SXSW afternoon dispatch: Vampire Weekend's relaxing victory lap
With a prime-time Friday night showcase, and second billing at Spin magazine's afternoon party, this was Vampire Weekend's day at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference to show what it can do. Indie rock's new superstars came to Austin, Texas, with a top-20 album and a "Saturday Night Live" appearance under its belts, a contrast to the hot bands of year's past.
Two years ago, rockers the Arctic Monkeys rode in to Austin with a nonchalant and disaffected attitude, tossing off their first major U.S. showcase. And last year, Amy Winehouse's will-she-play/won't-she-play talk dominated the event day in and day out. But there was no buzz or controversy surrounding the preppy New York-based indie rockers.
Having been christened rock's next big thing last summer, Vampire Weekend already felt like a veteran band by the time it took the stage today at 4 p.m., even though the group has only released one album. With the bloggers and the media (the band is on the cover of the current issue of Spin) already on board, there was little more to hype.
Vampire Weekend's Friday afternoon performance, therefore, should have been a victory lap for the band. Instead it felt more like a picnic in the park, a pleasant enough affair but one that failed to resonate once the set ended.
Vampire Weekend is more bashful than cocky, and when lead singer Ezra Koenig introduced "One (Blake's Got a New Face)," he asked the crowd to join in for some call-and-response ... yet quickly noted it would be cool if just "one out of three" were willing to participate.
Such tentativeness works for and against the band. The galloping rhythm and in-and-out keyboard of "Mansard Roof" make for a skip-along-the-sidewalks pop number, and the minor-key sparkle, whistling keyboards and shout-outs of "Hey! Hey! Hey!" make for a short and punchy number in "A-Punk." Yet for all the band's worldly influences -- check the Caribbean beats of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" --Vampire Weekend could do for some variety.
It wasn't more than three of four songs in that Vampire Weekend's minimalist arrangements were lost in the light Texas breeze. If only a few songs inspired the crowd to shake it, the rest lacked any sense of tension. Indeed, songs such as "Campus" and "M79," with light guitar twinkling and easy-going vocals, were better fit for background music at a tea party.
Photo: Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend (Jack Plunkett / AP)
