Modern Vampires of the City

Last updated

Modern Vampires of the City
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City.png
Studio album by
Vampire Weekend
ReleasedMay 14, 2013 (2013-05-14)
Recorded2012–2013
Studio
Genre
Length42:54
Label XL
Producer
Vampire Weekend chronology
Contra
(2010)		Modern Vampires of the City
(2013)		 Father of the Bride
(2019)
Singles from Modern Vampires of the City
  1. "Diane Young" / "Step"
    Released: March 19, 2013
  2. "Ya Hey"
    Released: May 3, 2013
  3. "Unbelievers"
    Released: August 12, 2013

Modern Vampires of the City is the third studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released on May 14, 2013, by XL Recordings. The group began to write songs for the album during soundchecks on the supporting concert tour for their previous album, 2010's Contra . After a period in which each member explored individual musical projects, they regrouped and continued working on Modern Vampires of the City in 2011. With no deadline in mind, the band brought in an outside record producer for the first time, Ariel Rechtshaid, to record the album.

Contents

With Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend attempted to depart from the African-influenced indie pop style of their previous records. Broadly experimental, the album's sound was the result of a variety of unconventional recording assets, including pitch shifting. Subjects explored on the record include characters with adult responsibilities, reflections on growing old, mortality, and religious faith. Vampire Weekend titled the album after a lyric in the 1990 Junior Reid song "One Blood" and chose a Neal Boenzi photograph of the 1966 New York City smog event as the album cover, citing the haunting qualities of both the title and photograph as the reason for using them.

Modern Vampires of the City debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming Vampire Weekend's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. By December 2014, the album had sold 505,000 copies in the US. It was also a widespread critical success and was ranked by several publications as 2013's best album, while finishing second in the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. It has since been ranked on many lists of the best albums from the 2010s. In 2020, the album was ranked at number 328 on Rolling Stone ‘s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

Background

The success of Vampire Weekend's second album, Contra (2010), established the group as "one of the past decade's great indie-rock success stories." [1] By the time their world tour for Contra ended, the band realized they had not taken a break in nearly five years. [1] During the break, each member pursued individual projects: Baio performed DJ sets and scored the Bob Byington film Somebody Up There Likes Me, [2] Batmanglij recorded solo material and produced tracks for Das Racist and spent time traveling India with three friends, [3] [4] and Koenig collaborated with Major Lazer. [5] Koenig had broken up with his girlfriend shortly before the release of Contra and subsequently moved out of their shared apartment in New York. [3] Feeling "weird and aimless", Koenig attempted to stay in Los Angeles but he returned to New York after four months. [1] [3]

Writing and recording

Flickr - moses namkung - Vampire Weekend-3.jpg
Rostam Batmanglij, the band's multi-instrumentalist and producer
Ariel Rechtshaid studio picture.png
Ariel Rechtshaid, the album's co-producer

Batmanglij and Koenig wrote most of the songs in Batmanglij's apartment, a former factory building in Brooklyn. [1] By the time Vampire Weekend eventually regrouped in 2011, the band members had amassed plenty of written material and made sure to take their time making a new record. Koenig and Batmanglij met several times a week to write songs, some of which they'd later scrap. The pair also took a "writing retreat" to Martha's Vineyard, where they bore down and composed several new tracks [3] at a rented cottage. [1] Working with no deadline in mind, the group began recording Modern Vampires of the City. [2]

The songs for Modern Vampires of the City were recorded at several locations, including Downtown Studios in New York City, Echo Park Back House and Vox Studios in Los Angeles, Slow Death Studios in Burbank, and the apartment of Rostam Batmanglij, Vampire Weekend's multi-instrumentalist and producer. [6] Early drafts of the tracks "Obvious Bicycle" and "Worship You" were produced at OK Go frontman, Damian Kulash's old house in Chicago, before being taken to an official studio to work on. Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid, the album's co-producer, used a pair of mirrored solid state MacBooks with UAD-2 Satellite Firewire Cards so they could take their recordings anywhere and work on them from separate locations with maximum ease. [7]

Modern Vampires of the City was an attempt by Vampire Weekend to distance themselves from the sounds featured on their debut record and Contra. "Whenever we came up with something familiar sounding, it was rejected", said Rechtshaid. [8] The band credits Vox Studios with the defining special quality of the recordings, especially the use of their vintage analog tape machines, with Batmanglij remarking, "Much of the overall sound and approach to the album was being able to record the drums to tape on an old Ampex machine." [8] The group wanted a unique drum sound, and so they recorded in a room with high ceilings and had engineer David Schiffman use a "pretty non-conventional drum miking setup" in which a pair of Neumann U 47s were used as over head mics with RCA 77dx ribbon mics between the Neumanns and the drum kit for added texture. Tape recordings of the drums were then heavily treated and manipulated with Ableton Live plug-ins. Lastly, the band layered samples onto select portions of the drum recordings to accent or shape the finished tone. [8]

Lead vocalist-guitarist Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio Vampire Weekend FDS 1.jpg
Lead vocalist-guitarist Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio

Pitch shifting proved a major component of recording the album. For tracks such as "Step", drums were recorded on a Varispeed Tape deck set to a lower speed so that they would play back faster and more high pitched. Drummer Chris Tomson would then re-record the drums playing to the sped-up recording to get an uptempo live take. [8] This second recording was then slowed back down to original speed to create an "underwater" effect. The effect is featured prominently on vocals as well. Ezra Koenig's vocals were run through Eventide H949 and 910 on tracks such as "Diane Young", with both the pitch and formant shifted changed to manipulate the sound of recorded vocals. [8] Bass guitar was also recorded straight to tape "with a fairly ambient miking approach where the mic was three feet away from the cabinet". Vocals were recorded with Soundelux U99 Microphones, in combination with 1176 Classic limiter plug-in, Fairchild 670 Compressor and Elektro-Mess-Technik 140 Plate Reverb, giving the vocals a quality Batmanglij described as "buttery". [7] For guitar sounds, Batmanglij chose not to mic his guitar and instead plugged his Gibson Les Paul direct-in to Pro Tools through a SansAmp Amp Emulation Pedal, a technique used by Jimmy Page. [8]

Vampire Weekend concentrated their efforts on giving each recording "warmth", feeling that modern digital recordings lacked the sound quality of older records. [8] In an attempt to make the tracks sound less harsh, the band and their recording engineers used a spectrum analyzer, Sonnox SuprEsser and heavily automated EQs to edit out harsher, colder frequencies and soften the mix. Vampire Weekend painstakingly listened to the record several separate times using technology from standard commercial iPod earbuds to professional equipment to ensure the record sounded nice regardless of equipment the listener owned. [8] Desiring to "check the relative warmth levels", the engineers would "go in and perform surgery and automate EQs" in order to make the mixes listenable. The band felt the finished product was something of a third chapter and a continuation of material explored in their previous two efforts. "We thought these three albums should look like they belong together on a bookshelf", said Batmanglij. "We realized that there are things connecting the songs across three albums, like an invisible hand was guiding us. It does feel like we've been able to create three distinct worlds for each album, and yet have them be interconnected." [8]

Music and lyrics

Modern Vampires of the City is indeed a deeply God-haunted work ... Koenig doesn't give any indication he himself is a believer (more often just the opposite), but there is a recurring sense of engagement with God throughout the album, a sense of wrestling with the implications and impossibilities of faith. By accident or, more likely, by design, this builds and builds until Koenig puts everything on the table and addresses God directly.

—Barry Lenser, PopMatters [9]

Modern Vampires of the City is a departure from the percussive, African-influenced indie pop of Contra. [10] Batmanglij said that the album has a recurring tension that distinguishes it from the band's previous albums: "Even if the songs are mostly in a major key, there’s something that’s hanging out there that’s a little bit dark. And I think that’s reflective of the world." [11] According to Heather Phares of AllMusic, the album abandoned the eclectic influences of Contra in favor of "a less audacious production style and smaller instrumental palette: guitar, organ, harpsichord, and the occasional sample combine into a rarefied sound that suggests a more insular version of their debut". She pointed to how the album is bookended by the stylistically narrow chamber pop on the songs "Obvious Bicycle" and "Young Lion". [12]

"Step" was inspired by a lyric from Souls of Mischief's 1993 song "Step to My Girl", which sampled Grover Washington, Jr.'s cover of Bread's "Aubrey". The vocal melody of the chorus interprets the melody of "Aubrey" so close that the band had to clear it as a sample. [8] The chorus vocals were recorded in Ableton Live using the onboard microphone in Batmanglij's MacBook Pro. [8] Alexis Petridis viewed that some songs echo lesser known "musical tropes" from the group's previous albums—a mock Irish folk influence is heard on "Unbelievers", while "Step" features "Left Banke-inspired baroque pop". [13] More generally, Steven Edelstone of Paste magazine regarded the music as a mix of "chamber pop and world-weariness". [14] According to Brice Ezell from PopMatters , this album is "very much an indie rock record" because of Koenig's voice and diction, which reveals "the youth that he and his bandmates so often strive to shrug off." Ezell asserts that, on songs such as "Unbelievers", the "reckless abandon" expressed by the lyrics reveals "the group's grasp on the genuine rebellion that indie rock ought to strive for." [15]

In comparison to the band's previous music, the lyrics explore more mature, world-weary themes such as growing old and disillusionment with American foreign policy. [10] The album abandons the theme of privileged youth from their first two albums in favor of characters faced with adult responsibilities and reflections on the passage of time. Faith and mortality are recurring themes on songs such as "Unbelievers", "Worship You", and "Everlasting Arms". [11] Koenig discussed Modern Vampires of the City in the context of the band's first three albums, which he compared to Brideshead Revisited : "The naïve joyous school days in the beginning. Then the expansion of the world, travel, seeing other places, learning a little bit more about how people live. And then the end is a little bit of growing up, starting to think more seriously about your life and your faith. If people could look at our three albums as a bildungsroman, I’d be O.K. with that." [11]

Title and packaging

The title was taken from a lyric in Junior Reid's 1990 song "One Blood". Koenig, a fan of the song, found the phrase "Modern Vampires of the City" humorous but also "haunting" as a title for their album. [16] The album's title was revealed in the "Notices & Lost and Found" column of the classifieds section in The New York Times on February 4, 2013; vaguely defined, curlicued letters spelling the title were printed alongside the release date. [17]

Koenig, Batmanglij, and art directors Matt de Jong and Asher Sarlin were credited with designing the album's packaging. [6] For the cover art, the band chose an image taken by New York Times photographer Neal Boenzi, depicting a smog-shrouded, dystopian-looking New York City. Boenzi took the photo atop the Empire State Building in November 1966, when the city was plagued by a smog problem. Because of the subsequent rise in global air pollution, the band chose the photo believing it may have rendered "some kind of future". [3]

Marketing and sales

The band playing Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre in 2013 Vampire Weekend Red Rocks 05.20.13.jpg
The band playing Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre in 2013

To promote the album, XL Recordings released "Diane Young" and "Step" as a double A-sided single on March 19, 2013. [18] Modern Vampires of the City was released by XL on May 14, [19] and Vampire Weekend played several concerts and music festivals shortly after, eventually embarking on a larger supporting tour throughout late 2013, beginning with a show at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on September 19. John Gentile of Rolling Stone reported that the band headlined "some of their largest venues to date" on the tour. [20]

In the album's first week of release, it debuted number one on the Billboard 200 and sold 134,000 copies in the United States. It was Vampire Weekend's second consecutive number-one record on the chart, as well as the nineteenth independently distributed album to top the Billboard 200 in the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991–present). [21] The record entered the UK Albums Chart at number three with first-week sales of 27,805 copies, becoming the group's third consecutive top-twenty album in the United Kingdom. [22] By December 2014, it had been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and sold 505,000 copies in the US. [23] In 2014, it was awarded a diamond certification from the Independent Music Companies Association, [24] which indicated sales of at least 200,000 copies throughout Europe. [25]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.2/10 [26]
Metacritic 84/100 [19]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [12]
Entertainment Weekly A− [27]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [13]
The Independent Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [28]
MSN Music (Expert Witness)A+ [29]
NME 7/10 [30]
Pitchfork 9.3/10 [31]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [32]
Spin 8/10 [33]
The Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [34]

Modern Vampires of the City was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 84, based on 51 reviews. [19] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.2 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. [26]

Reviewing the album in The Independent , Simon Price called it Vampire Weekend's "most cohesive and convincing effort yet" featuring their most accessible compositions. [28] Ryan Dombal from Pitchfork said the singing suited the music fluidly on songs that sounded more natural and dynamic than the band's previous work. [31] Alexis Petridis, lead critic for The Guardian , believed Vampire Weekend successfully avoided the gimmicky sounds of their previous albums and wrote more genuine lyrics dealing with mortality rather than "arch depictions of moneyed young Wasp lives". [13] Slant Magazine 's Jesse Cataldo said the songs may sound dense and wordy, but they would be "immediately potent on a purely visceral level" for listeners, "striking a perfect balance that makes for what's perhaps the best album of the year". [35] Nathan Brackett of Rolling Stone said the album featured a particular spirit and songcraft evocative of urban life, [32] while Robert Christgau appreciated how many twists the coming of age themes revealed. In his review for MSN Music , Christgau found the record similar to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) because of how each lyric and musical element was "pleasurable in itself and aptly situated in the sturdy songs and tracks, so that the whole signifies without a hint of concept". [29]

Other reviewers expressed some reservations. In the Chicago Tribune , Greg Kot wrote that Vampire Weekend occasionally blundered in an attempt at ingenuity with the songs "Ya Hey" and "Finger Back" while finding the album "darker, slower and weirder" than their previous records. [36] NME journalist John Calvert believed the band had sacrificed "the sonic smarts that made them" on what was an otherwise "gorgeous album". [30]

Accolades

By the end of 2013, Modern Vampires of the City had been named the year's best album in a number of polls.[ citation needed ] AllMusic named it one of the year's 50 best records, [37] and it was voted the second best album of 2013 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published by The Village Voice . [38] Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked it first in his own list for The Barnes & Noble Review , writing in an accompanying essay that Vampire Weekend had made an art pop record that "simulates predigital warmth by tinkering with a dizzying panoply of studio stratagems and divides the most emotional songs of the band’s career into distinct parts impossible to enumerate due to how often the arrangements change up gorgeous drum tracks, but I dare you to dance to them". [39] At the 2014 Grammy Awards, Modern Vampires of the City won in the category of Best Alternative Music Album. [40] In 2020, Rolling Stone placed it at number 328 on the magazine's revision to the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. [41]

PublicationRankList
American Songwriter 12Top 50 Albums of 2013 [42]
The A.V. Club 5The 23 Best Albums of 2013 [43]
Billboard 1215 Best Albums of 2013 [44]
1120 Best Albums of the 2010s So Far (2010–14) [45]
Clash 9Top Albums of 2013 [46]
Complex 47The 50 Best Albums of 2013 [47]
Consequence of Sound 2Top 50 Albums of 2013 [48]
Drowned in Sound 6Favourite Albums of 2013 [49]
Exclaim! 4Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums [50]
The Fly 32Albums of the Year [51]
The Guardian 4The best albums of 2013 [52]
GQ 1721 Best Albums of the 21st Century (2000–14) [53]
Magnet 19Top 25 Albums of 2013 [54]
Mojo 7Top 50 Albums of 2013 [55]
musicOMH 6Top 100 Albums of 2013 [56]
The New York Times 3Top Ten Year-End List [57]
NME 1450 Best Albums of 2013 [58]
1950 Best Albums of the Decade So Far (2010–14) [59]
Paste 7The 50 Best Albums of 2013 [60]
Pitchfork 1The Top 50 Albums of 2013 [61]
6The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far (2010–14) [62]
7The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s [63]
PopMatters 1The 75 Best Albums of 2013 [64]
Q 250 Albums of the Year [65]
Rolling Stone 150 Best Albums of 2013 [66]
328500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020) [67]
Slant Magazine 1The 25 Best Albums of 2013 [68]
Spin 350 Best Albums of 2013 [69]
60300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014) [70]
Sputnikmusic17Top 50 Albums of 2013 [71]
Stereogum 3The 50 Best Albums of 2013 [72]
Time 2Top 10 Albums of 2013 [73]
Time Out 2650 Best Albums of 2013 [74]
Uncut 20Top 50 Albums of 2013 [75]
Under the Radar 1Top 125 Albums of 2013 [76]
The Village Voice 2 Pazz and Jop [38]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Ezra Koenig, except where noted; all music composed by Rostam Batmanglij and Koenig, except where noted. [6]

No.TitleLength
1."Obvious Bicycle" (features a sample of "Keep Cool Babylon" by Ras Michael and The Sons of Negus)4:11
2."Unbelievers"3:22
3."Step" (contains elements from "Aubrey" by David Gates and YZ's "Who's That Girl" in its hook)4:11
4."Diane Young"2:40
5."Don't Lie" (additional lyrics written by Batmanglij)3:33
6."Hannah Hunt"3:57
7."Everlasting Arms"3:03
8."Finger Back"3:25
9."Worship You"3:21
10."Ya Hey" (bass line of bridge section composed by Ariel Rechtshaid)5:12
11."Hudson" (music composed by Batmanglij, Koenig, and Chris Tomson)4:14
12."Young Lion" (lyrics and music written by Batmanglij)1:45
Total length:42:54
Japanese edition bonus tracks [77]
No.TitleLength
13."Ya Hey" (Paranoid Styles Mix)3:51
14."Unbelievers" (Seeburg Drum Machine Mix)3:24
Total length:49:09

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [6]

Vampire Weekend

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [116] Gold40,000^
Portugal (AFP) [117] Platinum15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [118] Gold139,695 [119]
United States (RIAA) [120] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampire Weekend</span> American indie rock band

Vampire Weekend is an American rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, and bassist Chris Baio. Batmanglij departed the group in early 2016 but has continued to occasionally contribute to subsequent albums as a songwriter, producer, and musician.

<i>Vampire Weekend</i> (album) 2008 studio album by Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend is the debut studio album by American rock band Vampire Weekend, released on January 29, 2008 by XL Recordings. The album was produced by band member Rostam Batmanglij, with mixing assistance from Jeff Curtin and Shane Stoneback. Released after a year of building internet buzz, the album showcased the band's unique hybrid of indie pop, chamber music, and Afropop influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Koenig</span> American rock musician (born 1984)

Ezra Michael Koenig is an American musician, record producer, and radio personality. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Additionally, Koenig is the creator of the Netflix animated comedy series Neo Yokio and also hosts the Apple Music radio talk show Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig. Time Crisis is airing its tenth season, as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A-Punk</span> 2008 single by Vampire Weekend

"A-Punk" is a song by indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released on February 28, 2008, as the second single from their 2008 self-titled debut album. The band made their network television debut by performing "A-Punk" on the Late Show with David Letterman.

<i>Contra</i> (album) 2010 studio album by Vampire Weekend

Contra is the second studio album by the American rock band Vampire Weekend, produced by band member Rostam Batmanglij and released in January 2010 on XL Recordings. It was preceded by the 2009 singles "Horchata" and "Cousins."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cousins (song)</span> 2009 single by Vampire Weekend

"Cousins" is the first single from Vampire Weekend's second album Contra. It was recorded by the band in Mexico City and debuted a few days later in Guadalajara. The single was released November 17, 2009 and a 7" was released December 15, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Tomson</span> American singer, songwriter and musician (born 1984)

Christopher William Tomson, commonly known by his initials "CT", is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the drummer for New York–based indie rock band Vampire Weekend. He is also the lead vocalist and guitarist for a side project called Dams of the West, for which he writes and records the entirety of its music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rostam Batmanglij</span> American musician (born 1983)

Rostam Batmanglij, known mononymously as Rostam, is an American record producer, musician, singer, songwriter, and composer. He was a founding member of the band Vampire Weekend, whose first three albums he produced. He has been described by Stereogum as one of the greatest pop and indie-rock producers of his generation. Rostam also works as a solo artist and is a member of electro-soul group Discovery. He produced his first number-one album, Vampire Weekend's Contra, when he was 27 years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Sky (song)</span> 2010 single by Vampire Weekend

"White Sky" is the fourth single from Vampire Weekend's second album Contra. The single release features three remixes of the song by Basement Jaxx. It is also the first song to be written on Contra, dating back before their debut album was released.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Cities (band)</span> American pop duo

Capital Cities is an American pop duo from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2008 by Ryan Merchant and Sebu Simonian. Their debut EP was released on June 7, 2011, with lead single "Safe and Sound" which became their only top ten hit single.

<i>Free the Universe</i> 2013 studio album by Major Lazer

Free the Universe is the second full-length studio album released by Major Lazer. The album was released on April 16, 2013, and features appearances by Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, Dirty Projectors' Amber Coffman, Santigold, Peaches, Tyga, Flux Pavilion, Bruno Mars, Wyclef Jean, Shaggy, and more. The album peaked at No. 34 in both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart. It is a follow-up to their 2009 debut Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do (2009)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampire Weekend discography</span>

The discography of American indie rock band Vampire Weekend consists of five studio albums, four extended plays, one live album, eighteen singles, and ten music videos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane Young</span> 2013 single by Vampire Weekend

"Diane Young" is a song by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend, taken from their third studio album Modern Vampires of the City. It was released as the lead single from the album on March 19, 2013. A promotional video of the single, which features two Saab 900s burning throughout the duration of the song, was uploaded to Vevo and YouTube on March 18, 2013. The official video to the single was uploaded on June 3, 2013.

"Ya Hey" is a song by American indie pop band Vampire Weekend, taken from their third studio album Modern Vampires of the City. It was released as the second single from the album on May 3, 2013 through XL Recordings. An official music video of the single, featuring the lyrics, was uploaded on May 3, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unbelievers (song)</span> 2013 single by Vampire Weekend

"Unbelievers" is a song by American indie pop band Vampire Weekend. Written by the band's lead singer Ezra Koenig and multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, and produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and Batmanglij, the song was released as the third single from their third studio album Modern Vampires of the City in August 2013. The band initially premiered "Unbelievers" in a live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on October 31, 2012. They also performed the song live on an episode of Saturday Night Live prior to it being released as a single.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horchata (song)</span> 2009 single by Vampire Weekend

"Horchata" is a song by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Written by the members of the band and produced by band member Rostam Batmanglij, the song was released as the lead single from their second album Contra on October 5, 2009 via XL Recordings. The single was initially released as a free download on the band's web site. The term "horchata" refers to a traditional beverage often made of ground almonds, sesame seeds, or rice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Step (Vampire Weekend song)</span> 2013 single by Vampire Weekend

"Step" is a song by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Written and composed by band members Ezra Koenig and Rostam Batmanglij and produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and Batmanglij, the song was released as the fourth and final single from the band's third studio album Modern Vampires of the City. The song was inspired by American hip hop group Souls of Mischief's song "Step to My Girl".

<i>Father of the Bride</i> (album) 2019 album by Vampire Weekend

Father of the Bride is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It was released on May 3, 2019, by Columbia Records, as their first album on a major label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmony Hall (song)</span> 2019 single by Vampire Weekend

"Harmony Hall" is a song by American indie pop band Vampire Weekend. It is the lead single from their fourth studio album, Father of the Bride, and was released on January 24, 2019, by Columbia Records as a double A-side with "2021". It is the band's highest-charting single on the U.S. Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs charts, peaking at No. 8 and No. 5, respectively. It also received a nomination for Best Rock Song at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

<i>Only God Was Above Us</i> 2024 album by Vampire Weekend

Only God Was Above Us is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released on April 5, 2024, through Columbia Records. It marks the third collaboration between the band and their longtime producer Ariel Rechtshaid. It is also the first album recorded by the band as a trio of vocalist-guitarist Ezra Koenig, bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson after the 2016 departure of keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij; 2019's Father of the Bride, the first post-Batmanglij Vampire Weekend album, was created and promoted by Koenig as a solo project with Baio and Tomson only involved for the album's tours. It received universal acclaim from music critics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Simon Vozick-Levinson (May 2013). "25 Reasons to Be Excited About Rock Right Now: Because Vampire Weekend Just Keeps Getting Better and Better". Rolling Stone . No. 1182. pp. 50–51.
  2. 1 2 Hyman, Dan (April 26, 2012). "Vampire Weekend Hatching 'A Ton' of Material for New LP". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Battan, Carrie (May 7, 2013). "Feature: Vampire Weekend". Pitchfork . Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  4. ↑ "ROSTAM". Rostam.tumblr.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Coming Soon – 2012's Albums Worth Waiting For". Clash . January 2, 2012. Archived from the original on April 5, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Modern Vampires of the City (liner notes). Vampire Weekend. XL Recordings. 2013. XLCD 556.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. 1 2 Gallant, Michael (May 22, 2013). "Vampire Weekend Production Goes Mobile with Apollo and UAD Powered Plug-Ins". Universal Audio. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Micallef, Ken (June 2014). "Nothing As It Seems". Electronic Musician . Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  9. ↑ Lenser, Barry (June 5, 2013). "God and Man on 'Modern Vampires of the City'". PopMatters . Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Hall, James (May 3, 2013). "Vampire Weekend, Troxy, review". The Daily Telegraph . London. Archived from the original on May 30, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 Pareles, Jon (May 12, 2013). "Setting Their Sights on Wider Vistas". The New York Times . p. AR17. Archived from the original on May 18, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  12. 1 2 Phares, Heather. "Modern Vampires of the City – Vampire Weekend". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  13. 1 2 3 Petridis, Alexis (May 9, 2013). "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City – review". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  14. ↑ Edelstone, Steven (May 3, 2019). "Vampire Weekend: Father Of The Bride Review". Paste . Archived from the original on May 4, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
  15. ↑ Ezell, Brice (May 14, 2013). "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City". PopMatters . Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  16. ↑ Boilen, Bob (May 1, 2013). "Vampire Weekend On New York, Souls Of Mischief And The Secrets Of Its New Album". NPR. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  17. ↑ Snapes, Laura; Phillips, Amy (February 4, 2013). "Vampire Weekend Announce Modern Vampires of the City Album Details and Tour Dates". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Listen to Vampire Weekend's new singles, "Diane Young" and "Step"". Consequence of Sound. March 18, 2013. Archived from the original on November 22, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  19. 1 2 3 "Reviews for Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend". Metacritic. Archived from the original on May 6, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  20. ↑ Gentile, John (September 20, 2013). "Vampire Weekend Go Hard and Fast at Tour Opener". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 22, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  21. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (May 22, 2013). "Vampire Weekend Debuts At No. 1 On Billboard 200". Billboard . Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  22. ↑ Jones, Alan (May 20, 2013). "Official Charts Analysis: Rod Stewart breaks oldies record at the hits No.1". Music Week . Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2013.
  23. ↑ Payne, Chris (December 3, 2014). "Will Arcade Fire Repeat as Grammy Darlings?". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 6, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  24. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 22, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  25. ↑ "IMPALA Awards for European Independent Acts Hit Record Levels – Impala". www.impalamusic.org. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  26. 1 2 "Modern Vampires Of The City by Vampire Weekend reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  27. ↑ Rahman, Ray (May 7, 2013). "Vampire Weekend's new album now streaming". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  28. 1 2 Price, Simon (May 11, 2013). "Album: Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City (XL)". The Independent . London. Archived from the original on December 15, 2013. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  29. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (May 21, 2013). "Vampire Weekend/Deerhunter". MSN Music . Archived from the original on August 11, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  30. 1 2 Calvert, John (May 13, 2013). "Vampire Weekend – 'Modern Vampires Of The City'". NME . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  31. 1 2 Dombal, Ryan (May 13, 2013). "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  32. 1 2 Brackett, Nathan (May 7, 2013). "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  33. ↑ Powell, Mike (May 13, 2013). "Vampire Weekend, 'Modern Vampires of the City' (XL)". Spin . Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  34. ↑ Potton, Ed (May 11, 2013). "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City" . The Times . London. Archived from the original on September 16, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  35. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (May 13, 2013). "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City". Slant Magazine . Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  36. ↑ Kot, Greg (May 13, 2013). "Album review: Vampire Weekend, 'Modern Vampires of the City'". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on March 26, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  37. ↑ "Allmusic Best of 2013". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. December 10, 2013. Archived from the original on September 4, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  38. 1 2 The Village Voice (January 14, 2014). "Pazz and Jop". Pazz and Jop. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  39. ↑ Christgau, Robert (January 24, 2014). "The Consensus Has Consequences". The Barnes & Noble Review . Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  40. ↑ Rosen, Christopher (January 26, 2014). "Grammy Winners List 2014: Who Took Home Awards On Music's Biggest Night?". The Huffington Post . Archived from the original on January 28, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  41. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020. Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  42. ↑ "American Songwriter's Top 50 Albums Of 2013". American Songwriter. December 4, 2013. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  43. ↑ "The 23 best albums of 2013". The A.V. Club. December 3, 2013. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  44. ↑ "15 Best Albums of 2013: Critics' Picks: 12. Vampire Weekend, "Modern Vampires of the City"". Billboard. December 19, 2013. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  45. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason (January 13, 2015). "The 20 Best Albums of the 2010s (So Far)". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 23, 2018. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  46. ↑ Harper, Simon (December 13, 2013). "Clash's Top Albums of 2013: 10-1; 9. Vampire Weekend – 'Modern Vampires of the City' (XL)". Clash. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  47. ↑ Kramer, Kyle (December 9, 2013). "The 50 Best Albums of 2013: Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the City". Clash. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  48. ↑ Levy, Pat (December 13, 2013). "Top 50 Albums of 2013". Consequence of Sound. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  49. ↑ Adams, Sean (December 9, 2013). "Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of 2013: Top 20". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  50. ↑ "Exclaim!'s Best of 2013: Top 20 Pop & Rock Albums, Part Two". Exclaim! . December 9, 2013. Archived from the original on July 24, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  51. ↑ "Albums Of The Year". The Fly. December 17, 2013. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  52. ↑ Empire, Kitty (December 17, 2013). "The best albums of 2013: No 4 – Modern Vampires of the City". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  53. ↑ "The 21 Best Albums from the 21st Century Every Man Should Hear". GQ . August 5, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  54. ↑ Burleson, Ryan (December 1, 2013). "Magnet's Top 25 Albums of 2013". Magnet . Alex Mulcahy. Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  55. ↑ "MOJO's Top 50 Albums Of 2013 Unveiled". Mojo. December 2, 2013. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  56. ↑ "musicOMH's Top 100 Albums Of 2013: Full List and Playlist". musicOMH. December 9, 2013. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  57. ↑ Pareles, Jon (December 13, 2013). "Lorde Rules a Year-End List". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
  58. ↑ NME (November 26, 2013). "Pictures of NME's 50 Best Albums Of 2013". NME. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  59. ↑ Barker, Emily (December 8, 2014). "25 Best Albums Of The Decade So Far". NME . Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  60. ↑ Deusner, Stephen M. (December 3, 2013). "The 50 Best Albums of 2013". Paste. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  61. ↑ "The Top 50 Albums of 2013". Pitchfork. December 18, 2013. Archived from the original on July 24, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
  62. ↑ "The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far (2010–2014)". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  63. ↑ "The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s". Pitchfork. October 8, 2019. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  64. ↑ Langhoff, Josh (December 8, 2013). "The 75 Best Albums of 2013". PopMatters. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  65. ↑ Q (November 29, 2013). "Q Magazine's Top 50 Albums of 2013". Album of the Year. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  66. ↑ "50 Best Albums of 2013". Rolling Stone. December 2, 2013. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  67. ↑ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone . September 22, 2020. Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  68. ↑ Collett, Mike (December 12, 2013). "The 25 Best Albums of 2013: Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires of the Weekend". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  69. ↑ C.M. (December 2, 2013). "Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires in the City (XL) – SPIN's 50 Best Albums of 2013". SPIN. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  70. ↑ "The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years (1985–2014)". Spin . May 11, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  71. ↑ Spencer, Trey (December 17, 2013). "Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2013: 30 – 11". Sputnikmusic. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
  72. ↑ Stereogum (December 3, 2013). "03. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires Of The City (XL)". Spin Media . Archived from the original on December 5, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  73. ↑ Wolk, Douglas (December 4, 2013). "Top 10 Albums". Time . Time magazine. Archived from the original on December 6, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  74. ↑ Time Out Music Team (December 6, 2013). "The 40 best albums of 2013". Time Out. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  75. ↑ Uncut (December 12, 2013). "Uncut's Top 50 Albums of 2013". Album of the Year. Archived from the original on April 5, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  76. ↑ Hamilton, Billy (December 23, 2013). "Under the Radar's Top 125 Albums of 2013". Under the Radar. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2013.
  77. ↑ モダン・ヴァンパイアズ・オブ・ザ・シティ [Modern Vampires of the City] (in Japanese). Amazon.co.jp. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  78. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  79. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  80. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  81. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  82. ↑ "Vampire Weekend Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  83. ↑ "Danishcharts.dk – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  84. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  85. ↑ "Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  86. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  87. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  88. ↑ "Official IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Εβδομάδα: 20/2013)" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
  89. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 20, 2013". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  90. ↑ "GFK Chart-Track – Independent Albums: Week 20, 2013". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  91. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  92. ↑ ヴァンパイア・ウィークエンドのアルバム売り上げランキング [Vampire Weekend album sales ranking] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on May 3, 2014. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
  93. ↑ "Charts.nz – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  94. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  95. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  96. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  97. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  98. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  99. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  100. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  101. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  102. ↑ "Vampire Weekend Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  103. ↑ "Vampire Weekend Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  104. ↑ "Vampire Weekend Chart History (Top Alternative Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  105. ↑ "Vampire Weekend Chart History (Top Rock Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  106. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 2013 – Albums" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014. Retrieved December 30, 2013.
  107. ↑ "End of Year Album Chart in 2013". Official Charts Company . Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  108. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2013" . Billboard . Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  109. ↑ "Independent Albums – Year-End 2013" . Billboard . Archived from the original on November 11, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  110. ↑ "Top Alternative Albums – Year-End 2013" . Billboard . Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  111. ↑ "Rock Albums – Year-End 2013" . Billboard . Archived from the original on July 9, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  112. ↑ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2014" . Billboard . Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  113. ↑ "Independent Albums – Year-End 2014" . Billboard . Archived from the original on November 8, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  114. ↑ "Top Alternative Albums – Year-End 2014" . Billboard . Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  115. ↑ "Rock Albums – Year-End 2014" . Billboard . Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  116. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Music Canada.
  117. ↑ "Portuguese album certifications – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City" (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Archived from the original on June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 13, 2022.
  118. ↑ "British album certifications – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". British Phonographic Industry.
  119. ↑ Paine, Andre (August 1, 2018). "Vampire Weekend's Sony move confirmed". Music Week. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  120. ↑ "American album certifications – Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City". Recording Industry Association of America.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.