Words: Tyler Fassnacht | Photos: Ed Oliver

Los Campesinos! play dramatic, sometimes hopeful, other times hopeless, danceable pop punk. Think the Smiths after a couple Pixie Sticks, with the energy of hardcore punk, performed by seven angsty, English romantics. After releasing their third album earlier this year, they finally came overseas to the US, with a stop here in Madison.

On this leg of the tour, New York band Cymbals Eat Guitars opened. Always a reliable live act, these guys seem to tour constantly. I have seen them three times in the past year and have never been disappointed. Unfortunately they play the opening slot every time, so hopefully with a new album they will be able to headline a bigger tour themselves. Anyway, they opened with an awesome new track, which I think was called “Definite Darkness,” but I don’t quite recall for sure. Pummeling through their thirty minute set, the band went through build-ups, digressions, tempo changes, trick endings, guitar solos and lots of noise. They were exciting, memorable and engaging, so I really hope these guys continue to grow in popularity and success, because they really deserve it.

With a band like Cymbals Eat Guitars, one may be worried that they would steal the show as the opener, but not if you happen to play in Los Campesinos! who thrust themselves and the audience into a screaming, hopping, dancing frenzy halfway through their first song. Heavily featuring songs from the recent Romance Is Boring, LC still squeezed in crowd favorite after crowd favorite from their other two albums as well. Highlights for me included raucous versions of “Miserabelia,” “My Year in Lists,” and an inspiring, set closing, “Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks.” Another big highlight was the all around behavior and charisma of lead singer Gareth Campesino, who spent the night smashing a xylophone, switching from speaking to singing to screaming (sometimes all in the same song) and using the generous amount of stage room to dance about, at times quite unusually (I saw something resembling the “lean back”).

My only small complaint would be that sometimes the songs lost tempo speed and dragged a bit, causing people to dance slightly slower and slower as songs went by. Having said this, it wasn’t often or even all that noticeable, so it had little effect on my evening. After discussing their wonderful day spent in Madison, there was reminiscing of the last time they played the Rathskeller, which they even agreed got a little out of hand in craziness. By the end of the night they had climbed PA speakers, beat percussion to a pulp, crowd-surfed and even played a fantastic encore of “Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats” with Gareth, his sister, one of the guitar players and a percussionist/keyboard player all completely performed from the middle of the crowd. They came, they gave it all they had and indeed they conquered Madison for a second time. I am sure everyone who was there left thinking about the next time Los Campesinos! will come to town, because I know I definitely am.

Previously: Review: Los Campesinos! – “Romance is Boring”
Previously: Review: Los Campesinos!/Titus Andronicus – Rathskeller
Previously: 5 Questions with Los Campesinos!

Buy: Los Campesinos! – Romance Is Boring
MP3: Los Campesinos! – “Romance Is Burning”

Words: Tyler Fassnacht | Photos: Ed Oliver

The last time I had seen Yeasayer was on the Terrace last summer, long before Odd Blood, so I was excited to see what a new album would bring to their live show. I must also say that I had no idea Madison loved Yeasayer so much. It was a sold out show at the Majestic, which is not an super easy task.

Opening the show was Sleigh Bells. Now through various blogs and news sites I have read a lot of hype on this band, especially for their live shows, so my expectations for this dance/noise/industrial duo were quite high. I think the lead singer for Yeasayer put it best when later in the show he thanked Sleigh Bells for touring with them stating “they’re one tough act to follow.” With beats that shook to the bone and gritty distorted guitars, the music definitely comes off unique, but their real secret weapon is singer Alexis Krauss. Prowling the stage, Krauss was aggressive, seductive, and most of the time plain crazy, climbing on to amps and letting out screams like ambulance sirens. The music was simple, the lyrics were mostly just repeated phrases, but it was hard not to get into. Krauss’ charisma went a long way, with the audience practically eating out of her hand, as everyone clambered over each other to touch her when she leaned into the crowd. For their last song, the extremely catchy “Crown on the Ground,” she prefaced it with a request, no, a command, “everyone go fucking nuts for this song!” and the Majestic immediately obliged.

By the time Yeasayer came on it was hard to move comfortably, and from the first notes of opening song “The Children” the crowd went crazy. Throughout the show the audience kept a similar mantra of being a little overexcited about small things (I mean, I GUESS that one vocal harmony during that one song was pretty spot on). Playing in front of a backdrop of four oval screens, shifting through stimulating shades of color, Yeasayer went through approximately an hour of material, leaning heavily of course on Odd Blood. For me, that would be my only complaint, as I was not a huge fan of the new album. Even live, some of the songs came off as boring and even cheesy (I’m looking at you “Rome”). Also, coming off from the high that was Sleigh Bells, it was hard to promptly get in to Yeasayer, as they started their set a bit slow, eventually getting to the more up-tempo world beats that everyone loves to dance to. The band members seemed to take a few songs to get in to it as well. No one smiled for at least four songs, which was strange because I never saw them as a band who took themselves really seriously. Eventually, like their songs, the band got in the swing of things and lightened up. It may have just been that the band was really tired, especially the lead singer, or in his case completely stoned, though that is just speculation from his general movements. By the end of the show, the band had a few elements which saved the show from being just “good”: a kick-ass rhythm section, a back catalogue of awesome songs from their first album and of course the addictive “Ambling Alp,” which they ended their standard set with, before the encore. As a whole it was all a very enjoyable evening filled with sweaty guys and lots of dancing, with the music just barely justifying the hype.

Buy: Yeasayer – Odd Blood
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MP3: Yeasayer – “O.N.E.”
MP3: Yeasayer – “Ambling Alp”

There’s a lot to be excited about in Milwaukee tonight. We’ll be hitting up the Daytrotter Barnstorming Tour which includes performances by Ra Ra Riot, Delta Spirit, Nathaniel Rateliff, Free Energy, and Pearly Gate Music. I’m really excited about the entire line up, especially Delta Spirit, who I’ve never seen live. Go ahead and add their forthcoming album, History From Below to the already massive list of great albums on the horizon in 2010.

Our friends at KEXP recorded this beautiful, but sorrow filled song that will appear on History From Below. So good, you should play it twice. We’ll see you tonight.

Pre-Order: Delta Spirit – History From Below

If you’ve seen Jónsi on this tour chances are you were as wowed as I was last night. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be as blown away as I was. It was great enough to be carried in “show of the year” breath. Dan brought back a bunch of supreme HD video captures from the rest of the show over at his YouTube page.

Buy: Jónsi – Go

By Alex Schaaf

Am I still cool? That’s the question you ask yourself as you stand across the street from the dance club. You were a regular here back in the day, back when disco reigned supreme and dances went until the early hours of the morning. But now you’re grown-up, you’ve got two kids, you’ve been divorced and re-married, and you’ve just started yet another dead-end job. You’re not sure if you still belong here, if there is still a place out there where you can just let go, where you can step out of your own skin for a night and become part of the rhythm once again.

As you nervously stand there for a few minutes, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, a car pulls up to the curb. The door opens, and out jumps a 40-year-old, slightly overweight man wearing a white t-shirt. He starts to head in to the club before he sees you across the street. You pause, not knowing what to do, as he runs across the street. When he reaches you, he takes a quick look at your face before breaking into a wide grin, as he winks and says, “Come on, it’s alright.” Then without warning he slaps you on the back and the two of you run gleefully into the club, ready to lose abandon and become human again.

Who is this man, you ask? This man is James Murphy, head of the New York-dance rock group known as LCD Soundsystem. This Is Happening, Murphy’s latest release, is the party. Murphy may be 40 years old now, but the spirit of youthful abandon is perhaps more present in him than in many actual teenagers.

This Is Happening is the long-awaited follow-up to 2007’s Sound of Silver, which was one of the finest releases of the decade. I was not sure whether Murphy would ever be able to top an album that included such instant classics as “All My Friends” and “North American Scum.” However, I believe he has. He’s at least matched it, if not quite surpassed it with this new release.

Opening track “Dance Yrself Clean” is one of the more uniquely mixed tracks to come out of LCD Soundsystem over the past couple of albums. Starting with a quiet, “turn-up-your-stereo” introduction that seems impossibly calm and relaxed, it then explodes three minutes in, with a huge synth and drum part that dominate the mix. Murphy’s vocals remain in the background as the synth takes over for the remainder of the song. If there ever was a song to blow out your car speakers because of unexpected volume, this is it.

Up next is the first single to come out of the album, “Drunk Girls.” Critics seem to be divided on this one – can a 40-year-old really get away with singing about drunk girls that “like to file complaints”? There are always a couple of obvious singles on LCD Soundsystem albums, whether it be “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” or “North American Scum,” and I agree that “Drunk Girls” does not quite stand up to those past singles. But I think that the track is destined to be a mainstream party hit, or at least a frat party staple, and if that helps draw more people to the rest of the album, then all’s well that ends well.

The rest of the album contains more classic LCD Soundsystem tracks, from the hypnotic “One Touch” to the David Bowie-like “All I Want.” Things slow down towards the end with “Somebody’s Calling Me,” a slower, finger-snapping groove that may take a while to grow on me, but things pick up with closer “Home,” a pulser that seems to be somewhat of a sequel to opening track “Dance Yrself Clean,” as the “Ah-ah” chorus is repeated almost note-for-note here.

Overall, This Is Happening is a worthy partner of previous album Sound of Silver, as it presents a more melodic, musical collection of songs that continues Murphy’s age-conscious worldview and fascination with rhythm. The big rumor out there is that this may be the last LCD Soundsystem album, and I would actually be alright with this, as I prefer to see bands go out on top, a peak that is certainly reached with This Is Happening.

NPR Music: First Listen: LCD Soundsystem, ‘This Is Happening’
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Buy: LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening

By Jodi Root

It’s hard to summarize the dreamy sequence that took place last evening at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall. A breath taking combination of visuals and melodies, The Album Leaf wowed all those fortunate enough to be present with their stunning performance. Accompanied by String Quartet, the medium sized stage was packed tightly with ten musicians, more instruments than a 6th grade marching band (including six keyboards), and a whole lotta talent. Backed with some pretty trippy audiovisuals, the stage was illuminated by a variety of neon blue bug zapper-like flashing bulbs and golden hues. The screen kicked off with foggy images of children playing an innocent game of duck duck goose, as magenta and maroon lighting shadowed the fantasy makers below.

Showcasing a variety of instrumentation, everything from brass to strings, guitar to keys and a whole lot of percussion (drum machine, ironically enough, included) was accounted for. Frontman Jimmy LaValle managed to seemingly effortlessly operate two keyboards simultaneously, while still delivering his airy, light vocals interwoven into selected tracks. The Album Leaf struck me as a magical entrance into another mysterious, musical dimension with their various layers of melodies. The performance was simply eloquent, almost comparable to a more electronicy, lighter version of the Arcade Fire with all the musicians on stage. The magical orchestration entranced the audience, serving as a somewhat fine dining soundtrack for distinguished indie kids. This was one chorus of storytellers not to miss—I definitely recommend checking this outfit live the next chance you get, hopefully you’ll luck out like Chicago did and get to catch one of the handful of tour dates with the string quartet.

Myspace: The Album Leaf
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Buy: The Album Leaf – A Chorus of Storytellers