1. “Breaking Locks” – B 2. “Give Them A Token” – C+ 3. “Buddy Bradley” – C- 4. “Goblin” – B- 5. “Bathing Birds” – B- 6. “What Makes Him Act So Bad” – A 7. “Stadium Soul” – A- 8. “Cigarette Burns Forever” – B+ 9. “Boss Inside” – A- 10. “Castles and Tassels” – A- 11. “Oh Shucks” – B+
12. “Don’t Call Me Uncle” – B+ 13. “Lockout” – B+ 14. “You Blacken My State” – B
Comments: Like his former band, Moldy Peaches, Green is an acquired taste. For me personally, his vocals are elegantly boring. The backing instruments aren’t anything extravagant or worth thinking about. His form of sophisticated outsider music begs for Daniel Johnston comparisons, but unfortunately Green suffers from being less of an overall force (not shockingly) than the granddaddy of obscure folk music. Green shines best when he and his back-up band do their best Lou Reed/Velvet Underground impersonation in “What Makes.” The energy and style of that song carries over to the next and the next. Definitely, I’d listen to a great number of these songs again for Green’s exquisite story-telling, which is an art in itself. In the end, I’m split over whether I’m truly impressed by this album or if it is just another release that has a mix of great, good, and average tunes.
1. “Horchata” – B+ 2. “White Sky” – A- 3. “Holiday” – B
4. “California English” – B 5. “Taxi Cab” – A- 6. “Run” – B+ 7. “Cousins” – B+
8. “Giving Up The Gun” – B+ 9. “Diplomat’s Son” – A+
10. “I Think Ur A Contra” – B
Comments: Love it or hate it, Vampire Weekend is what Vampire Weekend is. “Horchata” is kind of annoying at first, but it sort of loses that disparaging label quickly and becomes standard VW. “White Sky” is an upper-echelon tune, embodying the best of what their self-titled offered. Not necessarily a song of the year by any stretch, it’s definitely awesome. “Holiday” sort of fails to deliver. “California English” means Ezra singing in a really fast, internationally welcoming (read, Afro-pop) style and tone. I was listening to “Taxi Cab” and I forgot what I was listening to. It’s a really chill song with a pretty kick-ass beat and flow. Okay, also, just a quick note: slow down a bit Vampire Weekend! Sometimes when parts get really awesome there is a crazy transition to something less intense or too intense. Ah! Whatever! “Cousins” is love-hate. It’s something I would love to hate, but at the end of the day it’s just your average above average VW offering. Big fan of “Diplomat’s Son” right here. It reminds me of a certain song on VW. Bottom line: is this better than album #1? No, not really. Sorry. It’s definitely very notable, but it just doesn’t possess top to bottom greatness. 2010 will have to be a really rough year if this is going to land on my annual top 10 LPs list.
Comments: Sometimes robotic electronic noises can be annoying. That’s the case on the first song. It’s a stark contrast from the upbeat positively spun “Ambling Alp,” which is undeniably an instant classic, albeit a little cheesy. “Stick up for yourself, son” really Yeasayer, really? Whatever man. I really dig the pseudo neo-soul that begins “And those thunder clouds…” It reminds me of OutKast. I’m a bit unfazed with the next tune. There are some sweets licks and catchy sequences, but it starts out a bit slow. “I Remember” has a good beat. “ONE” is wanna-be Peter Bjorn and John Living Thing (meets Julian Casablancas) material, except a bit more psychedelic and outer worldly. I don’t hate it. What’s up with the Justin Timberlake-esque stuff on “Love Me Girl.” It’s got the title and chops to fit on a JT collection. It takes guts to name a song after a great song by Phoenix (Rome). Especially when your version is many times worse than the original.
Will 2010 be better than 2009 in terms of releases? It’s tough to say at this point, obviously. What I do know is that 2009 saw debut albums from many great bands (Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Uninhabitable Mansions, to name two), not to mention a wealth of awesome LPs from bands who’ve been around the circuit for a while (Black Lips and Arctic Monkeys, to name two). Here are some LP/EP that I will definitely get around to reviewing next year:
January [12] Vampire Weekend (Contra LP)
[18] Cold War Kids (Behave Yourself EP) [19] Spoon (Transference LP) [26] Moonface (Dreamland EP) [26] Magnetic Fields (Realism LP)
February [9] Yeasayer (Odd Blood LP)
May
[?] Arcade Fire (?)
[?] MGMT (Congratulations LP)
[?] Walkmen (?)
Q3-Q4 Release Date – Bon Iver
– Interpol
– Panda Bear
– Radiohead
– The Shins
– The Strokes
– Wolf Parade
Kids Like You & Me (KLYAM) 