Although I’m not a tweet-aholic like some people, I do dabble a bit here and there. In fact, I was fortunate enough to be on twitter at the exact time Matador Records Warehouse (@MataWarehouse for those wondering) sent out the following a couple of days ago:
“I will send a free Cousins 7″ to the 1st, 10th and 50th person to RT this. Pre-order Contra now! http://bit.ly/7pLNOT”
Now I’m certainly not the biggest Vampire Weekend fan out there (personally, I feel like their debut was a bit overrated), but I do enjoy getting free vinyl — so I went ahead and did what they requested. Lo and behold, I turned out to be lucky #10 and received my 7” in the mail a full three days before its release!
Now if you are familiar with how to use the internet, there is nothing new that you’ll find with this 7”. In this day-and-age of expected torrents and leaks, it’s tough to keep things secret. Anyways, the two songs presented on record are radically different than anything Vampire Weekend done prior.
Personally, I prefer the B-side “California English Pt. II” (Pt. I is featured on their upcoming LP Contra) to the schizophrenic “Cousins”. With Animal Collective-esque looped synth swells and a pong wall bounce on every downbeat, the Vampire Weekend of old is pretty much indistinguishable. The pseudo-gimmicky afro-infused sound is completely abandoned and even singer Ezra Koenig “elitist” lyrics — you know the Oxford Commas and the Mansford Roofs — are noticeably absent (however, there is a close call with a “Skull and Bones” line).
Vampire Weekend has released a video of the A-side “Cousins” which you can check out below, and if you’re interested enough, you can pre-order both the 7” and the LP.
Tags: Contra, Cousins, Vampire Weekend
[...] over-rated? However, this doesn’t mean I can’t change my opinion — and a pretty slick sounding 7” certainly helps. Markedly different than anything off of their S/T debut, both [...]