Hump Day Helper: Douchebag Edition

Because it's Wednesday, and we all need a pick-me-up to make it through the rest of the week in our respective hells, WDR is providing some fun.


I can think of a million reasons to hate Vampire Weekend. They look like the SAE douchebags that I would encounter on a daily basis. Their music is ridiculously twee and hipster-riffic. These fuckers probably wear boat shoes.

Yet I enjoyed the hell out of their debut album. It was perfect summer music, and their new album, Contra, is probably more of the same. That said, for some reason their label thinks it's a great idea to release their record in the middle of the fucking winter, even though it's a band that I haven't listened to since August. And people wonder why the record industry is failing.

This is their latest single, "Cousins." To tell you the truth, I absolutely hated this song the first time I heard it, but I've grown to appreciate its idiosyncrasies, from the driving snare roll to the stupid tremolo picked guitar lines. It also helps that they made a nifty little video, with some great scenes, especailly one verse where they act out the lyrics.

Caught in the melody
You wait in the car
You were born with ten fingers and you're gonna use them all...

Hump Day Helper -- Relegated to CDs Edition

Because it's Wednesday, and we all need a pick-me-up to make it through the rest of the week in our respective hells, WDR is providing some fun.

So a couple of days ago, the hard drive that holds all my music decided to randomly stop working. As a result, in order to listen to my music I've had to resort to listening on the outdated technology of the Compact Disc. So I've been grabbing whatever's handy, and that means whatever I bought last.

And that's why I've had the debut of Vampire Weekend in my car for the past few days. These hobos from Columbia University have put together a fun collection of Afro-pop bounce. It's been getting some heavy hype from the music press, but unlike The Arcade Fire, it's not totally undeserved. And since I'm getting sick of telling people about the band, I might as well show the video that got my attention. Goofy stop-motion will do that.

Look outside at the raincoats coming, say "oh"
'Ey 'ey 'ey 'ey!