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Vampire Weekend | 
 enlarge | Artist: Vampire Weekend
Label: Xl
Category: Music
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £4.73
You Save: £7.26 (61%)
New (23) Used (2) from £4.73
Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 10
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
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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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 23 more reviews...
 There is such a thing as TOO quirky, you know June 29, 2008
ChrisD (Eastbourne, UK)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I want to like Vampire Weekend. I really do. They deserve kudos for keeping their songs short, fun and catchy, while bringing Soweto-style rhythms to the masses for the first time since Graceland. Fun little melodies bounce along as if their only purpose is to make you happy, and singer Ezra Koenig yaps his vocals like a playful puppy, eager for a biscuit. So far, so endearing. But there is something of a feeling of look-at-me smart-arsedness about it all that threatens to undo their good work at times. Recent single Oxford Comma is an example - a song that seems to bemoan grammatical fascism and an obsession with correct spelling. I mean, eh? Someone is wearing their clever trousers. Catchy tune, though.
But while there are other disappointing moments - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa starts off giving the impression that it's going to be better than it turns out, while One (Blake's Got A New Face) is just plain ruddy irritating - there are a lot of good moments too. Opener Mansard Roof is a short but pleasing way to get the ball rolling, and stays in the head much longer than its 2 minute running time; A-Punk will get fans of late 70s 2-Tone feeling nostalgic; while my personal favourite M79 is a delight, starting with a bright little harpsichord intro (yes, a harpsichord) and featuring a string section jaunty enough to bring the sun out.
I get a distinct feeling there is a very good album in this band. This just isn't yet quite it.
Breath of Fresh Air June 6, 2008
R. E. Wilkinson (Douglas, Isle of Man)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Light and engaging pure pop,definately "preppy" in style , reminicent of the likes of Five Man Electrical Band from the late 60's. Light and airy and definately not to be taken seriously. Music for the summer. Enjoy a breath of summer and sunshine and fresh air.
 Music has returned! June 4, 2008
S. Owadally (Cardiff, UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Having listended with disdain as boring guitar hooks have begun dominating the radio stations, I was so relieved when I heard this album. For years, the best bands were releasing albums of high quality, but since guitar music returned to being all the rage, record companies have been more willing to release the mediocre in order to cash in on the popularity of it. Finally, this album has seen top quality, inventive music return.
It is somewhat ironic that this British observor has needed some more New Yorkers to reignite his passion, but after hearing all the recent, average British deliverings from the likes of Pigeon Detectives, Foals and the like, it was just this slick, confident New York helping that I needed. It is a similar feeling for me as when The Strokes first burst on. That relief. Granted, this period of mediocrity has not been as long as it was preceding The Strokes, but this is still an important break from an important band.
It has been apparently hard for bands to be original in the current climate but this album achieves that and more. From the first bars of "Oxford Comma" and "A-Punk" to the cute, African influenced strings of "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", this is so refreshing. Synths are also used in careful quantities and they fit in perfectly. The vocals are young, naive and bold. Which is superb.
"I Stand Corrected" is a beautifully crafted, lyrically-confessional masterpiece of this moment in musical time. It is, for me, the standout track of the album with it's elegant mixture of harmonising strings with military-style drums. It's length and abrupt end just bring about more of the inevitable comparisons with Casablancas and New York's finest on their legendary debut. And in the next track, "Walcott", they seem to combine epic with lo-fi, however impossible that may seem. And again, the abrupt end is brilliant.
This album is one that will make you sit up and listen and take great note. Unlike so much recently, it is not background music. It is innovative, inventive, original, bold and confident. When a band can cram all those things successfully into a debut, only good things can come. And at little over 30 minutes, you will be left craving more.
Absolutely superb.
Brilliant May 27, 2008
Marianne (Cumbria)
Had never heard of this band, saw them at radio one's big weekend, am now a huge fan!! Fantastic album.
Quality pop May 15, 2008
J. Charlesworth (Lewes, E. Sussex United Kingdom)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I must be getting old because I bought this after reading a review in the Grauniad!!! But no regrets here- it's fun, quirky pop that put me in a spring mood, probably because of the reggae/Afro rhythms that permeate the tracks. The most obvious comparison that sprang to mind for me was actually with the Beatles because, like a Beatles album, the tracks are all a bit original and eccentric.
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