Vampire Weekend Discussion

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

This song was praised in both Blender and Spin this month, so I checked it out.

It's good! Different and obscure... but mellow, fun, and catchy. A nice listen for a lazy late summer afternoon.

Hear it here: myspace.com/vampireweekend

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

They've signed to XL here in the UK.

"Mansard Roof" is their first single (out October 22nd) and the album will apparently be out in January 2008.

One to watch!

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

They were in NME the other week.

Here's "Mansard Roof" performed live : www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQYN9bbjtZs

[RedDragon]

RollingStone article.

You'd think a band of four Ivy Leaguers would yearn for blogosphere approval from some place like Pitchfork. But New York's Vampire Weekend were much more excited to get their first rave from Benn Loxo du Taccu (bennloxo.com), written by a Canadian reporter who was living in Senegal and posting MP3s of obscure African pop tunes. The site had helped introduce the Columbia University band to the Afro-beat deep cuts that shaped their own distinct groove: a blend of ska, African music and New Wave pop that coalesces into addictive indie-rock tunes on their as-yet-unreleased album, due early next year on XL Recordings.

VW singer Ezra Koenig already knew what kind of artistic statement he wanted to make when he formed the band with pals Rostam Batmanglij, Christopher Tomson and Chris Baio in early 2006. "I'd taken a trip to India the year before and stopped in London for a few days on the way there," he says. "It got me thinking a lot about colonialism and the aesthetic connections between preppy culture and the native cultures of places like Africa and India."

For an assignment at Columbia, Koenig wrote a short story exploring those connections and called it "Cape Cod Kwaasa Kwaasa," which became the title of one of the band's first tunes.

But they know to steer clear of academic eggheadism. "If we worry too much about what's 'authentic' and it verges on ethnomusicology," says drummer Tomson, "it would take away from what we want to do, which is more like a mash-up."

Still, Koenig notes that there will always be a guiding principle behind Vampire Weekend's music. "The basis of our whole band is not playing modern rock," says the twenty-three-year-old New Jersey native, who got Nirvana's In Utero for his tenth birthday but quickly moved away from anything remotely "alt-rock." He feels confident they're on the right track: Earlier this year, while he was teaching eighth-grade English at a Brooklyn public school, he got the seal of approval from some of his toughest potential critics. "One of my students kept telling me, 'Mr. Koenig, you guys gotta take down the Fall Out Boys.' And this kid Koran said he was listening to our songs and his cousin said, 'What is this white-boy sh*t?' And Koran goes, 'No, man, listen to it, it's not like that.' I was like, 'Yeah!' "

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

"Mansard Roof" is out in the UK on Monday (on 7" vinyl).

[That Skipping Rope.]

The album's leaked, and I've been reading good things about it. I'm downloading now.

[That Skipping Rope.]

I'm loving it. Very chill. A mix of Spoon with some Kings of Leon wails.

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

I love "A Punk"

[RedDragon]

I downloaded this a few weeks ago. There are onle 10 tracks, so I don't know if it's the actual album.

[backintime]

"Mansard Roof" is a record of the week on Radio 1!

[That Skipping Rope.]

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

[That Skipping Rope.]

"Boston" is so awesome and catchy. I love them.

[That Skipping Rope.]

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

[cactus tree]

Vampire Weekend as guest DJs on Sirius:

www.zshare.net/audio/10399656736776a0/
www.zshare.net/audio/10400330dace82ec/

[backintime]

They have two topics

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

I can only find two non-album tracks in their catalogue: "Arrows" and "Ladies of Cambridge." Both are great. Anyone know of any more?

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Vampire Weekend was interviewed by Pete Wentz on F'n TRL yesterday. The indie community should be proud!

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

I can't wait until they get Katy Perry to guest vocal on their new single for a huge sell-out single which gets to #22 on the Hot 100!

[That Skipping Rope.]

*Crosses fingers*

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

Jun 25, 2008 9:36:05 GMT -5 The Seldom Seen Kid said:

I can't wait until they get Katy Perry to guest vocal on their new single for a huge sell-out single which gets to #22 on the Hot 100!

It could happen! Katy Perry was another "Guest VJ" on the show yesterday!

[That Skipping Rope.]

That show was vile, if I may say.

[That Skipping Rope.]

They're coming to town!!!! Nice.