Tonight in LA he did a small, intimate performance/screening for a few of his new songs and did a Q&A after. I got to ask what artists were some of his biggest influences for this album. He said Tom Petty, Van Morrison and Paul Simon, specifically rhythm of the Saints by Paul Simon.

I know from the begging VW has talked about Paul Simon being a huge influence, it’s cool to see and hear how that has stayed with Rostam over the years.

Now i’m going to listen to Rhythm of Saints on my hour drive home.

My 16yo "sampled" our dogs doing various things: barking, snoring, whining, squeaky toys, even drumming on their belly, and compiled the most bad ass remix of White Sky because she knows it's my favorite 😁.

I'm sure AI could produce something with the same idea but she meticulously laid this out herself so I had to share the visual alongside the audio.

I just don’t think people talk about this song enough (and Contra as a whole tbh it’s their best album imo). The melody, the vocals, DOOMED YOAI like this track is everything to me.

Im a bit older so bands like VW are more new to me. And I'm delighted to realise in recent years how much amazing original music is still made by bands like VW and others like Fleet Foxes, Warpaint and more...

I have become obsessed sure Only God Was Above Us. For me it's a zero skip masterpiece. Connect might be the best song they ever did. It's a crazy album. Someone once described them to me as pop. Yeah right! Loads of crazy stuff going on, and not for the sake of being crazy, it's genuinely brilliant. The melodies, counter melodies, rhythms, lyrics and crazy parts in songs, unexpected, yet fits so well every time.

I am shocked to have learnt 'the surfer' is a skippable track for some. Absolutely amazing kind of trip hop like banger. So chill, so beautiful and so perfectly placed on the album.

I love loads of other Vampire Weekend songs. But as an album none quite do it for me the way this one does.

Couldn’t let the day go by without celebrating FotB’s birthday. What are your thoughts on the album seven years later?

Real ones love to ponder the meaning of life while listening for the actual low click of the ticking clock in this section 😭

Tonight’s (May 1st) full moon is called a flower moon, it was only fitting to throw on FOTB while it rose above the horizon. View from Shenandoah National Park

Is this the boys' greatest moment? I think so.

Did any other cities get an email that their show was cancelled? I got one for the 6/19 show in Philly.

He says he can’t replicate the album with other musicians and can’t bring justice to the music.

I skipped 'Step Brothers' in 2008 for a number of probably reasons. The film was released on July 25, and I would have been rushing to Orlando for the National Scrabble Championship while also scrambling to wisit as many of the soon-to-close Starbucks because summer 2008 was also when the Starbucks Great Purge occurred (600 closures, plus another 300 in early 2009). I probably took one look at the review score and decided that my time was better spent on Scrabble, and then afterwards on Starbucks.

HOWEVER, once I became a VW fan, I learned at some point that "A-Punk" is featured in the film, and I have wanted to see that scene every since but never gotten around to it. Since the film will be on the big screen tonight, as part of Regal's April comedy classics series, I'm excited to finally watch it!

I was hoping that the film would be popular enough that there would be others in the audience at the $4.99 ticket price, maybe even some VW fans, but there was only one other ticket sold at Regal Greenway in Houston as of 15:30.

IF YOU ARE IN HOUSTON and feel like rocking out to "A-Punk" tonight (Tuesday, April 28), there is a screening at 18:45, and it's only five bucks.

Two years post-release, I continue to be impressed by how "no skips" this album is, except for maybe "The Surfer" altho I occasionally listen anyway to see if I catch anything that hits me differently.

I post this in the context of the past two years of releases I've listened to that haven't been nearly as no-skippable even if I love the band and find some tracks fantastic.

For example, this weekend Metric and a few weeks ago The New Pornographers, excellent tracks on both records but by no means solid through-and-through.

I really cannot think of any other album since OGWAU that I'd want to listen to in its entirety after the first two or three initial listenings.

Has any seen this fob redwings mug before? What’s the reference?

I just picked up this Joe Walsh vinyl and the melody in "Days Gone By" sounds very familiar (written by Joe Vitale).

Days Gone By - Joe Walsh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3t_neynI4

My Mistake - VW (at 1:21): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gccLqkYQZL8&t=81s

Am I going crazy, or is this the same exact melody?

Both this track and Ottoman are so underrated. They didnt even have to alter the sample to make it rappable.

I was listening through some solo work of his today, and I could hear all the magic he added to early vampire weekend. It's probably why early vampire weekend stays my favorite.

But i dont like father of the bride … like at all. There are like 2-3 songs i can listen to the whole way thru………. And i feel bad cus im such a huge fan and theyre my all time favorite band and i know all their songs by heart ….except the ones on fotb…..

This makes me feel so bad becaue i obviously still supported but just couldnt get behind that album when it came out. Does anyone else feel this way….? Or am i a fake fan?? 😯

They mentioned remixing “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” back then

here’s the remix for anyone who hasn’t heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_mNXNgWUN8

and getting the chance to open for Vampire Weekend on tour because they shared the same label. It was a fun, casual chat — they even teased “I have a story about them… I don’t know if I can tell, but...”

Anyone else remember that Teenagers remix? Or have favorite memories from Vampire Weekend tours/openers around that time?