match up to the energy it had - especially not in loafers. Completely unassuming, the crowd watching with an air of expectation.. "I see a mansard roof through the trees... I see a salty message written in the eaves... The ground beneath my feet, the hot garbage and concrete... And now the tops of buildings, I can see them too" and the whole tent (it was a festival remember) erupted with the music.
As well as a new album, tour dates have also been announced. Though it mostly covers the US, they do have one London date, at The Troxy on May 8th.
