For a while there it seemed like Sufjan Stevens was everywhere - on top of his proper releases, he dropped a bonus disc and a four-part Christmas album - but we haven’t really heard much from his camp in the past two years.

Stevens broke his silence recently with a conflict-of-interest review of label-mates Cryptacize on the Asthmatic Kitty Sidebar.

We’ve always enjoyed Sufjan’s sidebar offerings, and this one is no different. But we’re not used to seeing this side of our favorite musical historian. In a rant about the state of rock, Sufjan slips in a not-so-subtle dig:

“Sometimes I worry that the ever-increasing trend toward excessive innovation has pushed the art and music world into a slapstick exhibition of dog breeding, generating increasingly newer, more contemporary fashions: gothic folk, for one. Or Afro-beat Ivy League pop.” [Ed: Bolding is ours, not his.]

Ouch, Soof. Ouch. Now, he doesn’t call anyone out by name, and I’m sure he was being hypothetical, but “Afro-Beat Ivy League Pop” sounds a lot like a pointed dig at love-em-or-hate-em Vampire Weekend (they of the Upper East Side Soweto and Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa).

MP3s:

Here’s the video from the new Pitchfork-endorsed indie darling, Vampire Weekend. I haven’t decided whether I think they deserve all the praise they’re getting yet, but this song is my favorite so far, and the video is great. Enjoy.

Vampire Weekend - “A-Punk”

Also, I enjoyed this quote from their website:

The name of this band is Vampire Weekend. We are specialists in the following styles: “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, “Upper West Side Soweto”, “Campus”, and “Oxford Comma Riddim.”

A little pretentious? Sure, but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’re being at least a little self-deprecating.