Not a lot is known about Gareth Campesinos, like his real name for example. Though I personally don’t think I want to know, because it gives him a certain mysterious edge which isn’t really there when you come to think about things. In fact a lot of his lyrics, especially his later ones, are auto-biographical in nature. As a lyricist, Gareth manages to have a great style of delivery and a knack of writing which allows him and his female counterpart to bounce off one another. That’s why WeLoveThisPerson…

As if I walked into the room to see my ex-girlfriend
Who by the way, I’m still in love with
Sucking the face of some pretty boy
With my favourite band’s most popular song in the background
Is it wrong that I can’t decide which bothers me most?
In the forefront of my mind it’s the thought
Not of you underneath, but me coming out looking worse

Gareth is the lead singer of my favourite group, Los Campesinos! An indie/alternative seven-part group that packs a glockenspiel, a violin and a couple of guitars along with keyboards and drums to make a lovely sound of fast frantic fun whilst also managing to delve into some real darkness. In fact, out of the one and a half albums that have been released, debut Hold on Now, Youngster is the cheery fun-filled rollicking ride that threatens to throw you around the room. ‘Extended EP’ (as the band states) We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed basically runs in and demolishes everything they’ve ever done with tales of failed relationships and sexual frustration.

I don’t want to sound trite but you were perfect
The way you look could seriously make nature dysmorphic
I wish that you would kiss me ’til the point of paralysis
The way I flail my arms in front of you, it just embarrasses
I’ll never turn my body clock back
And think about the things I’m glad I left out
Some things are best left unsaid.

A review on a blog summed up Gareth’s lyrics best, and I can’t remember where I read it because it does basically sum things up perfectly. It said that it seems that if anyone else would sing his lyric – then it’d sound a bit stupid, and I think that’s true. The lyrics on paper seem quite…weird, but it’s when they’re performed they just sync together – and it leads to something quite special on the ears as well as the mind.

Not sure if you mind if I dance with you
But I don’t think right now that you care about anything at all
And oh, if only there were clothes on the floor
I’d feel for certain I was bedroom dancing

Away from the music, Gareth routinely tweets on the LC official twitter account and contributes to the official LC web-site which is essentially a giant blog written by members of the band. He also visits a LC fan forum, and does interact with fans and it’s fascinating to get a first-hand view into how his creative mind works when he’s writing lyrics. The later tracks all come from experiences and feelings that are personal to him, whilst in interviews he states that he’s not fond of his earlier stuff that was less personal. It’s a shame because there’s still some great stuff there.

Maybe musicians/bands do get a bit bored with performing the same songs over and over that they do grow to dislike them. I’m sure I heard one of the Gallagher’s say that hated Wonderwall with a passion…

So – We Love Gareth Campesinos! Look up Los Campesinos, they’re on the same lines as Johnny Foreigner and Danananakroyd.

Welcome to a brand new feature for ITalkInType called…YouTalkInType.

This (surprise surprise) involves you providing the content. You send your opinions on a certain topic and then we end up posting them at a later date in a post. To which you then can go and debate even further! So let’s go…

So what’s the first topic that we’re going to talk about? Well, recently we’ve been listening to some bands, and the album is incredibly brilliant stuff. But other people don’t like them due to their live performance. Further investigation shows that some live videos have been dubious…but should that really affect the quality of the album?

On the one hand you have the case that you can mix and tinker with the sounds on an album which you will never get live. But in comparison what happens in other medium – if you were to try and watch a TV show ‘live’. That changes completely into theatre. Do you lose something live? Or is it something different? Are the two dependent, or mutually exclusive?

So, the main question is this: Is it fair to judge a band or musician purely on how they play live?

[contact-form 1 "Live Musicians"]

Crossing The Rubicon

So I’m aiming to do something like this a week where I start to spew and spew and spew things in all sorts of directions so that I can have some semblance of content on this site and thus will have a huge fan base and invited to lovely conventions with fat people in tight shirts. So I want to introduce the idea of this, and I wanted to comment on an issue that lends itself thematically to the, uh, theme of introductions.

Being how albums start off.

I have to post a link to this video which is the first song off the third album of one my favourite bands: The Sounds. This track continues the trend of their previous two albums in that that they sodding know how to fecking start an album. The album in question is Crossing The Rubicon (an old saying meaning: THE POINT OF NO RETURN)  and the song is No-one Sleeps When I’m Awake.

The Sounds have this amazingly uncanny ability to be able to graft an ultimate attack on the nerve system when you start an album. The second album, Dying To Say This To You is album that if I were to be crashed on a desert island with five albums to listen to until I die and/or go made and kill myself with a coconut – this would be the one I would have. Apparently that sort of hypothetical question has apparently been asked before, I’m not sure. But the point is that album also had an amazing start (as well as middle and finish) with Song With A Mission. Their debut album Living In America also starts with my favourite track from them: Seven Days A Week. It’s like they just know how to start a 40 minute race but not quite know how to run it or finish it when they go for their third try.

So I was thinking of more albums I have heard to that have both good and bad examples on how to start albums. Now for me I’m a sucker for albums that try to have some semblance of theme or style in the ordering of their albums, so that they can tonally shift your moods throughout – so a good opener is an absolute necessity. Most All rap albums I’ve ever owned have always started with a skit cutting into the first song. Good idea – a bit of an annoyance but in some places it works (like the Eminem albums that open to songs that will address the style and content). Some albums don’t completely get it right, like Briskey’s Joe Dallasandro from Jumping on Cars. I love the album to bits (another Desert Island Disc) but I have a habit of skipping to track 2 and then listening to the whole album on repeat and on the repeat listening either skipping the song or listening to it depending on my mood. I don’t know why I, I do like the song I just need to be in the right frame of mind. (And for no reason I am shoving  I Miss You Like Crazy in your face as  I fell in love with that band due to this song.)

Other albums go for the most popular songs or released songs first being kicking in with the songs-so-not-mainstream-or-catching-to-be-released and thus the whole album turns into a complete and utter twisted shock and the artist turns into something completely difference that you’d expect. On the plus side this is a good thing: Amy Studt’s False Smiles will forever be a pleasant surprise and a memorable experience on first listen (nope this won’t be joining me on any island). Albums that have lured me with goodness and them proceeded to beat me up in a metaphorical alleyway mugging include You’ll Love To Hate This by Richard Blackwood (no Dick, I just hate it) that Miss Dynamite album I got which I now begrudgingly admit to have actually exchanged money for when I could’ve bought something more productive and would last longer. Like a Tamigotchi.

A Grand Don’t Come For Free, The Streets’ most accomplished album starts off with the brilliant scene setting It Was Supposed To Be So Easy, and thus leads you on 10 more tracks of songs that you immediately need to re-listen to. The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths and it’s TITLE TRACK opens up with an ongoing shifting style with some great lyrics.

But to make this all egotistical – consider this the first track of a new LOOOOOOOONG album. An album where each track is a random little entry about nothing whatsoever.

So I ask you – what albums do you consider to have good or bad opening tracks? Which albums are a letdown after a good start? Let me know!