Los Campesinos at Bimbo's 365

All photos by me. Thank you.

If you have listened to Los Campesinos, you'll know it is incredibly impossible to not at least tap your foot or bob your head to their music. This fact manifested itself entirely at the band's show at Bimbo's last night. The entire audience, whether there just for a night out or to see a band they absolutely adored, was a perpetual body of people bouncing to the beat. Even people sitting at the tables, enjoying a nice dinner or after dinner aperitif, couldn't help but move their head in time to the catchy poppy and bouncy music that is Los Campesinos.

The opening band of the night, Parenthetical Girls, is a group you might just have to check out. Intriguing the entire audience as the lead singer, Zac Pennington, descended from the stage and proceeded to sing the whole first song from the floor of the venue, illustrates exactly what the Parenthetical Girls seem to do best: intrigue. While most of the rest of the band stayed highly platonic during the set, Pennington was lively and awake. This sharp contrast added an element of creepiness but also, you guessed it, intrigue.

Instrumentations using glockenspiel and loud guitar chords with smashing drums evokes an almost death-march like tune, yet with so much energy and feeling you'd swear the person for which the march is for is springing back to life. Their songs are definitley full of emotion and you can feel it in the way they all play, but perhaps the most in the vocals of Pennington.

Their music is compared to the likes of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone and Xiu Xiu, but I would akin it more to something like a minimalist Animal Collective slowed down or Casiotone with tons of caffeine and helium. Depends on what song they are playing. While I spent most of the set debating whether I liked them or not, I decided at the end that I had thoroughly enjoyed their set. You may be confused as to what you think at first, but I believe Parenthetical Girls will capture you like they did me. Definitley give them a holla. Sidenote: Pennington asked us midway through if we have our name on Google Alerts...no one really responded, but I guessed this means he does, so hey man, I'm tagging your name, in case you read this.

Los Campesinos took the stage with stride. While Bimbo's was full, it was not crowded, and I learned the show had not sold out. So despite all the hype surrounding this little indie pop group, you'll be happy to know they remain easily acessible and down to earth.

Los Campesinos played all the favorites, from "You! Me! Dancing!" to "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives". If there was a song someone wanted to hear, they played it. It's impressive how fully LC can play their songs live. On the record, you might think at some points that one particular song is pratically inachievable live, but no. LC played them all and they sounded just as good, if not better, live. Their handling on their instruments and the domain they hold over their sound shows how rounded they are in their music, and how well they know themselves. LC also covered a Pavement song, rendering it their own but also paying hommage to the original in a wonderful way.

Their stage presence is nothing to be trifled with. With seven people commanding the band, they fill up the stage in a big way and are ever present in each and every instrument, from glockenspiel to guitar to violin to random noise makers. The singer Gareth's incredibly energetic stage presence of running around, throwing his arms and jumping is contrasted to the second singer Aleks' timidness and quiet demeanor; there is a contrast onstage that makes this band unique. Yet all members are obviously invested in their art.

LC haven't lost any personal touch either. They showed us they can make the "SF" symbol with their hand, and used to to apologize for the fact that they think "Frisco" sounds good (a sidenote: it definitley does not). Gareth also explained that they have been rating their audiences. "You're better than Sacramento!" he said. Unfortuanetly, we are only in second place behind Eugene, Oregon. "At least you beat LA!" Gareth exclaimed. True that.

After leaving the stage, LC came on for one more song and then they were gone, almost as quickly as they had taken the stage. I guess the only thing that would show their grown popularity would be that at their GAMH show in November last year, they came out right away after it was over, while at this show there was no sign of them. Their bus has also grown in size immenseley.

Still this is not a problem, as long as LC manages to keep true to their roots, and stay in touch with who loves them. As proven last night, they have.

Freebies!
Los Campesinos: Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
Los Campesinos: Drop It Doe Eyes
Parenthetical Girls: The Weight She Fell Under

The Dodos at Amoeba

That's right. It's The Dodos at Amoeba...FO FREE.
With waffle fries.
And it's Wednesday. So after work, school, illicit drug deals, whatever it is you do day to day, head on over.

Not only do these guys put on a great live show, their music is wonderful and they are, drumroll, San Francisco natives! Bonus! This is a great oppurtunity to check them out if you haven't yet (in which case you are insane). The show may get crowded fast though, so show up a bit before, do some shopping or browsing, then sit back and enjoy the smooth yet rough sounds of The Dodos.

You may see below a review of their show when they performed here at GAMH with Les Savy Fav, a superb show if I may say so.

Wednesday, May 14th
Show starts at 6PM
Should be about forty five minutes or less
At Amoeba in the Haight

Once again, The Dodos are a very good band.
Believe me.

Freebie:
The Dodos - Paint The Rust

Wolf Parade's "At Mount Zoomer"

The album art. Yeah. I have no idea either. To quote how Stereogum put it so wonderfully: "A mountain of zoomers, indeed."

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it is the long awaited sequel to "Apologies to the Queen Mary." I myself have been waiting in quiet agony and anticipation. I have been terrified; terrified because "Apologies" was so fucking good, this album was taking to fucking long, and, Spencer Krug was devoting the fruit of labor all to Sunset Rubdown and it's smash hit, hell-of-an-album 2007 release "Random Spirit Lover."

All those things drove me into a frenzy.
I downloaded At Mount Zoomer the day after it leaked and it sat in my iTunes for another day and then I was ready to listen.
My initial reaction was "What the hell did I just hear?"
After letting it sit in my head, like waiting for alcohol to hit, I was still baffled. What was that?

I listened again.
Nothing hitting me.
The first track intrigued me, as did the closing one, a long epic song sitting at 10:47.
After a bit, I grew to love three of the songs very much, but none of them thrilled me like "Apologies".

This is not to say it's not a good album. This is also not a "Ugh I'm such an elitist Wolf Parade fan, I know everything about them blah blah blah." No. This is an honest to God response to the album.

Because, really, it is a good album. Great in fact. The songs are different, interesting, originally structed; the lyrics are wonderful and there are parts that really draw you in. It is rich in spirit. I can see it being very popular in fact. It's just, it didn't kickstart me. It didn't make me go "Wolf Parade, you have done it again." The alcohol, so to say, just never hit me, even if the drink still tasted great.

I do recommend it, though. Usually I like to end these posts with "You may hate it." or "You may love it." but the truth is I don't know. I do not know anything for certain this time. What "At Mount Zoomer" has produced is new and intriguing, also at once confusing and stunning. All of this at once too, on one album. That has got to be something. Who knows? Maybe after a few more listens, I will fall in love.

And now, a short list of...
What "At Mount Zoomer" sounds like:
-truthful rocking out
-a slightly tired Wolf Parade
-your friends rolling around your room, high
-Spencer Krug forcing Sunset Rubdown in Wolf Parade's face
-the tragic tale of a knight in armor who never reaches his goal
-Wolf Parade experimenting. And thats good.

WOAH HEY GUYS LEAK LINK
On attempting to find a copy of this rich deep and different album for my friend, I found none. Well, either you're gonna like to so much you buy it or you wouldn't have bought it anyway, so, please enjoy:
WOLF PARADE - AT MOUNT ZOOMER:
hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/9y958b LINK BROKEN
sorry guys...subpop is all over the blogosphere's asses. Subpop, just rest assured, we will buy it or we won't. God damn. Let us tailor it and decide. We are music connoisseurs.