In 2013, the
indie band, Vampire Weekend, debuted their third album, Modern Vampires of the City, argued to be the band’s best album to
date. Their name makes the band appear to be in the goth/emo genre, however,
when their first album came out, the band had a far more ‘preppy’ vibe than
their name suggested. They appears at concerts sporting polos, sweaters, and Sperry Top-Siders, all of which are labeled as ‘preppy’ clothing. Vampire Weekend
appeared on stage in 2008 armed with an intimate knowledge of guitar music from
Africa and an ivy school education.
(Left to right: Batmanglij, Koenig, Tomson, Baio)
While the band
members have been friends since they graduated from making music in a Columbia
dorm room, they all remain distinct and have separate projects. Ezra Koenig,
the lead singer of Vampire Weekend, often works on projects with other bands
including Cromeo and Major Lazer. He is also an avid user of twitter and has
dubbed by many as a “twitter god” (see link below). The keyboardist and
guitarist, Rostam Batmanglij produces music with other artists, including the
lead singer of Ra Ra Riot, as well as writes and performs his own music. He was
also the producer for the band’s first two albums and was co-producer on their
most recent album. The bassist, Chris Baio, is a DJ that performs around the world
(wherever Vampire Weekend tours) and often posts his mixes on the website
Soundcloud. Chris Tomson, the drummer, performed folk music that he wrote while
he was in college. Before he played drums for the band, Tomson was primarily a
guitar player.
Their first
album, aptly titled, Vampire Weekend, was
written over their college years at Columbia in New York City. It debuted in
2008, and before the album was even out, the band appeared on the cover of SPIN
Magazine in anticipation of a big release. The band described their album as
“upper west side Soweto” (SPIN). Vampire Weekend’s first album fueled an
exploration of “global sounds” in indie-pop that was not highly present
(Rolling Stone). The song that most exemplifies these global sounds is the song
aptly named “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” which mixes African drum beats with the
college lifestyle. This album was rated 24 out of 100 albums on the Rolling
Stone’s ranking of “The 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time” (Rolling Stone).
The band’s
second album, Contra, was a logical
step between Vampire Weekend and
third album, Modern Vampires of the City.
Contra mixes in some of the drum
beats from their first album with themes that are a bit deeper than those that
appeared out of college dorm rooms in their first album. This makes sense that
as the band grows up, their music would grow up as well. While this album is
often cited as a transition album between their first and third albums, it also
is unique, especially with its music videos. The video for “Giving Up the Gun”
is interesting because it includes a tennis match that begins with the music
producer, RZA, lording over the game, and ends with the star playing a match
against herself.
Modern Vampires of the City took the band over three years to write
and was highly anticipated by fans. This album began exploring deeper themes,
present in previous albums, but now brought to the forefront of their songs.
Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij accumulated ideas for many weeks before they
were able to get together on Martha’s Vineyard to begin writing the album
together. Koenig remembers that he started this album from a “weirder” and
“lonelier” place, which makes sense when you listen to the melancholic lyrics
of their newest album in which you can begin to sense your eminent death (SPIN).
The creative
process for their most recent album is very interesting because of all of the
songs that they wrote for the album, the ones that actually appeared on the record
were those with which there was an initial spark and everything came together
very quickly. For this record, they wrote songs in various ways and ended up
with songs that were treated as a recording project, rather than arranging them
together as a band (like in the previous albums). Batmanglij talks with
National Public Radio about how they end up choosing songs to fully develop and
he states, “the test is if you become addicted to listening to it…it’s a great
sign. It means it’s good.” Overall, there was about a year of writing, recording,
and “gestation” by the band before they were able to get together and record
(National Public Radio). In the end, they often worked for twelve hours a day
to get the songs just perfect for their third album.
The song that
SPIN calls the “centerpiece” of Modern
Vampires of the City is “Hannah Hunt” and this represents the product of
the band’s final “coming of age” with a sorrow-filled melody as well as lyrics
to match (SPIN). However, the song was always a part of the band that evolved
with them and grew up. The music on this album is no longer “Afro-pop” and
evolving into a sound that is entirely unique from previous albums.
Another unique
element in this album is the vocal manipulations. The band thought that this
kind of manipulation “just felt right on a lot of songs” especially with “Ya
Hey” and “Step” (National Public Radio). This is the kind of album that you
have to listen to multiple times in order to get the full effect of the themes
that connect between the songs as well as the necessity of some of their
manipulations. Overall though, this is a creation completely unique to the
indie community and continues to make Vampire Weekend a relevant band, despite
their first album being released in 2008.
So, it is clear
that not only is the band highly creative, but each of the individuals in the
band is creative as well. The evolution of Vampire Weekend’s music is important
testimony to the flexibility of the band and their ability to demonstrate
talents in more than one area of music. Their creativity appears to result from
the mash-up of all four of these creatives. While Koenig and Batmanglij
primarily write the music, Baio and Tomson are highly involved in the process
as well.
Laird D.
McLean’s article, “Organizational Culture’s Influence on Creativity and
Innovation: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Human Resource
Development” cites the importance of studying the environment within which a
creative operates (McLean 226). While the members of Vampire Weekend have
separate creative talents involved in writing music, they all support each
other in a way that produces polished albums. They have been friends since
college and have supported each other’s creative endeavors, so that has
certainly aided their creative process. McLean also demonstrates the importance
of being able to compete in the field and how that is highly connected with the
environment of the organization (McLean 240). Vampire Weekend is clearly
utilizing McLean’s idea involving the importance of not only “generating
creative ideas” but also of “utilizing its innovation process to realize the
potential of those ideas” (McLean 240). Thus, in order for Vampire Weekend to
continue to “remain relevant and to compete in pursuit of its mission,” they
must continue to not only generate ideas, but to utilize innovation (McLean
240).
Sources:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2013-20131202/vampire-weekend-modern-vampires-of-the-city-19691231
McLean, Laird D.
“Organizational Culture’s Influence on Creativity and Innovation: A Review of
the Literature and Implications for Human Resource Development.” Advances in Developing Human Resources 7.2
(2005): 226-246.
I like seeing the kind of fusion of influences that create Vampire Weekend's unique sound. Did you think that it was the best album of 2013? I am obsessed with listology. I think Rolling Stone typically gets all of the right albums on the list, just not in the right order. My choices would have been Yeezus or Random Access Memories.
ReplyDeleteI thought Random Access Memories was very good as well, however, I agree with Rolling Stone on this. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting to hear about bands that are bringing African music to the United States. I have never heard their music before but the combination of indie and African drum beats is intriguing. This reminds me of the Eastern thought process of creativity because Vampire Weekend is combining two things that exist and creating something new.
ReplyDelete