Product Description

After gaining exposure through word of mouth, internet blogs and US indie radio, New York based four piece Vampire Weekend release their self-titled debut for XL Records. Recordedat various locations including barns and friends apartmentsand produced by keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij, the band describe their sound as "Upper West Side Soweto" playing a unique mix of Strokes style New York indie rock mixed with African rhythms. The debut single 'Mansard Roof' is included.

Track Listing

1. Mansard Roof
2. Oxford Comma
3. A-Punk
4. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
5. M79
6. Campus
7. Bryn
8. One (Blake's Got A New Face)
9. I Stand Corrected
10. Walcott
11. Kids Don't Stand A Chance

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106 in Music
• Released on: 2008-01-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
Who would have thought it? Nobody, that's who. The last time African music enjoyed any meaningful dalliance with the Western mainstream it was under Paul Simon's patronage with his peerless 1986 album Graceland. That's if you don't count Damon Albarn's extra curricular indulgences (which you don't). The last place we expected it to turn up again was from four New York kids who otherwise might have been found fiddling with their fringes in dorm rooms waiting for the Albert Hammond Jr. tour to hit town. Even by the obscure standards US indie has set itself over the last few years (see TV on the Radio and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) Vampire Weekend offer up a witch's brew of audacity. That alone would be sufficient to garner infamy and a rep for experimentation, but they also hang from this rebellion of form a stream of alt-tunefulness so efficient and unabashed it would make The Strokes' first album blush. Thus, the piping reggae organ and sun-kissed swagger of "Oxford Comma" is given a heartbeat by tight lo-fi garage drums and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" lilts along with cheerful tribal rhythms and crisp African guitar, bound by ascending psychedelic vocals. And that's not to mention the mad strings that make listening to "M79" like watching Ski Sunday on hallucinogens. Their advanced rhythmical awareness even makes more standard indie rampages "I Stand Corrected" and "Walcott" less standard. Which is about the length of it; Vampire Weekend, making the standard much less standard. --James Berry

Customer Reviews

Good honest pop with an African twist.
Unlike some other reviewers I never listen to Radio 1 and I am immune to any hype that's going around. This is a refreshing and different sound and I would recommend it to anyone. Like other old farts I was a fan of Paul Simon's African phase, and love the sound. I get the impression these guys are doing this for the joy of the music, not to get more sales, and to me that makes all the difference.

Vampire Weekend
After hearing A-Punk what sane music lover couldn't want this album?

But with few tracks being as fun or catchy I was slightly disappointed. The album failed to make me bop continuously for the 34.2 minutes like i was expecting instead bringing out a slightly less catchy side. It's still listenable... Just not as listenable as I wanted it to be.

I'd give it a 7/10 in all.

This is fantastic !
This is a great album, a really chipper album. I recommend this if you like good music and are cool like me.