Thurston Moore, wily Sonic Youth frontman, once said: Every now and again, the alternative culture is cherished by the mainstream for what it is, rather than how it should be.""
Vampire Weekend's eponymous debut has been caught in the tempest of the blogosphere, garnering plaudits from every corner of the Internet. This intense hype is sure to generate unrealistic expectations that will manifest themselves in a maelstrom of cutting backlash. Granted, Vampire Weekend is not our generation's _Sgt. Pepper's_, but the fact remains: the alternative culture of the ""indie community"" can still cherish the record for what it is, rather than how it should be.
A sea of treble washes over the album, encapsulated in coyly upbeat guitar lines that play with the offbeat rhythmic style of reggae. Vampire Weekend opts for a deceptively simple mix of pop layered under an atypical selection of instrumentation. Jangly guitars, tribal drumlines, horns, various woodwinds and stringed instruments collide in a jamboree of carefully constructed hooks without resorting to gimmicks or becoming overly indulgent.
The self-titled album begins with the song ""Mansard Roof,"" which quickly dances its way from subtle organ and violins into a steady Caribbean beat as its much-lauded world influences free themselves from hiding. The culmination of this poly-rhythmic bongo playing is the irrepressible ""Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,"" a track that would sound perfectly in step on Paul Simon's _Graceland_. ""One (Blakes Got A New Face)"" extends this pattern with locked-in percussion and a dominant vocal call and response.
Those afro-beat stylings, however, do eventually forfeit the spotlight on tracks like ""A-Punk"" and ""The Kids Don't Stand a Chance."" On these tracks buoyant, straightforward songwriting recalls the Clash without the political baggage or the Police without Sting. Even then, the anomalous, fanciful piano lines and stately, baroque strings reveal themselves at opportune moments, including the frenzied final 30 seconds in ""Walcott.""
Vampire Weekend root themselves heavily in indie guitar pop, managing not to get lost in the sea of dour distortion and angular guitars that dominate modern rock. _Vampire Weekend_ leaves the pretentiousness of the Arcade Fire by the wayside, opting instead for a quirky, idiosynratic style. The band has not resorted to ""rediscovering"" a genre à la Interpol's post-punk derivations or the Libertines new take on the Kinks. In addition, they circumvent being wholly forgettable by carving out their own sunny niche. Any record that can cut through the mass of indistinguishable guitar-driven music to form a distinct voice certainly deserves a second listening.
