Blake's got a new face

So, recently I've become obsessed with this band Vampire Weekend. (Yeah, I know, dumb name. But all the good ones are taken. Like the Nazz.) They opened for the Shout Out Louds at the Shaw a while back, and I was actually pretty disappointed in their performance. Like Christopher said, it was as if they were the house band at a resort in Barbados.

See, I'd claimed they sounded like Pavement covering Graceland. But upon hearing them live and peeping their forthcoming CD, I had to change that description. They're like Pavement circa Crooked Rain covering "Mother and Child Reunion." With a little '80s ska thrown in there.

I know what you're thinking. That sounds awful, right? But it isn't. It's pretty freaking great. Maybe it helps that I've been listening to that first Paul Simon solo record a lot too, realizing again how it's full of effortlessly brilliant songs. And, hell, who doesn't love the Specials? I mean, this is no 4th wave ska crap, no Bowling For Soup or whatever. It's lean and bouncy and supercatchy. And the lead singer has a great way of clipping his phrases and adding little hiccups, sort of like early David Byrne, that's pretty endearing.

But. But they also come off like Rich East Coast Preppies Assmonkeys. I mean, one song is about a girl named Bryn, and another seems to be about a girl named Blake's face lift. The tunes are littered with references to dharjeeling tea, tropical vacations, Mansard roofs, and rules of grammar (okay, that last one's pretty damn nerdy). "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" actually mentions Louis Vitton, a Peter Gabriel tune, and linens, while rhyming "dawn" with "Benetton." But -- again with the buts -- god, that song is catchy. Afro-pop guitar jingle jangle, pittering bongos, and some weird synth riff, plus that singer again, holding his "I do" until it is "I do-ooo-ooo-ooo."

And yeah I'm a sucker for a song about Cape Cod ("Walcott"), especially one that says "Fuck the women in Wellfleet/ Fuck the bears in Provincetown/ Heed my words and take flight." Or one about having dreams about Boston all of your life. Or a line like "How am I supposed to pretend that I'll never see you again?" Maybe I'm just being nostalgic for my 20s, but I love this band.

Oh yeah, I bowled a 242 on Tuesday. 242! Best. Game. Ever.