00-vampire_weekend-vampire_weekend-2008.nfo
ARTiST: Vampire Weekend
ALBUM: Vampire Weekend
BiTRATE: 178kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: XL
GENRE: Indie
SiZE: 46.37 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 34min 13sec total
RiP DATE: 2008-01-25
STORE DATE: 2008-01-29
Track List:
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01. Mansard Roof 2:07
02. Oxford Comma 3:15
03. A-Punk 2:17
04. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa 3:34
05. M79 4:15
06. Campus 2:56
07. Bryn 2:13
08. One (Blake's Got A New Face) 3:13
09. I Stand Corrected 2:39
10. Walcott 3:41
11. The Kids Don't Stand A Chance 4:03
Release Notes:
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If you listen to much indie rock, Vampire Weekend are probably old news. Thanks
buzzed-about new bands. They're four ex-Columbia University students with a
for listeners looking for variation among their buzz bands, though not nearly as
interesting as some press would suggest. On their debut, Vampire Weekend mostly
earn points the old-fashioned way: by writing likable songs you'll be glad to
revisit next month.
For much of the album, Vampire Weekend keep things simple: Songs like "Mansard
Roof" are little more than slinky guitar lines, keyboard and string adornments,
and caffeinated grooves. Ezra Koenig tosses off sweetly crooned melodies and
lyrics that cut nostalgia and romance with a modicum of snark: "Campus" is a
vignette about a college infatuation, though Koenig on another song also manages
to make a strong hook out of?"Who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?"
As for the African thing, Vampire Weekend cite the blog Bennloxo.com as a source
of current Afro-pop; one assumes that they're also well-acquainted with
Graceland. They're smart enough to know there's a political dimension to
Columbia kids borrowing from Afro-pop, and their appropriations seem fairly
unspecific. Those appropriations are also tucked neatly into VW's sound: "Bryn"
rides the kind of triplet-based polyrhythms both India and Africa could claim,
but the tune is a love-struck thing Arcade Fire might turn out. Then there's
"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," the most Afro of the pop tunes here, with a conga
groove and register-jumping bass lines. Koenig mentions Benetton. He sings,
"This feels so unnatural/PeterGabriel, too." VW may grow out of this kind of
their debut.
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