Vampire Weekend: "Camera Obscura"

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Watch the events unfold as they blow up this year...

There's so much buzz around this band. I don't see them every getting played on the radio here, but I see them being a huge act anyway.

I'm loving "A Punk" right now. And MTV actually plays the video!

[That Skipping Rope.]

haveyoueverbeenlow said:

Vampire Weekend:

01 Mansard Roof
02 Oxford Comma
03 A-Punk
04 Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
05 M79
06 Campus
07 Bryn
08 One (Blake's Got a New Face)
09 I Stand Corrected
10 Walcott
11 The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

haveyoueverbeenlow said:

They're my favorite new band of 2007. Soooo good.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Their album cover looks like it was taken at a Skins party!

[That Skipping Rope.]

jerseyboy said:

Their album cover looks like it was taken at a Skins party!

True.

They're going to be big. I already see my friends adding them to their favorite music on Facebook.

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

jerseyboy said:

Their album cover looks like it was taken at a Skins party!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_eSnmYv0KA

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Entertainment Weekly has a feature on them this week also and says they'll be THE biggest buzz band of 2008.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

dannyuk said:

jerseyboy said:

Their album cover looks like it was taken at a Skins party!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_eSnmYv0KA

LMAO. I think I'll pass on that party.

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Seriously though, I really like Oxford Comma, and the new single. I'm very interested in hearing the album...

The album is out tomorrow in the UK - I might be tempted to impulse buy if I see it cheap. ;D

[That Skipping Rope.]

I kinda outplayed the album already, but I'll be picking it up when it comes out here. It's just really fun music.

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Well I bought it...

Am listening now to Track 2, or as it's otherwise known "Oxford Comma".

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

dannyuk said:

Am listening now to Track 2, or as it's otherwise known "Oxford Comma".

That's one song that I really don't get. It's seriously a whole song talking about punctuation? I do like it a lot though.

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

jerseyboy said:

dannyuk said:

Am listening now to Track 2, or as it's otherwise known "Oxford Comma".

That's one song that I really don't get. It's seriously a whole song talking about punctuation? I do like it a lot though.

Well pretty much, from reading through the lyrics- it's criticising grammar snobs, but the weirdest part must surely be the ending where he sings "Lil Jon, he always tells the truth". What is THAT about!?

Oh, A- Punk is on. Love this one!

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Top 30 in the UK midweeks!!

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Live: Vampire Weekend's Prepster Revolution

WHO: Vampire Weekend
WHERE: Bowery Ballroom, New York City
WHY: "Do it assholes! Us old people gotta get up and get to work early tomorrow morning!" That's the self-proclaimed "old" woman standing behind us moments before NYC prepsters Vampire Weekend came back onstage for an encore last night. But her slight ire couldn't be less indicative of the show's overall mood. Celebrating the release of their mondo-hyped debut album — one of those rare records that lives up to nearly every accolade — in their hometown, the foursome were positively giddy. When we last saw these Columbia kids live, they were a bit tentative, as though they weren't quite sure if they deserved the absolutely ecstatic reception lavished upon them by NYC's collegiate elite. Now, they're more confident (but, importantly, not too confident). While professors, family and friends (including a rabid group of five dudes who po-go'd the entire show) looked on, the quartet rolled out note-perfect replicas of their lightweight punk songs about NYC buses, college lawns and a girl named Bryn (who happened to be in the audience). They jumped, smiled and sang out like they were genuinely excited to embrace their "band of the moment" status. The one untitled new song debuted at the gig — with its call-and-response yelps exuding nothing but joy — also indicated this band may have several more spotlight moments in front of them. But, while the VW movement will no doubt get bigger as the TV soundtrack and commercial offers roll in, there's also a chance it'll never get much better or warmer than last night. The band seemed to realize this — and blissfully used it to their advantage.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Vampire Weekend
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
Producer(s): Rostam Batmanglij
Label: XL Recordings

The fever-pitch buzz about Vampire Weekend is not unwarranted. The New York troupe doesn't pretend to be anything more than a quad of friends with a penchant for sunny melodies and whip-smart lyrics about girls and college and other young people stuff. The end result is 11 singalong party songs that are little stories unto themselves. Many share tropical and African influences, from the bouncy congas on the Peter Gabriel name-checking "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" to the borderline clubby four-on-the-floor beat that kicks off "Campus." The twee "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" would be a perfect fit for just about any Wes Anderson film, while tracks like "Mansard Roof" and "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" highlight singer Ezra Koenig's dreamy pipes. Listeners are only too lucky to get a hot breath of summer fun in these cold winter months. —Katie Hasty

[Q]

I want to like them but their songs feel like they're missing something.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

I'm addicted to "Campus" right now. It's my favorite song on the album, hands down.

[backintime]

I tried to buy this in the week, but Woolies didn't have it

[Deleted]

jerseyboy said:

I'm addicted to "Campus" right now. It's my favorite song on the album, hands down.

Me too. "Oxford Comma" is also brilliant. I think they'd both make great singles after "A Punk."

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Debuts at #22 in the UK.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Debuts at #17 in the US with 28,000 sold.

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

A-Punk is charting on downloads in the UK (#45 on iTunes) and is B-listed on Radio 1 ahead of it's 25th Feb physical release. ;D

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Vampire Weekend perform at the Bowery Ballroom on January 29, 2008 in New York City.

All the local papers gave their show amazing reviews.

[backintime]

All Music Guide gave the album 4.5 stars.

With the Internet able to build up or tear down artists almost as soon as they start practicing, the advance word and intense scrutiny doesn't always do a band any favors. By the time they've got a full-length album ready to go, the trend-spotters are already several Hot New Bands past them. Vampire Weekend started generating buzz in 2006 — not long after they formed — but their self-titled debut album didn't arrive until early 2008. Vampire Weekend also has just a handful of songs that haven't been floating around the 'Net, which may disappoint the kind of people who like to post "First!" on message boards. This doesn't make those songs any less charming, however — in fact, the band has spent the last year and a half making them even more charming, perfecting the culture collision of indie-, chamber-, and Afro-pop they call "Upper West Side Soweto" by making that unique hybrid of sounds feel completely effortless. So, Vampire Weekend ends up being a more or less official validation of the long-building buzz around the band, served up in packaging that uses the Futura typeface almost as stylishly as Wes Anderson. At times, the album sounds like someone trying to turn a Wes Anderson movie back into music (it's no surprise that the band's keyboardist also writes film scores); there's a similarly precious yet adventurous feel here, as well as a kindred eye and ear for detail. Everything is concise, concentrated, distilled, vivid; Vampire Weekend's world is extremely specific and meticulously crafted, and Vampire Weekend often feels like a concept album about preppy guys who grew up with classical music and recently got really into world music. Amazingly, instead of being alienating, the band's quirks are utterly winning. Scholarly grammar ("Oxford Comma") and architecture ("Mansard Roof") are springboards for songs with impulsive melodies, tricky rhythms, and syncopated basslines. Strings and harpsichords brush up against African-inspired chants on "M79," and lilting Afro-pop guitars and a skanking beat give way to Mellotrons on "A-Punk." It's a given that a band that's this high concept has hyper-literate lyrics: the singer's name is the very writerly Ezra Koenig, and you almost expect to see footnotes in the album's liner notes. Once again, though, Vampire Weekend's words are evocative instead of gimmicky. The irresistible "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" rhymes "Louis Vuitton" with "reggaeton" and "Benneton" and name-drops Peter Gabriel (though it's clear the band spent more time with Paul Simon's Graceland) without feeling contrived. "Campus" is another standout, with lines like "I see you walking across the campus...how am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?" throwing listeners into college life no matter what their age. Koenig has a boyish, hopeful quality to his voice that completes Vampire Weekend, especially on bittersweet but irrepressible songs like "I Stand Corrected" and album closer "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance." Fully realized debut albums like Vampire Weekend come along once in a great while, and these songs show that this band is smart, but not too smart for their own good.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

On EW's Must List this week.