Performer Notes

Personnel: Ezra Koenig (vocals); Rostam Batmanglij (piano, harpsichord, keyboards, synthesizer, drums, background vocals); Christopher Tomson (drums).
Audio Mixers: Justin Gerrish; Rostam Batmanglij; Shane Stoneback.
Recording information: Avatar Studios, New York, NY; Hicks And Joralemon, Brooklyn; Topetitud, Mexico City, Mexico; Treefort Studios, Dumbo, Brooklyn.
The scholarly Upper West Side Soweto of Vampire Weekend's debut sounded self-assured, but on Contra, they step out of their ivory tower with just as much confidence. In all senses of the term, this is a sophomore album. The band still flaunts the collegiate sense of discovery that made Vampire Weekend charming -- and sometimes too precious -- but with more maturity and creativity. Another Discovery is just as much of a force on Contra as any of the band's much-noted influences (Afro-pop, Paul Simon's Graceland): Rostam Batmanglij's electro-hip-hop-pop project with Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles, which released its album LP after the pair found acclaim with their day jobs. While Vampire Weekend aren't as shiny and sugary as Discovery, some of that adventurousness rubbed off on Batmanglij's Contra production, which plays to the band's biggest strength: inspired juxtaposition. The album's artwork, which pairs a blonde WASP princess in a popped-collar polo shirt with the term given to Nicaraguan rebels, hints at the flair with which Vampire Weekend play mix-and-match on Contra. They throw listeners into the deep end with "Horchata," which features a four-on-the-floor beat, thumb piano, rubbery synth bass, and massed harmonies -- almost everything except the spry guitars that helped define their first album. "California English" goes farther, tweaking Ezra Koenig's yelp with Auto-Tune, the bte noire of those who value "realness" in their music; for Vampire Weekend, it's just another instrument for them to play with. On paper, Contra's hybrids seem more contrived than they actually sound: "Giving Up the Gun" fuses baile funk, house and stadium rock into a sweet melody propelled by choppy rhythms. "Diplomat's Son" is even more far-fetched and fantastic, adding samples of M.I.A. and Toots & the Maytals -- exactly the kind of things you'd expect to hear on a young globetrotter's iPod -- to nostalgic chamber pop. The album bustles with so many sounds and ideas that it challenges listeners to decide where to put their ears first, particularly on the single "Cousins," a blur of guitars and jump-cut drums that sounds like abstract punk. Despite this busyness, Vampire Weekend are looser and less cryptic than on their debut, allowing them to tell stories like "Holiday," an Iraqi war protest set to skanking guitars (ever the font snob, Koenig can't resist mentioning a headline in "96-point Futura"). Even the few quiet moments are complex: "I Think UR a Contra" closes the album by wanting, and hating, the kind of privilege that brings "good schools and friends with pools." And though the band is committed to change, the same joy that soared through Vampire Weekend pops up on "White Sky," which boasts a melody so irrepressible that Paul Simon just might want to borrow it. With Contra, Vampire Weekend make Auto-Tune and real live guitars, Mexican drinks, Jamaican riffs and Upper West Side strings belong together, and this exciting lack of boundaries offers more possibilities than anyone could have expected. ~ Heather Phares

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.56) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[B]rainy, confident and generally awesome....The drums are bigger, the guitars are faster, and the songs are outfitted with synth beats and hip-hop, reggae and electro accents."

Spin (p.61) - "CONTRA is more fully formed, a '70s-style record-type record. It's their version of the Talking Heads' MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDINGS AND FOOD..."

CMJ - "[I]t retains all of the band's sunny key elements: clean electric guitars, buoyant keyboards and poppy African rhythms..."

Paste (magazine) (p.61) - "CONTRA opener 'Horchata' displays a caliber of pop songcraft and melodic intuition that gives The Shins' James Mercer a run for his harmony..."

Uncut (magazine) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[W]ith its melodic beauty, orchestral invention, rhythmic subtlety and metaphysical wit -- it's still unmistakably Vampire Weekend."

Uncut (magazine) (p.36) - Ranked #13 in Uncut's "The 50 Best Albums of 2010" -- "[C]lever and catchy songs loaded with Clash allusions."

Album: Contra
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Horchata	More Info...	0:03
2)	White Sky	More Info...	0:03
3)	Holiday	More Info...	0:02
4)	California English	More Info...	0:02
5)	Taxi Cab	More Info...	0:04
6)	Run	More Info...	0:04
7)	Cousins	More Info...	0:02
8)	Giving Up the Gun	More Info...	0:04
9)	Diplomat's Son	More Info...	0:06
10)	I Think Ur a Contra	More Info...	0:04

Album: Contra
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Horchata	More Info...	0:03
2)	White Sky	More Info...	0:03
3)	Holiday	More Info...	0:02
4)	California English	More Info...	0:02
5)	Taxi Cab	More Info...	0:04
6)	Run	More Info...	0:04
7)	Cousins	More Info...	0:02
8)	Giving Up the Gun	More Info...	0:04
9)	Diplomat's Son	More Info...	0:06
10)	I Think Ur a Contra	More Info...	0:04