SXSW: Vampire Weekend's first show

Vampire Weekend is easily the most buzzed-about band at this year's South by Southwest, which inevitably means waiting in line long before the group goes on or risking getting shut out of its showcases — or scoring an invitation to National Public Radio's daytime party, which featured Vampire Weekend along with Bon Iver, Yeasayer and others.

Stay with me here, but it's easy to sneer at the concept of Vampire Weekend. The four musicians are recent Columbia grads who call their blend of Afro-pop and indie-rock "Upper West Side Soweto." They play up the preppy angle with pastel sweaters knotted over shoulders and sing with the slightly arch air of a know-it-all dilettante who's been more places than you yet never took an interest in any of them.

But they also write ridiculously catchy songs, and pull them off in concert as though they have been playing together far longer than 18 or so months. (Listen here.)

Clad in an electric-blue cardigan, bassist Chris Baio looked something like a '50 TV dad after work, but he pumped out propulsive, groovy bass lines with deep soul. Singer and guitarist Ezra Koenig (pictured in this unfortunately dark photo) played fast, chiming chords and sent African-laced fills whirling through the polyrhythmic accompaniment from Baio and drummer Chris Tomson. Keyboard player Rostam Batmanglij summoned woodwind sounds and sang backing vocals on tunes from the band's self-titled debut, including "Mansard Roof" to start the set and "Oxford Comma" to finish.

Who knows where the band goes henceforth — doesn't seem like rock is headed in an Afro-beat direction, Shay Quillen from the San Jose Mercury News quipped as we chatted before Vampire Weekend went on — but the group is great in the here and now, and sometimes that's enough.

Comments

[Shay Q.]

Thanks for the plug! Glad we got a chance to catch up a bit in Austin. Nice coverage!

[Tom]

As much as I like that album and the sound, "Upper West Side Soweto" needs to go. I realize it means I'm getting old that such a description isn't a loaded phrase anymore, but it still sounds smarmy and pampered. I realize they probably are both, but they should play that down so I can still "buy" their music.