SONG OF THE DAY

“A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend, XL Records, 2007). Written by Rostam Batmanglij, Ezra Koenig, Christopher Tomson and Chris Baio.

Recommended by…

My iPod, because it’s the first track on it, and I went alphabetical last time I went to the gym. In May. Sorry, iPod. Sorry, gym. Sorry, body. I just bought new Earth walking shoes, so I’ll be better now, I promise.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– “A-Punk” is a single by indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released on February 28, 2008.

– The band made their network television debut by performing “A-Punk” on The Late Show with David Letterman.

– The song is featured in the video games Lego Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, Just Dance 2, and the 2008 film Step Brothers.

– The song is most notable for being the first track on my iPod. JK.

– The music video directed by Garth Jennings, that was said to convey the song’s “spiky energy,” used footage of the band performing as sped up stop-motion figures, simulating winter and underwater scenes during the performance. Despite the band being sped up, they “never miss an upstroke beat.”

– The video made its worldwide premiere on January 7, 2008 on MTV2’s Subterranean indie video block.

– Mark Richardson of Pitchfork Media described “A-Punk” as having a “spunky drive, pogo-inducing rhythm, and subtle but hugely effective sonic accents” and said that “while solid, [it] isn’t one of the stronger songs on Vampire Weekend”.

– Drowned in Sound writer Alex Denney, commented that “A-Punk” was not the best song from their debut album due to it being “a little too uptempo to let their disarmingly clever melodies breathe”, but stated “for the flute-aping synths and bottled-sunshine guitars alone you need this in your life.”

– The review from Greg Rose of Gigwise, was mixed. Rose said that although the song lacked originality, it “manages to sound unique” due to the lyrical inventiveness of lines by Ezra Koenig such as, “His honor drove southward seeking exotica/cut his teeth on turquoise harmonicas”, which were described as being “perky” and gave the song “a buzzing zip.”

– Prefix magazine writer, Jeff Klingman, said the song’s “cool organ breeze and a shifting drum beat save the day”, preventing “too much snark from being slung at their New York Times featured, digitally distributed exclusively by Other Music, Columbia University, golden boy asses.”

– In reference to “A-Punk”, The Times writer Ben Blackmore, said, “Do believe the hype.”

– The song peaked at #55 on the UK Singles Chart and #25 on Billboard magazine’s Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.

– On the 27th October 2008, Vampire Weekend re-released “A-Punk” in the UK, in the hope of achieving a higher Chart placement on the UK Singles Chart. However, “A-Punk” only managed to peak at #63, which was less than the placement at #55 earlier that year.

– In 2010, contemporary a cappella group Rockapella covered “A-Punk” on their album Bang.

VIDEO OF THE DAY