FAVORITE BAND FRIDAY: VAMPIRE WEEKEND

I think that everybody knows about Vampire Weekend so for this week's Favorite Band Friday I'm not going to tell you about Vampire Weekend. I'm just going to tell you why I like Vampire Weekend and how their music makes me feel.

You all probably know that Vampire Weekend have been around for a few years (if you haven't then there ya go). I listened to them all the time in high school. My friend Macaire made me a copy of their first album in exchange for a copy of Phoenix's album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I think it was a pretty good trade. Back in high school I had a Zune player and Vampire Weekend's music was unavailable for download (which sucked so hard). I kept that CD in my car all the time and frequently made my friends listen to it when we went for drives on Friday and Saturday nights. Some of my friends will tell you that the only time they've ever listened to Vampire Weekend was in my car. I think my friends liked what they heard.

One day in my Drawing 1 class senior year someone in the previous class had been using the teacher's computer to play music (which she allowed. She is my friend Ellie's mom so basically anything went) and Vampire Weekend's video for "A-Punk" was up on Youtube. My classmates (who were into terrible music) decided to play it because they didn't know what it was. I started jamming to it and singing along which made my friend Kelly laugh. The other people in the room called it "Jamaican sounding white garbage". I was devastated! How dare they say that about my precious Vampire Weekend! When I listen to Ezra sing it's like he's singing into my soul (and I'd like to think he knows and does it on purpose).

In senior year my friend Ellie was the head of our school newspaper and she asked us if we wanted to write for it. She told me they needed music reviews so I wrote a review for Vampire Weekend's album Contra (see above. Also I'm listening to this album right now). She told me she liked it but it needed to be longer. As it turns out the other people on the paper didn't like it. It was to much about the songs and how they made me feel rather than the band and how much music they have so they used some other kid's review which was basically a history of Vampire Weekend. I thought that was pretty lame since what I wrote had been touching and heartfelt. I mentioned how Ezra "yips" on certain tracks and how I love how fast the song "Cousins" is, so fast that you don't know what he's saying. I guess what matters is that I thought my review, which I wish I had to show you, was very true to the band and myself. I never regret writing it, but I do regret giving it to the paper because they made me feel pretty bad about my writing. Not bad enough, apparently, because I write pretty much every day.

I've never seen Vampire Weekend live, but I've always promised myself that if they ever come around here (the NYC/NJ area) and the tickets are affordable I'd go see them and have the time of my life. If you ever have time you should check out their MTV Unplugged episode. It's pretty amazing. They have a flutist perform with them! That means a lot to me since I play flute. I just think that everything about Vampire Weekend is so cool. They're pretty popular now and I think they deserve that. Their music is good enough to not just be a "big hit" for the times like some new artists that are out today. They put a lot of work into what they produce and for that I love and respect them.