The New York Times-20080127-Know-It-Alls on a Riff

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Know-It-Alls on a Riff

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THE four recent Columbia University graduates who make up the band Vampire Weekend held a sort of college reunion on a rainy January night. Back in Morningside Heights, they feasted on dumplings and bibimbop at the Mill Korean Restaurant, an old favorite.

I think they invented the lime rickey here, said the band's keyboardist, Rostam Batmanglij, who interned for the Oxford English Dictionary during college. He took a sip of the retro soft drink and noted its cherry undertones.

It wasn't the Koreans who invented it, said Ezra Koenig, the group's singer and guitarist, correcting his friend. This place used to be a diner.

Mr. Koenig, who recently quit his day job as an English teacher, went on to explain that the place was formerly known as the Mill Luncheonette.

That's why they call it the Mill Korean, Mr. Batmanglij said.

Such intellectual showmanship shouldn't be surprising to anyone familiar with Vampire Weekend -- and is anyone not these days? Since forming as a dorm-room collaboration in 2006, the band has been relentlessly hyped by music publications and blogs. Its namesake debut album is to be released this week, and the band has gone from playing campuses to headlining the Bowery Ballroom.

Describing its sound as Upper West Side Soweto, the quartet combines library smarts with Afro-inflected pop; the lyrics name-drop reggaeton, Benetton and the Indian town of Dharmsala, and question the merits of certain punctuation marks in the band's single Oxford Comma.

Before dinner, the band had stopped by the local Kim's Video and Music. Mr. Koenig rented New Jack City, saying that he was on a gangster-movie kick. Chris Baio, the bassist, bought a book on sale for $5 about Arthur Lee, of the '60s psychedelic band Love. Mr. Baio whipped out the book midmeal for show and tell. Did you know the guitarist's first girlfriend was Liza Minnelli? he asked, in a reference to the band's Bryan MacLean. His smirk betrayed his delight in wielding this nugget.

His bandmates were no slouches in the did-you-know department.

Did you know that Henry Rollins was once the manager of an Haagen-Dazs store? said Christopher Tomson, the band's lanky drummer.

Mr. Koenig: Did you know that New Jersey is the capital of the flavor industry?

Did you know the flavor of strawberry yogurt comes from crushed bugs? Mr. Baio piped back up.

The guys are just as studied when it comes to fashion, with a preference for blazers, button-downs and other blue-blood affectations. Mr. Koenig said he had found his cardigan, decorated with embroidered pheasants, at a Ralph Lauren boutique in Palo Alto, Calif. I've got another one that's yellow with dogs on it, he said.

That's what the kids are wearing these days, said Mr. Tomson, whose cardigan was free of ornamentation.

Hardly keeping vampire hours, Mr. Koenig, the only member who still lives uptown, bade farewell to his Brooklyn-bound mates around 10 p.m. But not before reminding them of their plans for the following day: a field trip to Lacoste.

[Illustration]PHOTOS: THE GRADUATES: Members of Vampire Weekend -- from left, Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Baio and Christopher Tomson -- browse DVDs near Columbia. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ANNIE TRITT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)