Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Critic Score
Based on 27 reviews
2008 Ratings: #24 / 806
Year End Rank: #4
User Score
2008 Rank: #55
Liked by 366 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic

Fully realized debut albums like Vampire Weekend come along once in a great while, and these songs show that this band is smart, but not too smart for their own good.

100
God Is in the TV
Even with the relegation of one of their best tracks ('Ladies of Cambridge') to B-Side status, Vampire Weekend succeed in creating a compact and concise work with enough hooks to sell records and feed a Congolese rural family (no pun intended, please!).
100
Consequence of Sound

This is emotionally pulling music, but they instill such a vivid, literary sense to it that I find hard to ignore.

90
PopMatters

Not since Talking Heads bowed out with their masterful 1988 swan song Naked has NYC been so dutifully represented by such a melodically robust collection as the 11 that comprise this eponymous redux of Vampire Weekend’s acclaimed “Blue CD-R” demo.

90
Paste
This cosmopolitan quartet has streamlined ska, post-punk, chamber music and Afropop into a glorious ultramodern groove.
90
Under the Radar
This is likely to be the most fun release of the year.
88
Pitchfork

Bring any baggage you want to this record, and it still returns nothing but warm, airy, low-gimmick pop, peppy, clever, and yes, unpretentious

80
Q Magazine
Extremely inventive, a litttle uptight and slightly high on their own cleverness, Vampire Weekend are the musical equivalent of a Wes Anderson movie.
80
The Observer

At less than 40 minutes long, Vampire Weekend sounds paradoxically both brimming with confidence and something put down as a marker for the future.

80
Prefix
Vampire Weekend’s debut comes across as a confident, precise, and, for better and worse, mature collection.
80
Uncut

Cosmopolitan, anglophile, afrobeat – Vampire Weekend are in an Ivy League of their own.

80
The Guardian
Behind the penny loafers and songs about commas, there's a bold band that can balance dextrous originality with an innate pop sensibility.
80
Slant Magazine
Vampire Weekend's eponymous debut, with its wide range of references rationed across a collection of brief pop morsels, proves the early fascination was no fluke.
80
The Skinny
Once bitten by the sound of Vampire Weekend you might find yourself forever smitten.
80
DIY

Vampire Weekend have created a record which includes the kind of structures, influences and classical elements that your average Hard-Fi fan isn’t likely to understand, but present them in such a way that doesn’t yell ‘LOOK AT US, WE’RE USING COMPLICATED STUFF AND YOU’RE LISTENING TO RUBBISH COD REGGAE! HA!’.

80
SPIN

Vampire Weekend have made a truly fresh, fun, and smart record.

80
NME

Indulge in ‘Vampire Weekend’’s vivid, foppish fantasy, which can still tell you plenty about the human condition, even if its lacrosse whites are rather suspiciously well-laundered.

80
musicOMH
In places almost carnivalesque, this is a good times album that celebrates positive aspects of the world.
80
Drowned in Sound

Vampire Weekend take their Ivy League education, their New Jersey upbringing, and turn it outward – arms open, hurling themselves across the freshly cut college grass, shirts creasing under the afternoon sun.

70
Rolling Stone

On their debut, Vampire Weekend mostly earn points the old-fashioned way: by writing likable songs you'll be glad to revisit next month.

70
No Ripcord
Vampire Weekend is indie rock with its edges sanded off, polished to a clean, sparkling sheen.
70
Alternative Press

We’re still not sure how four Caucasian Columbia University alumni can make music this authentic, but hopefully it will start a movement that extends far beyond Vampire Weekend’s penchant for bongos.

70
Tiny Mix Tapes

By the end of the album's blissful, sparse, empty-Saharan-landscape closer "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance," perfection doesn't seem to matter much anymore -- especially when your mind's too preoccupied on starting Vampire Weekend again from the beginning.

67
A.V. Club

The young band's saving grace is compactness, which not only saves thousands of dollars in kora-player and backup-singer bills, but also keeps things alert and accessible.

60
Coke Machine Glow

It is this shallow but overwhelming slathering of Afro-pop influence that makes an album full of strong, nerdy songs so irritating.

60
NOW Magazine
The self-conscious cuteness of it all quickly grows tiresome over the length of an album. Maybe they should stick to singles and EPs.
Bobby792003
96

When you think of college parties, what do you think of? Probably loud music, excessive dancing, and red plastic cups, right? Well, have you ever wondered how Ivy League college students party? Not a straightforward and stereotypical answer to this, right? Luckily, I think ‘Vampire Weekend’ comes close to answering that question!

But before we do anything, let’s set the scene first. We’re in 2002 and in the middle of an indie rock boom. Vampire Weekend doesn’t ... read more

halbery
89

i thought the memes were just memes but no i have a friend who loves this album and he wears polos and khakis all the time

Scre4meh
73

[discovering the 2010's review #2 -- entry #4]

I know that this shouldn't be on the 2010's list, but their second album will ve and do you fucking watch the sequel before the first movie? FUCK NO. So, even if it makes no damn sense, i'm still putting it there.. for now, at least.

Vampire Weekend are a band that i've known of for a few years now, but i've never actually listened to any of their albums... until today. This was my introduction to their sound and music, and what's a better way ... read more

neemiasjunior
88

Mansard Roof - 87
Oxford Comma - 100
A-Punk - 100
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - 80
M79 - 85
Campus - 96
Bryn - 70
One (Blake's Got a New Face) - 60
I Stand Corrected - 82
Walcott - 88
The Kids Don't Stand a Chance - 100

larkwashere
78

short review-
i really like this one a bit irrationally, yes, there are a lot of good tracks, but it has quite a bit of inconsistency as well. also, i don't think the lyrics are as strong as many people make them out to be. they come off as a bit pretentious. despite this, the good tracks are pretty infectiously catchy and universally fun, "walcott" being my personal favorite. probably the vampire weekend record with the most staying power due to its wide-ranging appeal.

Jahcolate
94

This album is so much better than I remembered all the classics hit so hard and everything else, other than One, does too.

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Track List

1Mansard Roof
2:07
86
2Oxford Comma
3:15
90
3A-Punk
2:17
88
4Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
3:34
82
5M79
4:15
81
6Campus
2:56
87
7Bryn
2:13
77
8One (Blake’s Got a New Face)
3:13
68
9I Stand Corrected
2:39
80
10Walcott
3:41
88
11The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance
4:03
83
Total Length: 34 minutes
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