vampire weekend self titled album download zip . With the Internet able to build up or tear down artists almost as soon as they start practicing, the advance word and intense scrutiny doesn't always do a band any favors. By the time they've got a full-length album ready to go, the trend-spotters are already several Hot New Bands past them. Vampire Weekend started generating buzz in 2006 -- not long after they formed -- but their self-titled debut album didn't arrive until early 2008. Vampire Weekend also has just a handful of songs that haven't been floating around the 'Net, which may disappoint the kind of people who like to post "First!" on message boards. This doesn't make those songs any less charming, however -- in fact, the band has spent the last year and a half making them even more charming, perfecting the culture collision of indie-, chamber-, and Afro-pop they call "Upper West Side Soweto" by making that unique hybrid of sounds feel completely effortless. So, Vampire Weekend ends up being a more or less official validation of the long- building buzz around the band, served up in packaging that uses the Futura typeface almost as stylishly as Wes Anderson. At times, the album sounds like someone trying to turn a Wes Anderson movie back into music (it's no surprise that the band's keyboardist also writes film scores); there's a similarly precious yet adventurous feel here, as well as a kindred eye and ear for detail. 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 , 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 (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. Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend. If you’re to believe the wildly unfair amount of hype surrounding Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut album, the Columbia University students who formed the band are one of the greatest things to happen to popular music since The Strokes sparked new life into rock and roll at the turn of the century. The hype, which on the basis of a few demo tracks has been festering and exponentially expanding since early 2007, will suggest that Vampire Weekend’s tribal African rhythm sections, classical music loving orchestral arrangements, and pristine pop melodies are some of the most innovative combinations since sex and candy. This is, of course, an absurd and desperate claim to hurl upon any band, especially one that is in the mere infancy of its life. Although Vampire Weekend are indeed an incredibly talented group of musicians, and although the overarching aesthetic which defines their sound is a breath of fresh air, the group’s debut can’t ever quite match up to the delusions of grandeur it has been assigned. Instead Vampire Weekend have put together a cohesive, well-executed batch of songs that are consistently pleasing but never astounding. Vampire Weekend should hardly be criticized for such a feat, though, because even though their record lacks the replay value of a timeless classic, “Vampire Weekend” is an album nearly anyone can enjoy. Most of this can be attributed to the well-polished, clean feel of the album, as well as the fact that “Vampire Weekend” places a clear emphasis on distinct, easily accessible pop as opposed to the sludge and dirt of a more rugged, distorted rock record. Every single note, of every single song rings out clearly. It doesn’t take much more than a listen to the catchy bounce of “Oxford Comma” for this fact to settle in. The track hops along behind a steady mellotron as lead singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig casually exercises his effortless vocals through one of the catchiest sing-along tunes on the album. Likewise, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and “M79” are meticulously crafted gems that illustrate the fact that Vampire Weekend put an intricate amount of effort and detail into each song. On “M79” dueling violins restlessly whirl about with such force that the track nearly captures the experience of a live symphony and “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” utilizes a laconic bongo to hold the beat before closing the song with a keyboard riff not far from something Bach might have written. That said, not all of “Vampire Weekend” is the band’s own unique version of Afro-pop, nor is it all worthwhile material. “Campus” is about the closest Koenig and company come to writing a conventional indie rock song, but after a listen or two the song is just that. Conventional and boring. The same can be said for the majority of the back half of the album with the notable exception of “I Stand Corrected,” a nostalgic, piano- driven lament that borders on doo-woop before eventually bringing to mind the Arctic Monkeys in one of their finer moments. Perhaps more noticeably, album closer “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” sounds like a Vampire Weekend cover of The Police, although I might only be saying that because Koenig does a spot-on Sting impersonation throughout the entire song. Regardless, the song mixes everything that is Vampire Weekend, swirling strings, a thumping bassline, and precocious keyboards. In the end, “Vampire Weekend” is undeniably a fine debut record from a band that clearly has loads of potential and songwriting ability. Still, the album as a whole becomes redundant and uneventful after a couple listens all the way through, and I find it hard to believe that “Vampire Weekend” will triumphantly trounce the test of time. In the meantime, though, “Vampire Weekend” is certainly worth your time, as long as you keep your expectations in check. Download: Future Unlimited EP. Nashville might not be the place you’d expect a duo like Future Unlimited to start pulling from the 1980s’ lasting influence, looking to (appropriately) futuristic inspirations, and compiling their impeccably glossy no-wave synthpop, but indeed, that’s where it all began for the short set of songs that’s now getting the band noticed. For all the focus on otherworldly drones, opaque, planar ‘80s synths, and mechanical bass throbs lately, Future Unlimited are promising because they’ve found a way to incorporate those familiar elements into something new. You can now stream and download the duo’s debut, self-titled EP. You’ll be glad you did: FUTURE UNLIMITED EP (ZIP) Comments are closed. Recent Posts. “Black Parade” by Beyoncé Flamagra by Flying Lotus: Review Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend CrasH Talk by ScHoolboy Q Remember When: you listened to music standing still. Recent Comments. On Popular and Unpopular Music. About Pretty Much Amazing. Pretty Much Amazing is a music blog started in 2008 and maintained by Daniel, a self-proclaimed music nerd. PMA was once called “the true keepers of serendipity” in The New Yorker . MTV considered PMA one of the “best independent music blogs,” and “a blog you should know.” The Toronto Star very kindly described PMA as “indispensable,” and the New York Post said Pretty Much Amazing was “one of those little website crumbs of deliciousness [we] visit every morning.” PMA used to be a daily publication. In 2020, this site will exist as an archive to more than 11,000 posts on music, including over 1,000 album reviews. New content will still be published. If you’re into that sort of thing, you can bookmark this page or follow along via Email, Facebook, or Twitter. You can contact the editor here. Vampire Weekend. Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs. Buy the album Starting at £12.49. With the Internet able to build up or tear down artists almost as soon as they start practicing, the advance word and intense scrutiny doesn't always do a band any favors. By the time they've got a full-length album ready to go, the trend-spotters are already several Hot New Bands past them. Vampire Weekend started generating buzz in 2006 -- not long after they formed -- but their self-titled debut album didn't arrive until early 2008. Vampire Weekend also has just a handful of songs that haven't been floating around the 'Net, which may disappoint the kind of people who like to post "First!" on message boards. This doesn't make those songs any less charming, however -- in fact, the band has spent the last year and a half making them even more charming, perfecting the culture collision of indie-, chamber-, and Afro-pop they call "Upper West Side Soweto" by making that unique hybrid of sounds feel completely effortless. So, Vampire Weekend ends up being a more or less official validation of the long- building buzz around the band, served up in packaging that uses the Futura typeface almost as stylishly as Wes Anderson. At times, the album sounds like someone trying to turn a Wes Anderson movie back into music (it's no surprise that the band's keyboardist also writes film scores); there's a similarly precious yet adventurous feel here, as well as a kindred eye and ear for detail. 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. © Heather Phares /TiVo. Vampire weekend self titled album download zip. Recorded at the Lerner E573, Tomson Family Barn, 17 Moultrie, 14-16 Bedford Street, Meserole and Diamond, Meserole and Dobbin, Hicks and Joralemon, Baio's Mom's House, and Treefort Studios in DUMBO. Mastered at The Lodge, NYC. "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" contains elements of "Obeah Wedding (S. Francisco)", Ice Music International Ltd. (ASCAP). All rights administered by WB Music Corp. (ASCAP). Wesley Miles appears courtesy of V2 Music. The disc has a tracklisting with shorted track titles: 1. Mansard 2. Oxford 3. A-Punk 4. CCKK 5. M79 6. Campus 7. Bryn 8. Blake's 9. Corrected 10. Walcott 11. Kids. ℗&© 2008 Vampire Weekend under exclusive license to XL Recordings Ltd. (back sleeve) P 2007 Vampire Weekend under exclusive license to XL Recordings Ltd. C 2007 Vampire Weekend.