Vampire Weekend

Regarded as one of the more socially elite musical groups to come out of New York, African-influenced Vampire Weekend formed in 2006 and self-released an EP, titled EP, the year after, which got the attention of XL Recordings, who promptly signed the band. After their first single of Mansard Roof was released on the Abeano Music imprint in November, XL decided to let the band release their work on the XL label itself, and their first single not on the imprint was A-Punk in February 2008. This came after their debut self-titled album was released in January, receiving critical acclaim. Second post album single Oxford Comma hit #39 on the UK charts upon its release in May; their highest British single so far. The final single from the self-titled, August's Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, failed to make any significant impact. Their second album, Contra, was preceded by Cousins in November, with the album hitting #3 in the UK upon its release in January. Post-album singles Giving Up The Gun in February and Holiday in June both failed to make any significiant impact. A-Punk's video is below, with downloads after.