Monday, January 4, 2010

Album Event: Vampire Weekend



Today I discovered Vampire Weekend was streaming their new album on MySpace. The office release date is Tuesday January 12, 2010. If anyone is unfamiliar with their music go to the Myspace and get to know the music. For me, they have a Talking Heads/Paul Simon Graceland vibe. Afro Pop light or Afro Pop White (according to Christian Lander anyway...) Hell, they even mention Peter Gabriel in "Ottoman", though mocking "In Your Eyes" as a romantic moment. Gabriel's revolutionary mixture of world music mixed with his great pop sensibilities don't directly influence Vampire Weekend. Gabriel, Byrne and Simon did open an audio world to them, I would say. Elements of English punk/ska, also.

I like the album a lot. I have to listen to it more and I will buy it when it's released. I have software to rip it from the MySpace for free, but I have never participated in file swapping. I have made copies of music for friends (burnt a CD or gave MP3 files) but never free downloading unless the artist wants to give it away. Most file music files sound like crap. A lot of people don't really care about sound quality and the art of recording is suffering. Plus, I am a major advocate of artists controlling how they want their music distributed and to be fairly compensated for it. Always have, always will. I like to look at album artwork, I like to touch liner notes as I read them. I will buy the CD and burn it. I know I pay a premium compared to downloading it from iTunes. The extra $2 is worth the tactile feeling I enjoy about CDs or vinyl. I know it's old fashion, but album releases are events to me. Albums are little pieces of history and time that can't ever be taken away.

Followers