album of the week: 1.2

Vampire Weekend

Contra

XL Recordings (2010)

why you'll love it: cool relaxed enjoyable tunes

why you'll hate it: not as exciting as debut, some gimmicky songs

No better way to start off the new releases of 2010 than with a record nearly impossible to review. Not that Vampire Weekend have it any easier - with all ears on them for the first time by previously releasing an album nearly impossible to follow up...

In the last quarter of 2009, we got a taste of Contra with the sanctioned leak of the opening track "Horchata" and the exciting music video for "Cousins". I was a bit let down to find that Contra has much more of the former in it. It's a rather chilled out, relaxed album. I'm sure that those more hip than me were let down in 2008 as well though, when "A-Punk" seemed to be the black sheep of the S/T album.

Vampire Weekend is still doing their preppy white boy melodic calypso pop, which is still fun, but has lost some of its impact. The band still manages to get a cheeky jab in on some of the more self conscious music fans with the auto-tune heavy song "California English". Now I'm not all that familiar with auto-tuning, but popular opinion says I'm supposed to hate it for some reason. If Vampire Weekend's intention was to confuse, impress, or even troll me with the use of voice modulation, it didn't work, because Polysics has done so better many times (sometimes all in one song).

But I digress... Once that anomaly track finishes, the album is pure gold to the end, and surprisingly with nearly all lengthy and mellow songs. Although it would be quite easy to release a manic paced Talking Heads inspired collection of "Cousins" clones, these chilled out songs have more long term appeal and manage to humbly separate itself from the 2008 album.

It should be noted that this is a very short album. Some reviews have complained about that, but I find a half hour to be the perfect length for an album, despite any number of tracks. In fact, I would have even cut two of the early gimmicky tracks to make this album stronger; dropping the count to 8, but length still above 30.

It's a sigh of relief to find that Contra doesn't carry the second album curse with it, but it is more of the same, and in less memorable fashion The well executed, mellowed out, last half of the album offers a cool down to the party that was the S/T album - but it is the same party.

It is after all, a party; so to put it under any more scrutiny is a pointless exercise. Perhaps I've said too much already...