Five Things

The D Man is willing to share more of his random thoughts with his loyal cadre of readers. So here it goes.

• Vampire Weekend has more rhythm, funk, syncopation, and flow than nine out of every ten rappers. The Columbia-grads put on a great show last week and sounded tight, inspired, and fresh. Check out the new video for "Giving Up the Gun," featuring a few interesting cameos.
• The D Man received this text from his (unnamed) brother, who was attending a concert over the weekend: "Jet rocks!" No, thankfully he was not talking about The Jets, but still: Jet rocks? Maybe Jet rocks for people who watch VH1 every morning and have a ten-album collection that consists of The Eagles Greatest Hits and Yanni: Live at the Acropolis. But for people who love and listen to actual rock music? Original, bona fide rock music? Not so sure. Jet arrived in 2003 attempting to ride the wave of the so-called rock revival led by the likes of The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, and even fellow Aussies The Vines. Unlike their better peers (particularly The Strokes and The White Stripes), Jet opportunistically aped every imaginable band possible (The Stones, AC/DC, Oasis) to become one of the most corporate, vanilla, and inauthentic "rock bands" of the past twenty years. The band would make Joe Jonas blush--this actual review of a Jet record says it all. Indeed, The D Man concurs with critic Nick Sylvester's even less nice review of the band's most popular album to date, Get Born. The very act of writing this hit piece has reminded The D Man that he needs go pick up the new Under Great Northern Lights box set as soon as possible. Relief.
• Still love this song.
• The National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio" from the forthcoming High Violet is stunning. I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees.
• These three songs from Broken Social Scene's much-anticipated album are quite good.