 | Los Campesinos! |
One of my favorite new bands to come up this year is definitely Los Campesinos. With their high energy songs and offbeat style they won me over big time upon first hearing Hold on Now, Youngster…, and then subsequently really added to it with a truly awesome show last May at the Empty Bottle. They are one of my favorite bands right now as their combination of punk rock sensibilities, clever/ironic lyrics and high energy performances is tough to match nowadays. Right before turkey day they dropped a new “album”, for lack of a better term, on the masses in a limited release as a follow up to their album from earlier this year and while it maybe doesn’t stand quite as tall as a complete record, they continue to amaze and impress with their songs.
The prior album was really top to bottom greatness in my mind, with pretty much no songs on the record being slouches at all and it grabbing you from the beginning all the way until the end with their offbeat combination of high energy punk rock feel with uncanny musical sensibilities. This album feels like a bit of a progression from them as it is definitely not quite as “punk rock” feeling as the last one, but it has seemingly more structure and depth to the songs. It clocks in at just 10 songs and is a fairly short album, but still delivers the goods.
The opening track “Ways To Make It Through The Wall” really shows the new direction of these songs, maintaining a sound that is still distinctively LC! but also dials back the hectic chaos sound from the first record to result in a cleaner more developed kind of sound, while still bringing all the shouts and rock outs that you remember from before. “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” and “You’ll Need Those Fingers For Crossing” both are great tracks as well. The sound on the record also seems to involve less guitar and eschews it for more strings and synths in a lot of cases, which really focuses the sound more on the rhythm section for this record, with some driving basslines leading the verses in a lot of cases, and still hectic chaos on a lot of the choruses. It is certainly a bit of a departure from the first record, and doesn’t quite pack the same energy from start to finish that the first one did, but it also shows a different side of the band that they can operate in a less frenzied direction than previously. It leads to slower developing, spacy/dreamy, more epic sounding kinds of songs such as “We Are Beautiful” and “Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1″, and their most chill song ever “Heart Swells – Pacific Daylight Time”. The album finishes off with a classic sounding LC! song “All Your Kayfabe Friends”, which is a great jam. The new development on the songs is pretty cool to hear from them and should make it interesting to see what they come up with next. Releasing two albums of such high quality in one year is impressive enough so the sky’s the limit with these guys.
The limited CD release also comes with a bonus DVD which essentially features tour footage of them in some locations in Europe and Japan. It doesn’t really feature any full live material and is more of a “documentary”, as in people in the band filming each other. It is an ok watch but it doesn’t add a ton to the package, though it is cool they packed it in.
I highly recommend this album if you liked the last one, though they certainly have tried to evolve their sound a little bit from the first record, it still packs a high energy punch and brings the rock to the kids.
They are on tour this fall/spring with Titus Andronicus. Everyone should go check these guys out as they are certainly one of the best up and coming bands out there today, if not the best. You will be hard pressed to find a more intense, genuine and straight up rock/punk rock show than what these guys can do.
Los Campesinos & Titus Andronicus – 2009 Tour Dates
1/15 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
1/16 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
1/17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
1/19 – Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
1/21 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
1/24 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
1/25 – Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone
1/27 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jack’s
1/29 – Houston, TX @ Walter’s On Washington
1/30 – Austin, TX @ The Parish
1/31 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
2/03 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck
2/04 – St. Louis, MO @ The Gargoyle
2/06 – Madison, WI @ Der Rathskeller
2/07 – Chicago, IL @ Logan Sq. Auditorium
2/10 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Calvin College/Ladies Literary Club
2/11 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center for the Arts
2/12 – Swarthmore, PA @ Swarthmore College/Olde Club
2/13 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
2/14 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
2/15 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
