Vampire Weekend’s debut was one of the most musically fresh and catchy albums of the last decade, here is a track by track review of their follow up.

1. Horchata:  For people who are not fans of Vampire Weekend, the biggest complaint is that they are a bunch of upper class, east coast, Ivy League, 20 somethings, who unabashedly make songs about being upper class, east coast, Ivy League, 20 somethings (I give them credit for “keeping it real” because if they talked about anything else it would come across as phony). Well this song will certainly piss off those people, but for anyone else who wants a nice mellow vibe that captures the feel of being on vacation to escape the stress and cold of the winter will love this. Even if you don’t have the cash to actually escape down south when it is cold (hell, I know I don’t), it is hard not to appreciate the bouncy tropical music of this and the sheer creative randomness of rhyming Horchata with balaclava. Overall it reminds me of the best of Jimmy Buffett.

2. White Sky: A bouncy little beat with some hand claps. The song perfectly captures the feel of wondering around Manhattan with lyrics that have sly humor and social commentary; “The elderly sales clerk won’t eye us with suspicion-the whole immortal corporation has given its permission.” Later on, they name drop minimalist sculptor Richard Serra and compare his stuff to looking like a skate park which it kind of does.

3. Holiday: For some reason, I find myself skipping this song for others on the album. Maybe because musically and lyrically I feel like that there are other songs that do similar stuff but better on the album or the fact that in general Holiday is the second most overused name for a song. (Angel is number 1) That being said, the song is a still a catchy 2 minute little ditty and has a change of pace half way through and has some funny self mocking of liberal elitist.

4. California English: Vampire Weekend have always had a lot of hip hop references in their songs (more on that later), and in this song they go the full T-Pain on us and actually use some auto-tune. But they don’t actually use it in a T-Pain style of way that much; instead, they make this really bizarre double time effect that kind of burrows into your brain. It is pretty cool. Lyrically again, there are countless great observations about the ridiculousness of upper class college kids who trying too hard to be racially sensitive and environmentally friendly to the point where they worry about which tooth paste they are using. “Sweet carob rice cake -She don’t care how the sweets taste -Fake Philly cheese steak -But she use real toothpaste -Cuz if that Tom’s don’t work -If it just makes you worse -Would you loose all of you faith in the good Earth?” Vampire Weekend use a lot of references and in their lyrics which might annoy some people, but damn it is impressive how often they find the perfect reference to make their point; such as the reference to Hapa Clubs which are college socially clubs intended to promote tolerance of multi-ethnic students in the first verse of this song.

5. Taxi Cab: This is my favorite song on the album and one of the few that discuss a relationship. The lyrics feature some great heartbreaking lines about a failed relationship: “ you stand this close to me-like the future was supposed to be.”  Or “in the shadow of your first attack- I was questioning and looking back- you said baby we don’t speak of that-like a real aristocrat”  Musically there is a piano that comes in and out at various parts of the song that works great.

6. Run:  This song has a pulsating melody that moves the song forward. Thematically it reminds me of many other songs about the daily grind like Dave Mathews Band’s “Ants Marching”, Girls’ “Hell Hole Ratrace” and Animal Collective’s “Daily Routine.” The opening lines are a concise statement about how most of us live: “Every dollar counts-And every morning hurts-We mostly work to live
Until we live to work.” The rest of the song Is him and his significant other fantasizing and contemplating trying to escape that life.

7. Cousins: This has so much manic energy and different sounds (with a Mediterranean influence) it just makes you want to dance around like an idiot Peanuts style.

8. Giving Up The Gun: In typical VW Ivy League style referencing style, the title of this song is a reference to a Japanese history book. The song features one of the catchiest choruses on the entire album lyrically they impressively use the Giving Up The Gun analogy throughout the song to describe a musicians struggling to maintain a musicians style life as they get older.

9. Diplomat’s Son: They use again some almost hip hop style beats in the background of this. This is well done story telling song about “hooking up” Again as with many of VW stuff the beauty lays in how intricate the music is and how the lyrics can make you feel like you actually are witnessing or hearing about a specific event:” That night I smoked a joint-my best friend we found ourselves in bed-when I woke up he was gone-He was the diplomats son-It was '81-He was the diplomats son-It was '81
Looking out-at the ice cold water all around me-I can't feel any traces of that other place-In the dark with the wind comes racing off the river-there's a car -all black with diplomatic plates”

10. I Think You’re A Contra: This is another track that is looking back on a failed relationship. Since we both made up our minds -You gotta watch out for yourself -So will I.” The music has a dream like quality that gives it the feel of looking back.

11. Giant: This first bonus song opens with blaring horns and a reference to The Notorious Big “It was all a dream, I used to read Passion Magazine” and a beat that is an homage to the Young Gunz song “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop.”  What else could you ask for?

12. California English Part 2: This second bonus song has a skittering backdrop and his yet another ode to California. Not bad, but not as great as some of the other stuff on the record so I understand why they just threw it on as a bonus.

Overall Album Grade A