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Vampire Weekend | 
 enlarge | Artist: Vampire Weekend
Label: Xl
Category: Music
List Price: £13.99
Buy New: £6.98
You Save: £7.01 (50%)
New (19) Used (4) from £5.65
Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 20
Format: Explicit Lyrics
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 40318
UPC: 634904031824
EAN: 0634904031824
ASIN: B0010V4TZU
Release Date: January 28, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Tracks:
| • | Mansard Roof | | • | Oxford Comma | | • | A-Punk | | • | Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa | | • | M79 | | • | Campus | | • | Bryn | | • | One (Blake's Got A New Face) | | • | I Stand Corrected | | • | Walcott | | • | Kids Don't Stand A Chance |
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
Probably the best album I've bought in years August 9, 2008
5* reviews are probably overdone and that might be the only reason I haven't awarded one here. I found the band through amazon after shopping for the ting ting's (they're quirky and fun, too check them out) only knowing the song 'oxford comma' which I managed to preview on the net. I got the album and listened to the whole thing and not to put too fine a point on it - its pretty much all fantastic.
The style is a kind of upbeat indie sound but quite neat (a polite way of saying not all indie bands know their way around their instruments), infused with a variety of exotic influences, the african ones have been mentioned. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, despite the lead singer's quirky vocals sounds like a Paul Simon song and I don't know if they're copying his style or just his influences, the others mix the folk tunes more seamlessly in to a modern streamlined form, A-Punk will be familiar to many who think they've never heard of the band but Oxford Comma is an incredibly catchy tune.
I don't think there IS such a thing as 'too quirky' as one other reviewer claims and besides this is hardly strangeness for its own sake (for that check out philip glass) this is just incredibly original new music. Just when you thought there were no great new bands one like this appears. I hope this is the first album of many.
 Genius! July 28, 2008
This album is absolutley brilliant! I love the lyrics! They are deep and perceptive and fun. The sound is infectious and life loving! Buy this album it will brighten up your day whenever you listen to it! And if you want to listen closer it will provoke you to imagine more fully the parts of stories it tells!!
The album for the summer! July 26, 2008
Just imagine it, one of those rare sunny Sundays, sitting in the garden and you need a bit of music to go with it - this is the album you want! Never mind the neighbours (they're probably playing it too!) bang it up loud and enjoy the African influence. If you're anything like me the hype puts you OFF an album, so just ignore the hype and enjoy the songs, majority of them are superb!
Marvellous... July 17, 2008
Truly an excellent and exciting record. It seemed worth adding a comment just to say that the much-hyped African graceland influence of this band is somewhat over-emphasised. True, on one or two tracks, it's very obvious and a key part of the sound (Cape Cod). But to be honest, it's a bit of a red herring. For the most part, this is a quirky melodic original and catchy pop album brimming with ideas (how about a comparison of early Police meets the more commercial side of Pavement?). Perhaps some of the negative reactions are because this band really is hard to categorise - so inevitably, people may feel let down if it's not what they expected.
A Refreshing Blend of Music July 12, 2008
I had never heard of Vampire Weekend until I heard my daughter playing the LP of the same title. Always on the look out for interesting music and bands that try to do something new, I was immediately attracted to what I was hearing. She went on to tell me that the group is an Indie rock band from New York city. Vampire weekend is an exciting debut LP by a four-piece band whom I believe burst on the scene in 2006.
Whatever the music is called, what I find interesting in Vampire Weekend is that they produce an exciting and to some extent refreshing blend of rock, punk, and African sounds and rhythms. Every now and again it is good to hear a band producing and performing pop music that tries to do something different other than the usual bash of guitars and screams into a micro phone that we get from many an over rated pop band.
The music is very energetic it makes you want to get up, jump up and dance. The lead vocals by Ezra Koenig are quirky but at the same time edearing. Vampire Weekend play a broad range of instruments from the expected guitars to harpsicord. They write their own lyrics and had a hand in the production and string arrangements. Listen to the track M79 and you soon realise that the blend of rock and classical sounds renders this band as a huge talent among mediocrity.
It's a pleasure to hear a new band producng something new. In my view Vampire Weekend has also achieved a rare feat in that I believe the LP appeals to a wide age range. This is a very good debut LP: buy it and I am sure like me you will enjoy it.
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