Los Campesinos! / Girls / Smith Westerns August 6, 2009

Celebrating a bratty, tongue-in-cheek viewpoint and a spunky indie-punk style similar to Art Brut while applying an assortment of instruments akin to Architecture in Helsinki, seven-piece group Los Campesinos! (roughly translating to "the Peasants") formed in 2006 in Cardiff, Wales. The lineup includes Aleksandra (keyboard, horn), Ellen (bass), Gareth (glockenspiel), Harriet (violin, keyboard), Neil (guitar), Ollie (drums), and Tom (guitar), with all members sharing vocals and the last name of Campesinos! The band played its first show in May 2006 and by the following August opened for Broken Social Scene. Later that year they signed to U.K. label Wichita, which released their first single in early 2007. A few months later they were added to the roster of Canadian label Arts & Crafts. That summer the band's young catalog expanded with another single from Wichita and an EP from Arts & Crafts titled Sticking Fingers into Sockets, produced by David Newfeld (Broken Social Scene). The full-length Hold on Now, Youngster... followed in early 2008. After a long tour that took up much of the year (and included a stop in Seattle to record new songs), their second full length album We are Beautiful, We are Doomed was released in November of the same year.

Official Website: http://grogshop.gs