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Vampire Weekend, "Arrows"


Japanese CDs are notoriously more expensive than the ones you'll find in the U.S. Even the "expensive" American discs are less than the cheaper Japanese ones. It's screwy, I know. But to entice consumers, the Japanese have been, for years, offering special bonus materials with the core product ... from extra tacked-on tunes to special limited edition CD-Rs to exclusive stickers, patches, and all sorts of swag.

I don't know if I'd ever pay the extra $10 or so for any of the above, but it seems to be doing the trick over there. Literally every Western artist's Japanese release has something extra added on to the tail end of their EP, LP, or even single ... and Vampire Weekend (MySpace) is no different. The Japanese release of the eponymous debut has two bonus tracks included on it: "Ladies of Cambridge" and "Arrows." While the former is on a Vampire Weekend single or something in the States, the latter has only been seen in concert. So consider this a completely illegitimate exclusive from BBBD. You dodged the bullet arrow (that's an in joke) and neither have to shell out $7 or so nor have to hop over to Tokyo to hear this song.

(A final note: "Arrows" deserves to be a b-side -- it's not all that great. Certainly worth a download and a thorough listen, but that's about it. Don't add this to any mixes for your significant other or repost it because it just ain't worth it.)






Vampire Weekend - Arrows

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Anonymous said…
Thanks for posting this...I was about to literally shell out the extra money for the import. Glad I didn't! Thanks again and by the way, great site.
14:12
The Lemur said…
Yes, I was wondering a couple of years ago why Japanese editions always had two extra tracks until I after own experience found out that Japanese CD prices are wicked. It's a serious problem for the art of sound. Adding a few extra shitty tracks might ruin a whole CD. Jens Lekman's Night Falls Over Kortedala (my favourite album from 2007) would be absolutely terrible without Friday Night At The Drive-In Bingo as the last track. Why not just put the extra in the middle or something? Once, I actually thought Japanese were equally minded in musical preferences. But right now the big thing in Japan is R&B-pop boybands and other mainstream shit. Japan is mainstream capital of the world. I'm not kidding. Aware of, but denying, they're creating their own role model: USA. Some lousy musical/social analyzing and unbased criticism for ye there...
05:22
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