www.vampireweekend.com

In just four years, four Columbia graduates have made one of the most distinctive marks on music culture in the age of niche genres, divided tastes, blogs and buzz. Vampire Weekend has two albums, their first was certified gold in the U.S., and the second, Contra, was No. 1 on the Billboard 200 when it dropped in January of this year—an incredible feat for a band still considered “indie” by most. Lead singer and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist and producer Rostam Batmanglij, bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson already have a career’s worth of impressive achievements under their belts, including gracing the cover of Spin magazine before they had even released their eponymous full-length debut—the only artists to have ever done so—and signing with XL Recordings, the label for the White Stripes, M.I.A., Sigur Rόs, Thom Yorke and Radiohead, just to name a few.

The band was heralded back in 2007 by the music blog Stereogum, which lauded its DIY sound, diverse musical influences and smart, analytical lyrics. On Contra, the band diversifies its sound even more while lyrically continuing to examine prep culture in the context of the classic pop themes of love and loss. Vampire Weekend has sold out shows across the country, performed (twice!) on Saturday Night Live and divided music critics while gaining legions of devoted fans. Koenig has also worked with the African/London group The Very Best, lending his vocals to a track called “Warm Heart of Africa.” Baio has been spinning discs at DJ sets after Vampire Weekend gigs, and Batmanglij has joined the race with Jack White for busiest musical mind in the business. He’s got an R&B project with Ra Ra Riot’s vocalist, Wes Miles, called Discovery, he remixes songs under the alias Boys Like Us and he writes string compositions, three of which he debuted right here in Austin during the Fusebox Festival. With fans as diverse as Joe Jonas and RZA (see Vampire Weekend’s video for “Giving Up the Gun”), this group is poised to break musical, social and economical boundaries for years to come.