Los Campesinos! - "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" 7"

Los Campesinos! – “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” 7”

Wichita, 2007

Acquired: Los Campesinos Mail Order, New, 2009

Price: £5

 

Have you ever heard a song where you just knew you were going to follow a band to the end of it all? It’s exactly like falling in love, because it is falling in love. There was a moment in 2008 when I looked past this hype machine image of Los Campesinos! that had been planted in my head based solely on the disco ball cover of their Sticking Fingers Into Sockets EP and listened to the damn thing and realized that there, in the midst of my indie pop years, it was the most perfect thing I could have possibly heard. Following this band through the years has been one of the great joys in my life, and the only other bands that rouse me on a cohesive gut/heart/head level are Guided by Voices and the Hold Steady. So LC! are in very good company. Watching the band move beyond their playful twee-inspired glee into darker, truer territory has been a treat. That said, “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” is a total fucking mess of a song, and that is what made me fall so hard. The music is a jumble of things running into each other, and the accented boy/girl vocals feel like they are spelling one another because there are too many lyrics for the songs brisk tempo. It all devolves into chaos, and though it’s a little rough and a little silly, there’s just so much pure bliss that it feels impossible not to love this scrappy group. All of the joy of making music is on display on “You Throw Parties…” and b-side “Don’t Tell Me to do the math(s),” and it’s a special thing, because these humble beginnings are the high watermark of a lot of bands. And compared to the concurrent masterworks of LC!, these two songs sound like the quaint rumblings of 8-year old children fucking around in the family room.  

"We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives"


"Don't Tell Me to do the Math(s)"