Vampire Weekend came and went this weekend and I didn't see them. But it wasn't because of the band exposes the chasm within indie rock concerning class, race, and appropriation. I just couldn't get tickets. Look, I understand this schism within indie rock as someone who mainly frequent establishments within the indie rock 'scene' and being a black male. I also understand it as someone who could charitable be called poor and I don't mean the 'I'm waiting for mom to send me a check so I can buy ecstasy' poor (Although I've been that kind of poor too, I can't throw stones). But after the gangbang the group took from The Voice and New York Magazine, I commend Creative Loafing for standing up for the band. They make serviceable, if slightly unambitious indie rock. They actually need the Afrobeat influence to keep things interesting. But this is the indie rock realness test and Vampire Weekend failed and exposed the delusions of those who participate in the culture that they aren't merely slumming it as young white kids have always done. The band simply remind these kids they are truly from Scarietta (Marietta), The G-Net (Gwinnett), or The Woody (Dunwoody), so even if their clothes have holes in them, there is someone always out there that will take them to American Apparel. Indie rock needs this discussion, it just doesn't need to single out a band as a martyr for the culture's insecurities. As they say in hip hop circles, eat a dick.
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