Vampire Weekend is an independent American rock band from New York.
The four members of the group met on the benches of the faculty of Columbia (New York), they were all students in musicology. They then decided to self-produce their first album as soon as they graduated, even though they had already each found a job. Group leader Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson had already collaborated in a comic rap group L'Homme Run>. Vampire Weekend has attracted public and professional attention through the internet and blogs, such as the Stereogum website. The band claims the influence of African popular music and western classical music, and describes their music genre as Upper West Side Soweto, with music that is very sophisticated and influenced by African rhythms such as Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, which is a reference. to the soukous, or Oxford Comma.
In 2007, Vampire Weekend's song, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, reached the top of the list of 100 best songs of the year by Rolling Stone >>>. In November 2007, they shoot in the UK with The Shins> .The buzz they generate on the Internet plays an important role in their success and leads to the organization of three tours before the release of their first album. They are declared "best new band of the year" by Spin magazine in March 2008, and become the first group to pose for the cover of the magazine before the release of the magazine. album>. Four tracks from their first album reach the list of Triple J Hottest 100, 2008. However, the backlash of their popularity on the Internet comes to light, Vampire Weekend is perceived by the press as a group too privileged. A critic will go even further by calling Vampire Weekend "the whitest white group of the world" from their Ukrainian, Italian, Persian and Hungarian roots >>>. Koenig will respond to this remark in November 2009, saying that "none of us are part of WASP>. "
Their debut album, Vampire Weekend, was released on January 29, 2008. A US and British hit, it reached the 15th place of the UK Albums Chart and the 17> of the Billboard 200. Four singles are extracted from the album; A-Punk reaches the 25th place of the Modern Rock Billboard and the 55th place of the UK Singles Chart, Oxford Comma reaches the 38th place of the UK Singles Chart. A-Punk is ranked fourth in the Readers' Rock List: Best Songs of 2008 by Rolling Stone. A-Punk is used for the film credits of Step Brothers by Will Ferrell / John C. Reilly.