|| The Sound Faction (dot com) ||

Another month, another band. This month, I am proud to present Vampire Weekend. Now, I know this isn't a band that has a new CD out, or has just burst on the scene. I also know that you might have heard their song "Holiday" in one too many Honda commercials. But, I admit, I'm a late comer to the Vampire Weekend party, and only recently rediscovered them (thanks to the wonders of Spotify!). So, let me tell you of their wonders.

The Vampire Weekend quartet of Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Christ Tomson, and Chris Baio met at Columbia University, and formed the band in 2006. After releasing some independent EPs, Vampire Weekend signed to a label, and released their self titled album in 2008.

Now, Vampire Weekend and I have not always gotten along (I blame part of that on the "holidays" Honda commercials), but a random encounter on Spotify made me change my mind. I decided to go through their most recent release, Contra, and see if I liked anything. Surprisingly, I was hooked with the first measures of "Horchata," and throughly enjoyed most of the album (with the exception of "California English" and "White Sky").

It could be my love of Mumford and Sons, but I felt a real affinity with the upbeat, folksy, tones combined with some obvious African musical influence. That, and how could I not like a band that wrote a song about punctuation? "Oxford Comma" is one of my absolute Vampire Weekend favorites. Others include "Cousins," "Giving Up the Gun," "Campus," and "Walcott."

So, if you enjoy Mumford and Sons, and haven't given Vampire Weekend a try, I'd suggest giving them a listen. They are not currently on tour, but are currently hard at work on a new album. Whatever they come out with, I know I'll be excited to give it a listen.

Summer is over and we have now headed into one of my favorite months of the year. With that we have another band to introduce you too. This time we have the band from New York titled Vampire Weekend. I can still remember the first time I heard the band. For some reason I found myself with the soundtrack to Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. There was one song on there that actually stood out to me and of course it was 'Ottoman' by our current band of the month. I swear I listened to that song over and over a million times. I don't know what it was about the song that really got to me.

I do have to admit, however, that I haven't really taken the time to truly explore all the music they had to offer at the time. Since they were announced as our band of the month I took some time and just took in some of their videos on youtube. I also took to their myspace (seriously can't believe that place is still around to be honest) and listened to some songs I had never heard before. There is something about this band that makes their songs very alluring. They are actually fun to listen to but don't really have a complete depth to them. Now i'm not saying that their songs aren't good, don't take it that way. They are an extremely fun band that I can see people either loving or just pushing them to the backburner.

They are truly a fun band. With their most recent release Contra they definately have given us a new view of the band. I am looking forward to see where this band goes in the future and what else they can bring to us.

Vampire Weekend is one of those bands that is super bipolar with me. I either REALLY love a song, or I hate its guts. Most of them I fall on the "love it" side of, but there a few here and there that I just do NOT like. However, I was excited when Doc announced that Vampire Weekend would be October's featured band! I had originally heard of Vampire Weekend from a dear friend of mine Shep who played me a couple of songs in the car once! I will say that Vampire Weekend is not one of the bands that I listen to every day, but I definitely turn it on from time to time!

Some of my favorite tracks are "Oxford Comma" (basically I love every song about punctation!), "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", "I Think Ur A Contra", and "I Stand Corrected" (Check that out, I totally used an Oxford Comma...)! I will say that I can not stand the song (or the drink) "Horchata", and "California English" I don't much care for either. I will say that I don't listen to the radio or watch TV, so the over-exposure issue that has been turning off some staff-members hasn't affected me, which is nice!

If you haven't heard Vampire Weekend before, give them a chance! If you're a fan of Two Door Cinema Club, The XX, Talking Heads or Artic Monkeys, you might just dig what you hear from Vampire Weekend! If you're a Spotify user, we've gone ahead and put some of our favorite Vampire weekend songs in a playlist! The link to the playlist is below, as well as other links to check out the band as always!

Not going to lie, first impression is of the name. And… really? (I haven't listened to the music yet! Just jokingly judging on the name. Okay, let's do this.) Prepare for a live stream of my thoughts!

The first thing that pops up on their MySpace is Horchata, and my initial reaction is 'm not really sure how I feel about the vocals. For my personal taste they're a little nasally, but that could just be this one song. The instrumental that goes along with this song is very cute and quirky though, and I'm pretty sure I'm hearing a xylophone… And it makes me think of Christmas time in the tropics for some reason. … This is a strange song. I'm going to switch it now, I think…

Next on the docket we have White Sky. The instrumental still seems to have the lighthearted, quirky feel to it, and the vocals do seem to be a little less nasally which was my main concern. This song still isn't really my taste, but it's definitely cute. I can see a lot of people digging this. For some reason this song makes me feel like a traveling montage. OH! That chorus of "Oh's" sounds familiar! Was this in a commercial? Was it a car commercial? Is that why this makes me think of traveling??

Okay. Changing again.

Next up is Cousins, which is very quick and again, slightly strange. I don't really know how I feel about these guys… and I don't think I want to listen to this song…

Okay.

They have that very distinct quirky indieness that seems a little too polished to be really indie, but that's just my opinion. They're lyrics are strange and kind of cool, but the vocals are still getting to me… So I've come to the conclusion that I don't really dig these guys. They're just not my thing. Still, check them out though, they may be right up your alley.

Oh dear. I really hope that Im not developing into the "chick that hates everyone but her own bands", but to say that I even remotely like Vampire Weekend would be a lie. I know. Same old story. I could go into the whole "I just dont like his voice" or "I just cant appreciate what they do with their music". Or I could give you the real reason for this one.

See, Vampire Weekend has had a few songs that have gotten really big in my area. And we all know that Linzy is super picky about things that get popular. Friends, I am a hipster in that sense. I dont like to say it but bands that get big and that i hear all the time kind of annoy me.

Chances are, youre going to check out this band (Or not. But you should) and really like them. So do it. And do it knowing that were they but a little less popular, and a little less heard; Id probably love them, too.