My friend and former work colleague Caroline went to Columbia U with the Vampire Weekend guys and she was singing the praises of these guys even before their first album came out. Although her tastes run way indie-er than mine (she plays the theremin, for God’s sake), I very quickly fell in love with VW. Danceable, hooky and smart-assed: all things I enjoy in music.
“Giving Up the Gun” is the third single release from their latest album “Contra” (which debuted at #1 on the album charts not too long ago), and it’s certainly the most big-budget-looking clip the guys have ever done. You know these guys have blown up because their video is jam packed with celeb cameos. The cameos are not totally gratuitous, though! I have no idea what they (or tennis in general) have to do with the lyrics, but the video is eye-catching and pretty funny.
In this video: RZA (the coolest cat in hip-hop not named Ahmir Thompson), Lil Jon (paying VW back for giving him a shout out on their last album’s “Oxford Comma”), Joe Jonas (who I’ll admit that I didn’t recognize at all…I mentioned before that I couldn’t tell the Jonases apart), and Jake Gyllenhaal, redeeming himself after appearing in Jamie Foxx’s ridiculous, cliche-ridden “Blame It” video. Maybe Jake and RZA should join up with VW’s lead vocalist Ezra Koenig and multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij to form a band called “75% Of America Can’t Pronounce Your Names!”.
Enjoy the video: