I think, apart from my own band , if I could choose any band in the world to be in, it would be Vampire Weekend. I have loved their debut album since it came out and managed to see them twice this year at festivals. They were without doubt the band I enjoyed most out of 5 festivals, including the mighty Lowlands. They just have so much fun onstage and the audience loved it both times i saw them – singing every word. For a taste of what they are like live, check their debut Reading festival performance.

I also love the bassists’ bouncy dance and want to steal it:

We’ll have to see if their second album lives up to their incredible debut, but for now you can download new track ‘Horchata’ on their website and here is their new single ‘Cousins’:

Horchata in winter? Only in the lyrical landscapes of a Vampire Weekend winter.

Though composed of Americans who met while attending Columbia University, there is, as a friend recently commented, something about the indie rock band Vampire Weekend that distinctly suits Oxford.  Perhaps it is their exceptional diction, their light step or their wit. In listening to lyrics from such songs as “Mansard Roof,” “Campus” and “Oxford Comma” could easily have been written to suit Oxford’s neighborhoods, colleges and students. When you hear someone listening to their music in the library, or walking down Turl, you may well think, as my friend does: Yeah. This person is doing this right.

And so it was that I heard the new song “Horchata” from their forthcoming album with a sense of delight. The setting is winter, the subject: food. The lyrics are typically quirky, the rhythm immensely catchy and the subject dear to my heart.

Horchata, or orxata, is a traditional drink commonly drunk but made of uncommon ingredients including almonds sesame seeds, rice, barely or tigernuts. In and of themselves, these are not unusual; but each region has their own recipe. Some call for milk, others cinamon, nutmeg and vanilla.

According to drinking myth (a most unreliable category) the drink originates in an exclamation by King Jaume who, on frist drinking it, said, “”Això és or, xata!” (“That’s gold, darling!”) More likely than darling is the translation of barley from the Latin hordeata into the Valencian ordiata, but then a drinker must be able to dream, and the mythology of a king fills the imagination more than the etymology of a word. Long live the king.

What is lost in the translation — from Latin to Valencian to Vampire Weekend — is why this summer drink is drunk in a Vampire winter. The setting is intentionally inverted; the hortchataa trigger to warmer times. It’s somehow self-consciously Proustian, but not posing, merely playful.

As the same friend said — we need only now to find a place here in Oxford that sells horchata. To then drink, listen and walk would be to pose self-consciously — a deliberate irony.

Anyone know where to get horchata in this town?

…I went to have a look around the Umhlanga Ridge New Town Centre development, and took some photos. Unfortunately my camera’s battery ran dry, and I had to take the rest the pics with my crappy little camera phone, but you get the idea..

Its really exciting to see how much thought has been put into this development, that’s been slowly taking shape over the last few years. The project is facilitated under a broad set of aesthetic guidelines, which creates a cohesive and elegant urban landscape. You can read about the Architectural and Corporate Identity guide lines in the freely available release notes from Moreland Developers.

“Worldwide the trend is to discovering a
new urbanism—an emphasis on exquisitely
designed, safe, convenient and extremely
well-managed cities that nurture human
culture and dignity while being powerful
economic generators and job creators.
Umhlanga Ridge New Town Centre is enthused
with this vision and focuses, on one
hand, on a public environment of quality
and distinction while exhorting private developers
to surpass these high ideals with
their individual contributions to the whole.”

The Umhlanga Ridge New Town Centre Vision

I especially like how pedestrian orientated the town planning is..

And as always, the indigenous planting is a huge improvement on the previously popular and totally out of context palm trees.

Similarly, large existing trees have been preserved.

All in all, very exciting stuff..

BTW. Would’ve been super amped on that zigzag ramp/stair set up if I hadn’t seen it somewhere else before.. Tried to find it in my Stumble favorites but I couldn’t. Still pretty rad though.

Like this post? Why not submit it..

Vampire Weekend at Pitchfork Music Festival ‘08 M79

Ok. Llevo encerrada en mi casa desde el lunes porque me sacaron una muela del juicio, en serio. Fue una carnicería, extracción digna de Le Butcherettes!

En todo este tiempo en casa no posté naaaada en La Caja de Música, porque la verdad no estaba de ánimos, me veo muuuuy mal. Pero bueno, estoy viendo este video en Pitchfork, y pues… Vampire Weekend me gusta mucho, principalmente porque es de las pocas bandas que le comparto a mi hermana de casi 13 años y que le gustan.

Nunca los he visto en vivo, me perdí ese MX Beat. Pero bueno, después de un álbum homónimo (sí es homónimo no?), lleno de colores, de ritmos infantiles, donde unos chicos preppys deciden hacer del reaggeton (spell check) otra herramienta del sonido indie, me da curiosidad saber qué queda de ellos para el acto en vivo. Después de todo el hype y la crítica los maraquearon mucho.

VW no es tema nuevo, pero bueno… otra randomness musical. Ya no sé cuál era el propósito de este post.

Anthony?!! Are you reading this?!?!  Take back the camera and buy me THIS! Mwa ha ha! 

We’ve been salivating over this house since we first laid eyes on it waaay back in 1995.  It was for sale then–$185,000–but needed a ton of work, including repairs to the collapsing foundation.  We visited it twice–the ceilings were easily 12 or 13 feet high, there were fireplaces is almost every room, and it was absolutely fabulous even though it needed about $150,000 worth of work.

This house is located on a hill overlooking Route 7 in Danby, Vermont and is reported to be haunted.  It used to have a scary black iron fence around it and the paint color was more menacing back in the day.  I would paint it and then NEVER leave it.

(The only thing we’re happy about is that someone bought it and did work on it instead of letting it fall into worse repair than it was in.)  Maybe if everyone on the internet sends me a DOLLAR, I can buy this scary house and throw kick-arse Halloween parties every year.

On Monday, I drove to Urbana with my father-in-law to pick up my sister-in-law and two of my brother-in-law’s kids.  Urbana’s a picturesque place, and snapped pictures from the front passenger window.  The main street running through the town is called Miami, and the road crosses The Great Miami River.  On the way there, we passed a farm that my father-in-law said he’s always wanted, imagining that it stretches out for uninterrupted miles behind the hill in the background.  He said he thinks the reality must be different from what he imagines, but likes the thought of it, anyway.  On the way back, I saw a Cold-War era siren atop a volunteer fire department hall.  Mansard roof on the square at Urbana.  The city’s name inscribed across a railroad bridge as you drive in to town.  Some other stuff.

Sorry I’ve been slow with the updates. I’ve been battling the flu for most of the week….  hoping it’s not swine flu!!

Hartford Terrace is under agreement, we went to contract with our new buyers after only four days on the market. Check out what our prospective buyers think of the house, read the comment on this page.  

We put a contract on a new fixer upper last night. Check this one out. It is a full gut that has been empty for over 13 years. The house is very old… built in 1890, and it has a mansard style roof, which I kinda like.

  She’s a beauty!

   Mansard style roof.

   Kitchen

    Dining Room/ Living Room

   A little water damage

   Claw foot tub.

   I like the wallpaper!

   This room is very psychedelic

   Check out the Tin ceiling

     More water damage

   Heres where the water is coming in

There are a few roof leaks which have caused some damage. This house has very high ceilings, and most of the ceilings are tin, which is a real nice feature…. except alot of them are rusted out because of the water damage. We picked this one up for real cheap. It will be a nice rehab, but we may end up just wholesaling it out.

For some reason I had a terrible time remembering the term “mansard roof ”  for the longest time. It just doesn’t fall into common conversation easily. “This beer is as flat as a mansard roof” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. 

It is a very distinctive piece of architecture and, happily, somewhat common in the Village of Ossining. Here are a few random ones near my old stomping grounds. 

This one was getting a new roof as I took the photo! Note dumpster

Three in a row on Clinton Ave

Hoy vamos a ver un grupo, Vampire Weekend, que en la wikipedia califican, creo por la importancia de las percusiones, como de “afro pop”.  Creo que esta etiqueta no les define , pero hay tantos estilos musicales sintetizados que son difícilmente calificables.

Sus origenes están en la Universidad de Columbia en Estados Unidos.Se historia es la típica de internet 2.0., su buen trabajo y las recomendaciones de diversos blogs hicieron que su popularidad se disparase a través de la red. De momento tienen un único disco que se llama como el grupo. Si consiguen mantener el nivel estoy seguro de que van a ser un grupo de referencia los próximos años.

Vamos a escuchar su música:

A-Punk

Mansard Roof

Oxford Comma

M-79

C

It’s weekend, may as well do a music overload post. I am in a good mood. I’ve liked Vampire Weekend since they first came out. Especially when they’re singing. And they were on my best albums of 2008 list. This video, from early last year, was shot by the people at La Blogotheque in the streets of Paris.

So I finally decided to try out Vampire Weekend’s debut self titled album after weeks of buzz both from word of mouth and across the blogospere. I finally caved when I saw them on Uncrate.

Sound wise they are partially orchestral (ala Polyphonic Spree), have vocals that resemble Kings of Leon-meets-The Fratellis and a hint of Foals in there too (possibly in the percussion department and frenetic guitar in the song A-Punk).

The problem with overhypeing something is that it often leads to its own detriment. An example of this in the film world was the new Indiana Jones movie, it wasn’t the quintessential ending to the series that was being promised. It was good, at best it was as good as one of the originals but it wasn’t anything amazing. I feel the same way about VW. Don’t get me wrong, I like some of there stuff, but I was expecting the next Apes & Androids or something based on the buzz. The thing about Apes & Androids is that they weren’t nearly as hyped in the beginning, possibly do to their very “distinct” sound and bizarre performances at gigs in NYC. A&A’s rise seemed more gradual and natural as opposed to VW which felt more forced. Leading to my conclusion of them having an image bigger than their sound, they seem… empty or like they are missing something.

But that’s not to say the band is bad. Not at all, I see a lot of potential. My favorite tracks from the album are Mansard Roof and M79. The first has a very interesting and fun beat. Seeming almost carribe in percussion at parts but then using more classic instruments throughout. M79 then has a surprising intro as the band uses a harpsichord and violins/violas. Again the use of these classical instruments in a new way is giving this band a distinct flavor that look forward to hearing more of in the future.

I’d like to know what you guys think. Am I being too hard on them or is there weight to my argument? Please leave a comment with you thoughts and possibly other examples of overhype.

-Alx

MP3| Mansard Roof – Vampire Weekend

MP3| M79 – Vampire Weekend

MP3| A-Punk – Vampire Weekend

Underground Music Top Ten ALBUMS (June 30, 2008)

Underground Music Top Ten SONGS (June 29th, 2008)

10			Langhorne Slim “Rebel Side of Heaven”
9			Crystal Castles “Courtship Dating”
8			All Time Low “Six Feet Under The Stars”
7			There For Tomorrow “Pages”
6			Tokyo Police Club “In A Cave”
5			All Time Low “Umbrella (Live)”
4			Justin Nozuka “After Tonight”
3			We The Kings “Skyway Avenue”
2			We The Kings “Check Yes Juliet”
1			All Time Low “Dear Maria, Count Me In (Live)”

Underground Music – Artist Spotlight – Vampire Weekend

Here are some videos for the new group now playing at the station, Brooklyn’s Vampire Weekend who have been the buzz of the East coast for a few months for their up-style, hipsturban blend of pop sensibilities that owe much to Africa and the crucible that New York City creates. Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Rostam Batmanglij, and Chris Tomson are Vampire Weekend, a a quartet that puts Soukous in their style and England in their pop, polyrhythmic and punky. And the wonder is that NYC didn’t just eat ‘em back up as she does with much of her young talent, instead they’ll soon have to set sights farther afield and I for one would love to hear them in Milwaukee. See for yourself on this video for their latest single “A-Punk”…

And another one for the song “Mansard Roof”

And in their own words, from an article in The Fader:

Where did you guys get your name?
Rostam Batmanglij: We bought it in an auction.

Christopher Tomson: On Ebay.

Ezra Koenig: Vampire Weekend was a movie I started making the summer after my freshman year of college. It was about a guy, that I played, called Walcott whose dad gets killed by vampires because vampires take over his country. His Dad’s dying words were, “you have to go to Cape Cod to tell the mayor that vampires are taking over your country and you have to kill ‘em all.” It was actually about vampires, although fun fact: you can still watch the trailer online. It’s still the second thing that pops up when you google “Vampire Weekend.” The first song I wrote for this band was about Walcott, and it’s vaguely about the movie. We were picking names and I was having cold feet about Vampire Weekend. I thought maybe we should just go by Weekend. But we made the right choice, I can safely say that now.

Did you guys all dig on the same kind of music when you got together?
EK: We all listen to a ton of music, but when we started you could definitely say that we were all on the same page as far as what we wanted it to sound like. We wanted to bring in some Brit-pop, some New-Wave and some African music as well.

Are you all in to African music?
EK: Yeah, but Chris the most.

CT: I just go record shopping all the time and I grab these weird African compilations. You might not necessarily know who all the people are but it’s always really good. It’s almost entirely in major keys and using only three chords, but with the percussion it’s always really really good. I haven’t been disappointed yet.

You can really hear that most in the live percussion, Graceland clearly seeming like the strongest reference point.
EK: It’s true. The music that Paul Simon listened to then is the same we’ve been listening to.

RB: But Paul Simon didn’t just listen to that music, he used it as a structure to work from. We haven’t done anything like that. All our music is pretty original, I think.

CT: That’s not to hate on Graceland, but there is this compilation called The Indestructible Beat of Soweto and there is a song on there with this “Gumboots” sort of beat and there is a song on Graceland with the same band and same tune, but with Paul Simon’s lyrics over it all. There are elements and little bits that we try to work in, but we don’t copy.

EK: He actually had those African session musicians play on the album.

There definitely seems to be a buzz about town.
EK: When we first started playing off campus, we started to get written up. The press sort of compounds itself and more and more people have been coming to shows. Last night was the high point though. The biggest thing we’ve ever done.

Chris Baio: We were all taken aback by the number of people that showed up.

Are you guys shitting yourselves right now?
RB: With excitement or with fear?

Half and half. Choosing a label must be a lot like picking the right college.
RB: Yeah! I guess it is.

CT: It can go so many ways and it’s pretty daunting, but the future looks bright for young Ez’[ra]. (laughs)

Have you been entertaining a lot of offers recently?
CT: We’ve had a lot of meetings.

EK: A lot of people have shown interest. We’ll see exactly where it goes. We’ve had a few good meals.

CT: I think that one sushi restaurant was the best meal we’ve had so far.

Did you guys have any long-term goals when you started?
EK: Yeah, just to be able to do it full-time. We all felt like our dream job would be to play music but obviously you can’t just apply for that.

RB: Musically, we wanted to write songs that were catchy and exciting, but to also bring different worlds together. I think you’ll hear that on the record.

How long have you guys been jamming out together?
EK: We started it our last semester in college, February ‘06. We had been playing elsewhere but Vampire Weekend has been around for a year and four months.

CB: The majority of our shows were on campus at first, playing for campus literary societies (ADD and St. A’s) and at parties.

RB: We were able to get a room because Baio worked at the radio station. That’s where we recorded the drums for “Oxford Comma.”

CT: Eventually, we had to rent out a space in Midtown.

So where did you record?
RB: In a few places. We started in that room at Columbia and then we did some stuff in CT’s family barn. Have you heard of Juan’s Basement? It’s a television program on this network called Plum TV. It wasn’t anything actually when we started; just our friends from Columbia and they live in this house and they have a basement with drums set up and eight mikes and they’re ready to go at all times. It’s awesome. We started there.

CT: It was over the course of a good many months. We weren’t recording it to be our debut album. We just had these songs and we liked to record.

EK: We have twelve or 14 songs with others in the pipeline. Those we don’t play live, but we have ten recorded.

CT: It just ended up becoming this more album-ish group of songs.

So the first pressing was an EP, then?
CT: Well, we just burned them.

EK: Yeah, the first official release will be a three song EP. The album depends on the label stuff, but no matter who we end up putting it out with, I imagine it will be early next year, with singles before that. We are putting out a seven-inch right now.

Are you guys self-releasing everything right now?
EK: Yeah. Well, the seven-inch is a collaboration with these guys that have this pseudo-record label. Their main thing is they run an art gallery in Philadelphia called Space 1016.

You guys start your first tour in July, right? How did you book everything?
RB: Baio took the reigns and started sending out e-mails. We don’t have a manager. We just use our e-mail account to manage ourselves. It’s actually worked out really well so far.

CT: Chris wrote an AWESOME form letter.

CB: It was pretty well-written. Plus, Ezra had a lot of contacts because he toured in Dirty Projectors for a while. We booked the majority of the tour by ourselves, but we just met a great booking agent and he has helped make the tour so much better. It’s going to be a real mixed bag: we’re playing a house party in Roanoke, a show with a bunch of emo bands in Jacksonville, and some really good shows in California as well. There’s been some talk about doing a Depeche Mode dance party in Omaha.