There are not many things in life more annoying than having your hopes built up only to see them knocked down within an instant. I feel cheated. Whilst starting to jot down a few ideas for this 'ere blog I was listening to Vampire Weekend, their eponymous album has been a contender for my 'album of the year' since it's release in January. Having missed their first British tour and their sold-out second tour I was extremely excited to see that they had pencilled in a few dates for early 2009. Upon discovering this I made a point of informing everyone I could think of in an overly-excited manner, only to have egg-on-my-face a few moments later on discovering that the dates I'd 'discovered' were in fact for 2008 not 2009. Like I said, very annoying - why would you put the dates of shows for January 2008 directly under dates for December 2009 as if they are following on. Grrr.

However, I cannot stay mad for long because it is fair to say that I have not been hooked on an album this much since my teenage years. I know they have been all over blogs for a year now, but this is only my second post so I'm going to add my two-pennies-worth.

Similarly to Belle and Sebastien they make the type of music that should be labelled 'pop', if only that phrase hadn't been hijacked over the years by majors out to make big-bucks with branded pop-stars. But that is an argument for another day.

When I first read about VW I thought their mixture of indie and African pop sounded like it could be disastrous. But these guys have obviously listened to a lot of old West-African records and are doing it for the love, rather than lazily shoe-horning it into their sound for effect. Indeed, some of the tracks are free of the clean guitar, perky keyboard and tapped-out rhythms and sound more like Is This It-era Strokes. However, it is this African influence which stands them apart, leaving Vampire Weekend with that rare quality of having an instantly recognisable sound, as well as a record of near-perfect pop sensibilities. I know I may be a bit late with this lamenting of them, but I wanted to give them a mention before 2008 was out. Now if only it could start again so I could get those tickets...