{"id":41870,"date":"2010-02-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/contra\/"},"modified":"2010-02-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-03T00:00:00","slug":"contra","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/contra\/","title":{"rendered":"Contra"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vampire Weekend exploded into the music world\u2019s general consciousness at the beginning of 2008 with an eponymous debut album that was bouncy, harmless indie rock with grammatical bones to pick (for the record, I don\u2019t care at all about the Oxford comma either). The one thing that really stood out about that album and the band\u2019s general ethos \u2013 their dabbling forays into experimenting with non-Western musical tradition \u2013 is further explored on their second album Contra<\/i>. Word is that the name of this album came from taking the antithesis of The Clash\u2019s seminal triple album Sandinista!<\/i>, both named for opposing Nicaraguan rebel groups. And really, this growing sense of world awareness is nothing but a good thing.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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There is a stronger focus here on bongos, layered group vocals. Much like \u201cCape Cod Kwassa Kwassa\u201d on the first album, the material here shows that the band seems to harbor a real fascination with the foreign in terms of both lyrical content and musical influence, as frontman Ezra Koenig has constantly explained in interviews. There\u2019s an M.I.A sample in \u201cDiplomat\u2019s Son\u201d and an obvious nod to Hispanic culture with opener \u201cHorchata,\u201d which starts off with just vocals and builds up to include xylophones and hints of electro, strings, and woodwind. There\u2019s also some more classical sounds, like the reverb-drenched string and keys interlude puncturing the otherwise pedestrian \u201cTaxi Cab.\u201d Koenig\u2019s voice is developing more of an accented twang as he progresses as a vocalist, well illustrated in first frenzied single \u201cCousins\u201d as he races through a fast-paced piece with a frenetic guitar and bass line punching through beyond his voice. <\/o:p><\/p>\n

And then there are the tracks that just pop out simple goods: \u201cHoliday\u201d is a two-minute burst of infectious guitars and a straightforward melody that does nothing if it doesn\u2019t make you want to dance, and \u201cI Think UR A Contra\u201d focuses on Koenig\u2019s vocal ability as he dreamily floats the album to a close over similarly spacey guitars and, to shut off, a final maraca hurrah.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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The comparison that was constantly made at the start of this band\u2019s career to Paul Simon\u2019s 1986 African-drizzled record Graceland<\/i> seems so much more fitting now. Contra<\/i> is a tribute in so many ways to the world that inspires us, and yet at the same time, it is distinctly American with its brave blend of contrasting elements. It\u2019s refreshing to hear a young band dabble with so much political and cultural attitude and opinion. The great thing about Contra<\/i> is that it manages to convey these important matters in a way that is still ultimately listenable, not forceful or pretentious and, most importantly, a lot of fun. And if this is the progression from their debut, it\u2019s a high possibility that album number three will be even more inspired.<\/o:p><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":30221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8282],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41870","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-vampire-weekend","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41870"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}