Vampire Weekend biography
During the early stages of their career, substantial media attention surrounded Vampire Weekend's incorporation of African pop sounds into American music, but despite an admitted love of African music, and Koenig's explicit mentioning of 1980's Madagascar pop music as a source of inspiration for the band, Vampire Weekend has always maintined that they are not "an African band". Koenig went so far as to say in interviews that Vampire Weekend feared being perceived as part of what he saw as a western trend of "fetishizing" world music, and would be hesitant to follow so directly in the footsteps of former greats such as Paul Simon in collaborating with and making too great a deal of foreign musicianship in American pop..
''Contra'' (2009-present)
The band's second album, ''Contra'', was released on January 11, 2010 in the UK and the following day in the US. On January 12, 2010, "Horchata" was released as a free download on the band's website. The album's first single, "Cousins", was released on November 17, 2009. Initial copies of the CD and LP sold at independent records stores in the US include a 3-track bonus CD containing two "melts", which featured bits of album tracks and a remix. ''Contra'' was the band's first album to debut at #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200.
On January 9, 2010 the band did an acoustic show for ''MTV Unplugged''. The following month, the band toured Europe and UK with Canadian electro duo Fan Death as their support. The video for their next single "Giving Up the Gun" was also released on February 18, 2010 which included cameos from Joe Jonas, Lil Jon, RZA and Jake Gyllenhaal.
On March 6, 2010 the band appeared as the musical guest of ''Saturday Night Live'' with comedian Zach Galifianakis as host. It is the second time the band has appeared as a musical guest on the show, the first being during the show's 33rd season in 2008 in an episode which actress Amy Adams hosted. They also played festivals across the USA such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and All Points West, as well as the Groovin' The Moo festival in Australia.
On June 5, the band played in Philadelphia, PA as part of the 3rd annual Roots Picnic, hosted by the band The Roots.
Their third single, "Holiday", was released on June 7, 2010. It appears in Tommy Hilfiger and Honda commercials during the 2010 holiday season. Another new song, "Jonathan Low", appeared on the soundtrack to ''The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'', which was released on June 8.
On June 25, 2010, the band played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, in Pilton, Somerset, UK. The band were also on the main stage at T in the Park 2010 at Balado Kinross, Scotland, on June 8, and played the Oxegen Festival in Kildare, Ireland on July 9. They also headlined the Latitude Festival in Suffolk, UK on July 18. On 16 July the band headlined the Main Stage at the Festival Internacional de Benicí ssim.
In the summer of 2010 the band played at the Utopia stage on Peace and Love, Sweden's biggest Festival.
On July 30, 2010, the band played at Jisan Valley Rock Festival in South Korea along with Muse, Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys, Corinne Bailey Rae and many others.
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