The explanation he offers the New Yorker for his love of Ralph Lauren Polo shirts gets points for creativity: For him they’re a cultural emblem because Lauren, recently ranked the 224th richest person in the world, started out as a poor Jewish tailor in the same Bronx neighborhood Koenig’s dad grew up in. When he wears them he’s repping for the brand’s humble immigrant roots, not the country-club world it’s now synonymous with. He bandies about the ethnic heritage of Vampire Weekend’s members (he’s Jewish, Rostan Batmanglij is Iranian), but “One of my bandmates is Iranian-American” has got to be the Pitchfork-nation equivalent of “Some of my best friends are black.”

When I grow up I want to be Jessica Hopper.