Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

New Fangs
4 Out Of 5 Stars

"Modern Vampires of The City" is what happens when creatures that can never die begin to contemplate the future. Vampire Weekend's third album is a mostly muted affair, whispering maturity from the first gospel-ish harmonies and finger poked piano of "Obvious Bicycle." Lead singer Ezra Koenig has put aside most of his quirkiness to concentrate on meaningful lyrical statements. "Girl, you and I will die nonbelievers...is this the fate that half of the world has planned for me?" Granted, he's singing to a girl who is an outsider along with him, but instead of making it a joke (ala "Cousins" on "Contra"), he's more concerned about mortality.

This newfound sense of seriousness will probably put off some of the indie-heads who can't stomach when their favorite band "sells out" ("Modern Vampires" debuted at number one on Billboard) or takes a significant step away from their early sound. While there are a few things I miss, like some louder guitar for one, I don't miss the preciousness of the first album. This is a band that no longer squeals "college band" at every turn of phrase or overtly and obvious attention grabbing musical stunt. The Vampire Weekend of the debut would probably not be telling you "There's a headstone right in front of you" ("Don't Lie"), for example.

There are still a few plays for the radio. "Diane Young" clips along at a kinetic pace and even throws in some auto-tune to mock anyone who wants to call "Modern Vampires" 'serious music,' all the while playing pun games with "Diane Young" and 'dying young.' It also contains one of the weirder lyrical choices I've heard on a record this year, Koenig tells Diane she's got "the luck of a Kennedy." Yes, they want to be taken seriously with "Modern Vampires Of The City" taking on life, death, religion and the big bad specter of growing up, but Vampire Weekend has that cake and their quirky, too.


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Mercer, Becker, Fagen,

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Once upon a time, Steely Dan was a band. Built around an axis of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen that duo eventually decided the sounds they were thinking of could only be achieved by a rotating crew of musicians, but continued on under the Steely Dan moniker. Not so long ago, there was another band, called The Shins. Recently, their leader, one James Mercer, decided roughly the same thing. The records he wanted to make would only be created if he jettisoned the previously assembled band and rotated assorted musicians into the line-up per the songs' requirements. Thus is born "Port of Morrow," and he still calls it an album by The Shins.

This is not a bad thing. Steely Dan became a major force in modern music, and The Shins may just find their way onto the same pantheon. Mercer's ongoing fascination with perfection via dreamy and lush pop-tunes still makes for an affecting listen. I'm guessing the Broken Bells project got his experimental urges out of his system, because these songs are rich with choruses and memorable melodies. "Simple Song" pokes fun at the whole system, while there's even a song called "Bait and Switch" to tease the Broken Bells crowd with its airy intro, before breaking into a melody worthy of prime REM.

"Point Of Morrow" walks a tightwire between alt/indie pop ("No Way Down") and sweet love songs ("40 Mark Strauss"). The precision and perfection of the album (especially in the production) may have fans whimpering sell-out, but this sounds like James Mercer growing up and into his own music. I am already feeling this may be one of 2012's best albums.

 

   

 

 

 

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The Rich are Just Like You and Me...Only Much Younger
4 Out Of 5 Stars

David Fincher has a knack for seedy underbellies, and he finds a juicy one to stab in "The Social Network." Working from a wordy script from Aaron Sorkin and a bravura performance from Jesse Eisenberg (as Mark Zuckerberg), he boils the creation of the most successful internet site down to friendship, betrayal and insecurity, with side servings of jealousy and greed. It's the same old story you've heard a million times before, just updated for the 21'st century.

Eisenberg shows the kind of detached brilliance of the uber-nerd stereotype, and he makes Zuckerberg into a believably arrogant genius. His zingers are cruelly on target, even though many of them are delivered at deserving targets. (It also is worth noting that had these things been said in an actual legal deposition, the speaker would have been escorted away.) However, you see essentially a hurt young man whose brilliance doesn't impress many folks because he is an overbearing ween. This fact is set up in the brutally dark comedic exchange at the movie's opening, where Zuckerberg is trying to score points with a girl, all the while continually berating her. One drunken revenge hacking later, and the seeds of Facebook are planted.

But it is that isolated anger that fuels "The Social Network." When the spoiled rich Winklevoss twins (played with a bit of trickery by one Armie Hammer) are trying to sue on the grounds of intellectual theft, Zuckerberg snaps at the lawyer representing them that his thoughts are "back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing." Then to drive his irritation at the attorney home, he sneers "Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"

There are snakes all over this grassy web, all trying to get to Zuckerberg's money, and at the same time, Zuckerberg stabs one of the only people to show him kindness, his co-founder (Andrew Garfield) Eduardo Saverin. It's hard to comprehend Zuckerberg's reasoning for trying to jam his one friend out of the business, although the snake oil spewed by Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake, who seems to be playing himself) seems a likely explanation. The way these three triangulate forms the emotional core of the film, with Parker playing demonic mischief maker, trying to grease his way into a spotlight that he envies Eduardo for having. The rapid-fire back and forth between all these spokes still centralize back on Zuckerberg, and "The Social Network" turns on how much you either believe the story or how much you can tolerate two hours of listening to these wealthy but morally bereft children spearing each other.