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Vampire Weekend

Only God Was Above Us

limited retail exclusive 2lp with alternate artwork - £32.99 | Pre Order
2lp - £29.99 | Pre Order

cd - £12.99 | Pre Order
'Only God Was Above Us' is the fifth studio album from Vampire Weekend.
Vampire Weekend

modern vampires of the city

black lp + cd - £22.99 | Buy
As much as we loved 'contra', it didn't touch the magic of the brooklynites' debut & we were left wondering if they had another genuinely gr...
vampire weekend

1.     Mansard Roof            
2.     Oxford Comma            
3.     A-Punk            
4.     Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa            
5.     M79            
6.     Campus            
7.     Bryn            
8.     One (Blake's Got a New Face)            
9.     I Stand Corrected            
10.   Walcott            
11.   The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

Vampire Weekend

vampire weekend

XL

perfecting the culture collision of indie-, chamber- & Afro-pop they call "Upper West Side Soweto", the brooklyn quartet make that unique hybrid of sounds feel completely effortless.

Everything is concise, concentrated, distilled, vivid; Vampire Weekend's world is extremely specific and meticulously crafted, and Vampire Weekend often feels like a concept album about preppy guys who grew up with classical music and recently got really into world music. Amazingly, instead of being alienating, the band's quirks are utterly winning. Scholarly grammar ("Oxford Comma") and architecture ("Mansard Roof") are springboards for songs with impulsive melodies, tricky rhythms, and syncopated basslines. Strings and harpsichords brush up against African-inspired chants on "M79," and lilting Afro-pop guitars and a skanking beat give way to Mellotrons on "A-Punk." It's a given that a band that's this high concept has hyper-literate lyrics: the singer's name is the very writerly Ezra Koenig, and you almost expect to see footnotes in the album's liner notes. Once again, though, Vampire Weekend's words are evocative instead of gimmicky. The irresistible "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" rhymes "Louis Vuitton" with "reggaeton" and "Benneton" and name-drops Peter Gabriel (though it's clear the band spent more time with Paul Simon's Graceland) without feeling contrived. "Campus" is another standout, with lines like "I see you walking across the campus...how am I supposed to pretend I never want to see you again?" throwing listeners into college life no matter what their age. Koenig has a boyish, hopeful quality to his voice that completes Vampire Weekend, especially on bittersweet but irrepressible songs like "I Stand Corrected" and album closer "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance." Fully realized debut albums like Vampire Weekend come along once in a great while, and these songs show that this band is smart, but not too smart for their own good.