Vampire Weekend [2010] - Contra

sound: Indie/Pop

myspace.

Contra on vinyl.

Firstly, don't start with me Chris i know this isn't the actual album art  but im seriously freaked out by the girl on the cover. There's only so much eye rape i can take, besides this one is better. This is the sophomore record [ i hate that term, but look at me using it anyway] from Vampire Weekend, once again if you hadn't heard of these guys a year ago you must not have had your ear to the Hip Music Coconut Wireless. Even after a nauseating amount of attention from the media, they stayed classy, toured as intimately as their sudden success would allow, and have maintained their tight knit fan base from NY. Which includes multi-talented NY bros Ra Ra Riot [see; The Rhumb Line] who they teamed up with to drop the funky LP under the name Discovery.
I've had 6, or 7 listens under my belt now and i can't really shake that beach fire, summer bbq, skating in Santa Monica, lawn beers feel of this record. A little less of that Peter Gabriel [small pun intended] college drum circle feel and a little more electro on this one, but surprisingly it works. Still expect those fast hats, light guitar riffs, and gentle croons you loved from their S/T. Oddly enough i think my favorite songs so far are White Sky and Cousins both of which i was convinced on first listen were the most annoying fucking songs in the world. If you were a big fan of the sweet low tones in jams like The Kids Don't Stand a Chance and I Stand Corrected then check out Taxi Cab and the ultra chill I Think Ur a Contra.  Lovin' this record right now, Cheers.

sounds like: Ra Ra Riot, A.C. Newman, Discovery

Bang = vbr.

The Jakes - (2008) Shake My Hand

sound: Indie/Poolhall
length: 7 songs, 26.9 minutes
myspace
1. Garands At Normandie
2. Paid the Piper
3. Cough Syrup
4. Schizophrenia
5. Shake My Hand
6. Take Me Home
7. Texas Tea

Allow me to introduce you to the Jakes an Indie band from my home state California. The Jakes meet my friend musically inclined and educated reader, musically inclined educated reader, meet the very sweet-hearted, sincere, and talented band the Jakes. Great, now that we're all friends let me tell you this very short album is an absolute jem. It's everything Maroon 5 wanted to be, with all the nostalgic pop cred Vampire Weekend can muster. Cough Syrup is a sweet pick me up on a sad day "life's to short to even care at all" while Take me Home is a profound and simple acoustic with beautiful honest lyrics. Please friends, enjoy.

sounds like: Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend, the Grammatics

Woosh

REQUEST: Vampire Weekend - (2008) Vampire Weekend

sound: Indie/Pop
length: 12 songs, 35.17 minutes
myspace
1. Mansard Roof
2. Oxford Comma
3. A-Punk
4. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
5. M79
6. Campus
7. Bryn
8. One (Blake's Got A New Face)
9. I Stand Corrected
10. Walcott
11. The Kids Don't Stand A Chance

If you don't already know about this album then you've been living under a rock for the last year.

sounds like: The Spinto Band, Ra Ra Riot

Kaboom!

Ra Ra Riot - (2008) The Rhumb Line

sound: Indie/Poolhall
length: 10 songs, 36.57 minutes long
myspace
1. Ghost Under Rocks (4:26)
2. Each Year (3:15)
3. St. Peter's Day Festival (3:34)
4. Winter '05 (2:56)
5. Dying Is Fine (3:51)
6. Can You Tell (2:42)
7. Too Too Too Fast (3:46)
8. Oh, La (4:41)
9. Suspended In Gaffa (3:48)
10. Run My Mouth (3:58)

This album is just damn catchy, nice kids from the New York. Sort of rode in on the shirt tails of fellow New Yorkers Vampire Weekend, who they toured with in their beginning stages.Their sound is best described if you imagine Vampire Weekend got We Are Scientists really drunk one saturday night at a party, and nine months later Ra Ra Riot was born. Very low key, fav. songs include Ghosts Under Rocks, and Winter 05. Their drummer John Pike was a great guy, if you wanna check his foundation out go here.

sounds like: We Are Scientists, Grammatics, Spinto Band, The Rifles

Crash!

Tokyo Police Club - (2007) Elephant Shell

Sound: Indie/Funk/Poolhall
Length: 11 songs, 28 minutes
myspace
1. Centennial
2. In a Cave
3. Graves
4. Juno
5. Tessellate
6. Sixties Remake
7. Harrowing Adventures of..., The
8. Nursery, Academy
9. Your English Is Good
10. Listen to the Math
11. Baskervilles, The

So i was absolutely floored about how much i loved this album until i saw they were on MTV. But (thank the gods) all the shitty music loving teeny boppers were bashing them. So my love of them was reaffirmed :). Anyway, think really upbeat and damn catchy and you've got TPC. Normally i would say not my style, but really this record is too short to not enjoy. So if you came across them on MTV and decided against it, i would implore you to take another look.

sounds like: Blood Red Shoes, Foals, Tapes N' Tapes, Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend

Fwoop!

We Are The Scientists - (2006) With Love & Squalor

Sound: Indie/Poolhall
Length: 12 songs, 55.5 minutes
myspace
1. "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" – 3:12
2. "This Scene Is Dead" – 3:43
3. "Inaction" – 2:32
4. "Can't Lose" – 3:31
5. "Callbacks" – 2:02
6. "Cash Cow" – 2:35
7. "It's a Hit" – 3:26
8. "The Great Escape" – 3:18
9. "Textbook" – 4:01
10. "Lousy Reputation" – 2:35
11. "Worth the Wait" – 2:43
12. "What's the Word" – 3:17

Three Piece that plays relatively uncomplicated stuff, its just damn catchy. Worth The Wait will rumble around in your head almost as long as The Strokes-Last Night did. Songs about booze, slutty girlfriends, getting plowed, and seriously crushin'. If you like the Arctic Monkeys your pretty much guaranteed to like this record. and if you don't, then your still going to like this record.


sounds like: Ra Ra Riot, Arctic Monkeys, The Rifles, Foals and to some extent The Strokes

Pow!