This album is a grower. Good review in The Press today. If I can find a link I'll add it.

i think this album was very good, it was a sound that ive never heard before, however i can see why people would dislike it, horchata for intense. i listened to it from front to back in my car (i was stuck in traffic) and i must say it was a lot better than just picking off one song at a time, i felt i got a feel for it. so i recommend listening to it from front to back without stopping

Why would you reference 'College Educated'... It's a bit of a put down really.

Basically you're review says that the band has plagiarised a bunch of artistic styles (which if you perhaps had gone to uni, would know, that this is a bad thing).

I'm 'college educated' and also an international Musician. Does that mean that I have to dress in a Lumberjack shirt and pretend that (still) no one understands me, just because I have a slightly differing view on the world? I thought you fanboy reviewer types got through this at high school with My Chemical Bromance...

'Indie', when it comes from america, is a sound; not an employment situation. Which is the correct use of the term (Independent Artist).

I heard this band on Letterman and it was the most boring, bland pathetic, wannabe, waste of space that I have seen since I had the misfortune of seeing Scribe tryat the Big Day Out.

I haven't heard the album, but that song 'Cousins' is just terrible. Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr "No i'm not a reviewer" hehe :)

@ No i'm not a reviewer #3 - a review within a review? what's your game? trying to show up mr schulz?

With their penchant for obscure grammatical references and African pop, Vampire Weekend always offered a little more than your standard indie-rock fare. Their hugely popular 2008 self-titled debut was chock-full of catchy guitar ditties, but while they clearly enjoyed romping through the frothy stuff this super-savvy NYC four were ultimately aiming for something, well, grander. And with cleverly constructed follow-up Contra, they are well on the way to achieving it.

Now, this beguiling ten-track work is short at just over 30 minutes long, but immediate it is not. Tasters Horchata and Cousins are probably the most hum-able of the lot. Where the album really comes into its own, however, is in the delicate arrangements and luscious production. It’s not so much the melodies that stick in your head, but certain percussive interludes, Ezra Koenig’s vocal gymnastics (tightly woven into the instrumentation) and the skilfully placed sumptuous string trill refrains.

It’s hard to digest at first, but with repeated listens Contra becomes increasingly enjoyable and, in places, quite magical. Musical tricks pop up throughout: the playful climax of White Sky, the romantic Taxi Cab with its Chopin-esque piano, and Giving Up the Gun’s astonishing mix of buzzing guitars, glockenspiel taps, electronics and choral harmonies.

Perhaps the highlights of Contra, however, are closers Diplomat’s Son and I Think Ur a Contra. Both are quiet and slow-paced, but driven by the kind of enviable creativity that now elevates Vampire Weekend well above their peers. There is everything from M.I.A. to classical, folk and reggae influences in there, but the band make the resulting sound completely their own.

Prior to release, frontman Koenig told the music press that Contra is about “retro gaming and Nicaraguan politics,” and it may well be – his poetic lyrics can be hard to decipher. What we do know, however, is that this latest offering ushers in an entirely new age for Vampire Weekend: one of wisdom, grace, subtlety and for the first time a really strong sense of identity. A thoroughly grown-up record, then.

Contra is nothing spectacular but it is fun as hell and perfect for summer. A 3/5 sounds right. Love, love, love "California English"

Amateur review. It is indeed an M.I.A. sample. Who, by the way, is hardly controversial, except perhaps if you're the Sri Lankan government. Ok so Stuff reviews aren't going to be long, but surely there was space to briefly mention the changes that Vampire Weekend have made? A bit less saccharine sweet, a little more aggressive? Not quite as polished, a little more varied? Obviously not.