Featured Artist for November 30: Vampire Weekend

Priscilla (aka MC Small Fry) is in the house this week and has chosen one of her favourite bands as our Featured Artist this week on Up All Night: Vampire Weekend

Here's what P has to say about her pick:

"Vampire Weekend is a NY indie band consisting of Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Rostam Batmanglij, and Chris Tomson.  They formed the band on February 6, 2006, during their senior year at Columbia University. The name Vampire Weekend comes from the title of a short film that lead singer Ezra Koenig created and acted in during a summer with friends. Their east coast roots can be heard and felt through their music, which also has influences from African pop music and western classical, to create a style the band calls “Upper West Side Soweto”.

  

After signing with XL, in 2007 they began to tour the Netherlands with The Shins, and their single “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” was ranked no. 67 on the Rolling Stone ‘100 best songs of the year’. SPiN magazine also took a notice by featuring them on their March 2008 cover and declaring them the “Years Best New Band”. The photo shoot however, took place before their debut album has come out, making them the first band to be shot for a SPiN cover with no album.

On January 29, 2008, they released their debut album, self titled Vampire Weekend, which peaked at 17 on the US billboard and 15 on the UK albums chart. Four singles were released, “Oxford Comma”, “Mansard Roof”, “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, and “A-punk”. A-punk was the most successful single,  reaching no. 25 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart and no.55 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as ranking no. 4 on the Rolling Stone ‘Best Songs of 2008’. Oxford Comma topped off at no. 38 in the UK.

Contra, the bands second album was released on January 11, 2010 in the UK and January 12 for the US. The band released a free download of “Horchata” on October 5, 2009 through their website. The single “Cousins” was released on November 17, 2009, and was featured in the intital copies of the CD and LP, which were sold exclusively at independent record stores across the US. These LP’s included a 3 track bonus CD  which contained 2 “melts” featuring a mix of new tracks and a remix. When Contra was released in entirely, it debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard 200.

2010 was a big year for the group, starting with the release of a second album  and an acoustic show for MTV unplugged in January, the following month Vampire Weekend began touring Europe and the UK with Canadian electric duo Fan Death. The music video for their next single “Giving Up The Gun” was released in February as well, and included cameos from several different musicans and actors  such as Lil Jon, RZA, Daft Punk, and Jake Gyllenhaal. 

The band did a number of TV appearances during the spring including Saturday Night Live and an interview with Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report, who argued that oxford commas were indeed important, although the band disagreed. While on the Colbert Report, the band played their third single “Holiday” which was released on June 7, 2010."

A special thanks to my new partner, from a very proud Dad. Hope she returns for a repeat engagement very, very soon! If you'd like to send Priscilla a shout-out or word of encouragement, leave a comment below. Thanks and enjoy the show!!!