by Adam Hacker
photo by Alex John Beck
Just as the 2000s seemed like they were closing up shop and groups like The Strokes and Interpol seemed uninterested in keeping New York City cool, a group of young men straight out of Columbia helped revive the NYC indie scene. This time though, it wasn’t with brooding post-punk or Television-inspired guitar technics. Vampire Weekend instead employed a preppy aesthetic with a heavy dose of Afro-pop to produce a sound more in line with Talking Heads than TV on the Radio. It’s easy to make fun of these guys as the sonic embodiment of boat shoes or sweaters tied around one’s neck, but the music never plays as pretentious. It’s been more than two years since longtime member Rostam Batmanglij left the band and with it now being five years since an album, it seems that another Vampire Weekend record could be quite some time off. Even with the cards stacked against them, I think Ezra Koenig and company still have plenty left in the tank.
