Don’t you want to get out of Cape Cod, out of Cape Cod tonight?

January 7, 2008

I didn’t really buy into the Vampire Weekend hype at first but since getting their official debut (out 1/29), I’m coming around to the world music-admiring New Yorkers. The much-downloaded singles (”Oxford Comma” for example) are pretty good, but the track that really threw me for a loop and reeled me in is the waltzy, string-induced “M79″. It’s an incredible fusion of musical styles from Paul Simon-like vocals and percussion to classical instrumentation reminiscent of 19th Century Waltzers like Johann Strauss. Altogether it’s the most unique and interesting song I’ve heard in ‘08 so far (which has only been a week but who’s counting).

The rest of the album isn’t to be tossed away either. The Peter Gabriel name-dropping “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” is perfect for anyone who fondly remembers this song/video and take away some of the fancy percussion and throw some piano in there and “I Stand Corrected” could be a Zombies song. By far the best on the second half of the self-titled album though, is the enthusiastic baroque-pop tune, “Walcott”. The warbling piano craziness alone is enough to make the track memorable but the classical strings and the way-fun-to-sing chorus push me over the edge. Vampire Weekend, you win.

MP3 M79
MP3 Walcott

Posted by Taylor in Artist Spotlight