Vampire Weekend; Arctic Monkeys of 2008?

Contra is now streaming on their My Space page:

http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend

"White Sky" sounds so much like Graceland era Paul Simon with a South African mbaqanga band.

cousins is seriously good.

Stereogum Premature Evaluation

it's not as good :(

took me the better part of a year to come around to the first one. maybe this will be the same?

I do like Cousins, and generally I like the more muscular sound of some of these tracks. I'm still not crazy about the vocals but they're slightly less wispy here.

cd rip on what fyi

gon' buy the hell out of this in 8 days

the 320 rip has leaked, going to listen to that right now.

I'm going to the United Artists' show! Any of you guys gonna be there?

amazing album once again

I hate the sound of his voice on the last coupla tracks, especially "Contra."

"White Sky" is a thing of beauty though.

the last few tracks are a bit too SECOND ALBUMS but i kind of like his crooning.

like "horchata" the whole affair is a bit ridiculous but people always took them way too seriously anyway. the lil jon lyric should've been hint enough right off the bat

can't wait for "omg everyone CHECK IT OUT!!!! i got CONTRA ON VINYL!!!!!" thread

cover is super dope imo - quite likely better than anything within

whatup morbs

also interesting

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/01/the-artful-dodgers-santigold-vampire-weekend.html

I'm more looking forward to hearing the new Santogold than the new Vampire Weekend, tbh.

digging 'Run'

I'm really liking some of this on first listen.

White Sky, Run and Cousins ftw so far.

listening to 'White Sky' on repeat and watching the snow fall

I wonder if it bugs Simon Reynolds that they sample M.I.A. He hasn't mentioned it yet.

this album is fuckin dawgshit

cousins is still my jam

do you think when dudes stumbled across the triple meaning of "Contra" for its geopolitical meaning, its nostalgic video game meaning, and its folk dance meaning, the guys in Vampire Weekend slapped five?

I thought they just meant it in the sense of "against".

"against vocal pitch"

Yeah, these guys should get an Auto-Tuner. Oh, whoops - that didn't make people happy, either.

where will this album chart ?

last one came in at #17

#6 US #3 UK #1 Our Hearts

i didn't love this the first time i listened to it, but while listening to the first album on the metro yesterday i realized what a loss it would be if i stopped loving their new music. i might have willed myself into loving it, but it's all for the best i think. they make real good use of shinier production and they've rounded out a lot of the awkward corners in their songs.

I love the new album. (Much better than a lot of other hype-bands sophomore albums too which always disappoint me.)

Much more interesting, though, is how much Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig and Santigold mastermind Santi White have in common—their shared fascination, for example, with the rhythms of the African diaspora. Their love for spiky melodies. Even their upbringing.

Um, it's interesting in 2010 that two rich city kids both have an interest in black music?

Also, I mean, "the African diaspora" by definition does not include AFRICA

Oh man, that article, I'm really just not going to keep going here. I mean it's fucking Paste.

The new album is ridiculously good IMO. "Cousins" is actually one of the weaker tracks maybe.

Maybe I have to listen to it some more(have heard the myspace stream twice), but I just find it pleasant in a background kind of way. Its tasteful but the hooks and melodies and lyrics and instrumental feel don't grab me (yet ?).

Well, "Cousins" seems to stick out (and depending on your taste for that guitar style, in a good or bad way. I say good).

is cousins about these dudes

http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2007/04/17/Perfect-Strangers-web.jpg

a rich city kid who explores the cultural wealth/folk wisdom of the meposian diaspora

I love "Run" a lot atm.

From experience, the new album is best appreciated on a good sounding system and not, if you can help it, as a stream or via computer speakers. Made all the difference to me.

shit sounds like that embarrassing "discovery" lp

No way, that really was embarrassing. At least they write real songs in the context of VW.

the Discovery album almost dissuaded me from listening to this in the first place.

I'm unapologetically in love with this album. Even better than the first, I think.

Amazon MP3 has the record for $3.99. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YP45EQ

Time to go listen to this thing!

i cosign this so hard. a few missteps i think ("california english" soudns like a bad max tundra song, the m.i.a. sample is so unnecessary and detracts a lot from the otherwise great "diplomat's son") but overall i mean damn.