Vampire Weekend and Never Shout Never released new albums this past January. While both artists continue their own signature styles with these releases, each album had its share of good and bad elements.
Vampire Weekend released their second album “Contra” Jan. 12. It was the bands first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The band is very excited about the way their new CD turned out.
In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, singer Ezra Koenig said, “We’re taking what we did on our first album to the next level.” In that same interview, guitarist-keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij described the style of their new music.
“These songs would be perfect for driving up the Pacific coast,” Batmanglij says.
This album does showcase Vampire Weekend’s unique style, but it definitely has its highs and lows.
The album starts off with the upbeat song “Horchata.” The song has an almost “Caribbean-style” sound and although the lyrics are a little weird, it is catchy. The second song on the album entitled “White Sky” started off good, but there were parts of that song that got incredibly annoying.
Another low point of the album was the song “California English.” Overall, the song is kind of a mess. It is impossible at some parts of the song to even understand what the singer is saying.
The album did have some positive aspects. “Holiday” is another song that is catchy and would be a great summer song. “Taxi Cab” and “Giving up the Gun” are also two of the better songs on the CD. On those two songs, the band doesn’t lose their signature sound, but are still able to create songs that would be more “radio friendly.”
The rest of the album isn’t bad, but there really isn’t any song that stands out from the rest.
Never Shout Never’s new album also has many positives and negatives. Nineteen year-old Christofer Drew Ingle released his first album “What is Love?” Jan. 26.
The young musician has accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. He dropped out of high school and was kicked out of his house by his parents. He started touring the Midwest, playing shows at small venues just to make ends meet.
He is now headlining Alternative Press’s 2010 tour and has done shows with other well-known artists such as The Scene Aesthetic, The Honorary Title, Forever the Sickest Kids and The Cab.
Never Shout Never’s new CD is not as good as his previous release, 2008’s “The Yippee EP,” but it does have its strong points.
The album starts off on a good note with the song “Love is Our Weapon.” It is a good and energetic beginning to the album. “Can’t Stand It” is also a cute and catchy song that has a similar sound to the songs on his previous EP.
There were also a couple of surprising songs that stood out from the rest. “Sacrilegious” is one of the best songs on the album. In this song, Ingle talks about his religious views, which was interesting and unexpected.
“The Past” is also one of the better songs on the album, where Ingle discusses the hardships he has dealt with in his life. Although some of those songs on the EP’s were better, it was good that he decided to change it up a bit.
There were a few songs on that album that were not impressive. “Jane Doe” had a similar sound to his older music, but the lyrics were very generic and dull. “I Love You 5” also had generic lyrics and was a little to repetitive. The song was not terrible, but it did get a little annoying after a while.
Overall, both new albums should appeal to those who were fans of each of the artists’ previous releases. Neither album was anything extraordinary, but both are worth checking out.
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