Artist:  Vampire Weekend
Album:  Contra

Vampire Weekend’s self-titled first release was hailed by many as an original, ground breaking album and a fresh sound.  It was critically acclaimed by many reviewers.  It came in at number 5 on Time’s best albums of 2008 and peaked on Billboard at 17.  At decades end it came in at 56 on Rolling Stone’s top 100 albums of the decade.  Clearly the New York band was on to something.

I didn’t pickup on the album until early 2009 and the first time I heard it I found it to be underwhelming at best and outright unlistenable.  That must have been a bad day for me personally.  I revisited the album a couple of months later and immediately fell in love with it.  The sound was at once familiar and at the same time refreshing.  It stood out in the indie field where many albums seemed to be chasing the same ‘indie’ sound.

Fast forward to 2010 and Vampire Weekend’s second release ‘Contra.’  The band had released the song ‘Horchata’ for free late in 2009 and I immediately downloaded and loved it.  It had the same quirky feel and African pop beats and felt like it would blend in just fine on their first album.  Now the question was whether or not the rest of the album would live up to expectation.

Review after the break.

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