Vampire Weekend think modern pop music is "incredibly avant-garde".
The ‘Diane Young’ band think people are quick to write off mainstream hits because of their popularity, but if they looked a little deeper they would see how much they incorporate from different styles and genres.
Singer Ezra Koenig told The Irish Times: "People lose perspective. At any given moment, there are people who hate pop music because they associate it with bros or stupid backward people.
"The truth is, if you look at what pop music sounds like now, with the influence of electronic dance music and the manipulation of vocals and sounds, it’s incredibly avant-garde.
"These are the kind of things that science fiction writers in the 50s were dreaming about, music made entirely without organic sounds and vocals processed to perfection."
Although Ezra’s band are seen as an indie-rock group, he says he has been "obsessive" about pop since he was a child, and will always defend it.
He added: "I’m happy now, this is the time I belong in. When I picture those stories that you read about some young guy in England hearing Elvis and rock’n’roll for the first time, I believe that was a seismic event because he had so little access to outside things. To suddenly hear that was crazy.
"When I was first heard A$AP Rocky, I thought he was fresh and distinct but I’ve been listening to rap since I was a little kid. It didn’t blow me away but my curiosity was piqued and I began to spend more time with it and realise he is a very important and unique modern artist. You almost have to have a more subtle ear now. No-one is going to hear rock’n’roll or hip-hop at a diner and go ‘what is this?’"
Vampire Weekend’s ‘Modern Vampires of the City’ is out now.