Summer Lovin’ Torture Party
Bought some new vinyl today. Including:
Bright Eyes-I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
Vampire Weekend-Contra
The Replacements- Don’t Tell A Soul
Steely Dan-Aja
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers-s/t
Bruce Springsteen-Darkness on the Edge of Town
I’m not going to write out an epic description of my relationship with ALL of these albums because I would imagine reading that description would be on par with getting a root canal while watching a Paul Walker movie. With “Timeline” situated squarely in the forefront of my mind, I’m just going to talk about Vampire Weekend.
Vampire Weekend-Contra: I always really wanted this album to be called Diamonds on the Soles of Your Boat Shoes, but I guess I can’t win them all. I had the distinct pleasure of playing this album for my dad last week and his willingness to immediately dismiss it as a Paul Simon ripoff did not dissapoint. I asked him to remind me of the time that Paul Simon sampled M.I.A. and sang through autotune, but I guess Art Garfunkel is pretty much the american equivalent to everyone’s favorite Sri-Lankan pseudo-terrorist rapper?
Unlike a lot of you, I never got tired of their first record. As a result, I probably set the bar impossibly high for their sophomore release. To say I hated this record at first would be akin to saying that Hitler was a mildly bad dude. I tend to be incredibly dismissive if something doesn’t sound like what I expect immediately (gee, I wonder where I get that from?), and the first spin of this record just made me think VW was listening to way too much Animal Collective. Then I actually listened to it on an extended drive through the Ocala National Forest and was delighted to find that it was actually really good. At the risk of misquoting every teenage boy at one point in their lives, ‘twas a grower, not a shower. I think? Maybe? Probably not.
Also, I know Steely Dan is not the most popular of bands but fuck you if you don’t like “Deacon Blues”.
