SHREDnews

Vampire Weekend, the New York band formed in 2006 are an unorthodox pop sensation drawing influence from African popular music as well as western classical. Ezra, Rostam, Chris Tomson and Chris Baio met at Columbia University and after graduating, they began independently recording and producing their debut album while holding full time jobs. Recognized as “The Year’s Best New Band” in 2008 by Spin magazine, the band is now trying to follow up their debut accolades with sophomore effort, Contra.

Horchata is a light and cheerful with bass drum as the backbone for the eb and flow of Ezra Koenig’s vocal. The most intriguing part of the song, as is true for the album in general is the refreshingly original instrumentation and arrangement. In addition to the conventional drums bass and guitar, Vampire Weekend weaves together their artful pop hybrid using digitally manufactured sounds on keyboards as well as nice use violin and strings to give their music a worldly feel.

The layers continue to build on top of each other in White Sky. The chorus features Koenig’s comical yelping crescendos that seem silly, but fit well with overall mood of the song, which is optimistic and will be sure to have listeners smiling and clapping along.

California English kicks of with familiar bass drum thumping over lyrics uttered too quickly to decipher on first listen. Bass and drums lock in to a triplet rhythm and alternate with staccato syncopations underneath the plucking and bowing of strings with backing vocals chanting a spiritual blanket over the soundscape.

Taxi Cab is entrancing. A simple quarter note bass drum is present through out while beautiful lines of piano, swelling strings and melodic higher pitched intertwining through a hypnotizing piece both dynamically and as a result of all of the different sounds the band experiments. Their is even a section of harpsichord, presumably an effect used by the keyboardist, but a nice one at that.

Cousins, the first single for Contra is a delightfully frenetic trip through the bands more rock oriented feel. That said, this is like no rock song you have heard on the radio. The rhythms are refreshing and interesting. The music video out for this song is great to watch with the song for your first listen. It features different members of the band on a conveyer that’s always moving but never seems to reach its destination, until the final chorus of symbol crashes and church bells heralds the arrival of the long awaited Vampire Weekend comeback. (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e0u11rgd9Q)

Overall, Vampire Weekend has followed up their debut album with a solid effort that retains all of the class, style, and originality, and atmosphere that distinguished them as groundbreaking in 2008. For music listeners looking for a surprise, Vampire Weekend is sure to provide some musical brain-food with their refreshingly international take on pop.

For Fans Of: The Shins, MGMT, Spoon

Top Tracks To Listen To: Cousins, Horchata, Giving Up The Gun