The Sound: It’s all about light on Contra, coastal sunlight and sonic lightness manifested by the twinkly, symphonic surf pop sound further cultivated since Vampire Weekend’s debut blew up hard two years ago.
Electro/synth elements suggest the long arm of Animal Collective’s influence, yet VW remains wholly their own by maintaining the precision at the core [...]

Vampire Weekend — Contra
“Horchata”
After dropping last year’s biggest debut, the preppy Manhattanites are back with another batch of Upper West Side Soweto on Contra.
Named for a Mexican rice drink, lead single “Horchata” features faux-marimba and the same sun-shiney harmonies and poly-rhythms that made them the favorite soundtrack to sorority parties across the country.

Final Fantasy / [...]

Whenever the moon is just right, the Vague Panther picks his favorite MP3s from the web to bring you the “In the Know” series. If you’ve got a tip that might pique his interest email him at vaguepanther(at)strangerdance.com.

Nirvana – “Scoff” [Live at Pine Street Theater]
On November 3rd Sub Pop will release a 20th Anniversary [...]

How about this for a release? A countdown clock on Vampire Weekend’s site hit zero and “Horchata” was unleashed upon unsuspecting fans (ok, so maybe they knew it was coming).
The track is the first we’ve heard of the highly anticipated Contra, due out January 12th, 2010. The band has also announced tour dates in [...]

Everybody’s favorite hirsute folkies (ours too) are set to rock serenade the television masses tomorrow night as guest musicians on Saturday Night Live. Rosario Dawson will host. While we haven’t watched more than 20 minutes worth of SNL in years, we assume it’s safe to say that the Foxes’ performance — they’re rumored to play [...]

Faraquet – “Sea Song”
Due to some really, really dumb luck I had the fortune of running into Fugazi legend Ian MacKaye over the holidays. The brief meeting inspired me to check out some recent releases from Dischord Records, the D.C. label he started in 1980. And I’m glad I did because Faraquet’s anthology (1997–98) is [...]

Phew, that was a long show. I spent just over five hours at the Mezzanine last night, catching the Not So Silent Night pre-show party. The lineup was a little over the place, but the crowd was into all of the bands. All photos are courtesy of our illustrious staff photographer, Laura Ciekot, and are [...]

Last year’s Treasure Island Music Festival was somewhere between meh and ehh. While the lineup was decent (Built to Spill, Spoon, Modest Mouse, etc.) something wasn’t clicking for me. Was it the bus ride? The windy nights? No. It was something else. Something much more offensive than the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah live set [...]

We’re having a very pirate-themed week here with a Lambchop-endorsed National Talk Like a Pirate Day yesterday and the Treasure Island Festival today and tomorrow.
Here’s a preview of some of the festival’s talent, including a lot of great Bay Area bands.
Saturday:
Justice – “Planisphère (Part 2)”
CSS – “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above”
TV [...]

For a while there it seemed like Sufjan Stevens was everywhere – on top of his proper releases, he dropped a bonus disc and a four-part Christmas album – but we haven’t really heard much from his camp in the past two years.
Stevens broke his silence recently with a conflict-of-interest review of label-mates Cryptacize on [...]