Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut album is a nice surprise, and a new addition to an ever growing group of bands who have become popular through the internet. Appearing on blogs, and spreading by word of mouth, the band was signed to a record deal and released their first album earlier this week. The album is instantly likable. The songs are fun, upbeat and catchy. I've had several of them stuck in my head all day after listening to it this morning while walking to class. It's a relatively short album at only 34 minutes, but that doesn't deter it at all. Vampire Weekend's sound is tough to pinpoint, but to me they sound like a combination of Spoon and a much more lo-fi Arcade Fire. The lead vocalist reminds me a lot of Britt Daniel from Spoon...with a little Caribbean accent that goes well with the sound of the music. It's tough to pick a favorite track (or even a least favorite) because the album is so even all the way through, however if I absolutely had to I'd go with "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." It's such a simple song, but it's infinitely catchy, especially the lyrics ("is your bed made? is your sweater on?"). Pitchfork has already received some backlash for giving this relatively unknown band a great review and significantly helping their career as they have done with other bands such as Tapes 'N Tapes and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. However, unlike those bands, I truly believe this album deserves the 8.8 Pitchfork gave it. It's a good listen and will almost certainly be on my top 20 end of the year list for 2008.

January 30 - Illinois at Michigan State

Well, it wasn't in the least bit pretty, but a win is a win. The final score of 51-41 represents how sloppy this game was. A very physical contest with lots of fouls and not much run and gun from either team. But again, the Spartans prove they can beat you in a variety of different ways. The previous two contests were high scoring, with the Spartans running up an down the floor for easy scores. This game was a grind; each possession took up a great deal of the shot clock. They also found a way to play through horrid shooting from nearly everyone and foul trouble from several key players. Illinois, on the other hand, showed why they are only 2-7 in Big Ten play. Their defense was effective, holding MSU to only 51 points (20 in the first half). However, their offense may be the worst in the Big Ten this side of Northwestern. They couldn't make free throws to keep them in the game, and for the most part, they shot worse than the Spartans did. Just three years removed the National Championship Game, the Illinois program has crashed back to earth, and it couldn't be any funnier to me. I'd tell the Illini to have fun in the NIT at this point, but they're not even good enough to make it there. See you in Champaign in a few weeks, boys.

As for the Spartans, this win marks the best 21 game start in 109 years of Michigan State basketball. That's right, better than both of the national title winning teams and all six final four teams. It's obviously still early, but i like the tone that sets as we delve into deeper and increasingly more important games. This weekend it's in State College, PA to take on the hobbled Nittany Lions. After that it's Northwestern at home. Then the schedule gets much more challenging. But it's good to know this team has put itself in position to win their first regular season conference title since 2001. Tomorrow is the first game between any of the three ranked Big Ten teams as Indiana takes on Wisconsin in Madison. Since Indiana is still undefeated in conference play, I'll be rooting for Bo Ryan and his horrible team. Hope it's a good game.

Also, happy 53rd birthday, Tom Izzo.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash

Stephen Malkmus's first three solo records were nothing short of fantastic. He had built on the success of his band Pavement and in some ways taken it to new levels. While it's not commonly agreed upon that his solo career has exceeded his achievements as the Pavement frontman, it's hard to argue that they pale in comparison either. Real Emotional Trash is his fourth record, a follow up to 2005's Face the Truth. Although it was a fairly good record, something about the record left me somewhat dissatisfied. The middle of the record really dragged and brought the album as a whole down a peg. With Real Emotional Trash, it is the complete opposite. The middle tracks are among the best, including the mind-numbing ten minute title track. The album as a whole most closely resembles 2003's Pig Lib, which was a bit more "jammy" and less pop oriented than his debut or Face the Truth. "Baltimore" and "Hopscotch Willie" have some great solos reminiscent of previous tracks like "Animal Midnight" or "1 Percent of One." My personal favorite track is "Out of Reaches" because it blends every great element of the album into one song. Some great instrumentation and a nice tune with classic Stephen Malkmus lyrics. One of the little things i noticed that seems to make a big difference in enjoying this album is the track order. The short songs are intermingled nicely with the longer ones making for a great listen the whole way through. For example, the long, solo-filled "Baltimore" is followed immediately by the short, more pop-oriented "Gardenia." The highlight of the album for many people will be the grinding ten minute title track. Starting off slow and mellow, it elevates to a face-melting solo and right back again. Overall, the album has something for anyone who likes good music. It's very early into the year, but in my eyes Real Emotional Trash is the early frontrunner for album of 2008. Just another chapter in the impressive career of Stephen Malkmus.

The Bulls Are Terrible

I had high hopes for this team before the season started. And justifiably so. The team had come off it's best season in nearly a decade and looked ready to make the next step with a few key additions and a maturing and improving core. Well so much for that. As of January 27th, the Bulls were 17-26, bad enough to be 11th out of 15 teams in the horrible Eastern Conference. They've already fired their coach (the only team to do so this season) and have not been able to string together a solid group of wins in a row yet this year. I've never seen a team so baffling in all my life. All the talent is there to at least be a playoff team. Maybe the "best in the East" proclamations were a little ridiculous but there is no reason for this. Fortunately there's plenty of people to spread the blame around to. The Ben Wallace signing has been a disaster the franchise hasn't seen the likes of since Eddie Robinson. Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are hobbled and not the players they were last year. Kirk Hinrich has been wildly inconsistent. "Future Stud" Tyrus Thomas's development has come to a complete stand still. And on top of all that, Joakim Noah is being a jackass in the locker room and disrupting team chemistry. Not to mention the Kobe Bryant trade rumors that were hanging over this team all summer and fall. All seaosn I've kept waiting for them to pull it together and play like the team they're supposed to be, but at this point I've pretty much given up hope. I can only hope now that the ping pong balls bounce Chicago's way in a few months and we can draft Kansas State's Michael Beasley.

January 27 - Michigan at Michigan State

Drew Neitzel has finally found his shot; and that is a very good thing. Over the last four games, Neitzel has averaged 19 points per contest, and not surprisingly, the Spartans have been rolling. The Spartans have proved throughout the year that they can be a very good team without Neitzel scoring a whole lot. But for them to be a true title contender, they need Drew to be an offensive weapon like he was all of last season. As Big Ten play begins to tune up I have no doubt he will continue to find his shot and knock it down. With this whole team running at full strength i see no reason why they won't win the Big Ten season title and grab a 2 seed in the tournament at the very least. I keep hearing about how good Indiana is, but they've lost to the only two teams on their schedule that are in the top 50 (UConn and Xavier). I guess we will find out a lot about them this week when they head to Madison to take on the Badgers. As for the actual game on Sunday, I was pretty impressed. After a brief lapse early in the first half, the Spartans took over and were able to cruise to a fairly easy win. It was pretty obvious that Michigan just doesn't have the talent right now to seriously compete in the Big Ten. The Spartans' offense looked crisp and they ran the floor and got easy baskets. The defense looked as good as it has all season. The only thing I'm really concerned with right now (and have been all season) is turnovers. This is especially true when Neitzel and Travis Walton are out of the game because it puts the ball in the hands of freshman Kalin Lucas. Lucas is a great player and he will only get better and more poised down the stretch so I hope this is only a temporary issue.

Up next are the 2-6 Illini at the Breslin Center on Wednesday. I expect another fairly easy win as we continue to roll through the easiest part of the conference schedule. Also of note, if MSU wins, they will be 19-2 for the first time in program history. That's pretty impressive.