Los Campesinos!, or The Farmers auf Englisch, couldn't have broken out at a better time. Although Brighton and Leeds generate many of the UK's electro-pop rockers, the seven pals from Cardiff have devised a spunky menagerie sure to swell some minds into bliss as well as draw attention to the other side of Britain.
In the form of Yellowcard around their Ocean Avenue days, Los Campesinos' major market sound has landed on the radar of Spin, NME, Paste and many other music networks this year thanks to a personalized blend the seven musicians devised. By implementing multiple vocal leads that range from typical pop odes to smoke-starting grunge chants, the group channels in keyboards, chimes and a violin on top of the guitar, bass and drums to transform ordinary tunes into better than ordinary ones.
Despite releasing a pair of albums this year, their zip remains far from repetitive from album to album thanks to the cast of character that compose Los Campesinos!. We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (10/08) and Hold on Now, Youngster... (2/08) were both released off of Wichita Recordings.
Below we have a few mp3s, a video and tour dates for the group. Also, in a small effort to support other artists from Cardiff that might catch your fancy, check out Armies of You and Box of Thumbs. Enjoy.
MP3: Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed (buy)
MP3: Los Campesinos! - Dont Tell Me To Do The Math(s) (buy)
MP3: Armies of You - Girls Play Games
12/18/08 Wichita Xmas Party: Maroquinerie Paris *
1/15/09 Ottobar Baltimore, MD #
1/16/09 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, NC #
1/17/09 The Earl Atlanta, GA #
1/19/09 Jack Rabbits Jacksonville, FL #
1/20/09 Orpheum Tampa, FL #
1/21/09 Club Downunder Tallahassee, FL #
1/23/09 Bottletree Birmingham, AL #
1/24/09 Exit/In Nashville, TN #
1/25/09 Hi Tone Memphis, TN #
1/27/09 One Eyed Jack’s New Orleans, LA #
1/29/09 Walter’s On Washington Houston, TX #
1/30/09 The Parish Austin, TX #
1/31/09 Club Dada Dallas, TX #
2/3/09 The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS #
2/4/09 The Gargoyle St Louis, MO #
2/6/09 Der Rathskeller Madison, WI #
2/7/09 Logan Sq, Auditorium Chicago, IL #
2/10/09 Calvin College/Ladies Literary Club Grand Rapids, MI #
2/11/09 Wexner Center For The Arts Columbus, OH #
2/12/09 Swarthmore College/Olde Club Swarthmore, PA #
2/13/09 Paradise Rock Club Boston, MA #
2/14/09 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY #
2/15/09 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY #
* w/ Lovvers and Sky Larkin
# w/ Titus Andronicus
Philadelphia's own Denison Witmer comes out with their folk/acoustic sounds with Carry The Weight. They are currently touring the East Coast at the moment. DW, PA loves ya but as your MySpace fans keep saying, Austin and the Midwest need some of that love.
Really catching our attention this week are Longwave and The Postmarks. Longwave, who hail from New York, release their well-composed garage sound in Secrets Are Sinister off of Original Signal Recordings while the sweet singing of Israeli-born Tim Yehezkely lured us toward South Beach's The Postmarks. Yehezkely's candid singing mesh her style quite fittingly with those of classic artists Jonathan Wilkins and Christopher Moll.
Lastly, Love Is All showcases the foreign pop flavor that requires a certain tolerance to listen to. Josephine Olausson's voice runs quickly while drums bang and the guitar wails. They will be touring out on the West Coast with Vivian Girls and Nodzzz starting next week.
MP3: The Postmarks - Let Go (buy)
MP3: Denison Witmer - Life Before Aesthetics (buy)
MP3: Longwave - Sirens in the Deep Sea (buy)
Attack Attack! - Somebody Came Suddenly (Myspace)
Au Revoir Simone - Migration (remixes) (Official) (Myspace)
Boggs - Forts (Official) (Myspace)
Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows (Official) (Myspace)
Cambria Detken - Simply Said (Official) (Myspace)
Chinese Stars - TV Grows Arms/ The Drowning (Official) (Myspace)
Corey Crowder - Gold and the Sand (Official) (Myspace)
Deer Tick - War Elephant (Official) (Myspace)
Denison Witmer - Carry The Weight (Official) (Myspace)
Dir en grey - Uroboros (Official) (Myspace)
Enya - And Winter Came (Official) (Myspace)
Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul EP (Official) (Myspace)
Holy Hail - Independent Pleasure Club (Official) (Myspace)
Hydrosonic - Non Omnis Moriar (Official) (Myspace)
Jean on Jean - Jean on Jean (Official) (Myspace)
La Dispute - Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair (Official) (Myspace)
Larsen - La Fever Lit (Official) (Myspace)
Longwave - Secrets Are Sinister (Official) (Myspace)
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautuful, We Are Doomed (Official) (Myspace)
Love Is All - A Hundred Things Keep Me up at Night (Official) (Myspace)
Martha's trouble - This Christmas (Official) (Myspace)
Music Soulchild - On My Radio (Official) (Myspace)
Now, Now Every Children - Cars (Official) (Myspace)
The Postmarks - By the Numbers (Official) (Myspace)
Right Away, Great Captain - The Eventually Home (Official) (Myspace)
Secret Dakota Ring - Cantarell (Official) (Myspace)
Self Made Soul - The Future Belongs to Us (Myspace)
Spindrift - The West (Official) (Myspace)
The Ability - Be Still (Myspace)
The Flaming Lips - Christmas On Mars DVD (Official) (Myspace)
The Nerves - The Nerves (Myspace)
The Postmarks - By The Numbers (Official) (Myspace)
This Condition - Find It In You EP (Myspace)
Tracey Chapman - Our Bright Future (Official) (Myspace)
Vivacity - The Path Begins Here (Myspace)
