The Commerce Times

Ya Heard?

March 21, 2010 1 | By Prathamesh Dalvi

Give it up for Vampire Weekend and their hot new album, Contra, with songs that makes me feel oh so complete.

Vampire Weekend’s new album, Contra, follows the same African popular music style as their self-titled debut album. The band, originally formed in 2006, blew up on the Indie music scene through blogging sites such as www.purevolume.com. They are most well-known from their catchy tracks off their first album like Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa and A-Punk. But let’s get started talking about Contra!

The start of the song makes me feel warm and fuzzy, just like I felt when I tried Horchata.

In the song Giving Up The Gun, an anti-war themed song it sings, “My ears are blown to bits; From all the rifle hits.” Well, all I have to say is, not only did my ears get blown by lead singer Ezra Koenig’s heavenly voice, but so did my mind! There are clever hidden political agendas and promotions of peace throughout the song.

Cousins is another one of my favourites on the album. Basically the song is about getting together and partying hard, with whom else, but everyone’s cousins. Now it takes some creative genius to make a song about cousins upbeat, swingy and awesome. I personally would not take Vampire Weekend’s advice on this one, as my cousins are all much younger than myself… But heck, if it works for you…

Becki Lewis, an ACS student in her second year at Ryerson University, is a fan of the song Diplomats Son, “I really like the dynamics of the song, it’s really different compared to their other stuff on the album. Plus the lyrics are so great, especially on a night when the moon glows yellow in the riptide,” she said, referencing the song’s lyrics.

My most ultimate, favourite track is Horchata. I have several reasons for this. A: it increased my vocabulary by learning that Horchata is a yummy, milky-looking beverage made with rice and flavoured with almonds, and B: there is a xylophone and a violin in the song.  But most definitely, C: the start of the song makes me feel warm and fuzzy, just like I felt when I tried Horchata.

Overall, Vampire Weekend’s album Contra gets a solid 9/10. You can listen to it for hours on end, it doesn’t all sound the same, and the political messages thrown in here and there make you think.

If you really like the album you can check them out live at The Sound Academy on March 30^th, 2010.