We Are Beautiful We Are Doomed -CD/DVD-

Microcastle Here it is, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2007's Cryptograms album which launched the band into the stratosphere of hype. Whether or not that was or is deserved is entirely subjective. Microcastle was recorded over the course of a week at Rare Book Studios in Brooklyn, New ...	The BBC Sessions Fourteen gorgeous tracks recorded for the BBC between 1996 and 2001. At the time, the group rarely performed live, so all these songs are noticeably different from the studio versions. The regular CD includes an additional four unreleased songs from their classic early Jeepster p...	Dear Science, Dear Science, Tunde Adebimpe-Vocals Kyp Malone- Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Synths David Andrew Sitek-Programming, Guitars, Samples, Bass, Synths Gerard A Smith- Bass, Organ, Synths, Samples, Rhodes Jaleel Bunton-Drums, Guitars, Rhodes, Organ, Synths, Bass, Programming "A lot of ban...	Hold on Now, Youngster... Resurface from your piles of self-loathing indie rock to seek out a more joyful alternative. With a glockenspiel, violin, hand claps, boy-girl harmonies, and an exclamation point to top it off, Los Campesinos! fit that bill and sound effortless in creating this highly addictive, ...	A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night From seemingly out of nowhere, Love is All turned up everywhere after their release of Nine Times That Same Song and then, impossibly, disappeared to the fate of hype, broken promises and seething expectations. A full three years later, the fanciful-anachro-charm of Love Is All h...
Sticking Fingers Into Sockets Sticking Fingers Into Sockets is the debut, six-song EP from Cardiff, Wales septet, Los Campesinos! Featuring the acclaimed UK single, "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives." After surfacing on MySpace in the summer on an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm, Los Campesinos! found ...	Skeletal Lamping Their breakthrough, "Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?" catapulted the band to the upper echelon of indie stardom. The record landed on over thirty major year-end lists including Paste, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Associated Press, and sold over 100,000 copies. "Skeletal La...	Acid Tongue Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins took their cues from legendary singer/songwriter Lauro Nyro in crafting the intimate, gospel-country Rabbit Fur Coat. The all-star Acid Tongue represents something bigger and darker. Without abandoning her roots, Rilo Kiley's front woman adds more...	Cardinology The Cardinals--Ryan Adams (vocals, guitar, keys), Neal Casal (guitar, vocals), Chris Feinstein (bass, vocals), Jon Graboff (pedal steel, vocals) and Brad Pemberton (drums)--have confirmed an October 28 release for Cardinology, the band's latest collection of all-new studio materi...	Day & Age Four years after the release of their landmark debut in 2004, MTV VMA Award-winning, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum Island Records group The Killers have completed their fourth album - and first new studio album in two years - DAY & AGE, featuring the new single, "Human" debut...

We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed was originally recorded as a collection of songs intended to be used as b-sides for future single releases. Turns out that these musicians are just so damn talented that the set of ten songs ended up being every bit as good as the material on their debut record, released only seven months earlier in April. As shocked as I am that a young band like this can put out two excellent records in the same year, I am moreso pleased to see that 2008 has been the year of bands deciding that they don't think 3-4 four years between releases is an ok timetable, at least if one is to believe the press. Anyhow, I digress. Los Campesinos! is probably the most blisteringly enjoyable band that has come onto the indie scene in the last few years. Their songs are effortlessly cool, clever, and fun. Their trademark style revolves around blazing guitars, blistering drumming, and scathingly witty lyrical diatribes. I personally see Los Campesinos! as the modern-day evolution of the punk movement of the late '70s, taking the DIY aesthetic of those albums and turning it into something undeniably fun. This is an album that simply must be heard to understand, and it's something that virtually anybody should be able to get behind. 9/10