Vampire Weekend | Artist

Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band formed 2006 in New York City by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson, and bassist Chris Baio. The band members met while studying at Columbia University, bonding over a shared love of punk rock and African music. After graduating, the band self produced their eponymous debut album, which was acclaimed by critics and instantly established the band's reputation. Their band's music has influences of World music as well as touches of psych, baroque pop and rap. After establishing their lively, literate style with 2008's Vampire Weekend, they quickly grew from music blog favourites into a chart-topping act. They're the first indie group to have two consecutive albums, 2010's Contra and 2013's Modern Vampires of the City, enter the Billboard 200 at number one. The latter album winning a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album and included in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, ranking at position 328. On each of their albums, Vampire Weekend complemented their signature sound with ever-evolving sounds and ideas, often collaborating with fellow artists such as Dirty Projectors' David Longstreth and Nat Baldwin. Vampire Weekend (2008), Modern Vampires of the City (2013), and Father of The Bride (2019) are all excellent albums. Also highly recommended is their most recent release Only God Was Above Us (2024) which was partly inspired by the Indian classical music tradition of raga, after Koenig had taken a singing lesson in the style with modern classical composer Terry Riley in rural Japan. The album is attracting rave reviews such as the following from RYM: "(it's) a restart from the hypnagogic psychedelia that has been achieving so much success in recent years, with a powerful, dynamic rhythm section that has no problem stealing the show when needed, and distorted guitars that act as a counterbalance to the acoustic instruments, the perfect synthesis of a album that is both songwriter and collective stuff at the same time". The band chose the name "Vampire Weekend" from the title of a short film project Koenig worked on in college about Vampires attacking Cape Cod in the United States, inspired by the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys.

Artist Website: vampireweekend.com

Featured Albums: Vampire Weekend

Related Artists: Dirty Projectors

Collections: Movers Shakers