R.E.M. | Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage: 1982-2011

CD Reviews

Los Campesinos! | Hello Sadness

Arts & Crafts (2011)

By RYAN REED | November 16, 2011

3.0 Stars

"I've been digging my grave for quite some time," speak-sings Gareth Campesinos on his band's unrelenting fourth album. In case you were fooled by their perky 2007 single "You! Me! Dancing!" (or their liberal usage of exclamation points), let's get one thing straight: Los Campesinos! love wallowing in their own multi-layered misery. Ah, that title— Hello Sadness. Don't sell yourselves short, guys! This is indie-rock's Last Supper of sadness — a savory buffet spread of self-hate and agony that transcends into a grand emotional apocalypse. Despite the occasional bouts of screamo-style diary shit ("This river from my broken heart is never running dry") and a voice that only runs on one speed (exhausting), Gareth is a transfixing lyricist. And musically, the septet are as colorful as ever, only more resonant and with fewer xylophones — plus a newfound emphasis on rhythmic muscle. Gareth's grandiose self-mutilation journeys way past the tipping point. In the course of the album, he's ripped "limb from limb" by a blackbird, is buried at sea, and has his throat "ripped to shreds" by anonymous fingernails and his skin charred by a Zippo lighter. But subtlety isn't exactly this gang's bag. In the Campesinos! world, every day is a brand new rapture. If the end of the world were this cathartic and catchy, you'd almost look forward to it.

The Good Natured | Skeleton
The seven-song Skeleton EP is a combination of two previous import EPs, sounding already like an immediate best-of, compiling six Good Natured studio tracks and a (throwaway) remix.
KT Tunstall | Tiger Suit
The KT Tunstall of Tiger Suit is tougher, louder, and more electronically endowed than the KT Tunstall of its poppy predecessor, 2007's Drastic Fantastic , and Eye to the Telescope three years before that.
The Sounds | Something To Die For
The recent news that British electronic act Faithless have called it a day no doubt left dejected ravers reaching for extra MDMA to stave off the tears.
Dum Dum Girls | Only In Dreams
Kristin Gundred, a/k/a Dee Dee, is no actual dum dum, so she made good where Vivian Girls didn't.
Bjork | Biophilia
What the hell is Biophilia ?
St. Vincent | Strange Mercy
The pretty/ugly dichotomy at the heart of Annie Clark's St. Vincent moniker is in full tug-of-war on her third and most challenging full-length.
Twin Sister | In Heaven
It's one of 2011's finest pop records: 10 tracks of dreamy, weirdo hi-fi pop that grooves, sparkles, and hums with clipped beats and smooth drums.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Hysterical
Deploying the magic touch of indie producer-superhero John Congleton, these five musicians have never sounded more like a rock band, and these 12 spacious, dreamy excursions benefit from the added muscle.
Fountains of Wayne | Sky Full of Holes
Sky Full of Holes, the first Fountains album in four years, is another reminder of why the band deserve some limelight of their own.
Grace Jones | Hurricane
Seriously: you'll probably refuse to believe me when I say that a one-time Bond villainess is behind this near-masterpiece, a collection of way-heavy grooves packed with wit, wisdom, and ballsier-than-ballsy vocal takes.
Mates of State | Mountaintops
As the sequenced synths and handsome beats unfold, matched in merriment by the husband-and-wife vocals of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner, your mind is miles away from the raging fires of the underworld.
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Topics: CD Reviews , Music, Los Campesinos!, Los Campesinos!, More

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ARTICLES BY RYAN REED

LOS CAMPESINOS! | HELLO SADNESS | November 16, 2011
"I've been digging my grave for quite some time," speak-sings Gareth Campesinos on his band's unrelenting fourth album.

SIGUR ROS | INNI | November 08, 2011
The Icelandic quartet's last album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, came out three years ago, and besides one new instrumental tacked on at the end, the songs here are nothing we haven't already heard (and obsessed over) for years now.

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE | CEREMONIALS | November 03, 2011
Like that awkward yet talented girl in your high school drama class, Florence Welch exploded on the pop scene two years back with her sleeper hit, Lungs , charming as many listeners as she confounded.

JUSTICE | AUDIO, VIDEO, DISCO | October 25, 2011
It takes only a second into "Horsepower," the gurgling, raging first track on Justice's second full-length, to realize these nutso French geniuses are operating on another electronic plane: a kingdom ruled by distorted synth-bass and overblown rhythms, a wonderland of carousel keyboards and unstoppable funkiness.

REAL ESTATE | DAYS | October 18, 2011
"Easy," the rousing opener from Real Estate's sophomore studio effort, certainly has an appropriate title.

See all articles by: RYAN REED

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