an article about vampires.

http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2008/03/26/Features/Vampire.Weekend.Features.World.Influences-3283972.shtml

Vampire Weekend features world influences
By: Ryan Kathman
Posted: 3/26/08People who caught musical guest Vampire Weekend perform on Saturday Night Live on March 8 may have noticed some discrepancies between what they saw and what they heard. The band's featured songs blended African rhythms with college rock lyrics, supported by the classical touch of a string quartet. But the 20-something musicians creating this world-music sound looked like the kind of white, East Coast yuppies who might play the bad guys in a 1980s frat movie. The lead singer even sported a preppy wool sweater.It was as incongruous as if guest host Amy Adams had stepped in for Fred Armisen to play Barack Obama in the show's opening sketch.But Vampire Weekend is in fact a New York-based foursome of college buddies who gained a rabid Internet following last year and whose eponymous debut album - released in January on XL Recordings - is even making non-bloggers take notice. Filled with up-tempo but laid-back pop-rock numbers, the record feels like a fun summer release that's sure to warm up anyone still trying to wish away the long winter.In the grand tradition of white-bread troubadours like Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel and the Talking Heads' David Byrne, Vampire Weekend's lead singer Ezra Koenig transcends his Caucasian heritage by setting his egghead deep thoughts and clever observations to an Afro-pop beat and island-tinged melodies. Gabriel is even name-dropped in of the band's popular singles, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," a title that fittingly blends its East Coast and African inspirations.But Weekend's tunes don't share Gabriel's love for epic production and scale. Although their songs employ everything from harpsichords to flutes to fully orchestrated string arrangements, the album maintains a stripped-down garage band feel that evokes The White Stripes for simplicity if not rawness.The band met at Columbia University and it shows its Ivy League roots in songs like "Oxford Comma," which seems to berate grammatical pretentiousness and "Campus," about unrequited professor/student love. Another song, "Walcott", details the plot of a short film the band made about bloodsucking creatures attacking Cape Cod - it's also where they filched their name.The two best tunes on the record also happen to be the ones premiered on SNL earlier this month. The zippy "A-Punk" - which is up to 30 and #91 on Billboard's rock and pop charts, respectively - sounds like a forgotten The Clash song if Joe Strummer had decided to experiment with a calliope. "M79," a jaunty hodgepodge of strings, shout choruses and colorful rhymes - "Pollination yellow cab," "Coronation rickshaw grab" - epitomizes the group's refreshingly original sound while serving as a fitting tribute to its influences.The band may not look like the guys you'd expect to bring world music into the mainstream, but Vampire Weekend is a perfect alternative to alternative music fans who think the genre has gotten just a little too American.ryankathman@dailynebraskan.com
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