UK Editor at ContentNext
You! Me! Blogging!
December 19, 2006Back in August of this year, I had two epiphanies in one night.
I took myself (and myself alone) to see a cracking little Canadian band called Broken Social Scene down at The Point. Actually, “little” isn’t the word – led by Kevin Drew, BSS is a glorious indie collective made up of around 18 musicians.
Trumpet and cornet players, multiple drummers, sparky guitars and Drew tinkling away on some ethereal electro-synth sounds between stints in front of the mic and on guitar (or, all at the same time).
They’re a cracking band. But you wouldn’t know it, because you haven’t heard of them (even one of my favourite podcasts, IndieFeed, played them only last month – though, to be fair to them, they were probably just issuing a reminder).
And that August night in deepest, darkest Cardiff, barely hours after having their tour bus broken into and gear stolen, they played for far too long – Drew, sharing spliff with audience members and the cornet player, whilst playing mid-song, wandering through the crowd that patiently persisted with this relaxed indulgence; it stopped being a show and it was just Broken Social Scene having fun.
But the other revelation of that night was the support band that was playing as I walked in. A similarly eclectic affair – overly stacked with musicians (six?) on keyboards, xylophones, male and female vocals overlapping in some gorgeous indie melee. And fun! My god, they were fun – young and vital and colourfully attired.
You haven’t heard of this band either. Because, like me, you no longer go to Cardiff University (you graduated six years ago). And you’re too old to be a MySpace regular. And you don’t wear jeans so tight that you don’t understand. So you haven’t yet discovered Los Campesinos! Regret that only briefly, because you may do rather soon.
They’re the Lego of good new music. Friends, thrown together – it’s not evident that either one of ‘em is Mozart to his or her particular craft; that’s okay, it’s spiky and beautiful and it works and it’s not too serious (lyrics: “it’s you, it’s me,’an it’s DANCING!”, “one blink for yes, two blinks for no, sweet dreams sweet cheeks we leave alone”, “trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop, some crappy artwork that took way, way too long to draw”, “we’re stupid but we’re happy”).
Think of Pavement, but younger. And as Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus once sang: “A voice coach taught me to sing, he couldn’t teach me to love”. Of the instruments noted in their liner notes, one of them is “clapping”, for god’s sake. It brings a smile to my cheeks and I want to kiss them. I want them to read this, and kiss me.
Now you’re talking. The following morning, I messaged Tom from the band on MySpace. He told me he they spent the rest of the evening playing Pavement covers with Drew – his hero – backstage. I don’t know Tom, but I’m so happy for him. Not as happy as he was for him.
Now here’s the rub. Los Campesinos! are a textbook example of how this stuff (this music, art, communications stuff; you know, the culture of everything) works now. As the band told Drowned In Sound last month, the only promo they did with the four-track EP they obviously had so much fun laying down probably in the likes of Cathays community centre was to stick it on MySpace. How’s that for punk?
It’s snowballed. Tens of thousands of MySpace plays; over 15,000 plays by users of Last.fm, me amongst them. The last few months have seen a session on BBC Radio 1’s One Music, another with Bethan and Huw, some glowing articles in the small print of the music press, a slot on MySpace’s best-music podcast, signed to a proper label and a mini-tour ’round England next Spring. Not bad for a bunch of guys that haven’t even graduated yet and had played barely 14 gigs to date. Heck, they’ve even prompted me to spend too long writing this post. And their lecturer has remixed them.
I urge you to check ‘em out. Los Campesinos! are not futuristic, they’re not even the future, they’re the way music happens now.
I don’t offer this up as another Arctic Monkeys case study. Because, unlike the Monkeys, who were always a bit bemused by the whole MySpace-creates-superband thing, Los Campesinos! have humbly admitted the way in which the new (not so new anymore) outlets have complemented their talents to yield pay-off.
I offer this up in part because, if and when Los Campesinos! ever do any more wonderful things than they have so far (and there’s no guarantee of that – today is all about young bands blazing on to the scene and disappearing as quickly), then I want to have it on record that I was there at the start. Thank-you 
