I can’t be the only one who was infatuated with the preppy model who appears on the cover of Vampire Weekend’s latest LP, Contra, and always wondered what her deal was. Well, she wonders what VW’s deal is as model Kirsten Kennis claims she never gave the band the rights to use her photo according to a TMZ.com report. Kennis, who says she took the picture of herself back in 1983, has filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League rockers and photographer Tod Brody for more than $2 million.
The lawsuit claims that Brody gave VW a “photographic release” using her forged signature with Kennis “blaming the band for not verifying the legitimacy of the release.” It seems a little strange she just filed the lawsuit since the album’s cover was revealed back in November. Regardless, we’re a little depressed to know “the Contra girl” is 27 years older than we thought she was. No response as of press time from the Vampire Weekend camp.
When Conan O’Brien announced his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour most of us news-gathering types circled the two shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City as the potential stand-outs.
Vampire Weekend w/ Conan – Walcott
Not only did the gawky, red-haired comedian call the Big Apple home for 15 years but O’Brien would be performing in the same group of buildings where his former NBC bosses work. The first of two shows at Radio City lived up to the hype as Conan tailored the set for the NYC audience and welcomed more than a few of his famous friends.
Musician/comedian/whack-job Reggie Watts kept the audience guessing throughout his 30-minute opening set by mixing straight jokes with physical comedy and hilarious musical interludes. Watts’ experimental act – which features a large dose of beat-boxing and looping skills that would make Keller Williams proud – went over extremely well and made most appreciate getting into the legendary venue on time. Shortly after 9PM, the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny of Television Tour Band took the stage and immediately brought the energy up by dropping into a killer version of Curtis Mayfield’s Move On Up that featured Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg on surprisingly good vocals.
After his band got the crowd all hot and bothered, Conan strolled out to a hero’s welcome. O’Brien’s monologue started with a joke about Phish as he referenced all the glowsticks in the room – cocktails at Radio City come with a glowstick – by saying “this is not a Phish concert.” Nearly 20 minutes long, Conan’s opening killed and included tons of jokes about the chain of events that led the late night tv host to his first tour. Coco strapped on the guitar at various points throughout the evening and after a few songs with the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Band he invited Vampire Weekend out for the first surprise of the evening.
READ ON for more on Conan’s first show at Radio City…
In the video for the latest single off of Contra, the ska-tinged Holiday, the Vampire Weekend boys trade in their Polo gear for 18th Century garb and show off a less serious side of their personalities…
For their latest video, our favorite Ivy-league bred, world music-loving group, Vampire Weekend, have teamed up with RZA, Lil’ John, Jake Gyllenhaal & Joe Jonas for this Wes Anderson meets Wimbeldon inspired clip…
On paper there is nothing cool about Vampire Weekend. They’re four Ivy League graduates that play indie-pop music inspired by African rhythms and guitar with lyrics full of literary references, visits to foreign countries and summers spent in New England on records put out by a small UK-based label. With barely two-dozen songs in their catalog, these fresh-faced early 20-somethings have managed a meteoric rise in a just a few short years selling close to half a million copies of their infectious self-titled debut, and more recently dropping their sophomore effort Contra on January 12.
[All Photos By Jeremy Gordon]
Last week Ezra Koening & Co. returned to New York City, playing their first proper hometown headlining shows since December of 2008 taking over three different size venues over the course of three nights. VW played a 3,000+ person theater, a mid-size and small club – all of which sold out within minutes. The second of their mini-NYC tour brought them to the historic Webster Hall – a venue that these splits time between hosting concerts and dance parties – located in a nebulous area between Manhattan’s Union Square and East Village.
Decorated with a giant backdrop that featured the cover art for Contra, Vampire Weekend strolled onto the stage shortly after 10 PM to the strains of DJ Kool’s club anthem Let Me Clear My Throat, before launching straight into the synth-y, drum machine laced White Sky to the roar of a packed house of enthusiastic fans – many of which, from eavesdropped conversations, were college classmates with the foursome. Over the next hour and change the band ran through almost every song in their repertoire as the floor bounced and pulsed from the dancing and pogo-ing masses.
READ ON for more of my thoughts and Jeremy’s fantastic pictures…
While I haven’t had a chance to listen to HT Faves Vampire Weekend’s new album, Contra, since returning from Jam Cruise, everyone either seems to love or hate the disc – which is about par for the course with this band. To help promote Contra, the group filmed an episode of MTV’s Unplugged back in July that has been airing on MTV2.
Vampire Weekend’s Unplugged performance features a number of new songs (Cousins, White Sky, Run) and a few classics (A-Punk, Oxford Comma, M79) from the first album. Here’s the indie rockers with Oxford Comma…
Last month we got our first taste of Vampire Weekend’s sophomore effort, Contra, via a free download of the album’s opening track, Horchata. VW gives us another taste of the forthcoming record, which hits stores on Jan. 12, by releasing the video for the another Contra track. Here’s Cousins…
Just as the internet was responsible for helping to foster the early career of our favorite post-collegiate, polo shirt wearing, Graceland-loving act Vampire Weekend, the band has turned to using the power of the net over the last few weeks to help build some buzz around the release of their sophomore album, Contra, which hits stores early next year.
Erza Koenig & Co. first teased their fans with with the mysterious IThinkUrAContra website which eventually revealed the album’s title and track listing. Yesterday, the band upped the ante by putting a countdown clock on their site that eventually expired to show a free download for Horchata – the breezy, poly-rhythmic, choral-backed first track from their forthcoming effort. You can download Horchata or stream it on HT…
Vampire Weekend has also announced a number of new tour dates both here and abroad that includes a string of November shows throughout California. From the sounds of our first taste of Contra, it seems like the band should avoid the dreaded sophomore slump, but we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed until we hear the finished product on January 12th.
It’s been quite some time since the HT Crew got together for an old fashioned cookout. With the year rapidly ending, we figured we’d round up the gang, throw some logs on the fire, crack open a few Anchor Christmas Ales and do some grilling for another rousing rendition of At The Barbecue.
About six months back we offered up our favorite albums of the first half of the year, this time around we thought we’d check back in and find out what everyone’s favorite of the entire year was and give our version of a “Best Of” list. So sit back and find out just what’s been burning up our iPods this year. READ ON after the jump to see our albums of the year…
Alright kids, thought I’d get all those holiday songs that have been floating in your head for the last 48 hours or so out of there with a Mix Tape chocked full of some of my favorite tunes from 2008 releases. So sick back and relax and be prepared to have these six tunes rattling around your cranium…
We kick things off with Bag Of Hammers from Thao Nyguyen off her fabulous indie-folk-pop album We Brave Bee Stings and All. From there comes one from the rediscovered Rodriguez with Sugar Man from the re-release of his brilliant debut album Cold Fact. Next up is former BtN act Okkervil River with Singer Songwriter from quite possibly the Smart Rock album of the year The Stand Ins. Then, we’ve got the song that I’ve been obsessed with for the last few weeks Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s – Tall As Cliffs – which is featured on both Animal! and Not Animal. We continue with the amazing Dr. Dog and the very last track on their latest effort Fate – My Friend - that vaguely reminds of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life. Finally we close things with Campus from Vampire Weekend infectious self-titled debut.
When we first heard that Peter Gabriel teamed up with electropop aces Hot Chip to record Vampire Weekend’s Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, we wondered how the track would turn out. Turns out they actually did a fine job of it. I’m sure Petey got a big kick out of singing his own name. [via Abeano]
Here’s a look at what else is happenin’ this week…
Brooklyn Vegan shares pics from Of Montreal in Williamsburg
Finally, Neil Young absolutely kicked ass at the Garden on Monday night and his voice and guitar are still as powerful today as they were in his peak. Speaking of Neil Young’s peak, the trailer for the long-awaited Archives Volume 1 project came out yesterday. Check it out after the jump…
As legend has it, I was the guy behind the guy that got this daily music site on its feet, and was also a huge fan from day one. When Ace decided to step down earlier this year, I got the call up to the big leagues after toiling over my own indie-jam blog for something like two and a half years to share daily writing duties with Scotty and have enjoyed every minute of bringing my writing style and my music tastes to a much broader audience.
Over my eight-plus months, I’ve tried to introduce you guys to some music that bridges the gap between jam and indie without using the dreaded P word with Better Than Noodling. Since not everyone obsesses over reading blogs to find new music, this has been my place to showcase some bands that I really dig that may not be as obvious, but I think you should be listening to. When I initially wrote this piece on Vampire Weekend I had a hunch they were primed for a big year, but little did I know that the band would explode the way did going from playing the Bowery Ballroom to three sold out shows at the cavernous Terminal 5 in less than a year’s time. It certainly feels good to get it right, but it was more about the fact that I couldn’t get enough of them.
Before we get to it just wanted to thank Ace for letting me get my feet wet over here and digging my initial idea behind BtN and to Scotty who is the hardest working man in show business and unbelievably supportive, thanks gents for bringing me on. This is truly a labor of love, so we hope you enjoy reading HT as much as we enjoy writing it…
READ ON for Better Than Noodling – Vampire Weekend…
As we mentioned earlier, we’re less than a week away from the release of Rhino’s latest Grateful Dead vault release Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978 on September 30. The 2 CD set, culled from the band’s run at the Sound & Light Theater outside of Cairo, is also being packaged with a DVD that will include a mini-documentary called the Vacation Tapes along with 95 minutes of spectacular concert footage. To get you ready for the release Spinner is currently sharing an exclusive video of Deal.
Finally, Ray Davies is stirring the rumor mill about a possible reunion of the original dysfunctional brother fronted rock band. According to a BBC report the former Kinks lead singer is claiming that the major obstacle holding things up is if his brother Dave, who has experienced some health problems over the last few years, feels good enough to commit to it. The Kinks have not performed together live since 1996, and are the only major British Invasion band whose original members are all still alive. The clock’s ticking!
debut, and more recently dropping their sophomore effort 
on January 12.
From there comes one from the rediscovered Rodriguez with Sugar Man from the re-release of his brilliant debut album 
Next up is former BtN act Okkervil River with Singer Songwriter from quite possibly the 
Then, we’ve got the song that I’ve been obsessed with for the last few weeks Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s – Tall As Cliffs – which is featured on both 
and 
We continue with the amazing Dr. Dog and the very last track on their latest effort 
– My Friend - that vaguely reminds of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life. Finally we close things with Campus from Vampire Weekend infectious 
