Released on January 11, 2010. "Contra" was the second studio album by the American rock band Vampire Weekend, produced by band member Rostam Batmanglij. The album was preceded by the 2009 singles "Horchata" and "Cousins" and then "Giving Up The Gun", "Holiday", ""White Sky", & "Run". The album helped to ciment the popularity of the band, also is considered one of the best albums of the 2010s so far.
For this record, the band combined their usual blend of African music with indie rock and includes other genres such as ska, dancehall and dance music, with slices of electro pop, although the album has been characterized as pop, eclectic, intellectual indie rock,". The band made an effort to make their second album a natural expansion
on the universe created in their debut album; as a result, Contra covers a far greater gamut of musical influences than their debut album, drawing inspiration from genres such as ska on "Holiday", synth-pop on "Giving Up the Gun", speed rap on "California English" and even rave music
on "Run". Under the production of Rostam Batmanglij,
was also different from their former work in that it did not use chamber
echo and natural reverb but instead used digital effects to give the
album an eighties aesthetic. Other distinguishing features of Contra
are the use of backing vocals as textural elements, the debut of
Batmanglij as a lead guitarist and more layered drumwork in which
fundamental Latin beats are blended with drum machines to create a busier rhythm section.
The album title refers basically to the 1987 video game "Contra" not the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries as other thinks. Ezra Koenig
has stated in multiple interviews that the album contains lyrical
themes of opposition consistent with its title, and feels it is
important to understand that the word "Contra" is a fundamental concept
of conflict, without any implication that one side is right or wrong.
The lyrics of Contra are also meant to express a desire to be compassionate even towards people and things one disagrees with. He also states the lyrics of Contra deal with reconciling feeling of privilege and guilt, for which he uses the term "first-world guilt". Contra
is considered by critics to be instrumental in cementing the cultural
significance of Vampire Weekend first formed with their debut record, as
Contra deepens and commits to a general attitude of rejecting
traditional notions that rock musicians are poor, underprivileged
rebels. Whereas their first album brought to light the prejudices
against affluence and wealth in rock music, Contra, even in its title, openly argues this stigma.
The album was also famous because of hte cover of Contra features a candid Polaroid
of a woman from 1983. The photo was found by Batmanglij while searching
"New York City 1983" on Flickr. Lead singer Koenig states that when he
first saw the image, he felt he read "some sort of hesitation" in her
face, and that the band discussed at length what her possible age or
emotional state could be in the photograph, without ever becoming
certain of either. Koenig believed that "wrapped up in her expression is
this question: 'How is she feeling?'" and that "maybe she wasn't even
really sure at the time." In an interview, Koenig revealed that the woman pictured on the front cover is "now living in Malibu". Koenig also referred to the woman as "Kirsten" in a post on Twitter.
But things went crazy when on July 15, 2010, Vampire Weekend, along with XL Recordings
and Brody, were sued by Ann Kirsten Kennis, the woman who identified
herself as the woman on the cover, for $2 million for using the photo
without her permission. Kennis has said that the photo was taken while she was "a high-fashion
model under contract with prestigious agencies in New York City." In
addition, Kennis said that the release forms for the photo that were
allegedly signed by Kennis herself, were forged. Then on August 15, 2011, it was announced that Kennis had dropped her
lawsuit against XL Recordings and Vampire Weekend after they paid Kennis
an undisclosed sum. However, the separate lawsuits against Brody from Kennis and Vampire Weekend were not dropped.
The album received acclaim from music critics considering the record as the perfect balance of classical, rock, and world
instrumentation, cagey rhythms, and stunning prettiness isn't just
architecturally resplendent, it's reassuringly sweet and strangely
moving, the most interesting banc in world music blended their Talking Heads sound-a-like with a good dose of the Smiths pop, this propelled the album to No. 1 on Billboard 200, their very first one and the 12th., indie distributed album to reach that spot on Billboard history since 1991.
Contra Track List:
1. Horchata
2. White Sky
3. Holiday
4. California English
5. Taxi Cab
6. Run
7. Cousins
8. Giving Up The Gun
9. Diplomat's Son
10. I Think Ur A Contra
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