Modern Vampires of the City

I was looking forward to hearing this album, but the more it went on the more it grated on me. Just found it wimpy and the dude's thin voice became an endurance test. Made pop-rock nerds Weezer seem like death metal.

It's just a wonderful album. Possibly better than the debut. After Contra was a disappointment I went in with low expectations so was fully mind blown by the greater ambition and the general sense of sadness and death that looms over the whole thing. Also, check out the remix of the already brilliant Step with Heels and Danny Brown on it if you enjoyed this. Maybe the best love song ever!

I never listened to this album as their second album ("Contra") was a bit of a letdown. This album contains the elements of the previous two albums in a more evolved form. The music does not sound like copying specific styles, but is a more fluent container of an abundance of influences and ideas. Great album.

Please no more, his voice is still just as jarring as all the other times

You can like Vampire Weekend a lot and that’s fine for you

I don't like green day

I like Vampire Weekend and listened to their debut shortly after its release, but I’m realizing that a lot of music I got into after my 30s doesn’t have the stickiness that groups and albums did before that. While it might be something about my age - like there’s an optimal time in life for music to “stick” - but I tend to blame digital music for this. The constraints of physical media made it more possible to tightly connect with albums because when I left the record store with 4 new CDs you can be sure I’d listen to them a LOT even if they were ho-hum. Now if I start streaming something and it doesn’t immediately hit there are hundreds of new things and hundreds of thousands of old things that I can access immediately making it much less likely I’m going to power through those first listens to really dig in to an album. I wonder too if that applies at a cultural level. I still routinely hear songs from the 60s-90s in my daily life but there seems to be less from the last 20 years or so on replay in my local supermarket. Wait, what am I supposed to be talking about here? OH YEAH… this digression came to mind because I really liked Vampire Weekend’s first album but only listened to it for a brief time after its release and never followed through on any of their subsequent releases until this project. That is a shame because this album is quite incredible! It’s unique while still remaining very easy on the ears. It flirts with experimental styles and sounds while maintaining a very approachable song structure, something quite difficult to do. I really love this album - so much that it has eclipsed the other albums in their catalog as my favorite. Terrifically fascinating and wildly entertaining! Great addition to the list!

Iv commented on the other two vampire weekend album reviews saying this was their best album, so I best give this one five stars.

Great lyrics and great energy. Nice choice

Fuck it. What you do doesn't matter. Besides, ain't nobody gonna give you no prize. So why get out of bed? Why shave for people who don't care if you live or die? Oh, and dying young ain't going to change anything, especially when you're boldly inviting Hell. This is a very young, very American album, with all its brash defiance and infectious beauty. It's also a somewhat Jewish meditation on the role of religion, even touching most famously on the name God gives Himself when speaking to Moses at the burning bush. Couple that with a further meditation on the pain of unrequited love, and you have a perfect art pop song with all its silly faerie voices.

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Obvious bicycle, Unbelievers, Step, Diane young, Hannah hunt, Finger back, Worship, Ya hey

And here it is, the third Vampire Weekend album suggested on this users list (and also the third LP in their discography). I have a complex relationship with this band, because I was not into them at all when they were trendy at the turn of the 2010s. But since *Only God Was Above Us*, released two years ago, I have made a 180-degree turn about them. The only album I don't like from this American band is *Father Of The Bride*. Everything else should be on this list for me, though, including the debut -- and it's just mind-boggling that it isn't given that it was when the hype was so high for them. What about *Modern Vampires Of The City* then? It's a far glossier album than the two that preceded it, but damn, it's got so much HEART. The songwriting is so catchy, the melodies are so sweet, the stylistic curves are negotiating so well. "Obvious Bicycle" is a tender opener, but it's with the magnificent tracks that follow -- banger "Unbelievers" and the timeless, Souls-of-Mischief-inspired ballad "Step" -- that the album really takes its stride. "Diane Young" is a fun Prince-adjacent romp, with its eighties pastiche tones and pitch-shifted vocal hooks. And the next five cuts are all excellent, just as they alternate between other poignant ballads and Afrobeat-inspired rockers. Paul Simon on steroids, taking a page out of Animal Collective's book once in a while. Sign me in. Yet as good as the middle of the record also is, it's with "Ya Hey" that Vampire Weekend reached the epic heights they had had in them from the get-go without ever finding a way to properly express them before. The artwork of this album fits with this gem so well. And after that centerpiece, "Hudson" and "Young Lion" are admittedly very dark, but also so cinematic, concluding the album on a fully haunting note. After that peak, it would take Vampire Weekend a lot of time to display such epicness again (with *Only God Was Above Us*). But I guess that's a story for another time, kiddies. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 74 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 90 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 176 ---- Émile, tu trouveras ma dernière réponse sous le *Inside* de Bo Burnham

Indie rock, art pop, chamber pop. Esta bien. Un 4, venga.

Love VW. Never really gave this album enough of a chance. It’s very good! Fizzles a bit at the end I think.

Happy tunes with some fine, dark linings.

Probably Vampire Weekends best album overall. Plenty of good upbeat yuppie hits while also not being too much introspective as their more recent albums have been. This to me is them at their peak likability while also being unique instrumentally. Would recommend this one for sure. 8.3/10

I know this band has made the list at least once before. I can't recall how they struck me. I seemed to come into it with a certain chip on my shoulder. It's possibly just a knee-jerk reaction to the name. But I liked this music. A little hipper than thou, but not without charm, and very well-constructed.

Whenever I hear Vampire Weekend I think I need to listen to more Vampire Weekend

Starts slow but gets there eventually. Not my favorite Vampire Weekend album but much better than I remember from 2013

Kinda indie cringe but hey it still works for me.

It's decent indie, but nothing to write home about. The immediate, edgy energy of the band's S/T + Contra is already fading fast on this LP, and the songwriting bloat that would come to define the band's latter career is clearly seeded. Koenig's writing seems more forced and has lost its winking cleverness, and the instrumentals are beautiful but don't seem to innovate or surprise as they used to. A good album? Sure. Worth listening to before you die? Probably not.

I have mixed feelings about Vampire Weekend. I like some of their music, but they often annoy me by getting too cute - with their music, their lyrics, even their song titles. For example, why call a song something like "Don't Wait" when you could call it "Obvious Bicycle"??? I know stuff like that shouldn't bother me, but it truly annoys the shit out of me. 3 stars.

Internal tension of being absolutely exhausted by all the Vampire Weekend albums showing up on here, but also liking this one quite a bit more than I usually do for them

I know the band well, and I was a big fan of their debut. Their second album wasn’t really my thing, and because of that I don’t think I gave this one much of a chance at the time. Revisiting it now, I’m aware that for a lot of people this has grown into their favourite Vampire Weekend album. I’ve read the reviews, I’ve talked to friends, and I understand the reputation it’s built. But I don’t hear it. Compared to their most recent album, Only God Was Above Us from 2024, this record feels like it misses a level of quality. It also lacks the playfulness, jumpiness, and fun that made their first album work so well. With the exception of “Ya Hey,” which is probably the best song Vampire Weekend have written, I don’t see the quality that others seem to find in this album.

It’s Vampire Weekend so you know it’s going to be a bop, but I don’t believe it offers anything more rewarding than most of their other albums on this list.

Vampire Weekend is like indie pop AC/DC in that they are very good at making one specific song a billion times.

Jag förstår mig inte på det här. Gjorde inte det heller på den förra plattan med dem.

This record actively made me angry. I'm not sure what it is about the music or the singing. But I was really upset by this. And not in like, the good way a piece of art might evoke an emotion in a person. I was/am somehow mad that this even exists. It means nothing. It is nothing. How would any of this be performed live? These aren't real songs.