Not everyone is grooving to Vampire Weekend’s Contra, but I’ve been enjoying the band’s sophomore effort since its release last month. Admittedly I’m a relative newbie to the Brooklyn music blenders, but I really don’t get what the negative bleating (coming from a small cadre of critics) is all about.

Tracks like “Taxi Cab” are a big reason I continue to heart Contra. As Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl) enthused in a recent Tweet, it’s “absolutely GORGEOUS.”

According to Vampire Weekend keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij, “Taxi Cab” was borne out of the band’s desire to balance their wilder side with something comparatively (Contrastingly?) mild. In an interview with Spin Magazine published last summer, Batmaglij described the inspiration for the song: “With ‘Taxi Cab,’ I think it was important that we made a song that was mellow, because if you listen to our first album, there’s a certain level of pumped-up-ness,” he said. “I guess at some point this spring, I got obsessed with Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side,’ and I just wanted to hear that over and over again. And so hopefully ‘Taxi Cab’ will connect with that, somehow, in some way.”

Mission accomplished, boys. If you haven’t yet taken “Taxi Cab” for a spin, I bet you’d let the meter run if it meant getting to listen to this lovely bit of music once more. Hear here:

Purchase Vampire Weekend – “Taxi Cab” via iTunes, Amazon MP3. And with Contra just $5 at Amazon MP3 through February, why not spring for the full album?