It’s been a couple of months since New York-based Vampire Weekend announced the release of their second album, “Contra”, which can be found in stores as from today! Since their eponymous debut album in 2008, their redigested “third-world” type of sound (from highlife, to tropicalia) has provoked lots of questions about the guilt-issue that they face as westerners playing African-inspired music.
Although the band had stated their clean-guitar sound was a reaction to the post-grunge fuzz dictat, this new opus seems to be answering the class/genre/race question more accurately than ever. “I’m glad we get that kind of question, but everyone should be answering those. Ask Jay-Z!”, says frontman Ezra Koenig.
If you liked the first opus, you’ll realise that “Contra” is more focused on Ezra’s personnal struggle with social status and with his own privileged background than some kind of obsession with pillaging African culture.
