just this year, vampire weekend played dave letterman, saturday night live, jimmy kimmel, and jools holland. not bad for four columbia graduates who started playing reggae/new wave/afro-pop influenced melodies in 2006.  the band members, ezra koenig (lead vocals, guitar), rostam batmanglij (keyboard, guitar, vocals), chris baio (bass guitar), and chris tomson (drums) describe their genre as "upper west side soweto".

vampire weekend are of the new generation of musicians: they initially gained their recognition through the buzz of the online music community.  eventually, their hype made it's way to rolling stone, stereogum, pitchfork, and finally to the cover of spin magazine.  at that point they were signed to hugely influential xl recordings (radiohead, beck, sigur rós, white stripes, etc).  again, not bad for four preppy guys who have been playing together for only two years.

don't get me wrong, i believe they are the real deal and deserve attention.  although not necessarily revolutionary, their self-titled debut album released january 29, 2008 consist of 11 catchy songs about love, hopelessness and towns being invaded by vampires.

click here for an all songs considered set recorded on march 13, 2008 at the parish as part of austin, texas' epic festival south by southwest (sxsw).  click here for a february 14, 2008 in-studio set recorded by kcrw's morning becomes eclectic.

click here to find out if vampire weekend are playing near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.