Hold On Now, Youngster!
Written by pistachionut on Thursday, 28 of February , 2008 at 5:54 pm
The only tagline to rival Juno’s “Silencio, old man!” is the album title of the Los Campesinos debut, Hold On Now Youngster. The way I’ll be doing this review is taking you through the tracklist as I listen to it. Let’s begin. The review and two tracks after the jump.
Death to Los Campesinos: “Broken down like a war economy” is one of the many genius lyrics of this track. It is traditional, typical Campesinos style. Very fun. The video is also great, search it on youtube.
Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats: Man, with titles like these you’d think we were listening to an emo band. Anybody remember Panic! At The Disco’s debut album track names? They’re kinda like that, but good music. There are dueling vocals in this track that produce a very nice sound. Harmonies are always great, no matter the music. There’s a synth line that is very catchy on this track, as well as a nice breakdown at the end.
Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s): This track was on the Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP, making it a predated favorite of mine. There may be multiple maths that need to be done. How terrifying. It is anthemic, exciting, and fun. A fantastic track.
Drop It Doe Eyes: This is the first track on the album I haven’t previously heard. More dueling, back and forth, call and response vocals here. Don’t knock what works.
My Year In Lists: Screamy vocals, catchy guitars, back and forth lyrics. You know the deal by now, seriously.
Knee Deep At ATP: Okay. So this is the ballad. Awesome. This something they haven’t done before. This is actually a really nice and pretty song. Very unexpected form them, a complete different direction from what I’ve heard before. By the end it does build into their familiar sound, but the song overall is really nice.
This Is How You Spell “Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics”: Goddamn, the song title alone takes up a whole line. This song sounds very cluttered to start off. I think it is the violin that is doing it. Something is slightly off. By the chorus though its really kickin’.
We Are All Accelerated Readers: This song reminds me of something done by the labelmates Stars. It must be that Arts&Crafts sound. Its the soft female vocals with the violin that does it. This is another slower song. Very pretty, very nice.
You! Me! Dancing!: The build here is epic. So epic. This track was the single that got them in the NME, and a favorite of many. I fucking love this song. Was great on the EP, is great on the album. It even made Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Songs of 2007 list.
…And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison: More violins in this one. The cluttering is there too. When the violins become slower, the song gets good, as they speed up, I don’t like it as much. This song gets very, very good near the middle and through to the end.
Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks: I really like this song. You can see most of the above songs and take a gander at what this one sounds like, but I really like it. I think this is my favorite of the album so far.
2007, The Year Punk Broke (My Heart) (Bonus Track): Ok, so I’m guessing this is a bonus track for the Amazon MP3 download. This song is also kinda nice. See above.
Well, that’s it for Hold On Now Youngster. I’m going to do a quick roundup.
Favorite Track: Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
Biggest Disappointment: The lack of “International Tweexcore Underground”
Overall Rating: 9/10
Los Campesinos!
“You! Me! Dancing!” (mp3)
from “Hold On Now, Youngster”
(Arts & Crafts)
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album
Category: Albums, Reviews, pistachionut
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Comment by Asher
Made Thursday, 28 of February , 2008 at 7:45 pm
Don’t knock what works.
Screamy vocals, catchy guitars, back and forth lyrics. You know the deal by now, seriously.
his song sounds very cluttered to start off. I think it is the violin that is doing it. Something is slightly off.
The cluttering is there too. When the violins become slower, the song gets good, as they speed up, I don’t like it as much.
these comments sound like you were disappointed with the album a little, so i was quite surprised when you gave it a 9.
born ruffies are way better at doing a similar type of music.
