Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend LP

In the fall of 2005, Ezra Koenig was wondering about the origins of preppiness. What was khaki, and where had it come from? He had spent the previous summer traveling through India and touring across America as a member of The Dirty Projectors. That same summer, Rostam Batmanglij interned at the Oxford English Dictionary and managed to obtain the key to the harpsichord room at Columbia University. He studied film scoring downtown and rented an apartment in Morningside Heights. At Columbia, Ezra majored in English and Rostam majored in music. As their time at school was coming to an end, they formed Vampire Weekend with drummer Christopher Tomson and bassist Chris Baio.

With a distinct vibe in mind, they began recording and performing around New York City. Drawing on their diverse backgrounds and interests, they began experimenting and exploring the intersections of the things they loved: African guitar music, the Western classical canon, hazy memories of summers in Cape Cod, winters in upper Manhattan, reggaeton and everything else that would become a part of Vampire Weekend.

Their first album came together over the course of 18 months, beginning in an undersized practice room on the Columbia University campus and ending in a newly christened storage-space-cum-studio called the Treefort in DUMBO, Brooklyn. During this time, the band went from playing at the literary houses of their alma mater to selling out shows in New York at The Bowery Ballroom and the Music Hall of Williamsburg, and opening for Animal Collective at Webster Hall.