Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The way I feel about the Rolling Stones is the way my kids are going to feel about Nine Inch Nails, so I really shouldn't torment my Mom anymore, huh?

One of my friends has been mentioning that I should change the name of my blog to “I hate things” after I verbally abused almost everyone who walked the red carpet at the Golden Globes (I'm sorry, I wasn't aware ugly dresses were "in" this year). Well, today I am not going to talk about hate, but instead, a deep and intense true love: Music.

There is nothing quite like an absolutely awesome concert. I’ve been to a few. Ok, more than a few (I mean, I see Jay-Z twice a year at this point, so yeah, I know what’s up). But last night really took me by surprise.

Last week I went to a Passion Pit concert at Terminal 5. It was great. The band performed basically everything from their EP and their full album, all great songs. They sounded almost exactly the same live as they do on my ipod, so that was awesome. It’s always fun to be at a concert where you know almost all of the songs. It's like confirmation that choosing to go to this concert was the right life decision, even if most of your fellow audience members are still in high school. Whatevs.

You probably know Passion Pit for their song Sleepyhead, which is in the Palm Pixie commercial. Sleepyhead was the last song of the encore and they really rocked the shit out of it. I left the Passion Pit concert discussing with my friend how we really felt the music in our soul (not in a cheesy way but in a stoned way).

. I’ve liked Vampire Weekend since the first time a friend made me youtube the song Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa. I was instantly intrigued. I got the whole album and listened to it a good amount. My relationship with their album is: I know the chorus to every song on the album, but not every word to every song. So I’m definitely familiar, but not too obsessed.

Or shall I say, wasn’t too obsessed, because I think I am now… Last night was… magical. One of my friends said, “Last night touched on… sublime”. It really was. For a band to sound better live than on their album, is really a feat.

I couldn’t not move (intended double negative) to the music. Every chord was perfect. Every sound they made was exactly as it should have been. At the end, people were screaming for the song Walcott and I was like yeah I mean, I guess I wanna hear Walcott even though I can't really think of how it goes right now. Well, they closed with Walcott and it was mind blowing... And now when someone says "Walcott" I know exactly what song they're talking about: DON'T YOU WANNA GET OUTTA CAPE COD? OUTTA CAPE COD TONIIIIIGGHHHTTTT.

The concert was at Webster Hall, which is a really great venue. It’s similar in shape to Terminal 5 but about half the size. I love a venue that’s small enough that you have a good view of the band from anywhere you stand (unless you’re short or standing behind extraordinarily tall people… aka the people standing behind my crew, sorry we’re not sorry). But also, I felt that the crew at this concert was more in my age group. Which was nice. I didn't mind being in a group composed of the oldest and tallest people at the Passion Pit concert, I'm not that insecure. But Vampire Weekend felt more like home.

Vampire Weekend’s new CD, Contra, was released last week. I downloaded all the songs, gave them a listen. Liked but didn’t love. I have issues trying new things, as one friend once eloquently described, "Change make my balls shrink." Poetry. For me, I can't quite wrap my mind around them right away. All I could think about was how much better the first album was. But after hearing it live, I am now obsessed with it and currently playing the entire album on repeat as I write this through their website VampireWeekend.com.


Vampire Weekend’s whole vibe is just really happy. They don’t write cheesy love ballads, they write music you want to bounce up and down to or at the very least nod your head to. It makes me smile. They're just so cool. I mean, look at those album covers. I obv like Vampire Weekend better than Contra (Chandelier like what). But like, I don't know, they just seem so bad ass in their simplicity.

My personal cosmic connection with Vampire Weekend was driving to see the movie Stepbrothers with my brother and two of my friends. Vampire Weekend was a relatively new band and one of my friends and I put on A-punk for the car ride to the movie theater. My brother and other friend weren’t that into the song. We get to the movie theater, Stepbrothers starts, and A-punk blasts during the opening credits. That's when I knew. Meant. To. Be.

The thing that really made this concert for me, other than how amazing all of the music sounded, was how the band acted. These guys just looked so happy and excited to be performing that it was heartwarming. Seeing people look happy makes me happy. And seeing an extremely good-looking drummer rock the fuck out, well yeah, that makes me happy too.

They also, at one point when the crowd was cheering for more, commented on how excited they were to have a second album out if only so that they could play more songs for us. Adorable. And went on to say they were playing pretty much everything they knew. Almost every song from both albums.

After watching Aziz Ansari’s Comedy Central special this weekend (I suggest you do the same), I learned that “celebs” do in fact Google themselves to see what people are thinking of them. So, a brief message to Vampire Weekend jersey-wearing-stubble-sporting-hockey/southern-hair sexual drummer Chris Tomson- I love you.



A few of my Vampire Weekend favorites from the debut album:







And from the new album:





The album is pretty new so I can only really find live versions of most of the songs, which don't sound great online. But I highly recommend listening to the whole album on their website. Are they paying me for this shameless promotion to potentially 5s of 10s of readers!?!?!???

9 comments:

Alan Whickers said...

Here's another link to another song - the video you don't like but I do very much thank you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0u11rgd9Q

Daddies said...

I like the blog. If I may suggest:

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home

or their whole album, but Home will make you a happier person upon first listen.

http://www.myspace.com/edwardsharpe

give it a gander

Brady said...

Thanks, "Daddies"!

Listening to Home right now. And you're right, I am really happy right now. I definitely know it from something... And by something I mean a movie or a TV show. Or maybe someone has made me listen to it before. Thanks so much for the suggestion! Luckily it came at the perfect time, I was just finishing listening to Contra for the 3rd time today while doing some busy work and looking for something else to listen to. Will continue with the rest of the album. Keep reading!

Brady said...

I just blacked in. I think I saw them perform live on Letterman when I went to a filming. It was an episode 2 years ago with Julia Louis Dreyfus and Michael Cera... I really think it was them. And I think they might have encouraged the audience to sing along... And I did.

Unknown said...

I love when male vocalist are not afraid to sing in their falsetto voice. It’s beautiful.

Katy Regan said...

Phoenix. Equally smile-inducing :)

Brady said...

Yessssssss, Katy. Loooove Phoenix.

Unknown said...

Jumping on a little late, but here is a remix of Horchata and I cannot stop playing it. It's electronicy but I hope you enjoy it.

http://tinyurl.com/y8ktr3h

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