It’s no secret around here that Welsh group Los Campesinos! is one of my favorite bands, and their third full-length album Romance is Boring is set to drop in the US next week (the 26th). They’ve been releasing singles and videos from it over the past few months, and now they’ve put the whole thing streaming on their MySpace. I’m on my second time through now, and it is at least as good as the earlier albums – still very idiosyncratic and cynical, with bright poppy melodies, but with a bit more maturity and control than they’ve had in the past. And a streak of melancholia that feels deeper than ever. Just to be pedantic, the image above isn’t quite accurate, because it has new member Kim on the left, but the album was recorded before Aleks left the band, so the main female vocals are Aleks, not Kim.

Listen here

They also released the video for the title song today, which I’ve embedded below. It seems more like “romance is deadly” or “romance is bad for you” or something like that rather “romance is boring,” but whatever.

(via Los Campesinos!)

This is probably the first year that I’ve listened to enough current music that I feel comfortable making a top ten list. Some of my favorite bands released new records that I loved, a few released records that I don’t love as much as I wanted to, and I found a bunch of new bands that took me by surprise, overwhelmed me, and wouldn’t let me go. This list reflects both the bigger bands (though still not big by mainstream, stadium-going standards) and the local bands that I’ve grown to love – I’ll admit my bias for mixed-gendered bands with a focus on female vocals right now, because you’ll notice it anyway.

Click through for my top ten albums of 2009, some honorable mentions, and a rundown of some of favorite live shows of the year.

Read More

Welsh band Los Campesinos! have been working on their third album for several months now, playing songs from it at their shows and predicting an early 2010 release to those who asked. A couple of songs and videos have already dropped from the album, and now they’ve officially announced, titled, dated, and tracklisted it.

Romance is Boring will be released February 1, 2010 in all formats – digital, CD, vinyl. According to the band’s blog, “it is a record about the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel.” Pretty much like their first two albums, then. The couple of songs that have turned up online and at their shows, though, show a greater maturity and deeper melancholy than the earlier stuff – something I’m looking forward to hearing more of come February.

Here’s the video for “The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future,” the first track that dropped a few weeks ago. Technically, it’s not the first single (“There are Listed Buildings”), but I’m not sure what that means in the world of digital distribution. Except, I suppose, that they’re selling vinyl editions of “There are Listed Buildings” at their shows. This is shot by bassist Ellen (the official unofficial videographer of the group) and a friend, and fits beautifully with the melancholia of the song. (via LC!)

The full track listing and a couple more videos after the jump.

Read More

One of my favorite bands of the past couple of years is Wales-based group Los Campesinos! (The exclamation point is part of their name, yes.) They fill up a stage nicely, with lead singer Gareth, guitarists Neil and Tom, singer/keyboardist Aleks, bassist Ellen, violinist Harriet, and drummer Ollie all vying for attention in songs that sound chaotic at first but actually wind up being very carefully counterpointed. It took me a few listens to get a handle on their style – it’s not really like anyone I’ve ever heard before – but once I did, wow. I love them to pieces.

The real thing that sets them apart, though, are their self-consciously hip lyrics that reference everything from Livejournal to British footballers and stay in very dark places of broken relationships and death while set to the poppiest music you can possibly imagine. Just look at a few of their lyrics: “This is how you spell ‘HAHAHA, we destroyed the hopes and dreams of a generation of faux-romantics’”, “If this sentimental movie marathon has taught us one thing, it’s the opposite of true love is as follows: REALITY!”, “I identify my star sign by asking which is least compatible with yours,” “I’m not Bonnie Tyler, and I’m not Toni Braxton, and this song is not going to save your relationship”, “I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you”, “He said it’s a joy to be held so I held him too close; it was a grave mistake – he never came back again”, “And then on the way home, it always seems like a good idea to go paddling in the fountain, and that’s because it IS a good idea.” Yeah, I actually have a note in Evernote keeping track of my favorite Los Campesinos! lyrics.

Also, the band is impossibly attractive. Unfortunately, the main female singer Aleks (the redhead) is leaving the band at the end of this summer’s tour to go back to school. I’m glad for her, and wish her well, of course, but I’m going to miss her in the band. They will finish recording their third album (expected to release early next year) before she goes, so there’s that, and apparently they have her replacement all picked out, but it’s not going to be quite the same. So make sure you catch them at Lolla or one of their other dates on the tour (they’re heading west soon after) if you want to see them with Aleks intact.

I saw them at Coachella, but I may very well see them again at Lollapalooza, and I will almost certainly see them at their headlining show in LA later this month. I just can’t get enough of them. They also do a great job on their website, so if you like them, check it out and follow their blog. They actually blog like real people who enjoy blogging, not like people trying to use social media for promotion. Half the time they’re posting about Britain’s Got Talent or football or Harry Potter or something.

Oh, and in this video? They vomit rainbows and get slaughtered by unicorns. It doesn’t get more awesome than that.

August tour dates:
04 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
06 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
07 Indianapolis, IN – Bluebird Nightclub
08 Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
11 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
12 Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
14 Austin, TX – Emos Outside
15 Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre
16 Houston, TX – Warehouse (Studio)
19 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
20 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
21 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
22 Pomona, CA – Glass House
23 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
25 Las Vegas, NV – Beauty Bar
26 Visalia, CA – Howie And Sons Pizza
28 San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands Festival
29 San Diego, CA – Street Scene

I‘ve never made it to a music festival before (largely because I didn’t really get into festival-type music until a few years ago), but when this year’s Coachella featured several of my favorite bands I decided to spring for it, since it’s the biggest festival close enough for me to drive to rather than fly. And even though everything’s overpriced, it’s hotter than Hades, and I ended up only seeing full sets from seven bands rather then the eleven or twelve I wanted to see, it was worth it. The downside is I think I’ve caught the festival bug – I’m drooling over the Lollapalooza lineup Andrew posted the other day.

Anyway, here’s a recap of my subset of Coachella, which woefully underrepresents the available audio overload. Especially since I skipped Sunday altogether – fewer bands I wanted to see meant I didn’t care to spend the money for the extra day and night.

Details of bands after the jump.

Read More