mixtape maestro (2.0)

By now, most of you have already heard the news, downloaded the track and spent the rest of the day playing it over and over like crazy. But just in case your internet connection was down or you were trapped in some bear cave or something, let’s catch you up to speed.

Vampire Weekend’s website had indie music-lovers in a state of anxiety-filled panic trying to figure out what a mysterious posted clock was counting down to. Many assumed that when the clock struck zero, the public would be gifted with the first taste of the band’s highly anticipated sophomore offering Contra. Guess what? You may give yourself a gold star because that assumption was correct.

The band have so kindly offered as a FREE download (yay!!) Contra jump-off joint “Horchata”, and since it’s premiere, bet there have been plenty of people suddenly overcome with a feeling of thirstiness after listening to the tune (that is, when they’re not hitting up Wikipedia trying to figure out what a damn “balaclava” is).

While guitar-free and more electronic-lenient, “Horchata” still finds Vampire Weekend planted firmly in the land of whimsical, Afro-pop-tinged infectiousness, with frontman Ezra Koenig painting a pleasant lyrical portrait of him sipping the rice-based beverage on the eve of Winter as frilly little xylophone notes dance around him. As the song goes on, the arrangement gets even more colorful, thanks to short bursts of stomp-y percussion delirium and a symphonic climax that seems to whisk you away into a whirlwind of candy canes and gumdrops.

It’s all very kooky and Saturday morning TV-feeling (you could imagine cartoon blue birds flitting around Zoenig in the recording booth), but if you’re like us, after the umpteenth repeated listen you still won’t have enough of it’s candied quirkiness.

For those who haven’t circled the date on their calendars already, Contra OFFICIALLY arrives January 11th/ 12th, 2010.