Live Review – Los Campesinos, You Say Party We Say Die @ Oxford C***ing Academy

Bands these days are younger than I ever was and own more records than I could have dreamed of at that age. Still, it’s what you do with them that counts. You Say Party We Say Die seem a little unsure. At their best, they’ve got a nice line in Atari Teenage Riot rar-ra pop, with a four-person vocal attack and fast, biting lines of riot grrrl noise. They do less well when trying to slow the assault down, and add a heavy groove, somewhere between Yeah Yeah Yeah’s cranky lurch-rock and CSS’ hipster aerobics. Still, they’re a likeable piece of indie cabaret, the frontwoman looking like Jennifer Beals, the bassist like Liam off of Coronation Street. And they keep the set down to 25 minutes, which is appealing.

Has it come to this?

Welsh seven-piece Los Campesinos make a breathless embrace of every indie pop sound ever into their calling card. From their fellow countrymen alone you get Helen Love-style saccharine speed-punk, Gorky’s blend of the wistful and the weird, and (as Drowned In Sound pointed out), even the ghost of Pavement-esque skronk-shouters Mo-Ho-Bi-Sho-Pi. The group’s democratic approach to vocal duties and to genre also encompasses some right-on ethics – songs about misogyny in the UK music press, organic free trade t-shirts, songs about All Tomorrow’s Parties (which they get to play, courtesy of Pitchfork), and about their touring buddies (‘You Throw Parties, We Throw Knives’). All very winning, though, like You Say Party, best delivered live, with giddy charm and brevity.

More fun:

Los Campesinos – ‘The International Tweecore Underground’, a ‘gimme schmindie rock’ for the myspacers.

These being the kids, stream their ‘ish here and here.