Los Campesinos!

From the first whisper of glockenspiel and hand-claps, and at first glance of the glaring exclamation point in their name, it would be easy to write off Los Campesinos! as a bandwagon band, following the trend of kitschy spazz-pop a la Architecture in Helsinki. Their debut EP, which features six songs with annoyingly cute titles, sees the status-quo indie-pop formula clash with teenage angst and a visceral, rock edge. Where other frenetic pop bands superimpose cartoonish personification on arbitrary things to induce cuteness, LC! sing episodic tales from their teenage past with ambitious conviction.

On "It Started with a Mixx," they lament "trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop." Therein lies the question. They have the all-too-common peppy male and female vocals, which banter to the tune of follow-the-bouncing-ball melodies, but what makes the band stand out is their willingness to explore. The guitars are far more prominent (and loud) for a "pop" band, and they seem to be taking their cues from '90s indie giants The Posies and emo pioneers The Anniversary more so than their flash-in-the-pan peers. Only time will tell where they stand, but it seems like these Welsh kids might have a little more to offer than a Casio keyboard and a mature sense of irony.

—Danielle Allaire
07.06.07

"When you play pass the parcel with human body parts/Somebody might get head, but someone will get hurt." Any debut EP that starts out with a couplet like that is immediately worth checking out, and Los Campesinos!' Sticking Fingers into Sockets more than lives up to its promise. That opening track, "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives," is a blur of wordy verses broken up by a sweet-and-sour choral chorus that sounds like the Polyphonic Spree on a Broken Social Scene-style atmospheric downer. In fact, this seven-piece British band is signed to BSS' Arts and Crafts label and this EP was produced by that band's sonic mastermind, David Newfeld, which accounts for the extremely familiar medium-fi miasma of various unexpected instrumental touches and the occasional use of amplifier buzz and tape hiss as musical elements. Fundamentally, however, Los Campesinos! are considerably perkier and poppier than their Canadian mentors: plaintive, tuneful indie pop/rockers like "Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s)" and the brilliantly shambling "Frontwards" (like if vintage Talulah Gosh had a guest violinist) are more instantly hooky than anything Broken Social Scene have ever attempted, more along the lines of Guillemots or even an artsier version of the Arctic Monkeys. The EP's only real flaw is that at six songs in around 15 minutes, it's just way too short. More please. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi