That Little College Girl Called Language Corrupt

Vampire Weekend @ Radio City Music Hall 9/15/2010

Holiday / White Sky / Cap Cod Kwassa Kwassa / I Stand Corrected / M79 / Bryn / California English / Cousins / Taxi Cab / Run / A-Punk / One (Blake’s Got A New Face) / I’m Going Down / Diplomat’s Son / I Think Ur A Contra / Giving Up The Gun / Campus / Oxford Comma // Horchata / Mansard Roof / Walcott

Ezra Koenig is an unusual and very likeable frontman for a rock band. He comes off as erudite and polite, but he doesn’t have any of the awkwardness you might expect to along with that. He’s smooth and confident and totally comfortable being himself onstage. In that way, he reminds me of Stephen Malkmus. On the other hand, he’s extremely friendly and inviting, a guy who understands why you may feel self-conscious but encourages you to have a good time. He’s generous and open-hearted. In that way, he’s not much like Malkmus at all, at least in that Malkmus always puts up some kind of aloof front. I think in some ways, Koenig and his band is filling the same cultural niche that Pavement filled in the mid-90s: They’re the super-smart band with accessible tunes that bridge the gap between pop and something a bit more sophisticated. Talking Heads, R.E.M., Pixies, Elvis Costello, Modern Lovers, Belle & Sebastian, Blur — those are just a few of the other bands in this lineage. It’s a very good place to be, culturally. You tend to stick around and mean a lot to people.

Vampire Weekend “California English”

Koenig is a fantastic lyricist, particularly on Contra. He’s become less precious and more precise, filling his verses with evocative concrete detail while avoiding the trap of packing the songs with too many signifiers and not enough heart. He sketches out a recognizable world and fills it with characters and complications, and crucially, he doesn’t judge. He’s not trying to call anyone out. If he’s pointing you at something that may be dubious or potentially corrupt, he’s also asking you to consider that maybe this institution, this person, this cultural practice, whatever, isn’t all bad. Contra is basically optimistic — yes, there are things wrong with class, economics, etc, but pretty much everything in this world is tangled up and we’re all complicit in something negative somewhere along the line. It’s not about looking for an excuse to let people off the hook, but on some level, it’s about trying to humanize people and understand the world rather than living life based on endless variations on an us vs them schism. The songs on Contra are all in some way trying to make sense of this — finding a way to be reasonable in a world of conflict, and there’s no easy answers to be found outside of just trying to see the connections between things and be understanding of complication.

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Beach House @ Radio City Music Hall 9/15/2010

Walk In The Park / Better Times / Gila / Norway / Silver Soul / Used To Be / Zebra / Take Care / 10 Mile Stereo

Beach House “Norway”

I find it weird that it took me through halfway through this set to finally realize that Victoria Legrand both looks and sounds a bit like Patti Smith. That realization makes some sense of Beach House too — like Patti, they’re going for something dramatic and romantic, but also intimate. They’re not much of a live band, but they sound good in concert, replicating the texture and mood of their current album without seeming too tight and stuffy. Thank goodness for their light show, though. The music stayed more or less the same through the show, but the lights added a necessary sense of dynamics. They waited until “Norway” to introduce a blinking starfield light pattern behind them, but it was well-timed, gorgeous, and incredibly well-suited to the sound of the song — I think I gasped.

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Dum Dum Girls @ Radio City Music Hall 9/15/2010

Play With Fire / Hey Sis / Catholicked / I Will Be / It Only Takes One Night / Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout / Baby Don’t Go / Jail La La / Rest Of Our Lives

Dum Dum Girls “Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout”

The last time I saw Dum Dum Girls, it was at the Mercury Lounge. That venue is better for them in terms of size, but Radio City Music Hall served them better in terms of sound. They get a lot of space for their reverb to, well, reverberate. But it’s also more crisp and clear, allowing for a nuance and subtlety that isn’t as evident on their studio recordings. The main revelation of last night’s set was that Dee Dee is a far better singer in concert than she seems to be on record. Her tonality is much sweeter and richer in person. It gave some songs a greater depth, and flattered the contours of her best melodies — the dreamy chorus of “Rest of Our Lives,” the pre-chorus of “Jail La La,” and most especially the “really, it just opens doors I never knew could be” line in “Bhang Bhang, I’m A Burnout.”

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