Los Campesinos!
Los Campesinos! are a seven-piece indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales, formed in early 2006 at Cardiff University. Though the band formed in Wales, none of the members are Welsh. The band has gone through several lineup changes during their career, with their current lineup consisting of Gareth Paisey (lead vocals, lyrics, glockenspiel), Neil Turner (guitar), Tom Bromley (guitar), Rob Taylor (guitar, other instruments), Kim Paisey (keyboards, vocals), Matt Fidler (bass) and Jason Adelinia (drums); the members replace their surnames with "Campesinos!" as stage names. Gareth Paisey, Turner and Bromley are the only remaining original members still in the band.
Influenced by the twee pop movement, the band released their debut studio album, Hold on Now, Youngster..., in February 2008, and followed up with We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, in October that year. Both receiving favourable reviews by critics, the former was described by Pitchfork as a "giddy, tuneful love note to individuality, pathos – and everything else indie pop built its name on".Their third album, Romance Is Boring, was released in 2010, saw the band receive praise for expanding their "already sizeable instrumental palette". Their fourth release, Hello Sadness, was released in 2011, followed by No Blues in 2013 and most recently, Sick Scenes in 2017. Among six studio albums, the band has also released a live album – Good Night for a Fistfight in 2013, and four EPs, most recently Whole Damn Body in 2021.
In a 2021 feature, Pitchfork included Los Campesinos! among the 200 most important artists from the site's first 25 years, and described the group as "the 21st century's most endearing cult band."
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