Los Campesinos! - "Too Many Flesh Suppers"

Los Campesinos! are quite simply one of the best indie bands around at the moment. I thought of ways to dress up the start of this post and slide smoothly from some semi-relevant opening sentence into the above declaration, but I couldn't think of a way to do it and- quite simply- you need to be told.

They released one of this year's best albums, Romance is Boring, back in January, and it's undoubtedly the best of their albums. It's a classic example of a band just honing everything that's good and lovable about them in the first place to a place where it just strikes every chord right when you're listening to it, and it truly engrosses you and is just a hell of a lot of fun as well. (It may feature of my much anticipated Top 11 Albums of 2011. Tune in later to find out...) Also, my Fantasy Football Team are named "Los Premierleagueos!" in dedication to them.

But earlier today the band announced via Twitter (oh yeah- they have one of the best musician Twitter accounts around- follow @loscampesinos, surprisingly enough- they announced the free download of their song "Too Many Flesh Suppers". It was the B-side to the single of "Romance is Boring", which, as the band themselves have said, "nobody bought". It's not a new track by any means, and is from the recording sessions of their album.



Nevertheless, it is brilliant. They said it didn't fit on the album and I can see why, for various reasons. But still, as I said- brilliant! It opens with atonal violin streaks which glide over a slightly menacing lollop of a guitar line which is something they got VERY good at on Romance is Boring. The vocals are as wrenched, emotional and compellingly uncomfortable as ever from frontman Gareth, and that's one of the things I really love about this band. The vocals veer from high, forced shouts to low, nasal sneers that brutally yet beautifully bastardize any and all melody, so that it hides beneath the surface, but it is very much there. It's melody on their terms. I can easily imagine someone somewhere fobbing the vocal style off as pretentious, but I find the vocals truly affecting and reckon that Los Campesinos! are fully aware of the problems people could raise with their sound, showcased so perfectly in this track.

Lyrically, it shares one of the major themes from the album- sex. Specifically, sexual guilt. The lyrics are dense and physical, like all Los Camp lyrics, and ache with a self loathing and disatisfaction that is painfully human. Gareth Campesinos! is undoubtedly one of the best lyricists across any genre, anywhere right now- and probably one of the best of the last 10 years.

So the download is available here from their blog. Click the little hyperlink that says 'RiB 7"'. I hope you enjoy it and can't recommend these guys enough. They're laying the 02 Empire Shepherds Bush in February and I'm gonna pull out all the stops to be there!