Not a lot to write about in the world o’P-Kryf these days. Since the people directly involved with my life can only work up a moderate interest in my day-to-day I won’t bore the rest of you. I know why you really come here anyway, you want to know how YOU can spend your hard earned money on ME. Well, unfortunately since I know you’ve all already purchased five copies of SASQUATCH , I really don’t have too many other options for you at the moment. If you’re really concerned about my ability to pay rent (and you should be) I’ll gladly accept your personal donations, but if you’re chomping at the bit waiting to pay for something I write why not bide your time by paying for something I tell you to buy!
Meet Los Campesinos! This Welsch 7-piece got a lot of buzz in the on-line music community last year with their singles “You! Me! Dancing!” and “The International Tweexcore Underground”. Now they’ve unleashed their debut full length LP on the world and the critics are rejoicing, peace was declared in the Middle East, bumblebees vowed to stop their shameful raping of innocent flowers, and the Berlin Wall was retroactively torn down two decades ago…or something like that anyway.
The fun-loving, high energy septet have been garnering comparisons to other multi-instrumented indie phenoms the Arcade Fire, but I really think they owe more to Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki than those kids from Montreal. With song-titles like “Brokenheartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats” and “This is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics’” the group immediately shows they understand two of the most important criteria for being a twee sensation: 1) Write songs about being sad and lonely, while 2) Not sounding sad nor lonely while doing so.
“It’s sad that you think that we’re all just scenesters/(and even if we were it’s not the scene you’re thinking of)” Much like Art Brut, LC! is another band that often sounds most comfortable when they’re singing about their favorite bands, while avoiding the ever threatening trap of songwriters who write songs about songwriting (Saddle Creek I’m looking at you).
So while they may have a fairly standard indie-rock M.O. you can’t deny the plain fun of the bands best songs. Who doesn’t want to chant along in “Don’t Tell Me to Do the Math(s)” when the boys and girls tell us, “If only you would give your life to literature just/Don’t read Jane Eyre!/Work on your algebra/And stand out in the rain /And give yourself to simple pleasures but/Never play card games!” It’s just good advice! Or how about the characters in “My Year in Lists” which starts off, “You said, ‘send me stationary to make me horny’/So I always write you letters in multicolors/Decorating envelopes for foreplay,” don’t these sound like people your eardrums need to spend some time with?
So there you are, this week since you can’t spend your money on me I advise you all to run to your favorite record store/legal downloading website and spend your money on Hold On Now, Youngster… from Los Campesinos!
Los Campesinos!: You! Me! Dancing!
