Tag Archives: Vampire Weekend

In formulating my review of Vampire Weekend’s new record Contra, I found myself unable to figure out how to address the record. There’s a lot to be said about Vampire Weekend outside of the actual music on the record, which can sometimes get in the way when listening to the music itself. When the band debuted in 2008, the main critique of them was their preppy, East Coast style combined with heavy West African rock and Graceland influence. In the gap between the self titled debut and Contra, the band grew in popularity, and heaps of exposure in ads, television, and movies changed Vampire Weekend from a buzz band to the Next Big Thing pretty quickly. All of this was weighing so heavily on my mind the first time I heard Contra_, I had to listen again to better concentrate and get a better sense of the music.

What I heard the second time around was actually pretty good. Contra is a lot more polished and focused than Vampire Weekend was, and you can hear a band that has gotten better at both crafting songs and producing them on the record. The album is far from flawless, and not everything hits the mark, but when it does, it produces really strong results. The polished production and processed sounds work both for and against the record. The first two tracks are the best example of this. Opener “Horchata” is lush and expansive, but there’s none of the raw or clean elements that made Vampire Weekend so fun to listen to. It’s an over produced track, that made me instantly hesitant towards the rest of the record. But the second track, “White Sky,” is incredibly catchy and bright. Perhaps it’s because it’s a track that band has been playing since the Vampire Weekend tour, but more likely because it is stripped down in comparison to “Horchata” and instead places more focus on the subtleties that are the band’s forte. On “White Sky,” Ezra Koenig’s voice sounds like a more friendly version of the Dirty Projector’s Dave Longstreth, hiccuping through the keyboards and clicking drums.

The best song on Contra the single “Cousins,” a frantic hybrid of punk and Afro-rock that is really the only track where the band becomes completely unrestrained. It positively bursts at the seams and is easily the most fun song on the record. Gone are the keyboards and processed beats found on the rest of the record, and in their place is a band that is just rocking out, which works extraordinarily well. That’s, again, not to say the keyboards and processed beats aren’t a detriment to the record, it’s just that the best elements of it are far more natural.

The album as a whole though is thoroughly enjoyable to listen to. Vampire Weekend have established themselves as being unafraid to just do what they want to do. Unlike other blog bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or Cold War Kids, they followed a good debut with an record that shows maturity, not just moving forward for the sake of moving forward. I found while listening that the problems I had, the drum machines and auto-tune, didn’t necessarily detract from the songs being well crafted and fun to listen to. I think I’d like to re-review the album in six months or a year to see how I feel after its had a chance to sit with me, but for now, it’s safe to say that Vampire Weekend has kicked off a promising year for music in the right way.

Michael’s Score: 80

Jonah’s Score: 60

Tangled Up In Wires Averaged Grade: B