I can't find an appropriate word for what snow actually does when it falls excessively. This bothers me because snow has been falling excessively for the last couple of months, and this new month seems to be no exception to the rule. As I write, I'm watching those vicious flakes precipitate all over my backyard, and I'm listening to two bands from New York who choose to ignore our current weather phenomena and write songs that threaten to make Afro-pop relevant again.
If you read any music blog, magazine, listen to semi-alternative radio, or subscribe to a newspaper with a music section, then you've probably heard of Vampire Weekend. Their name makes them sound ridiculously emo, but their sound is actually a linear progression of the post-punk movement reinvented by the Strokes. When Joy Division was being grumpy and lachrymose, Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel were stealing sunny syncopation from the continent of Africa. Vampire Weekend combines a bit of that grumpiness with a little sunshine, and suddenly they're the new saviors of music. I guess I'm exaggerating a little bit, but Vampire Weekend really doesn't do anything particularly original, not even currently original. Bedouin Soundclash brought back Afro-pop three years ago, and they did it from Canada, a country even further from the golden rays of the African Savannah than cold and mean NYC. As you can see, I'm not particularly impressed by Vampire Weekend. "Mansard Roof" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" are two catchy songs that succeed in creating a certain ambiance, but overall I find the songs on Vampire Weekend disappointingly lacking in the rhythm that makes African music so interesting and energetic. These songs are simply weak Northeastern substitutes for strong and brilliant sunshine, and they don't have me dancing.
The Epochs are my second New York-by-way-of-Malawi band, but they mix up the sound enough on their self-titled debut album to keep me interested. Drama becomes the Epochs, and every song that sounds epic (epochal, if you will) is a winner on the album. "Thunder & Lightning" starts things off with a flash and a bang, then saunters toward "Opposite Sides" which is the cleansing, high-falsetto rain after the storm. "Love Complete" is the song that first reminds me of 1980s Afro-pop, but it succeeds because the sound is heavy, orchestral, almost symphonic. The execution of "Love Complete" stands up to the idea, where many of the songs on Vampire Weekend fall down like houses made of straw. My one major complaint about The Epochs is that the songs tend to be a little lengthy. Sometimes, less is more, and when you're just beginning, a short and catchy song can be the difference between global recognition and a few dedicated fans. If you're Radiohead, you can spend six minutes breaking rock 'n' roll boundaries because you consistently bring something new and exciting to the table. If you're reinventing sounds that have already been reinvented, you may want to spend more time on your hooks and less time on your album cover art.
The snow has stopped fluffing outside my window, but I still can't hear the heart of Africa in any "new" bands. I guess it's time to get back to Bedouin Soundclash, Angelique Kidjo, and Antibalas. Let's hope this cache of musical sunshine will keep me warm until the spring thaw.
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