Wait, Tokyo Police Club hasn't even released a full album? How did they sell out New York, San Fran and Toronto? It's because of blogs, isn't it. Blogs offer the promise of newness without any of that “hard evidence” crap. Which is why we live in the age of Vampire Weekend, a band that is famous because it was going to be famous, and has since become less famous now that they're already famous.
Now Vampire Weekend is less of a band than an idiom:
Hey man, did you hear that new Facile Epistle Magnolia track?
Yeah, it was whack. I heard all this great stuff about it but it's just a Vampire Weekend.
Why do people keep getting tattoos of Chinese characters that they can't read? Don't they know they're just doing it because other people think it's cool?
Forget it, Jed. It's just a Vampire Weekend.
Did you hear about this two-day trek into Romania where you get to visit the castle of Vlad Tsepes and wander around the forests at night and sleep in coffins?
Forget it, Jed. It's just a Vampire Weekend.
Don't let Tokyo Police Club fall down that dark grammatical hole yet, though. Yes, they sold out all the hot spots. But “Nature of the Experiment” and “Cheer it on” had this fresh-faced, not-afraid-to-be-ridiculous quality about them, and with self-awareness, the Buddha says, comes freedom.
Guess we'll have to wait until the album comes out to see if they're a real band or a figure of speech. Elephant Shell drops April 22 on Saddle Creek.
Elephant Shell tracklist:
1. Centennial
2. In A Cave
3. Graves
4. Juno
5. Tessellate
6. Sixties Remake
7. The Harrowing Adventures Of…
8. Nursery Academy
9. Your English Is Good
10. Listen To The Math
11. The Baskervilles
Here's the spring tour:
March
24, 2008 The Independent – San Francisco, CA SOLD OUT
25, 2008 The Glass House – Pomona, CA
26, 2008 Troubadour – Hollywood, CA SOLD OUT
27, 2008 Troubadour – Hollywood, CA SOLD OUT
28, 2008 Soma – San Diego, CA
29, 2008 The Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ
31, 2008 Meridian Red Room – Houston, TX
April
1, 2008 House of Blues – Dallas, TX
3, 2008 Club Downunder – Tallahassee, FL
4, 2008 Studio A – Miami, FL
5, 2008 Backbooth – Orlando, FL
8, 2008 Exit/In – Nashville, TN
9, 2008 The Spot – Cleveland, OH
18, 2008 Barrymore's Music Hall – Ottawa, ON
19, 2008 Cabaret du Musee Juste Pour Rire – Montreal, QC
20, 2008 Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY SOLD OUT
21, 2008 Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY SOLD OUT
22, 2008 Bowery Ballroom – New York, NY SOLD OUT
24, 2008 Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
26, 2008 Pearl Street Night Club – Northampton, MA
28, 2008 First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA
29, 2008 Black Cat – Washington, DC
30, 2008 Big Orbit's Soundlab – Buffalo, NY
May
2, 2008 Opera House – Toronto, ON SOLD OUT
3, 2008 Opera House – Toronto, ON
4, 2008 Magic Stick – Detroit, MI
5, 2008 Metro – Chicago, IL
6, 2008 Varsity Theatre – Minneapolis, MN
8, 2008 Garrick Theatre – Winnipeg, MB
9, 2008 Louis' Pub – Saskatoon, SK
10, 2008 The Warehouse – Calgary, AB
11, 2008 The Warehouse – Calgary, AB
12, 2008 Starlite Room – Edmonton, AB
16, 2008 Plaza Club – Vancouver, BC
17, 2008 Sugar Nightclub – Victoria, BC
18, 2008 Neumos – Seattle, WA
19, 2008 Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
22, 2008 Bluebird Theatre – Denver, CO
23, 2008 Slowdown – Omaha, NE
