Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut album is a nice surprise, and a new addition to an ever growing group of bands who have become popular through the internet. Appearing on blogs, and spreading by word of mouth, the band was signed to a record deal and released their first album earlier this week. The album is instantly likable. The songs are fun, upbeat and catchy. I've had several of them stuck in my head all day after listening to it this morning while walking to class. It's a relatively short album at only 34 minutes, but that doesn't deter it at all. Vampire Weekend's sound is tough to pinpoint, but to me they sound like a combination of Spoon and a much more lo-fi Arcade Fire. The lead vocalist reminds me a lot of Britt Daniel from Spoon...with a little Caribbean accent that goes well with the sound of the music. It's tough to pick a favorite track (or even a least favorite) because the album is so even all the way through, however if I absolutely had to I'd go with "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa." It's such a simple song, but it's infinitely catchy, especially the lyrics ("is your bed made? is your sweater on?"). Pitchfork has already received some backlash for giving this relatively unknown band a great review and significantly helping their career as they have done with other bands such as Tapes 'N Tapes and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. However, unlike those bands, I truly believe this album deserves the 8.8 Pitchfork gave it. It's a good listen and will almost certainly be on my top 20 end of the year list for 2008.
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