By: Will Bedwell
In January of 2008 four Columbia University graduates released their self-titled album Vampire Weekend. This pop album filled with bossa nova, British punk, and ska influences debuted at number 17 on the Billboard charts, then went on to be named the 10th best album of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine. After this sudden stardom they toured extensively, but also went back to the studio.
From these efforts came Vampire Weekend’s second album entitled Contra, released from XL records on January 11, 2010. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, selling 124,000 copies in its first week.
Vampire Weekend consists of members: Ezra Koenig (lead vocals and guitar), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals), Chris Tomson (drums and percussion), and Chris Baio (bass guitar and backing vocals). The band claims influences from African Popular Music and Western Classical Music. They describe their genre of music as Upper West Side Soweto (Upper West Side referring to an upscale area of Manhattan, and Soweto referring to an urban area of Johannesburg, South Africa).
The music created in both albums is largely rhythm based, put forth from Tomsom’s drums and Baio’s bass. Tomsom (originally a guitar player) drums with light unique layers, associated from his guitar background, on top of heavy driving latin beats. Baio’s bass lines owe as much to classical themes as they do to reggae rhythms. On the treble end of the bands frequency, duo guitars give out catchy riffs on every track with Koenings voice being used for unique rhythms almost more than its use for lyrics. Batmanglij’s synthesizers round out the band’s signature Caribbean feel common in all Vampire Weekend Songs. Many songs are recorded with classical string accompaniments.
The new album takes a slight exit form the pop/punk stylings of their first. Contra is more synth based and classically structured. This provides for more atmospheric songs that sound even weirder; both things to be greatly appreciated by any of their fans.
Contra still contains breezy, easy-going songs, i.e. “Horchata,” in the same vein of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” from their first album. New jams “Holiday” and “Run” sound like the punk classics “A-Punk” and “Oxford Comma” from their past, but with their edges filed down, and their tempos slightly dropped.
The most noticeable change in Vampire Weekend’s sound is the introduction of more synthesizer and techno tones used by Koening’s keyboard. The effect this has on songs “Giving up the Gun” and “Diplomat’s Son” adds an amazing new dimension to the band.
Never ones to shun obscure pop culture references, Vampire Weekend makes sure to throw a few funny mysteries in their new album. The title Contra is a contrast to the Clash’s 1980 album Sandista!. In Nicaragua during the 1970s and 1980s, the Contras were a group of right wing militants who fought in opposition to the marxist group the Sandista National Liberation Front. Also very uniquely, “Diplomat’s Son” samples the track “Hussle” by M.I.A.
Often band’s sophomore albums are used as an excuse to voyage off into the unknown and experiment. Vampire Weekend definitely took an adventure to create their second album, and to the chagrin of many in the music industry, they pulled it off creating a more whole and complete album than their excellent debut. Worries existed as to whether or not Vampire Weekend would fade into music history never achieving the success and uniqueness of their first album. But after listening to Contra, the fact is obvious that four unique New Yorkers and their funky rhythms are in the middle of the musical limelight and won’t be leaving any time soon.
