Vampire Weekend

Boy do I wish it was Summer right now... Not because these one-point-five days of Winter have tested my ability to deal well with cold weather, but rather because I really want to buy that Sublime box set and, you see, I'm fairly literal with what music I listen to from season to season. No Babylon by Bus in February and no Long Cold Winter on repeat in July. If you catch my drift.

Well if you're like me with all of that then I ask you to suspend your fastidiousness for the time being and check out the following band.

Vampire Weekend is a quartet of Columbia graduates who, like Islands, clearly share a certain love of the sounds that informed Paul Simon's Graceland and half of everything Peter Gabriel has ever done. While there's probably still some finishing touches that could be done on these tracks the beats and strumming you're thirsting for are all here in heaping portions, as are the mellow sunny day melodies. Judging from the song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" I'd bet that this is one band you're really going to enjoy in a live setting and I'd even go so far as to call this band the best group of African music making white boys in all of New York.

The second song posted here, "Oxford Comma", is the one that's really gotten me most interested in Vampire Weekend. Why? For one it reminds me of things I enjoy about Bishop Allen. A certain carefree take on songcraft you're not likely to find just growing on trees. Smart pop. Ivy League pop? Yeah sure. If that means preppies who own guitars and know who Ladysmith Black Mumbazo is I'll go with that. The second reason I jumped when I first heard "Oxford Comma" is because I give a fuck about fun music, catchy lyrics, AND Oxford commas. That's how I roll. You too? Then let's make this weekend a Vampire Weekend full of boat drinks and fun in the sun. In January? You betcha.

Listen:
"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"
"Oxford Comma"

***also, please, do yourself a favor and check out the excellent Les Bank Robbers mashup of Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and Clipse's "Wamp Wamp" - listen to it on the Les Bank Robbers MySpace page HERE***

Visit Vampire Weekend on MySpace.

See Vampire Weekend on the 31st of January at Mercury Lounge.