Some Notes: Vampire Weekend comes to town

By Jake Heckman | jheckman@flagler.edu
Photos By Phillip C. Sunkel IV

Pitchfork.com called them “warm, airy, low-gimmick pop…” Spin magazine gave their latest album an 8 out of 10! So who is this band that everyone is so caught up on?

They sardonically call themselves Vampire Weekend and they’re coming to the St. Augustine Amphitheater Thursday night.

For those of you who are confused about who these New York City natives are and why you keep hearing about them, Vampire Weekend is an indie-rock band with influences from both African pop and Western classical music.

Ezra Koenig

The members of the group are Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Christopher Tomson and Chris Baio who formed the band after finishing up their college careers at Colombia University.

Within a year of forming Vampire Weekend, the artists became signed by record label XL Recordings and earned themselves many noteworthy awards such as being included in Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘100 Best Songs of the Year’ in 2007 and being crowned Spin’s ‘The Year’s Best New Band’ in 2008.

The band has released two CD’s in the last three years, the first was titled “Vampire Weekend” which was released in 2008 and the most recent being named “Contra” in 2009.

Vampire Weekend has had its songs reach Top 25 lists from around the world eight times; three of these were No. 1 hits! The band has been talked about on quite a few websites and can be found in video games, TV shows and even the movie Step Brothers starring Will Ferrell.

However, the question remains: how does this band sound live?

To give you a taste of their sound, there are several videos of them featured on Saturday Night Live that can be found on YouTube as well as tons of videos straight from their previous concerts.

Vampire Weekend will perform with Beach House and The Very Best so be sure not to miss this awesome concert with high energy collegiate pop and optimistic synths! For $34 this is an experience that you’ll be able to talk about for months to come.

Jake Heckman is a blogger for The Gargoyle. In his blog, Some Notes, he talks about upcoming events and what’s happening in the music world. He is a Business major and double minor in Graphic Design and Illustration at Flagler College.