October 23rd, 2009 7:43am
Years Go By And Hearts Start To Harden
Vampire Weekend “Horchata”
If you can get over whatever kneejerk class rage this band may inspire in you — UGH OH MY GOD HOW DARE THESE BLUE BLOOD IVY LEAGUE PRICKS BRAG ABOUT DRINKING RICE MILK WITH CINNAMON THOSE IMPERIALIST GENTRIFYING YUPPIE PREPPY HIPSTERS AND THEIR BOAT SHOES AND THEIR ASCOTS AND ARE THEY TRYING TO IMPRESS ME BY USING THE WORD ‘BALACLAVA’ IT AIN’T WORKING ON ME, RICHIE RICH!!!!!! — you just might notice that this is an extraordinarily sweet, sentimental, and empathetic pop song. There is so much kindness in the very sound of Ezra Koenig’s voice, and even more in the gentle, subtly shifting contours of his melodies. The arrangement is a collection of familiar, comforting sensations, but the sounds contrast in interesting ways, evoking a feeling not unlike noticing something new about an object or place you’ve seen almost every day for years of your life. When the chorus comes and Koenig sings “Here comes a feeling you thought you’d forgotten,” it feels exactly like you’re getting something back, and discovering something new about it in the process. The song is sophisticated and carefully composed, but it’s all in the interest of expressing a feeling and a thought with clarity and precision. They aren’t being show-offs, they are just very articulate young men.
Pre-order it from Amazon.
10/23/09 1:17 pm
I’m going to be that guy: if they were *really* articulate, they’d keep the intial “h” in “horchata” silent.
But really, this is sweet pop song - especially interesting since it sounds like it’s nearly all percussion in the verses. (Have xylophones become the new accordion?)
It actually sounds like drinking horchata tastes - grit, spice, but only a little.
10/23/09 1:22 pm
I’ve always felt these guys are posers. It’s like they listened to the Rough Guide To Congo Gold one weekend and then decided to start a band. But when I think about it, that’s a great influence to form the basis of a group as opposed to some dumb teenagers in a garage who want to be the next Disturbed. I guess my problem is that unlike you, I still feel that they come off as a bit pretentious. When I listen to The Walkmen, who are from a similar background, I hear a sense of elegance and prestige to the music and lyrics that romanticizes their life. I feel like Eli Cash when he wishes so desperately that he was a Tenenbaum. Vampire Weekend, on the other hand, I can imagine being praised at a socialite banquet for slumming it and melding modern American pop music with these “exotic” and “foreign” African melodies. It’s like some of the reviews I read when Asher Roth’s album dropped proudly proclaiming that he had finally introduced the suburbs to Hip-Hop. What? The Beastie Boys, De La Soul, and even Public enemy did that 25 years ago.
10/23/09 2:32 pm
It’s a huge huge huge huge huge mistake to think of this music in terms of African music. It misses the point drastically. They take from a LOT of different influences, no one influence is the central point of what they are doing.
10/23/09 4:00 pm
I can’t lie, because of my background, such is my first reaction to the song title.
But I trust your analysis and think about the fact that the flavour might just tie in with a sweet song.
10/23/09 8:06 pm
The defenders are almost getting to be as irritatingly overzealous as the detractors in this dumb debate. But riyadh, your little missive on poseurs was just brutal. Is this 1993? Did I just write the word “poseur?”
“I feel like the Walkmen are authentic in expressing their privilege, so therefore they are better?” Dude, the fact that you presumably downloaded the music of either band and didn’t buy it from them at a courtyard show in aught- would also probably qualify you as a poseur. Who cares? “Vampire Weekend, on the other hand, I can imagine being praised at a socialite banquet for slumming it and melding modern American pop music with these “exotic” and “foreign” African melodies.” Sweet straw man, but who cares if that happened anyway? They’re playing music you basically admitted to being decent, so do you really give a shit about who is praising them for what? Say you prefer listening to the Walkmen, don’t try to frame it as “I like whoever’s less expressive of being bourgeois.” Kinda reads like bourgeois guilt to me.
10/23/09 8:10 pm
I’m afraid it might take another Richard Ayoade music video for me to get into this song.
10/24/09 8:00 am
TRUE STORY: THERE IS A FARMER’S MARKET/CRAFT FAIR EVERY SATURDAY MORNING IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. LAST WEEK I NOTICED A SPANISH FOOD STALL THAT HAD $3 CUPS OF FRESH HORCHATA LISTED ON THEIR MENU. I BOUGHT ONE, TOOK A FEW SIPS, POLITELY THANKED THE LADY AND THEN WENT OFF TO FIND A TRASH CAN. HORCHATA THE DRINK SUCKS SHIT. HORCHATA THE SONG? PRETTY GOOD.
10/24/09 3:08 pm
Eddie,
I never framed my debate as an issue of authenticity or denouncing wealth. No one can help the fact that they were born wealthy, but I feel like the world that The Walkmen paint is more inviting and endearing. Vampire Weekend express their privilege with the music of other cultures which, to me, make them seem like douche bags. Bottom line: Like you said, I like Vampire Weekend, but I’m not sure how I feel about another white music artist appropriating another race’s music, whether it be Black, Indian, or Latino. I feel the same way about similar artists such as Fool’s Gold. That is not to say they are not great artists or talented musicians, but I feel that this is an issue that must at least be considered. Oh, and I assure you, I do not suffer from “bourgeois guilt”. I grew up in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, in the Vandeveer projects which, thanks to the ongoing gentrification of Brooklyn, is now known as Flatbush Gardens and newly inhabited by rich white yuppies like Vampire Weekend or The Walkmen.
10/24/09 3:35 pm
If they were from Mali and made the exact same album, would people like them more? I don’t get the desire to like a band because of their backstory (like people are doing with Girls and maybe Bon Iver) or dislike a band because of their backstory (like with Vampire Weekend). And like Matthew, I only hear the African influence as one of several influences, and usually not even the foremost influence. I don’t think it is any more of an “privileged white guys appropriate indigenous cultures” album than, say, Sung Tongs.
That said, I’m not a huge fan or anything. They’re kind of like the Shins I suppose — there’s no real emotional hook for me, but I think they are excellent craftsmen who have pinned down something specific that they do quite well.
10/24/09 3:47 pm
Matthew,
I feel this discussion has provided a great oppurtunity to ask how you feel about Jody Rosen’s “DORF” theory.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2009/10/12/the-dorf-matrix-towards-a-theory-of-npr-s-taste-in-black-music.aspx
I can’t say I strongly agree with his sinister insinuation that NPR is racist, especially recently, with NPR dedicating entire hours to the RZA, OB4CL2, and Bun B discussing the significance of Goodie Mob’s Soul Food. Although to be fair, his argument is based on their songs of the day. I think he’s merely stating the obvious: white old heads don’t like Hip Hop and have regressive tastes in music
10/24/09 3:53 pm
Yeah, I’m not getting an African influence as such either; I listen to a fair deal of Afropop, and melodically, even rhythmically, I’m just not hearing it. Texturally, maybe a little. It’s like when Sting plays “Fields of Gold” on his lute; it doesn’t really sound like Renaissance music, it just sounds like Sting, playing a lute.
What you didn’t mention about “Horchata” is what a head-destroying earworm it is. I’ve been singing it to myself for about the last three days, which kinda sucks cos I don’t know all the words yet. To cheer myself up, I’ve been substituting paraphrased snippets of the Modern Lovers’ “Pablo Picasso” instead:
Some guys pick up girls, get called ass-holes
This never happened to Pab-lo Pi-cas-so
Girls would turn green as a-vo-c-a-a-dos
When he’d drive by in his El Dorado
So lilting! So lovely!
10/24/09 6:20 pm
Yeah, I think there are touches of African influences in their songs, but not all of them, it’s not the focus. To my ears, they borrow way more from Elvis Costello and Paul Simon (and not even Graceland!). The most striking thing to me in the VW songs I enjoy the most are the string arrangements, which uh, is not exactly a regular component of African music.
10/24/09 6:37 pm
I like Horchata. And radishes.
10/25/09 12:54 pm
I think it’s the new non-denominational, over-educated, twee-ish Christmas carol we’ll all be humming as it gets icy and dark out. I love.
10/25/09 3:20 pm
When Vampire Weekend came out with their freshman album i was completely surprised, their music was the most refreshing this i have heard in a while. I can not knock them like some and judge them to be posers. I love their sound, their elegance and intellect. I’ve heard several songs from their second album and they haven’t steered from their signature sound at all, which is awesome. They’re great and I want them to continue making music.
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10/25/09 3:46 pm
Matthew, my favorite thing about VW generally is the string arrangements too. That’s where I think they set themselves apart from other pop musicians (indie rock, mainstream pop, whatever) who incorporate strings. VW’s strings just feel organic. They’re not “added” for anything “extra” as strings often are in pop music, they’re just part of the tunes. I think that really started sticking out for me when I first heard the demo of “Campus” (which I think I got from here, thanks), which is just Rostam singing the song over a string arrangement, and it gave the sense that the song was just written that way. It just worked.
Most of the people decrying VW probably are middle-class white kids who went to college, just like the VW guys. Maybe you’re not a trust fund kid and you went to state college not Ivy and you don’t have a yacht or wear boat shoes and you didn’t know what a mansard roof was until VW started singing about them a couple of years ago, but the thing is, you’re probably still a privileged brat. Otherwise you wouldn’t even think about this. Go pat yourself on the back, because you like doing that. But you’re wrong.
Oh and STINKY you’re also wrong about horchata. It’s always delicious. But horchata from El Salvador is the best horchata.
10/26/09 2:59 pm
My favorite part of “Horchata” is right after the first verse, when it’s opened up by something like a batucada of one — which, of course, isn’t African in origin, but is apparently too exotic for some. Now, someone go tell BLK JKS their pretense of being an American jazz power trio is inappropriate for people with their upbringing.
10/28/09 9:15 pm
Baahhh, balaclava! Why don’t they just call it a face-hat like the rest of us?