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: #21 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

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This is pretty much a representation of what would happen if you gave a bunch of small children some musical instruments and left them alone for an hour with tape recorder running. Absolutely unbeleivably drab repetitive dross.

Short, snappy, witty, happy
I caught onto Vampire Weekend a little late, thanks to an Amazon reccomendation. Very glad I got there in the end! This is a very, very good CD that makes it into the 5 star rating thanks to the strength of the best of the songs, rather than the entire body of work which would Vampire Weekendstill have got it a 4. First couple of plays I wasted time playing 'spot the influence'. That was untimately futile as, other than the obvious Paul Simon Graceland influence on a couple of tracks, these songs are very good in their own right. What does the inspiration matter as long as the songs are INSPIRED? I read a press review comparing them to Madness which I consider to be VERY misleading. The Mads are a kind of musical comedy act, while these guys have a sense of humour but are seriously good. Favourite tracks are 'Oxford Comma', 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa', 'One' (Blake's got a new face)and 'Walcott'.

Magical and Uplifting
This is a great album and I can't resist its charms. My toe starts tapping, my head starts nodding and before I know it I'm singing along. It's life-affirming, good fun and a necessary addition to anyone's collection. God, 2008 has been a memorable year for music!