[image-4]Published January 31, 2008.
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend
(XL)
This buzzed-about Brooklyn quartet considers themselves experts in “Upper West Side Soweto.” Their infectious Brit-Afro-pop style makes for head-bopping, uncomplicated songs, mixing West African soukous and rhythms, ska and new wave, with frequent comparisons to both The Strokes and Paul Simon. Vampire Weekend know that pastel-sweatered white kids from Columbia University are treading a fine line of appropriation, and acknowledge it by singing “This feels so unnatural/Peter Gabriel, too.” But where this much self-awareness might be annoying in some bands, this album is so much fun that you won’t care as you play it on repeat.
Sue Carter Flinn
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2008.
