Vampire Weekend giving away opening track from new album for free

Vampire Weekend are giving away the opening track from second album 'Contra' for free from tonight (October 5).

The band have made 'Horchata' available as a free download from Vampireweekend.com. The album itself is not released until January 11 next year.

The announcement of the giveaway was revealed after a mysterious countdown on the band's Ithinkuracontra.com site, and followed the similarly cryptic announcement of artwork and tracklisting for 'Contra' last month.

For an exclusive interview with about the download, get this week's issue of NME, on UK newsstands from Wednesday (October 7).

Along with the album track giveaway, Vampire Weekend have also announced a series of intimate dates across the globe, including a show at London's King's College on October 15.

In addition the band are promising "daily announcements about impromptu events taking place during the California tour" (November 2-14) via their website.

The full run of dates are:

Montreal Le National (October 6)
Toronto Horseshoe Tavern (8)
London King’s College (15)
Paris Nouveau Casino (22)
Long Beach (November 2)
Pioneertown Pappy and Harriet's (5)
Lafayette Town Hall Theatre (7)
Santa Cruz Catalyst (8)
VisaliaThe Cellar Door (9)
San Luis Obispo Downtown Brew (10)
Bakersfield Chencho’s (12)
Lomita VFW Hall (14)
Tokyo Tokyo Unit (17)
Sydney Oxford Art Factory (21)

Tickets for the London show go on sale tomorrow (October 7) at 9am (BST). To check the availability of Vampire Weekend tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.

Vampire Weekend tickets:

See Vampire Weekend play at an O2 Venue. Remember if you're on O2 you can get Priority Tickets to The O2 and O2 Academy venues up to 48 hours before they go on general release. Register at o2priority.co.uk. Terms apply.