Vampire Weekend interview

A Celestial Affair

 Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend has transformed. With their 2008 self-titled debut, Rostam Batmanglij, Ezra Koenig, Chris Tomson & Chris Baio captured the ideals of young pop fans everywhere with their witty, intellectual constructions of strong pop songs executed with a standard rock set up. Their wistful dreaming from the dorms of an ivy league university sparked interest worldwide, and has subsequently conquered the hearts of bloggers and music-lovers alike. Clearing the difficult sophomore album hurdle with Contra (released last week), they have expanded their sound with their horizons.

Wild Beasts (Les Fauves)

Les Fauves
From: Hackney, London
via Italy

Les Fauves (French for The Wild Beasts) were a short-lived and loose grouping of early 20th century Modern artists whose works emphasised painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism (thanks Wikipedia).

Les Fauves (still French for The Wild Beasts) are now an Italian born, London based grouping of early 21st century modern artistes whose music emphasises surrealist discord over the mundane bleatings of the landfill indie aristocracy.

RCRD OF THE DAY: Metric - Front Row (Acoustic)

(Photo: Justin Broadbent)

Reworks don’t get much more vulnerable than this acoustic version of Metric’s "Front Row," swapping lo-fi grit and glammed-up feedback for breathy vocals which ride a lone, strummy march into the night.

The Zookeepers: Gazing Into The Void, Laughing

Imagine the internet – all the insanity, all the zillions of disparate thoughts, all the ridiculous fetishes – condensed into song, and you will have an idea of The Zookeepers. Perhaps they’re among the first bunch of real Internet Bands: shaped not by the content, but its buzzing, ever-altering nature.

Kurt Vile - I Wanted Everything

Kurt Vile made the best album of 2009. That’s not overstatement. It’s just there, plain and simple - A FACT. Childish Prodigy is an incredible piece of work, and this track - made available by the heroes at KRAAK on their Meet The Philly Elite 7" - finds common ground with that record’s quieter moments, chords lulled and coaxed into changing through a guitar plucked like a hobo harp, Kurt’s voice ringing wry and right.

Band of the Week: The Babies

Last week we felt pretty lucky to catch one of three live sets from the new indie "supergroup" The Babies! Consisting of members of Vivian Girls and Woods, The Babies have had one tune on the internet for quite some time now, but seeing them do a full nine song set we kind of fell in love with the band and their pop-punk hooks and off key harmonies. It was a really energetic and fun little set from these guys and we were hooked by the end of the first song.

Ones To Watch In 2010 - Part Two


Tonights post is the second of the Devil’s two part predictions of the bands and artists who will breakthrough in 2010.

In no particular order the Devil’s second set of tips for 2010 are…

Tuesday's Recommended Release

When Vampire Weekend released their CD-R demo and then their self-titled debut we were one of the many haters that lined up to scorn the band for taking from Paul Simon and for being posh, suburban, white kids playing on some tribal African sounds. We were among those that called it boring and weak, but really we were just revolting against the sudden popularity of the band, feeling they hadn’t had to earn the sudden respect and reviews they had garnered. It is rare for a blogger of any type to admit he or she is wrong, but in the case of Vampire Weekend we were so far off base that we probably should have received abusive death threats in the comments section.

Ones To Watch In 2010 - Part One

Watching

Predictions of who will make it big are always liable to provide a journalist with more egg on face than Humpty Dumpty’s renologist. The history of music is littered with band’s who were destined for greatness and disappeared without leaving so much as a smudge on the window of The Music world. It’s even harder for bloggers like the Devil because, by our very nature, we deal in the obscure and the uncommercial. However I’m going to stick my neck out and predict that during the next twelve months at least one of the bands featured over the next two days will become bigger than Obama.

In no particular order the Devil’s first set of tips for 2010 are…

Hideous Men

Rocky Mountain Laser Tag

hideous-man.jpg

Another band I discovered via Better Than Sex, it’s Denver’s Hideous Men; a two piece electronic outfit who make cut-up hip-hop style instrumentation and twisted indie Gameboy beats with dainty vocals and the odd sample. BTS compared them to Salem, but it reminds me more of Nite Jewel or some weird mash-up between High Places and Dandi Wind.

Best of 2009

Rabbit, Rabbit All Day Long...

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