Extensive Vamping

I Wrote This for Stuck Listening.

My friend/coworker Chris and I have so many discussions about music while we’re supposed to be working that we started a review site. We’re assuming we’re going to have way different viewpoints about the same albums (this has proven thus far to be correct) so basically, it’s a constant argument. Visit. Enjoy. But meanwhile, here’s my first review:

Tennis: Young & Old (& fun & bouncy)

Being a girl, Tennis is the best thing since Best Coast. Especially if you’re not high all the time. Or super fucking dramatic and dating some asshole.

Is Tennis superficial music? Maybe. That’s been a main argument lately with critics. But what’s wrong with art for art’s sake, asks the ghost of Oscar Wilde.

It’s fun music. And, for a girl, slightly thought provoking (She took a train! To where?). Isn’t that what music is supposed to be? Fun and thought provoking? Something you can sway to or reverie in open air to? That being said, I can see a guy’s-guy hearing this and only wondering if the lead singer is hot (she is.) and what kind of guitar they’re using (Fender something-something. I’m no profesh here.) before turning it over to Vampire Weekend. Again.

“Origins,” a bit of a bouncy song in the key of Brian Wilson, is their first single from the album and probably my favorite new song of theirs (sorry if the triteness of that offends you). But that doesn’t mean the rest of the lo-fi indie rock album should be written off.

There are some other gems. “Take Me To Heaven With You” is about as close as Tennis gets to a “Birds Do It, Bees Do It,” innuendo (très demure), while “My Better Self” slows things down a bit, bringing you into almost Beach House territory with dreamy lyrics and a down tempo that probably sounds better on vinyl, you assholes.

Maybe I’m biased. I’ve seen the band live and while they were great, the best part was seeing how in the love Patrick and Alaina are. Her side glances and half smiles to him as he loses himself in a guitar rift. The way he beams at her as she finds her element behind her keyboard. I’m a girl and a constant observer. This stuck with me and made the music that much more enjoyable. I like to think that some of their happy little love vibes can travel through the speakers and reach me and… hopefully Ryan Gosling and connect us together somehow in this big ol’ crazy mixed up world of ours.

Meanwhile, “It All Feels The Same,” has a rockier vibe. It’s a little more aggressive than say, “Petition,” a song that brings us back to that soft bounce that Tennis is known for. However, even “Petition” is still less beach party, more yacht party, which is cool and makes sense since Tennis did write most of their music whilst sailing. And that’s dandy. I mean, I like to pretend I’m a Kennedy in my Sperry Topsiders, too. What’s wrong with that?

If you’ve always wanted to be in love or pretend to be a back-up singer in 1962- then boy, is this the album for you.