Discovering (great) new music is one of joys in life. I came across Los Campesinos! through Wichicta Records mailing list which I joined because of my favourite band, Bloc Party.

I was immediately intrigued by their very normal appearance which introduced me to their insane, crazy and brilliant sort of music.

I’ve been living in London for almost 3 years now, but I only discovered them sometime during the middle of 2009. I will forever beat myself with a stick for not hearing about them earlier.

Last Thursday, I had the chance to finally see them on stage and it was one of the best experiences of my life and I am in no way exaggerating.

The venue was once again Koko in Camden. It was another rainy evening in London, so 10 minutes till the doors opened, there was still no queue. At this point, I was 4th in the queue but the place quickly filled up as the evening moved forward.

Two support acts offered a mix bag of surprises prior to Los Campesinos!.

The first was Islet which as mentioned by LC! on their twitter page is the best band you’ve never heard about. This is very much true. At first, their sound seemed a bit too crazy (there is such a thing) but it quickly grew on me and I soon found myself really enjoying what they were doing on stage. They are a four-person band and for each song they seem to swap all their instruments around. My memory is a bit hazy now but I am pretty sure no one member used the same instrument on more than 2 songs. They were that great! Sadly,they hardly have an online presence at the moment but there is a BBC recording on one of their fan sites.

They were followed up by Swanton Bombs which were a two-person act quite similar to The White Stripes except their both men. An ok band but I felt they were trying to sound too much like The White Stripes.

And then, it was time for Los Campesinos! Before we go into the details, I’ll bore you with a short story (not that anyone really reads this).

At work, it was known that I was going to a gig and a colleague of mine asked if there was going to be any mosh pits. I reply by saying probably not.

Boy was I wrong. As soon as LC! came up on stage, the crowd went crazy and everyone started dancing around and moshing.That is, everyone from where I was. This was of course different from the hurtful circle pits at hardcore rock events and this was so much more enjoyable with everyone singing and dancing around. I never thought I could sweat so much here in February before this gig.

The energy levels never settled down and the band kept the crowd on their feet from start to finish.

Since this was the tour for their latest LP, Romance Is Boring, most of the songs came from this album which is actually quite goo since it is a great record.

Hightlights of the evening would be You! Me! Dancing! which was absolutely insane and The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future when everyone was singing the song. Also, Straight in at 101 with the most genuis bit of lyrics ever:

“I think we need more post-coital and less post-rock.
Feels like the build-up takes forever but you never get me off.”

Oh, and of course, This Is How You Spell, “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics” which along with Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks were part of their “encore”.

Here’s what I remember of the playlist;

• Heart Swells/100-1
• i just sighed. i just sighed, just so you know
• Death To Los Campesinos!
• Miserabilia
• A Heat Rash In The Shape Of The Show Me State Or, Letters From Me To Charlotte
• There are Listed Buildings
• Romance Is Boring
• Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown # 1
• We’ve Got Your Back
• My Year In Lists
• Straight In At 101
• This Is a Flag. There Is No Wind.
• You! Me! Dancing!
• We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
• The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
• Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
• This Is How You Spell, “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics”

The 8-piece band was absolutely amazing. They played each song with the same intensity as the last song. As you watched them on stage, you could clearly see they were really enjoying themselves.

This was the most fun gig I have been to in quite sometime. I would have loved to take more pictures or a video even, but I was having too much fun and decided to pocket the camera and just sing and dance along with everyone.

I say this a lot, but this is another band I will definitely be seeing again. And again. I can’t wait for them to play in London again. They currently wrapped up their UK tour and now have a long US tour lined-up. I thought about it but may just wait until they are back.

It is a real shame that I have not had the chance to see them before.

“It’s you! It’s me! We’re dancing!”