Not Another Vampire Weekend Post
What is it with Vampire Weekend, who’ve already sold out their second-ever D.C. show next week at the Rock & Roll Hotel? They seem to have avoided the introductory stage of “low-level buzz.” One day nobody’d ever heard of them; the next they’re everywhere, on the strength of a couple of self-produced singles that you had to buy off their MySpace page. Vampire Weekend’s debut album came out this week, and its reviews managed to steal top billing on Pitchfork, Popmatters, and WaPo. What gives?
Well, according to world-renowned expert Wikipedia, “They came to public attention via a variety of music blogs, first on New York’s EAR FARM and then four months later on Stereogum, leading many to cite them as another example of the ‘blog band’ phenomenon.”
I’m sure this is another indication of the Internet’s transformation of the music industry – so call me crazy, or a reactionary old coot, but I don’t like it one bit. It worries me when a band can become the Indie Sensation of the Minute when they’ve barely registered their own existence. Even The Arcade Fire–the last band to reach this level of hype–had to put their LP out first, for God’s sake. So let’s pretend I haven’t just stoked VW’s blog-fueled fire, shall we?
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1:37 pm
The folks at Philebrity were among the early fellators, too.
1:56 pm
And by now we should all know the dangers of fellating someone you just met.
2:02 pm
Yawn.
2:14 pm
Are you yawning at the band? Or the post about the band?
9:47 pm
I think he’s yawning at your post about the band. Vampire Weekend may actually deserve the hype.
12:43 am
Perhaps they do. Everything I’ve heard has been pretty fuckin’ good. But I’m more questioning whether it’s appropriate to give ANY band this much hype, this early in their career.
But whatever. 1 AM is no time for debating.
2:54 pm
Eh. Please strike my rude and inappropriate pandiculation from the record. I apologize.
Anyway, here’s my beef,
I don’t understand why Vampire Weekend are undeserving of hype. Singles, mp3s, and (possibly) a leak of the record were widely available prior to the official release. People read about the band, listened to the music, and liked it…a lot. Then the record came out and people liked that a lot too. What’s the mystery there? And what’s not to like about that process? It’s not as if the indie-rock illuminati PR’ed them into existence.
Furthermore, is there a formal process by which any band should become deservedly hyped?
3:57 pm
A fair question about a “formal process.” No, of course there isn’t and shouldn’t be one. I’m shooting from the hip here.
But consider what happened in ‘05 with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They put out a solid debut record, and it got them elevated to this messianic level that (for me, anyway) almost instantly deflated at their mediocre live show. Then they put out their second album that IMHO was better than the first, but couldn’t match the hype.
So while I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard of VW, as of this moment I’m reluctant to coronate them the way the indie press/blogosphere have done. It’s subjective, I suppose (which, in fairness, I did imply an awful lot in the original blog entry, what with the “I don’t like it” and “it worries me”).
12:48 am
West:
I think you bring up a good example with CYHSY. I wonder tho how indie hype is different now than it was 10 years ago. I think it’s faster and fiercer. The arc of adoration to backlash is like seconds compared to what it once was. I’m sure people have better thoughts on this…
3:42 pm
Cherkis,
Agreed on the hype machine today. Do you think that’s good, bad, or just different?
5:50 pm
I think it can be good. Back in the so-called early ’90s indie heyday, an indie rock band breaking into the Billboard Top 10 would have been unheard of….
So the hype machine has given us Arcade Fire (whatever their merits), Modest Mouse, Clap Hands….etc.
6:16 pm
True, but like anything else there’s a downside. In this case I think we’re consuming and dismissing artists before we have a chance to see their real potential either way.
It’s sorta like declaring a six-month-old band who’s released two singles–one of them a huge smash, the other a flop–a one-hit wonder.