Los Campesinos!- We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed

We are always constantly preached the mantra that first impressions are the extremely important; but with LC!, you can go fuck that mantra. 'Indier-than-thou' types will pass LC! off as twee-pop with little to no-substance, but this is a superficial stance. That view may have held up with debut Hold On Now, Youngster (the lyrics at times are a bit sickly... but with WAB, WAD, this standpoint has no ground- LC! have a vicious bite. It was a side I had always seen in them- (in the live arena they alluded to this) but many had over looked, but that time is over.

We can talk about the music later, as firstly I think the package as a whole is worth looking at. It comes only thirty-three weeks after releasing debut album Hold on Now, Youngster... and contains ten completely new tracks, having been recorded over an eleven-day recording with John Goodmanson in his Seattle studio in June 2008. No singles or videos are to be made from the record, and the record release comes in a limited number, packaged in a box set with a custom designed box, a self-made dvd, a poster,badges and a 37 page 'zine including the lyrics for the record....gasp for air....and its a great package for the price of a normal cd- so before you've even put the CD in (thats if you haven't already downloaded it illegally...shock horror) you feel LC! care for you dear listener. First track "Ways To Make It Through The Wall" opens the album in traditional LC! gusto, but theres now a sting in LC!'s tail, opening line of the album being- "I think it's fair to say that I chose hopelessness...and inflicted it on the rest of us". "Miserabilia" continues the theme, and has that slap in the face you screamed for on LC!'s debut. The title track is possibly the strongest of the bunch- sticking to the winning LC! formula, but with a few different touches; but it is "You'll Need Those Fingers For Crossing" that signals of the new direction LC! are trying to forge. The track opens rather melancholic, but by the end the guitars have lifted the track to a triumphant finale. "All Your Keyfabe Friends" ends the album in suitable style.

I don't want to give the impression that LC! have morphed into a leviathan-esque metal band of masochistic brutishness; the same twisted introspective, awkward-teenager lyrics are still intact, the xylophone still pounds in the choruses, and the sweet female backing vocals are still firmly in place, but LC! just now have an added edge. The lyrics are that little bit darker, the guitars are that little bit more distorted, the keyboards throb that little harder...where LC! will go next is anyones guess, but providing two albums of this quality in one year is a commendable feat to be respected by everyone, and the package is a lovable ornament in the age of digital downloads.

Joyous, skewed-pop 8.9/10

 

N.B- I attended the recent Shred Yr Face Tour with a LC! sceptic, and quite a sceptic he is. He passes LC! off as "poofy crap indie"- but as Gareth LC! introduced "Miserbelia" by saying "This is a song about how we are all going to die alone", my friend turns to me and says "They're dark...I never realised...it's beautiful"...

Travel Elevates Music

From my frequent voyages across the UK, I have come to find music is all the more potent when you can watch the world go by. I thus created a playlist that I felt soundtracked a journey adequately-

1. Swans- The Sound

2. Low- Breaker

3. Mogwai- The Precipice

4. Death Cab For Cutie- Transatlantacism

5. Eluvium- Genius and the Thieves

6. Caribou- Pelican Narrows

7. Portishead- Sour Times (Live)

8. Mount Eeerie- Voice In Headphones

9. M83- You, Appearing

10. Pedro The Lion- June 18, 1976

11. Shearwater- The Snow Leopard

Mogwai (Manchester Academy)

As I have been waiting to see Mogwai for many a year- tonight was always going to be seminal for me. We are treating to a fantastic bill of Errors and Fuck Buttons- the latter offer Mogwai-esque post-rock but with a dancier element, which despite an awful crowd turnout, goes down well with the small congregation. Fuck Buttons attract a far more healthier crowd, and whilst I wasn't expecting much- I enjoy the album in certain moods- Fuck Buttons blow me away. First- the volume. Excruciatingly loud- the throat shredding screams pierce your soul, and the beats pound your head into submission. Impressed to say the least. But of course, we are here to see Mogwai...and god they don't disappoint. The next hour and a half is a sonic onslaught of leviathan scale. New songs such as "The Precipice" hold their own alongside classics such as "Cody" and "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong"; and thank every deity known to man...they play "Xmas Steps"- the song that brought me to Mogwai's bosom. I had met one of the guys from Fuck Buttons the previous night at Shred Yr Face Tour, who told me they had played "Xmas Steps" for them as it was one of their' birthdays, but they were tired of playing it- so I was worried...but they played it...and it was all I had ever hoped it would be. If the set was like being attacked by a swarm of brutes- the encore was how you felt the next morning. Returning with "Like Herod" Mogwai continue to force deafness upon you. Your ears hate you, your heart hurts from the pounding bass, but its beautiful- a sick deluded masochistic beauty. They finish with "Batcat" from the new album, and they make the album version sound prudish, and pre-pubescent. Live, "Batcat", is like a lions roar, and seals itself as a classic in the Mogwai canon. I stumble from through the doors at the end, ears ringing, ears glazed over trying to take in what just happened...all I can say is- two days on and my ears are still ringing...

Shred Yr Face Tour (Manchester Academy)

3 bands on the cusp on indiedom, together on a knees-up circus tour of the UK. First band on- Times New Viking, meet little rapport and blank faces despite their efforts. Live, I'm not so sure if TNV work...on record they are beautifully laced in fuzz and feedback; and once this is taken to a live arena, the songs didn't work...but thats just me...No Age are next, and all I can say is that they are heirs to the Sub Pop throne. Feedback, slapdash drums, drooled lyrics of nihilism and a GG Allin cover thrown in for good measure. Whilst the songs seem to feature the same chord progressions, you can't help but be drawn in by this band- infectious. Los Campesinos! seem to have a large weight on their shoulders, in following these two feedback laced bands, and personally I thought they would come over too twee, but they step up. New songs mingle with old favourites, and LC! play with the vigour and tension to keep up with the previous bands. They end with "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks" and are mobbed onstage by the other bands; and as the bands leave the stage, you feel a sense of community between these 3 bands, and in the days of mp3s and downloads- the comradeship is a breath of fresh air.