Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
Genre: Indie rock, Afro beat, Baroque pop
Released: January 29, 2008
Music Label: XL Recordings

Annotation: Vampire Weekend is the debut album released by the group of the same name.

Summary: Vampire Weekend is an indie rock group that formed in 2006 from New York City. The group consists of lyricist, singer, and guitarist Ezra Koenig, keyboardist, guitarist, co-writer and music writer Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, and bassist Chris Baio. There are also supporting members that are not in the band but are on the album; they play instruments such as the violin, cello, and hand drums. They have a unique sound of different types of music mixed into one: punk, ska, new wave, indie rock, baroque pop, etc. The group released their self-titled LP on January 29, 2008 to rave reviews. It reached number 15 in the UK and number 17 on the top Billboard 200. The four singles released all reached the top 100 as well. However, controversy stirred shortly after their popularity that though they mixed many types of cultural music into their sound, they have a privileged, ivy-league aesthetic.

Critical Evaluation: It's not only the music that makes Vampire Weekend popular. It's their preppy look, their privileged upbringing, and pop-culture references in their lyrics. If the listener doesn't get it, too bad. There's an ode to the pop-singer Peter Gabriel and Cape Cod on "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." This is aimed towards the young, educated, hipster crowd that knows pop-culture, that has a laptop, that is about to go or is already in college. Now add that educated upbringing to the interesting sound that has both a punk and pop feel to it. Every song has a bounce, a swing, and a number of instruments present. Yes, they may be stealing other styles of music but they make it their own, not to mention that everything is upbeat. It is tightly written with interesting big words present, and played concisely almost like an exam paper, something their audience could relate to.

Why Included: Similar to Best Coast, I love the different sounds on this album.  It is quite original.  And working the check out counter at the library, I've noticed that teens mainly check this album out...an often!