Los Campesinos!

What do you do with a band like Los Campesinos!? Are they a pop group? A jam band? Indie rock? And just how many people are in this unclassifiable group, anyway? One thing is sure, the group is establishing itself in the realm of ultimate festival bands. With the aptly named You! Me! Dancing! shaking booties since 2007, the group has matured into dance with feeling. It’s tough not to evolve when the members of the group keep coming and going, but this is the key to their rise. The music keeps its energy and only gets stronger with the addition of wisdom from age and perspective from a diversity of artistic minds. The band’s latest release, Hello Sadness, showcases this growth and has primed the group to become a major fixture of turntables and iPods around the globe. But perhaps my favorite thing about Los Campeinos! is the gratuitous use of glockenspiel. Hopefully one of the many members still rocks the mallet percussion on a regular basis. NICOLAS GRIZZLE