Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings. The band released its first album Vampire Weekend in 2008, which produced the singles "Mansard Roof", "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma", and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa". The band's most recent album, Contra, was released in 2010.

Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Rostam Batmanglij, and Chris Tomson formed the band early in 2006, when they were finishing up their studies at Columbia University. Vampire Weekend's name is derived from lead singer Ezra Koenig's amateur film of the same name. Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson first collaborated as members of the comedy-rap band "L'Homme Run".^[1] They were signed to XL Recordings, of which the band said in an interview: "Before any labels had contacted us, we actually mentioned XL as the kind of label we'd ideally like to end up on. Just going on their roster alone, they obviously have good taste and support their artists well."^[2] They are managed by Ian Montone, who also manages The White Stripes.

The band gained attention via a variety of blogs, such as Stereogum.^[3] The band is influenced by both African popular music and Western classical music,^[4] describing their genre of music as "Upper West Side Soweto", with such songs as "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" referencing Congolese soukous music.^[5]

In 2007, Vampire Weekend's song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" was ranked 67th on Rolling Stone's list of the '100 Best Songs of the Year'.^[6] In November 2007, they toured the Netherlands with The Shins.^[7] They were declared "The Year's Best New Band" by Spin magazine in the March 2008 issue, and were the first band to be shot for the cover of the magazine before releasing their debut album.^[1] Four songs from the band's first album also made the Triple J Hottest 100, 2008.

The band's debut album Vampire Weekend was released January 29, 2008. It was a success in the US and UK, peaking at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and number 17 on the Billboard 200. Four singles were released from the album; while "A-Punk" peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and number 55 on the UK Singles Chart, "Oxford Comma" peaked at number 38 in the UK. "A-Punk" was ranked the 4th on Rolling Stone's list of Best Songs in 2008. "A- Punk" was also used to open the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly feature Step Brothers, and featured in the UK television show, The Inbetweeners, and the video games Guitar Hero 5 and LEGO Rock Band. In 2008, Vampire Weekend was dubbed the "whitest band" by Christian Lander, the creator of the site Stuff White People Like, in an interview with Salon.com.^[8] During the summer of 2008, Vampire Weekend performed at the Central Park SummerStage.

The band's second album, Contra, was released on January 11, 2010 in the UK and the following day in the US. On October 5, 2009, "Horchata" was released as a free download on the band's website.^[9] 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.^[10]

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, Jake Gyllenhaal and Daft Punk.

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 and All Points West, as well as the Groovin' The Moo festival in Australia.

On June 3, 2010 the band was interviewed by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report. Colbert argued that the "Oxford Comma" was indeed important despite the band and Ezra's disagreement. The band also played their song "Holiday" from Contra. 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. Another new song, "Jonathan Low", appeared on the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which was released on June 8.