Home > Music > CD Review > Vampire Weekend, 'Vampire Weekend'

Vampire Weekend, 'Vampire Weekend'

A little polish really makes this prep-rock buzz band shine

By Matt Pais, Metromix

January 28, 2008

Critic's Rating:

• Email
• Print View
• Share
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Google
  • Reddit
  • Mixx
  • Mister Wong
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • Yahoo
• Add To Favorites
• Add to playlist

Backstory: Four recent Columbia University graduates comprise this New York outfit, whose Afrobeat-inspired pop—cheekily dubbed “Upper West Side Soweto” by the group and often compared to the worldly sounds on Paul Simon’s “Graceland”—has earned oodles of rave reviews, based solely on the band’s bouncy live shows and an EP, “Blue CD-R.” They look like dudes that would invite you to go sailing, which may explain why their video for “Mansard Roof” finds them calmly drifting out across the water.

Why you should care: All but two of the songs on “Vampire Weekend” were on “Blue CD-R,” but they’ve been re-mixed, re-mastered and spruced up with strings and adjusted bass lines. You can finally and officially determine if the hype is warranted and if a good-natured group like this can sustain their pep over the course of a legitimate, full-length album.

Verdict: Finding the fun in being brainy, Vampire Weekend is less interested in singing about verbal assaults than about the punctuation involved (as they do on “Oxford Comma”) or the difficulty in keeping feelings bottled up (the sweet, lovelorn “Campus”). While “CD-R” was raw and likable, it felt small, but “Vampire Weekend” makes you want to turn up your iPod and bob your head down the quad. Singer Ezra Koenig’s voice pleasantly glides over unpretentious melodies with the kind of hard-to-resist charm that will get mentioned everywhere from wine and cheese parties to notes passed around a classroom.

X-Factor: Even if you think these guys are a little too preppy, it’s at least nice to hear references to Louis Vuitton (“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”) that aren’t just lazy name-dropping on a hip-hop track. Sorry, Kanye! On an even more positive note, the group’s new video for “A-Punk”—now playing on the band’s MySpace page—is as catchy and appealing as the song itself.

You will be prompted to register or log in when posting.

Comment

Please note that by clicking on "Post Comment" you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Service. Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed by the moderator.