Los Campesinos!

Los Campesinos! are a group of seven Cardiff University students. Now, for a lot of people the first word to come to mind when you mention a combination of wales + university is "aaeeulldyyggh". Which, as everyone knows, is welsh for "crap". However, there will always be exceptions to rules, and Los Campesinos! seem to be one of these. Their debut EP, 'Hold On Now Youngster' has a small collection of entirely delectable songs. The first track, 'You! Me! Dancing!', seems to undergo constant anamorphosis. It begins with an introduction that wouldn't sound out of place on a 'constellations' release. Very post rock, very Godspeed You!. After a minute or so of build up, in come the drums and the guitar riff, reminiscent of something by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Another transformation takes place when the xylophones are introduced, changing the sound to something along the lines of Architecture in Helsinki. In the end, they settle somewhere between AIH and The New Pornographers. When the vocals first come in, you're in for a bit of a shock. Whilst not so extreme as, say, Joanna Newsom, I can imagine lead singer Tom's voice being a bit of a deal breaker for some. Though it put me off on my first listen, I've grown to actually like the sound of his voice now. It's nice to here a genuinely British accent on a record, and it provides a nice juxtaposition to the very innocent sound of the lead female vocalist.

The second song is a great example of why I love small bands. "It Started With a Mixx" could well be just one long piss take of The Killers' song, "Mr Brightside". Find me a big name band that has lyrics that compare to these:
"Trying to find the perfect mix between pretentious and pop, some crappy artwork that took, way way too long to draw. Hand written tracklisting restarted every time the pen smudged, encoded title doesn't give away as much as it should. It started with a Mixx, how did it come to this?"
and you'll have found "Weird Al Yankovic". Find me another, and you're probably lying.

If I've yet to convince you of the merits of Los Campesinos!, then chances are I never will, and so I'm going to quit whilst I'm ahead. The debut EP is soon to be available on Wichita records, and through all your usual illegal sources, but if you've got the funds, I'd say buy the thing. After all, They're young and they need the money.

Buy:
'fraid you've gotta go to one of their shows.

Listen:
Deat h To Los Campesinos (via BBC)
It Started With A Mixx (via BBC)
Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks (via BBC)

Links:
Myspace

Monkey Swallows the Universe

There's a little band called Monkey Swallows the Universe. They're an acoustic indiepop 5-piece from Sheffield, who I heard about as they were supporting The Long Blondes in Cambridge in October. Their debut album The Bright Carvings is packed full of super super tunes: my particular favourite has to be the opener Sheffield Shanty, a devastatingly simple pirate-themed tour through their home town, or maybe the catchy and distinctly danceable Fonz You!, showing that, along with Peter Bjorn and John's Young Folks, whistling, while very annoying in all other situations, is the perfect addition to indie pop. Live, even with the absence of their violinist due to illness and in a relatively large venue, they kept the Junction transfixed and/or dancing about at all the right moments. Singer Nat Johnson has a gorgeous voice, sometimes reminiscent of Polly Harvey, with the girl singer aspect bringing about obvious comparisons to Camera Obscura and early Belle and Sebastian. But they're not to be pigeonholed. They're pretty much perfect. They deserve to be big. But maybe not too big.

Buy:
The Bright Carvings (via Sheffield Phonographic Corporation)

Listen:
Sheffield Shanty (via official site)
Jimmy Down the Well (via official site)
Florence (via official site)

Links:
mstu.co.uk
Myspace

Electric President

My first proper post on this new blog brings you Electric President. Definately not the smallest band I will be posting about; I'm sure the name will have passed many of you by without you paying any attention, but pay attention you must. The cheapest comparision that can be made with Electric President, is that they sound like The Postal Service; in fact they sound A LOT like The Postal Service. Personally though, for whatever reason I have listened to Electric President's self titled debut far more than I ever did to The Postal Service's debut, Give Up. I'm not saying it's a better album, most likely it isn't, but something about it has drawn me to it many a time over the past few weeks. Have a listen for yourself, Metal Fingers is my personal favourite; the lines "From the sky, the train tracks look like stitches/ Like they're holding the world together; like it'll blow any minute," seem more and more interesting to me every time I hear them.

Buy:
Electric President (via Amazon)

Listen:
Metal Fingers (via offical myspace)
Ten Thousand Lines (via official myspace)
Good Morning Hypocrite (via official site)

Links:
radicalface.com/electricpresident
Myspace

Welcome

Hello internet. We are a blog about music. We like music. For the rest of our lives we will be furnishing this corner of the internet with lovingly informative posts about bands, albums, songs and gigs.

The team comprises:

Matt
Fi
Ben
Leah

As you can see, we like last.fm, and we cry when the weekly charts are late.

We love you, adoring public.

Matt and Fi