Now that’s the sound of excellent rasta-drums: Once again, Vampire Weekend have gathered impressions from all over the world and put them into their new record. Hence, not only the album’s title is a reference (in this case to Junior Reed’s Song »One Blood«). With »Modern Vampires Of The City«, the musicians from New York are thwarting their very own elitist preppy-look with cosmopolitan pop. Nothing has changed much in contrast to their previous records: There are ballads evoking the image of slicked-back blond hair and perky tracks making you jump around in circles. No DJ in the worlds plays »Narcotic« anymore. And yes, I’m sounding slightly annoyed. Because, as a critic, this record puts me in a bit of dilemma: I just don’t like Ezra Koenig’s smarty-pants-gone-pop-singer-voice, I don’t like the audibility of the fact that Vampire Weekend know exactly how to make their ethno-pop (another word I dislike) have mass appeal. And still, I can’t deny the boys’ craftsmanship. They never lose their musical coherence, even though they are mixing styles like there is no tomorrow. From the mentioned Jamaican influences they lead over to classic indie-pop, howl their way out of an acoustic track and land in an overloaded pop-opera, eventually. Still: the record is annyoing and radiates with a kind of unpleasentness. And to those who actually care for the band: no track by Vampire Weekend will ever be as good as »Oxford Comma« or »White Sky« again.
Real Estate
Daniel
Domino