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In the Post #105: Vampire Weekend return with new tracks ‘Diane Young’ and ‘Step’

Words by Jordy Fujiwara

It’s been more than three years since the album ‘Contra’ was released, so it’s understandable that Vampire Weekend would look to build some considerable hype for the upcoming ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ album, due out the 13th of May on XL Recordings.

In addition to a partnership with VEVO, YouTube, American Express and, serendipitously enough, actor Steve Buscemi, the band has circulated two very interesting songs online. ‘Diane Young’ and ‘Step’ were uploaded to YouTube on the same day, enjoying almost exactly the same amount of views to date – about 1.4 million each. Both tracks are excellent in their own right, but what I find the most intriguing is how they are such polar opposites in many respects. So much so that I can’t help but assume the boys chose to preview these two for a reason. The videos are down below, but let’s talk about them first.

‘Diane Young’ is a very punchy, driving song that dives right in and doesn’t really slow down. It’s loud and unapologetic with interjecting ‘Miserlou’-style riffs and a thrashy-crashy reverb-laden percussion. ‘Step’ on the other hand has patient pace. The keys and a calm bass lead the melody. The song feels like it unfurls musically, as the octaves build soothingly through Ezra Koenig’s passionate delivery.

Lyrically, I feel like ‘Diane Young’ is much more straightforward (well, for Vampire Weekend at least). The verses are nice, structured AABBs. The bridge and hook are simple and catchy (“baby baby baby!”); you can get into this song without having to really grasp the depth of the story itself. That said, it is interesting to interpret Diane Young as “dying young” and explore the hints in the words that speak to death and living in or for the moment.

‘Step’ takes a different approach. It is a very rich, lyrical song, chalk full of references, little allegories and clever phrasings like, “I just ignored all the details of a past life / stale conversation deserves but a butter knife”. The verses are much less structured than ‘Diane Young’, flowing more like poetry and relying on Koenig’s timing and meter to complement the music. Each line reads like a profound revelation, and you find yourself really trying to figure out what it might mean – for yourself, for life, for love… in other words this song makes you think. (If you want to really tear apart the lyrical meanings for either song, I suggest you head over to rapgenius.com and search for these tracks there – folks have put a lot of time and energy going through them both almost line by line.)

Finally, the videos. If the little analysis above doesn’t cement the idea that these two pieces aren’t just different, but almost diametrically opposed, then the videos will. ‘Diane Young’ is shot in rich colour – ‘Step’ is black and white. ‘Diane…’ barely cuts at all; it just recycles the same few seconds of slow-mo video; ‘Step’ cuts at practically every measure and is shot at regular speed. The video for ‘Diane Young’ is blatantly tied to the first line (“you torched a Saab like a pile of leaves”)’ ‘Step’s use of everyday scenes from New York is clearly not as overt, though the city is mentioned in the song and, of course, the band is from NYC. And glaringly, ‘Diane Young’ is not a lyrics video, where Step seems like it was almost built with karaoke in mind, which speaks to which song was felt to have more lyrical presence.

With all that in mind, have a look for yourself at the video below if you haven’t already. Can you spot any more differences? Together, they’re billed as a double A- single, and I think they make a lovely, complementary pair. If they represent two ends of the range of songs we’re to expect with ‘Modern Vampires of the City’, it’ll be a triumph of an album for these young and burgeoning artists.

Video of the Moment #1188: Dutch Uncles

Marple’s Dutch Uncles never do anything by the book. That includes their latest video for ‘Bellio’, off their January 2013-released album ‘Out of Touch in the Wild’ (it’s great; read the review here). It’s a biologist’s dream. Including this one. Watch it below.

Catch the band on tour in the UK in May, including a stop on the Friday night at Liverpool Sound City (the Garage).

Wednesday 1st May 2013 – Nottingham Spanky Van Dykes
Thursday 2 May 2013 – London Scala (16+)
Friday 3 May 2013 – Liverpool Sound City (The Garage)
Saturday 4th May 2013 – Leeds Live at Leeds (Leeds Uni Stylus)
Sunday 5th May 2013 – Edinburgh Big Day In (Electric Circus)
Tuesday 21st May 2013 – York Fibbers (14+)
Wednesday 22nd May 2013 – Cambridge Portland Arms
Thursday 23rd May 2013 – Bristol Fleece (all ages, under 16s accompanied by adult)
Friday 24th May 2013 – Southampton Joiners (14+)
Saturday 25th May 2013 – Norwich Waterfront (14+)
Sunday 26th May 2013 – Leicester Handmade Festival (Firebug)

Live Gig Video: The Airborne Toxic Event play an acoustic version of new song ‘The Storm’

The Airborne Toxic Event‘s third album, ‘Such Hot Blood’, will be released next week on Island, and ahead of it, here’s an acoustic version of ‘The Storm’, one of the tracks that feature on the new release. They were the first band I ever covered live as a music writer, so it’s great to see that the band are still going strong and still uncompromising. Watch the video below.

Last night in Minneapolis was the first night of their current North American tour, with our Dublin friends Kodaline as support.

Single / Film Review: The Crookes – Dance in Colour

Editor’s note: this is long. I had planned to just review the song. But I couldn’t leave behind the film that goes with it. Just saying! If you really can’t be bothered, scroll down to the bottom and read the last paragraph before the rating…

Update: the band have posted the lyrics under the video on YouTube, so I’ve replaced mine with Daniel Hopewell’s. This affects the review slightly and I’ve added an addendum to address this.

Another week, and another Crookes single. This time, the band branched out beyond just a promo video and actually made a short film soundtracked by the actual song, ‘Dance in Colour’, the other A-side to ‘Bear’s Blood’ that premiered last week. (You can read my review and words on that here.) I had to take a slightly different approach to reviewing this one, now that I had two mediums to examine. I’ll say it up front now that I’m not a cinema buff; I’ve never found the medium of film as exciting as music. At first I thought, okay, this could go in an entirely pretentious direction with the subtitles and not make sense in the context of the song.

However fear not; the vignette’s script was also written by Daniel Hopewell, and I promise you, everything does come together, even if it feels weird initially when you’re queueing it up and you don’t see the band at all in this. (I believe this marks the first of their promos that they don’t actually star or clown around in.) After several listens, and then turning down the sound to read the words, there’s actually a striking sync between the song and the dialogue between the two actors.

You can read the dialogue while you watch the video, so I’m not going to transcribe that for you. After posting the original review, the band helpfully posted the lyrics under the description of the YouTube video, so below is Daniel’s (If you’re curious how I heard it, scroll down to the cut, as I’ve moved my impression of it there.)

–
You might smoke in black and white but you should always dance in colour.
Some dream of quiet love; I favour chaos.
I want a love like no other so let’s dance in colour.
I want life to sprawl, to twist with the rise and fall of cold hands shaking, of my own heart breaking.
‘Cos there’s no worse feeling than feeling nothing at all.
I’m empty and aching and so tired of just waiting.

He walks in whispers, draws a stranger’s gaze.
Why you always sleeping? It’s the middle of the day.
And they’re nothing, no they’re nothing like us.
Why you always running from the people that you love?

I want it to burn. I want it to effervesce until the district’s glowing.
I want it to hurt, to feel it in every breath.
I don’t care where I’m going…just that I’m going.

Now I can’t hide my smiling eyes.
Why can’t you be kind and just pretend that you miss me?
I’m weak and restless, young men are.
It was always staying still that made me dizzy.

He walks in whispers, draws a stranger’s gaze.
Why you always sleeping? It’s the middle of the day.
And they’re nothing, no they’re nothing like us.
Why you always running from the people that you love?
–

The start of this song is just…well, sad. The way George Waite sings it, along with the echoey effects on his voice and the one guitar playing, sounds ghostly. I almost don’t want to say it but actually sounded morbid to me. “I’m empty and aching / and so tired of just waiting.” is probably one of the most evocatively melancholy lines ever written in pop. This is followed by a chorus that is really confusing me, because I can’t tell if it’s from the point of view of someone other than the main character, who I’m making male for the sake of simplicity. In the chorus, one-half of a couple is somewhere like a bar or a club and looking at strangers, catching a stranger’s eye while the other half is at home, sleeping in the middle of the day and not with his/her better half. “Why are you always running from the people that you love?”: not all is happy in this relationship, it’s on the rocks.

And this all happens in the lyrics before the tempo picks up. The film also feels cold too; the woman, who could probably play Adele in a future biopic of the ‘Chasing Pavements’ star, is disparaging towards her dining companion, complaining that all he has is matches and not a real lighter (she says “how quaint” and we can’t see her eyes, though I suspect she would be rolling them), then later accusing “that sounds familiar…like it’s been said before”, as if he’s a terrible conversationalist. The man, an English version of Luke Wilson in a suit, is trying to hold his own, trying to bring up one topic after another, but keeps getting shot down because…well, the woman just isn’t that interested.

It’s really interesting that just like in ‘Bear’s Blood’, there’s subtext beyond the topic of ‘Dance in Colour’, which admittedly sounds like it could be the title to a song by any one of my favourite electronic dance bands. It sounded like such a un-Crookes title to me when I’d first heard the name. “Black and white” is used to show things that are total opposites: good vs. bad, truth vs. lies. In the context of the song, I also read it like the simpleton’s version of how a relationship works, and I’ll give you an example from my uni days. When my friends and I were in school, my friend Jenn insisted on trying Match.com to find the love of her life. (Me? I just couldn’t be bothered. At age 21 I’d decided biology was my life, I was going to spend the rest of it in a laboratory or behind a lectern preaching to undergraduates, alone, and that was it.) The most memorable of the men she dated were an economist who drove a Buick (who I decided was entirely too boring) and an anthropologist who rode a motorbike and had curly hair. One night she was saying she really liked this economist guy because he had a stable job, and she could see starting a life with him. I argued with her, saying that job stability of the person you date was a terrible measure of who you were compatible with. (I mean, what if one day he lost his job? There goes your dating theory…)

It was also obvious that she wasn’t wild about this man either, and I knew she’d said what she’d said because as Chinese girls, we’d been brought up to be ‘good’, do well in school, become doctors or engineers and find someone, preferably Chinese (ugh), with a respectable job. Because that’s just what you ‘do’. I remember exactly what I said to her: “don’t you want to *feel* something strong? And real? I could never be with someone I didn’t feel entirely attracted to. And I have to feel that inside.” She thought I was crazy, that I wanted a fantasy that never could happen. She thought a relationship was different: she thought it was all about getting all your ducks lined up in a row, with certain things happening, and most of all, the process was supposed to be simple and you had to put faith in that it would happen simply if you let it. Intriguingly, this is also the opinion of the woman in the film, who says to the man across from her, “…the best we can hope for is to love and be loved in return, it’s the same old story”. Pretty depressing if love is that clinical, eh?

But here’s the rub: the man insists with a smile, “you make it sound so simple…Some dream of quiet love, I favour chaos”. Which brings me back to the point of my story, and what feels like the point of ‘Dance in Colour’: for some people, relationships are black and white. You find someone, you feel good around each other, you get married, etc. Because that’s what society expects you to do. The voice of this song thinks this is rubbish; he wants to feel passionate about someone, burning from the inside out, even saying “I want to burn, I want it to effervesce”, feel something for a woman so deeply that everything around him is on fire. He wants the way he feels about her to make him catch his breath, to physically “hurt” him. (I found this line particularly apt for me; the few times in my life it’s happened, when I’ve fallen in love, I can feel my mouth doing the fish out of water thing, like I’m gasping for air. As a biologist by training, I chalk this up to a flight or fight response. But when I tell my girlfriends what’s happened, they look at me like I’m absolutely crazy because it doesn’t happen like that for them. Well, I guess I’m in the minority…) In the moment, he’s “glowing” from the romantic ardor he has for this woman. He’s feeling something! But he knows at some point he must leave: “I don’t care where I’m going…just that I’m going.”

I don’t want to forget the bridge: “Now I can’t hide my smiling eyes / why can’t you be quiet and just pretend that you miss me? / I’m weak and restless, young men are / it was always staying still that made me dizzy.” What does this mean? The woman in the film says she had to leave where she was from to travel around the world because “you know it was always staying still that made me dizzy”. Hmmm. The lovers in the song have been separated; with his “smiling eyes” that he “can’t hide”, he’s still thinking about when it was still good between them and when they were still together and wishes his lover felt the same way about that precious time they had together. But he’s also trying to apologise, saying he couldn’t stay in one place, that’s he’s a rolling stone. There’s a restlessness in the earlier line “I don’t care where I’m going…just that I’m going” that echoes the same sentiment in ‘Sal Paradise’ in ‘Hold Fast’: “You were for running away dear / strange ideals made it so very unclear how your heart feels.”

Of course, then there is the title. You know the phrase “it takes two to tango”? If Shakespeare was right and “all the world’s a stage”, then the way forward according to our protagonist is to “want a lover like no other” and to “dance in colour” with that person. And don’t force yourself to stay within the bounds of black and white. Don’t do what you’re told. Feel something. The song also says that relationships don’t always last forever. And that’s okay. We move on and grow, but remember the best parts of being with that person you loved.

Okay, so if I have entirely bored you out of your mind by the above, here is what you need to know: instrumentally, the song can’t be beat. The main guitar riff is entirely memorable and became implanted into my brain after the second listen. (In the part of my brain where Jimmy Page’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ solo resides.) And compared to, say, their first single ‘Backstreet Lovers’ that basically held the same tempo and feeling throughout, the way the first half is so different from the second is actually a pretty cool song structure to give more weight to the second half. What are the Crookes going to do next? Will they start their own production company and make films? I just hope they don’t stop making music.

Addendum: okay, so after reading the full lyrics just now, my impression that it’s about being restless has grown stronger. I sincerely love the lines, “I’m weak and restless, young men are /
it was always staying still that made me dizzy.” It’s an admission from the protagonist that he can’t help it, it’s in his nature to want to move on. If only all men were as honest. Something else interesting: scroll up two paragraphs and read the fourth to last sentence I wrote last night. “Feel something.” That I feel is the take home message.

8/10

The Crookes’ ‘Dance in Colour’, the other A-side to previously revealed single ‘Bear’s Blood’, will be released on 7″ and digital download on the 27th of May on Fierce Panda. The band will be headlining the Fierce Panda 19th birthday party at London Scala on Tuesday the 21st of May; tickets are on sale now and are £8 advance not including handling fees.

What I heard initially when transcribing:
You might smoke in black and white
but you should always dance in colour,
dance in colour.
Some dream of quiet love,
I favour chaos.
I want a love like no other,
so let’s dance in colour.

I want life to [I have absolutely no idea what this line is!]
of cold hands shaking,
of my own heart breaking.
‘cos there’s no words
to make me feel nothing at all.
I’m empty aching,
and so tired of just waiting.

Looks and whispers draw a stranger’s gaze
Why are you always sleeping?
It’s the middle of the day.
And they’re nothing, no, they’re nothing like us.
Why are you always running from the people that you love?

I want to burn, I want it to effervesce
’til the district’s glowing, the district’s glowing
I want it to hurt, to feel it in every breath
I don’t care where I’m going, just that I’m glowing

Now I can’t hide my smiling eyes,
why can’t you be quiet and just pretend that you miss me?
I’m weak and restless, young, and all it was always staying still,
it made me dizzy.

Looks and whispers draw a stranger’s gaze
Why are you always sleeping?
It’s the middle of the day.
And they’re nothing, no, they’re nothing like us.
Why are you always running from the people that you love?

Why are you always running, love?

Video of the Moment #1187: Goldheart Assembly

It’s been a while since the chaps from Goldheart Assembly checked in. After the release of the fabulous ‘Wolves and Thieves’ on Fierce Panda in 2010, the last we heard from them was this lovely song ‘Harvest in the Snow’, which they offered up for free download in March 2011.

Well, good news everyone! They’ll be releasing a new album this year, called ‘Long Distance Song Effects’, on the 1st of July through New Music Club. I’m not entirely sold on this first taster, for the song ‘Billy in the Lowground’, as it’s got a ‘Obladi Oblada’ wonky rhythm running underneath. Have a watch and listen to the video below and decide for yourself.

Hit the Deck Nottingham 2013 Roundup

Photos by Jess Mason (@jessislost)

The sun beat down upon the beautiful streets of Nottingham as hordes of scantily-clad teenagers, sporting piercings aplenty and tattoos in abundance. With a plethora of flesh on show, these skipped giddily towards Nottingham’s rock central, Hit the Deck Festival 2013.

Billed as the UK’s premier indoor festival, the artists are shared among seven venues all within walking distance of each other. It’s still in its infancy, with yesterday’s events being the third time the festival has hit Nottingham. If hardcore, punk and metal are your genres of choice, then Hit the Deck presented a veritable orgy of talent from the UK and abroad to feast your teeth into, from experimental instrumental acts to some pop-punk for the young at heart.

After interviewing a number of lovely bands, with a special mention to the utterly mad Dingus Khan who were interviewed on top of a 16-storey parking garage and partially in a lift, the bands were set upon!

First up were female quartet Evarose, whose energy in Rock City’s sweaty basement was infectious from the off. There is nothing quite as contagious as the energy of a band that is obviously enjoying themselves immensely. The smile plastered across the bassist’s face was testament to this. They may not have been playing the big stages, but they committed themselves 100% to the task ahead of them, which was of course winning the festival audience who had stumbled upon them. The lead vocalist was an abundance of the pop-punky jumpiness you expect from a band like this, and whilst her vocal range let her down slightly, it did seem a case of practice will see these girls come good. (7/10)

In the Rescue Rooms directly afterwards, instrumental five-piece Maybeshewill set upon a bit of mindbuggery with their noodling solos and occasionally heavy breakdowns/beatdowns (take your pick). The crowd were either encapsulated, or thoroughly baffled by the band, as the crowd stood permanently affixed, only breaking their statuesque poses to mark the end of a song with a round of applause.

Instrumental music provides the quizzical question to punters, of ‘where do you look?’ Whilst most bands have a focal point, a frontman of some kind, with Maybeshewill your eyes dart around each members instruments. The set though was tight and enjoyable if you could get your head around the lack of vocals and in an understated fashion they slowly won over the pedestrian crowd. (7/10)

From something understated, to something thoroughly over the top in the form of Attack Attack! was the next move, as the American post-hardcore outfit bounded onto the stage with the exuberance of a group of puppies. Cute and cuddly like puppies? Not exactly! With the groups mix of hardcore bass riffs and techno interludes driving the assembled masses of Rock City into a bopping, bouncing frenzy of flailing flesh and roaring fans.

The mix is eclectic, and works somewhat sparingly, but as the set goes on, the rather formulaic song construction wears slightly thin on my cynical (and very large) ears. However, as a live act, the band exude confidence and frontman Phil Druyor proves to be a bastion of charm, energy and everything a band like Attack Attack! need. (6/10)

Following up from the aural assault of Attack Attack! are one of the most hotly tipped bands on the bill: Essex band We Are the Ocean who, forgive the pun, are riding the crest of a wave after the success of hugely-catchy tracks like ‘The Waiting Room’, ‘Bleed’ and ‘The Road’. WATO are the kind of no frills rock and roll act that I just can’t fail to enjoy.

Heart on their sleeve choruses and an aversion to wonky time signatures which sees some brilliantly catchy tunes roared from the Rock City main stage. The UK has their very own Gaslight Anthem, and with the reception they received from the crowd as evidence, they will be hearing a lot more of WATO’s charming tunage. (8/10)

After a brief interlude for some of the most delectable cookies I’ve ever had the pleasure to consume it was time for a healthy dose of pop-punk tomfoolery with We are the in Crowd. NOT WE ARE IN THE CROWD, as this annoys them greatly. Trust me.

For a WATIC virgin I was in shock as the American five-piece proceeded to pull tune after tune out of their pockets, whipping the packed room of tweens and teenyboppers into a flurried mass of squealing. Each member of the band brought boundless vitality to the stage, whilst Jordan Eckes vocals soared across the wide expanse of Rock City with ease, before set closer ‘Rumor Mill’ produced easily the biggest and most positive reaction of the day’s proceedings. (8/10)

Next up were a band whom are bound to cause chaos wherever they go and I for one feel for their tour manager. Pure Love, fronted by ex-Gallows troublemaker Frank Carter, the Rescue Rooms was literally torn to bits as the rampaging lead singer leapt into the crowd and made his way to the bar for a vodka Coke.

If that wasn’t enough, lead guitarist and ex-Suicide File axe man Jim Carroll managed two crowd surfs whilst still slamming riffs out during the first two songs. With chaos ensuing, it seemed only right that Frank took proceedings to an even odder stage by putting the bands drum kit in the crowd and orchestrating a swirling circle pit around it. Whilst the theatrics made it an engrossing set, the tunes ensured that this was the set of the festival hands down. Carter remains the emphatic draw he was in his time at Gallows, and I can only see Pure Love going from strength to strength. (9.5/10)

To close the night are the champions of lad rock, kings of (dare I say it) swag and purveyors of some of the most memorable tunes you’ll hear this year and the next! Don Broco look every bit rocks answer to The Ordinary Boys, only not shit, with frontman Rob Damiani resplendent in a Fred Perry polo shirt and with his biceps almost tearing through it.

They open with a belter, in the form of ‘Priorities’, and from then on the tone is set. Damiani struts across the stage with a trademark elegance and swag (god, I said it again). The hits are flying out at break neck pace and even a rather laboured break for the bands fabled push-up patrol, for which they have t-shirts, does not interrupt proceedings. Again, it may be clichéd, but there are BIG things for these boys in the future. They are polite, extremely likable and bloody good looking to boot. What they want to do really is up to them, from the reception they received. (9/10)