Los Campesinos! -- WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, WE ARE DOOMED

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
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Surprisingly, NSW, I am going to the show all by my lonesome! In a shocking turn of events, I only know two people, in the flesh, who like Los Campesinos!. One of them, a good friend, lives in Los Angeles; he won't exactly be flying out, for this one. The other, my girl, currently lives in Buenos Aires. In yet another shocking turn, she won't be flying to Chicago to see the band, either. My other friends are all idiots. Kinda sucks, doesn't it? I feel like a lot of the poseur-hipster types that'll probably be drawn to a major metropolitan Los Campesinos! show are going to be exactly the kinds of people from whom one might need some insulation. Here's hoping, right?

So, I guess I'm saying that your "strength in numbers" thinking is probably a good line of thought. I know that these fans-meet-up things oftentimes do feel a bit "exclusive," if you will, because doesn't it always seem like one person is having to introduce himself or herself to a whole group of people who already seem to know one another? It's a strange dynamic which endlessly fascinates me. It's just awkward by definition, really, and the main reason why I, too, have avoided "organized" U2 fans since the PopMart tour.

Where does this all leave me, then? Well, I guess in more or less the same spot I already was, but with a bit more to think about, and a few more tweaked perspectives to consider. Laz, Wire pre-dated my own internet access, so I was never involved, but...well, I feel your pain, regarding those kinds of posts which you mentioned. I'll say only that there's a reason why I don't ever actually spend any time in EYKIW or WTAHAN, or even a lot of the "big" band threads in here, and that it's a reason with which you are probably familiar. I don't know what it is, and maybe I'm even a bit confused or concerned about why it all bothers me so, but that sort of attitude (even toward my all-time favorite, non-The Beatles band) just.....ugh. It don't sit too well, that's all.

That said, NSW, I will be the dude who looks like he lived overseas and is flying solo, that night. You wanna holler at me (or at somebody who looks like me, which'd clearly be better/more hilarious), by all means go ahead. You sound like a straight shooter, more or less. You punch me in the face, though, and I'll get buck wild on your bitch ass. Make no mistake.

Oh. And if I could follow Los Campesinos! around the world, you'd better believe me that I would. Easily my favorite band in the world, right now. Ever since that second video was completed for "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives"/"You! Me! Dancing!," something has just been clicking. It almost scares me how much I love and believe in this band. Gotta be a first-ever, for me--my top two records of the year by the same act! Crazy! Not even the almighty SFA can compete. Call me ignorant or stupid, but I'm happy.
 
IYS, your Los Camp! love is contagious and SFA is really the only other current band that is sounds so effortlessly joyous.

I'm totally bummed their tour isn't coming far enough West, but maybe they'll add dates.

And their albums were #1 and #3 for me, with SM/Jicks in the middle.

I wonder if we should have had this Interference meet-up discussion in the Shuttlecock thread, where more people could have commented. Oh well. I wish you luck on your potential meeting with NSW. To be on the safe side, please keep this information in mind:

Webster says say No! Go! and Tell! | Veoh Video Network
 
Personally, I would only want to meet up with people from here at a show if I wasn't going with anyone I knew.
 
I was just going to post in the "Shuttlecock" thread, "WTF is this shit, and who are you people?" No idea why it's here. Seems like a chat thread...? Anyway, if you think it's a good idea and you wouldn't mind making the copypasta, then, by all means, go right ahead. I'd love to hear some opinions, if that's where they're at.
 
It's a shame I don't know anyone at Swarthmore, otherwise I'd try to get a ticket to the Los Campesinos! show there in February.
 
The idea behind Shuttlecock was to have a thread in Bang & Clatter where we could talk about U2 (the new album, specifically) without having to deal with all the yahoos in EYKIW. I thought we should have a fake band name to keep it secret, and to avoid getting shut down in case a U2 thread wasn't allowed.

Thus, Shuttlecock was born.

It quickly devolved into changing U2 album/song titles and lyrics (my fault) so they featured Badminton references, but mostly just substituting the word "cock" in for something.

Sicy thought we just had some insane chat thread going on, and after explaining ourselves, she let us keep it, though we've been asked to try and stay on topic, which has been partially successful.
 
Surprisingly, NSW, I am going to the show all by my lonesome! In a shocking turn of events, I only know two people, in the flesh, who like Los Campesinos!. One of them, a good friend, lives in Los Angeles; he won't exactly be flying out, for this one. The other, my girl, currently lives in Buenos Aires. In yet another shocking turn, she won't be flying to Chicago to see the band, either. My other friends are all idiots. Kinda sucks, doesn't it? I feel like a lot of the poseur-hipster types that'll probably be drawn to a major metropolitan Los Campesinos! show are going to be exactly the kinds of people from whom one might need some insulation. Here's hoping, right?

So, I guess I'm saying that your "strength in numbers" thinking is probably a good line of thought. I know that these fans-meet-up things oftentimes do feel a bit "exclusive," if you will, because doesn't it always seem like one person is having to introduce himself or herself to a whole group of people who already seem to know one another? It's a strange dynamic which endlessly fascinates me. It's just awkward by definition, really, and the main reason why I, too, have avoided "organized" U2 fans since the PopMart tour.

Where does this all leave me, then? Well, I guess in more or less the same spot I already was, but with a bit more to think about, and a few more tweaked perspectives to consider. Laz, Wire pre-dated my own internet access, so I was never involved, but...well, I feel your pain, regarding those kinds of posts which you mentioned. I'll say only that there's a reason why I don't ever actually spend any time in EYKIW or WTAHAN, or even a lot of the "big" band threads in here, and that it's a reason with which you are probably familiar. I don't know what it is, and maybe I'm even a bit confused or concerned about why it all bothers me so, but that sort of attitude (even toward my all-time favorite, non-The Beatles band) just.....ugh. It don't sit too well, that's all.

That said, NSW, I will be the dude who looks like he lived overseas and is flying solo, that night. You wanna holler at me (or at somebody who looks like me, which'd clearly be better/more hilarious), by all means go ahead. You sound like a straight shooter, more or less. You punch me in the face, though, and I'll get buck wild on your bitch ass. Make no mistake.

Oh. And if I could follow Los Campesinos! around the world, you'd better believe me that I would. Easily my favorite band in the world, right now. Ever since that second video was completed for "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives"/"You! Me! Dancing!," something has just been clicking. It almost scares me how much I love and believe in this band. Gotta be a first-ever, for me--my top two records of the year by the same act! Crazy! Not even the almighty SFA can compete. Call me ignorant or stupid, but I'm happy.

I've made some posts lately lamenting the fact that I can barely enjoy my favorite band on a fucking web site dedicated to the band. And, again, this is the only site of its kind I post on. You'll not see me on a Yankee or Steeler web site, or a fucking Scorcese or DDL site, or a Gene Wolfe or Steinbeck site. This is it, and yet I cannot even really converse about the band too often. That's why the Shuttlecock thread, up and down as it has been in regards to staying on topic, has been a bit of a relief for me. Everyone in there is pretty cool and pretty sane, at least as it pertains to their U2 fandom.

I've hung out with just one interlander one-on-one, and it was after meeting him in a group setting....and it was at a hockey game, so it was easy to just watch and bullshit during commercial breaks, etc.

I am really looking forward to this show, IYS. There are maybe 4-5 bands I've been pointed towards via interference that I really learned to love, and Los Campesinos are one of them. Very infectious stuff, and I'm sure that it's going to translate well Live. I suspect that I'll be one the oldest idiots at the concert, but, I'm learning to live with that.

Believe me, it would crack me up to look at some dude and decide it was you, and ask "Are you If You Shout??" only to have the guy look at me like I was fucking nuts.

Lastly, I'm nothing if not a straight shooter, just so you know. There's no time for bullshit in my life, be it on this site or in my real life.
 
Lastly, I'm nothing if not a straight shooter, just so you know. There's no time for bullshit in my life, be it on this site or in my real life.

WHY SO SERIOUS??

nsw-1.jpg



I love being able to revisit the classics.
 
Go!
Breathe easy...

Your hands will remain empty, when you have stopped clutching at straws.
Cling to bad memories, forget all the insufferable bores.
No-one matters.
No-one matters.
No-one cares.

He whispered,
"Oh my God, this really is a joy to behold."
Thought he said, "It's a joy to be held," so I held him too close.
It was a grave mistake.
He never came back, again.

I'm not saying there's good in none of this
Miserabilia to show the kids.
I'm not saying that you're responsible.
Miserabilia for one, for all.

I've spend too much time on my knees next to urinals in garish Mexican restaurants,
sobbing into my warm, pale palms for a better understanding of my dietary requirements.

I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs--
'96, '98, 2000,
2002!
2004!
Oh, my God! Oh, my God! When will it end?


We got nostalgic, ended up filling shoe boxes with vomit.
Collected scabs in lockets, hung them 'round our necks like nooses.
None of it mattered.
None of it matters.
Nobody cared.

I'm not saying there's good in none of this
Miserabilia to show the kids.
I'm not saying that you're responsible.
Miserabilia for one, for all.

I have broken down into the naked breasts of a newly ex- (no dignity),
and I can only guess that she thinks about it, when she touches herself.

Shout at the world, because the world doesn't love you!
Lower yourself, because you know that you'll have to!
 
Fount this explanation on another forum. Hilarious and strangely perfect:

"I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs
96, 98, 2000, 2002, 2004
Oh my god, will it end?"

england defeats in major football tournaments! gareth's a massive football fanatic, used to post about the band on a football forum i was on back in 2005 when LC! started.

that's just that part, the theme is self-explanatory.
 
The Chicago show is just over two days away, and my excitement is mounting. This'll somehow be the first time I've seen the band--they came to Tokyo, about 14 months ago, but their set was scheduled for 35 minutes (as a part of what was called "New Age British Invasion Super!" or something), and would've cost me over $60 USD; then, they played in Chiba (you can see the highway I lived off of, in the Beautiful DVD), like, a week after I left the country. Bastards. And bastardesses, or something.

But, yeah. I'm hella-jazzed. Who cares if I'm going alone? Cannot fucking wait. Gonna be so much motherfucking fun. Just listened to Sticking Fingers into Sockets and "Tweexcore," and I couldn't possibly be any more stoked. Additionally, this is beautiful:

"And I always get confused,
because in supermarkets, they turn the lights off when they want you to leave,
but in discos, they turn them on.
And it's always sad to go, but it's never that sad,
because there's only so many places you're guaranteed of getting a
hug, when you leave.
And then, on the way home, it always seems like a good idea to go
paddling in the fountain. And that's because it IS a good idea.
And we're just like how Rousseau depicts man in the state of nature:
we're undeveloped, we're ignorant, we're stupid.
But we're happy."

Gorgeous. God, I wish that I could feel this way about bands, art, film, people--you name it, really--more often. So rapturously perfect.
 
The Chicago show is just over two days away, and my excitement is mounting. This'll somehow be the first time I've seen the band--they came to Tokyo, about 14 months ago, but their set was scheduled for 35 minutes (as a part of what was called "New Age British Invasion Super!" or something), and would've cost me over $60 USD; then, they played in Chiba (you can see the highway I lived off of, in the Beautiful DVD), like, a week after I left the country. Bastards. And bastardesses, or something.

But, yeah. I'm hella-jazzed. Who cares if I'm going alone? Cannot fucking wait. Gonna be so much motherfucking fun. Just listened to Sticking Fingers into Sockets and "Tweexcore," and I couldn't possibly be any more stoked. Additionally, this is beautiful:

"And I always get confused,
because in supermarkets, they turn the lights off when they want you to leave,
but in discos, they turn them on.
And it's always sad to go, but it's never that sad,
because there's only so many places you're guaranteed of getting a
hug, when you leave.
And then, on the way home, it always seems like a good idea to go
paddling in the fountain. And that's because it IS a good idea.
And we're just like how Rousseau depicts man in the state of nature:
we're undeveloped, we're ignorant, we're stupid.
But we're happy."

Gorgeous. God, I wish that I could feel this way about bands, art, film, people--you name it, really--more often. So rapturously perfect.

It's taken me a few days to sort of come down from the cloud I've been floating on since attending the Super Bowl, but now that I'm back to reality, I've been getting excited for the show on Saturday.
 
It's taken me a few days to sort of come down from the cloud I've been floating on since attending the Super Bowl, but now that I'm back to reality, I've been getting excited for the show on Saturday.

Sports, yes. Sports. When the Giants won the Superbowl, last year, I was in Japan. I'd called in sick, so that I could watch the game; it started at about 8:00, on a Monday morning. I had never been as invested in a game as I was in that one, and when the clock read ":00," I collapsed to the floor and wept tears of joy. It was miraculous. I have to admit that I probably don't feel as strongly about this band as I did about that game. Like, while I'll be overjoyed, I really don't see myself weeping, when they play "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks," or whatever.

If anything, I'll weep if/when they don't cover "Frontwards." Now that they're a "real" band, with two records, I doubt that they'll be cramming in anymore Pavement songs. Sucks, but here's hoping!
 
It's taken me a few days to sort of come down from the cloud I've been floating on since attending the Super Bowl, but now that I'm back to reality, I've been getting excited for the show on Saturday.

I still can't believe you went to the Super Bowl, man. That's beyond awesome.

Anyways, I'm still jealous you're both seeing them live, and really hope they end up adding more shows and come by my boring neck of the woods.
 
Sports, yes. Sports. When the Giants won the Superbowl, last year, I was in Japan. I'd called in sick, so that I could watch the game; it started at about 8:00, on a Monday morning. I had never been as invested in a game as I was in that one, and when the clock read ":00," I collapsed to the floor and wept tears of joy. It was miraculous. I have to admit that I probably don't feel as strongly about this band as I did about that game. Like, while I'll be overjoyed, I really don't see myself weeping, when they play "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks," or whatever.

If anything, I'll weep if/when they don't cover "Frontwards." Now that they're a "real" band, with two records, I doubt that they'll be cramming in anymore Pavement songs. Sucks, but here's hoping!

I'm a life-long Steeler fan, so, seeing them win such a close game, in person, was a truly amazing experience, right up there with seeing the Yankees win the World Series in person in 1996. And, while a Live musical experience cannot evoke the exact emotions these sporting events provided me with, they can certainly cause me to experience a different sort of joy. I'll admit it: I've almost cried during certain performances of "Bad". And, certainly, if U2 ever played "A Sort of Homecoming", it's hard to believe that I'd not at least well up. So, both push certain emotional buttons, but, the buttons sports can push are a lot more powerful or at least a lot more visible to an observer.
 
I still can't believe you went to the Super Bowl, man. That's beyond awesome.

Anyways, I'm still jealous you're both seeing them live, and really hope they end up adding more shows and come by my boring neck of the woods.

Going to the Super Bowl is something I've always wanted to do, but never really pursued.....but, seeing my Steelers play in the game, and fucking win it, yeah, that's pure insanity. I still cannot fucking believe it all went down less than a week ago, and I was there.

I hope they end up playing Utah, Scumbo.
 
Live from Barcelona. Pretty solid recording, this one. Even with its relative muddiness, it give you a pretty good idea of the surprisingly clear and incisive sound that this band brings to the live arena. My experiences with live Broken Social Scene have been pretty similar. It's just incredible how clear this sounds, with seven people all playing live. Great stuff.

http://louderthanbootlegs.blogspot.com/2008/11/ra-ra-riot-los-campesinos-7112008.html
 
I'll leave it downloading now and tomorrow I'll listen to it. Hopefully I'll be pleased. I've never heard anything from them.
Btw, tomorrow will be an interesting day, I'm downloading:
Beck - Modern Guilt
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Los Campesinos - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Then I'll go to a party where I'll probably get drunk enough to forget all those albums.
If they're bad, good.
If they're good, even better. I'll need to listen to then again. :wink:
 
Alright, just finished We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
 
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