Vampire Weekend certainly doesn't need a review from the Edge of Nowhere.

They appear to be one of those so-called "indie" bands that get "discovered" overnight and just "happen" to show up with musical gigs on Letterman, Conan, Saturday Night Live and Jimmy Kimmel within a few weeks (think back to Jan-April).

I'm using "ironic" "quotes" because clearly there's some major power pushing them and raising suspicions about their "indie" "cred." They're also the kind of band you want to not like so much, simply because they find so much success so quickly.

(I know, I know, they've probably been toiling at their craft for years before breaking big this winter, but the point is all the exposure makes me want to not like them. OK - I just did a thorough three-minute Google research effort and turns out they are as new as their overnight success image, met at Columbia U in NYC -- have I been had? They're also already 11 months out from their first very friendly NY Times review, so yeah, I have been had.)

When I first saw them on SNL, I wanted to be repelled. They were too perfectly preppy-punk, their hair was just a bit too perfectly messy and the chamber orchestra playing along with just too much of a touch of "wacky." Then they played Jimmy Kimmel with members of the Crenshaw High School drumline (darn them!)

But gosh darn it, I like their sound. It makes me happy. Vampire Weekend reminds me a bit of that new wave skinny tie ska craze of the early '80s. The band calls it "Upper East Side Soweto" and I'd say more precisely it's like Paul Simon's Graceland album re-imagined by a third-gen pop-punk band. I'm not of their targeted demo, but the music speaks to me out here on the Edge because it feels like fresh late 70s new wave, which was my demo.

Vampire Weekend's self-named debut album "Vampire Weekend" is darn listenable, too. I like it in spite of knowing I'm being manipulated to like them by their carefully developed "indie-ness" image.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and cranky. Let's say they truly are simply talented and catching a lucky break and they somehow got in front of my eyeballs. I live with a dedicated KCSU listener who says -- after listening to their album in the car with me -- she heard some of their songs last year all over the Fort Collins college station.

Their songs are all of the same sort: catchy African rhythms, a hooky Township Jive vibe and enough punchy punk guitars to make me happy to listen over and over, amusing literate lyrics by Ezra Koenig and often odd instruments for a standard rock band -- cellos, harpsichords, accordions -- that always makes me smile.

The songs are all pretty swell, but if forced to name three favorites, I'd go with "Oxford Comma" (literate and sing-along-able about not giving a f**k about an Oxford comma), "A-Punk" (about Johanna going for a drive and wondering about marriage), and the popular, radio-friendly "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa," which might be the quintessential early Vampire Weekend song (considering, y'know, it's their debut album).

They were at the Bluebird in Denver in April and they're headlining the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks in September, the day after they're at Bonaroo. Welcome to the big-time, boys. The rest of the year they appear to be mostly very very busy playing all over Europe, the US and Japan.

And they're getting heavy play on my iPod.

Bonus Points: They know how to end a song.

Points off: The clunky "One (Blake's Got A New Face).

Edge Says: Listen and enjoy! Try not to sing-along. I dare you.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend

Official site: http://www.vampireweekend.com/

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