On the surface, there are few ideas less appealing than a bunch of Ivy League grads playing Afro-pop. Yet Vampire Weekend's self-titled debut is not merely a triumph of low expectations, it's a flat-out triumph. Instead of making any sort of doomed bids for cultural authenticity, these four Columbia grads simply incorporate the sunny, jangling melodies and shuffling rhythms of African pop music into their East Coast prep school existence. The effect occasionally nods to Paul Simon's Graceland or the Clash's Sandanista but it's more fun than either. Sprightly guitars nudge "Oxford Comma" along at a loping half-pace before the organ and drums kick in at a steady clip. On that track, frontman Ezra Koenig becomes the first man in history to namecheck the Tibetan town of Dharamsala and Lil' Jon and the East Side Boyz' "Get Low" in the same tune. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" pokes fun at world music ambassador Peter Gabriel and the United Colors of Benetton over a jaunty guitar, an elastic bass line and deft hand drums. The hilarious "Walcott" is a bright, nimble warning to a wayward friend to "get out of Cape Cod tonight." The sound throughout is worldly, but the songs themselves are unwaveringly local, a fact that may make self-serious ethno-musicologists blanche but will make nearly everyone else smile.

-- David Peisner