Album Reviews

A couple of students start playing music together because studying all the time tends to get a little bit boring. How many bands do you think started this way? All of them? The difference with Los Campesinos is that they didn’t stay as local as they thought they would have once their songs hit the internet. Quickly Los Campesinos were one of the most hyped bands on the world wide web, signed a deal with Wichita and now present us with their first full-length, “Hold On Now, Youngster”.

That album title is something we could philosophise about quite a bit but since the band itself doesn’t live by those words, why the hell would I? Right from the start these seven youngsters race out the door in “Death To Los Campesinos” and then stumble all over each other in their enthousiasm in “Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats”. Think Pixies meets Pavement as played by a bunch of kids with ADD.

Did I already mention that this is an enthousiastic band? Frontman Tom Campesino sounds a little sloppy at times but then again so does the girl who helps out with the vocals and by extention the entire band. So he kinda gets away with it. The absolute highlight of the album comes in the form of the catchy “You! Me! Dancing!” where the band seems to have even more energy than a couple of rabbits going at it. So energetic even that forming a more literate title becomes a challenge of phenomenal proportions.

This definitely is a fun indierock album for people who loved all the 90s alternative rock bands like Dinosaur Jr, Magnapop and the abovementioned Pixies and Pavement. Probably and preferably to be witnessed on a couple of festivals near you this summer!