Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
This NY four-piece draw on their diverse backgrounds and interests, experimenting with African guitar music, the Western classical canon, hazy memories of Cape Cod summers, winters in upper Manhattan, and reggaeton. "Equal parts shruggy New York indie strumming and groovy Afro-pop, Vampire Weekend's organ-and-drum runs highlight narratives about relationships, punctuation, and sometimes both" - Spin. Named "Hot New Kids" in Rolling Stone's "Hot" issue. Vinyl contains MP3 coupon.

Amazon.com:
It would take a lot for Vampire Weekend's debut to rise above the stench of privileged hype that surrounds it. A bunch of kids who formed the band in their Columbia dorm room borrow wholesale from Afrobeat and angular '80s stuff, and they quickly become an online buzz band before releasing a single album? Thankfully the record, and the band, are great fun: playful, pop-wise, and smart enough to pull their shtick off with aplomb. Organ and drums are often the focal point of the music, bringing to mind a goofier, happier Clinic (if that group's record-collecting habits were more scattershot). On the excellently named (and better sounding) "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," Vampire Weekend asks, "Does it feel so unnatural / To Peter Gabriel too?," immediately disarming--with self-aware brazenness--any criticism of their pomo/postcolonialist borrowing of "ethnic" music. It's clear that these dudes have not only inherited the nerd-rock omnivore's mantle from the Talking Heads, they've actually and already improved upon it. --Mike McGonigal

Rating : - Less than stellar
As much as I love this band's originality, with scores of harpsichords, organs and violins, the debut release of Vampire Weekend is somewhat disappointing.

The album starts unspectacularly, with some weird disco/techno groove. As much as I love the orchestration, I spent most of the time wishing that there was a louder bass line.

In fact, there is almost no bass in the opening songs until the third track, "A-Punk." Even then, I'm still wishing that there was some sort of cool guitar solo to make up for the bass line. Even The White Stripes knew to add some wacky keyboard solos or guitar feedback to jazz up their bare-bones recordings.

"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" might have sounded good in the 70s or 80s, in the time of the Talking Heads. However, it still sounds a little too primitive for my tastes. And it doesn't help that there is a nearly non-existant bass line.

And these opening songs make the album disappointing, unfortunately. They show some brilliant orchestration in the songs "M79" and "I Stand Corrected." And I really liked the cute harpsichord touches in "One (Blake's Got a New Face)", with cool vocals that might have come from an album by The Police, shot by machine-gun speed guitar strums afterwards.

As much as I love Vampire Weekend, I wasn't too impressed with this release. Amazon may have said that this is an improvement on the Talking Heads album, "Remain in Light", but I highly doubt it.