Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend consist of Ezra Koenig (vocals, guitar), Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Chris Baio (bass) and Christopher Tomson (drums). They met while attending Columbia University.

The four guys started the group in 2006 and worked on their first studio project as indie artists while working full-time jobs. The result is a self-titled mini album which was released after they graduated from college.

One of their songs "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" was ranked at No. 67 on Rolling Stone's 2007 100 Best Song of the Year despite the fact that it hadn't been released yet. The track was then dropped in 2008 as the band's fourth single and was once covered by Genesis' former vocalist Peter Gabriel.

In 2008 also, they released their first major-label debut album "Vampire Weekend" via XL Recordings. It debuted at No 17 on Billboard Hot 200 and has sold more than 450,000 copies in the U.S. by the end of August 2009. Moreover, it was named the 5th best album of 2008 by Time and 56th Best Album of the Decade by Rolling Stone.

As if releasing a studio album was not enough, this band treated fans with two mini albums. "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" and "The MySpace Transmissions" were outed in the same year, 2008. It apparently was aimed to tide fans over before they rolled out with another full-length record.

Finally, it took two years for this band to come up with their second studio album. On January 12, 2010, they release "Contra" as a follow-up for their eponymous effort. The album was preceded by a free download of its single "Horchata" and has been made available for free stream on their MySpace since January 3, 2010.