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88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week 2/3
Astro Coast by Surfer Blood
Seth White

Surfer Blood might have crashed ashore a decade and a half too late. Their uncomplicated yet greatly appreciated guitar riffs scream mid 90’s rock with every energizing breath. The Florida foursome’s debut, Astro Coast, draws heavily on the fuzz of Built to Spill and the catchy choruses of Weezer, all while pushing forward with the Beach Boys’ vision of surf-rock.

The albums most accessible tracks involve the strong hooks of both sing-a-long vocals, and catchy guitar licks that you’ll hear on songs like “Swim” (the albums first single), “Twin Peaks” and “Floating Vibes”. “Swim’s” chorus is probably the catchiest of the lot, or at least repeated enough to make it seem so. Aloud or in your head you will be chanting along to “Swim to reach the end” by the end of your first listen. The guitar work adds to the vocals by not trying to be overly fast or inventive, the riffs or slow and study enough to keep these songs afloat.

The band changes the tempo with “Take it Easy”. It is much more up beat and happier than most of the other tracks, almost as if they were trying to pull off a Vampire Weekend cover. Here the guitars trimmed back slightly to display the mix various drumming styles and reverb-filled melodies.

Two of the latter tracks, “Slow Jabroni” and “Anchorage”, break the power-pop mold of a three-minute time limit and are allowed to build to their full potential. “Slow Jobroni”, like the title suggest is much slower than any other song on the album. It crawls through its first three minutes before the epic guitars truly begin to kick.

“Anchorage” on the other hand jump-starts with heavy drums but then feels relatively drawn out. However, good things come to those who wait. The songs last minute gives it its full flavor, drowned out “oooh”s give way to a wonderfully fitting closing solo.

The album finishes with probably their strongest song. “Catholic Pagans”. This relatively short gem is comprised of great lyrics, a feedback ending, and pretty much everything that makes this band great.

For the most part Astro Coast does not fall in line with the much of what is considered “indie rock” today. It’s not an album that you need to clear your mind and your surroundings to grasp a hold of, and it doesn’t take multiple listens to finally “get it”. It is much too simple for that. This album will grab with the first note and kick you to your feet with the second. Needless to say it is a promising start from and up and coming band, and not bad for an album they recorded in their dorm room.

88.1 WKNC DJ Pick of the Week is published in every Tuesday print edition of the Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.

Vampire Weekend
Album: Contra
Label: XL Records
by Jon Gomes

It’s almost exactly two years since the world got its first taste of Vampire Weekend. The self-titled debut was, in essence, four white boys from Columbia University curiously fiddling with African rumba beats and singing about oxford commas and Peter Gabriel. Though the description suggests typical indie pomp and pretense, the final product turned out to be one of the most memorable releases of 2008.

Suffice it to say, then, that anxious ears have been anticipating the band’s sophomore release, entitled Contra, for quite a while. Probably the most pressing question was whether or not the band would maintain the characteristic sound established on their first album. The answer is not readily clear, but after a spin or two, Contra feels like the natural next step from the self-titled debut.

The lead track “Horchata” delivers the buoyant melodies and quirky lyrics one would expect, but also explores new sonic territory with its prominent xylophone romps. Lead singer Ezra Koenig sings as if you’re in the room with him: “In December / Drinking horchata / I look psychotic in a balaclava.” The song transitions almost imperceptibly into “White Sky,” which features a falsetto melody that sticks to the ears like sugar coating.

Like its predecessor, Contra evokes a sense of mirth; it is very much an audio accompaniment to summertime frolics or lazy sunny afternoons. Though the spirit is shared, the music on Contra is more adventurous. The beautifully disjointed “California English” sounds like an unreleased Animal Collective b-side, while the spunky “Cousins” flurries with sixteenth-note guitar runs and snare rolls.

There are occasional moments where Contra sounds conventional, but only in a relative sense. The saccharine, straightforward pop hooks in “Giving Up the Gun” are atypical for the band—strings are traded for synths and the rhyming isn’t outlandish. Still, Vampire Weekend renders the song in such a way that it feels familiar.

To balance out the newer sounds, there is still plenty of classic material; syncopated rhythms, string flourishes, and sunny lyrics abound in tracks like “Run” and “Diplomat’s Son.” The latter is six minutes of rocksteady rhythms and cryptic lyrics that hint at the 1981 Contra movement in Nicaragua—just the kind of madness you would expect from Vampire Weekend. Contra coasts to a stop with the subdued “I Think Ur A Contra.” A gorgeous, acoustic guitar-based melody underlies the gentle yet accusatory lyrics: “I think you’re Contra / I think that you lie / Don’t call me Contra / Till you’ve tried.” It’s absolutely sublime.

So what does “Contra” have to do with anything? The band chose the term as the album’s title to suggest opposition against external expectations. According to singer Ezra Koenig, the album is a reaction to the media pigeonholing the band as erudite, polo-wearing preps from Columbia (bluntly illustrated by the album cover). For Vampire weekend, Contra is uncompromised self-expression. It’s not an extension of the first album, but rather an evolution that still sounds very much like Vampire Weekend. Though Contra is not intended to cater to anyone’s expectations, it ends up surpassing them.

88.1 WKNC Pick of the Week is published in every Thursday print edition of the Technician, as well as online at technicianonline.com and wknc.org.