Nu Rave Brain Wave

More to come soon, though….

April
20 Toronto, ONT Phoenix Theatre (18+)
22 New York, NY Irving Plaza
24 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
27 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
30 Chicago, IL Cabaret Metro

May
04 Seattle, WA Showbox Theatre
07 San Francisco, CA Grand Ballroom
08 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre

Wrexham Central Station (February 11)
Liverpool EVOL (12)
York Fibbers (13)
Aberdeen Tunnels (15)
Dundee Dog House (16)
Edinburgh Bongo (17)
Derby The Venue (18)
Leicester Musician (19)
Cambridge Junction (21)
Norwich Arts Centre (22)
Brighton Audio- New Slang (23)
Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms (24)
London KOKO (25)
Birmingham The Rainbow (March 1)
Northampton The Roadmender (2)
Reading Plug N Play (3)
Kingston Banquet New Slang (4)

The hilarious, amazing, non-stop Los Campesinos! announced that one or more of the band have contracted the H1N1 virus! Scary! I got some Tamiflu if you need it dudes & dudettes. However, it won’t stop them from finishing off their current Headlining UK Tour (With COPY HAHO damn!) or from their December support slots of the Cribs. In fact, they’ve announced even MORE dates for February 2010 onward. CRAZY Los Campesinos! Dates below:

February
12 O2 Academy2, Liverpool
25 Koko, London

March
1 The Rainbow, Birmingham

Tickets go on general sale for the Liverpool show on Wednesday 4th November. Tickets for the other shows are already on sale, as are their Cribs support dates in December.

Our new album, Romance Is Boring, will be released on February 1st 2010 on CD, digital and vinyl.

There is plenty of time for conjecture and discussion, but in the meantime, here are some facts.

The tracklisting is as follows:

In Medias Res
There Are Listed Buildings
Romance Is Boring
We’ve Got Your Back (Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #2)
Plan A
200-102
Straight In At 101
Who Fell Asleep In
I Warned You: Do Not Make An Enemy Of Me
Heart Swells/100-1
I Just Sighed. I Just Sighed, Just So You Know
A Heat Rash In The Shape Of The Show Me State; or, Letters From Me To Charlotte
The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
This Is A Flag. There Is No Wind
Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape Of The Sooner State

The album was recorded and mixed between March and June of 2009, in Seattle, Connecticut and Monmouthsire, with producer John Goodmanson. It features guest appearances from Jamie Stewart, Zac Pennington and Jherek Bischoff.

It is a record about the death and decay of the human body, sex, lost love, mental breakdown, football and, ultimately, that there probably isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel.

From the Los Campesinos! blog: On the evening of Sunday, August 2, four members of our dear friend Rachael Jensen’s immediate family were involved in a fatal car accident while traveling home from their annual family reunion. As a result of the tragic accident, Rachael’s mother, Kris, passed away and her father and two brothers were rushed to an intensive care facility.

Though I never had the pleasure of meeting Kris, anyone who ever spoke about her, spoke in the highest terms. A kind, beautiful and self-less person. A true mother, held in the utmost regard by all those who she came into contact with. I cannot imagine the level of heartache and despair that must be felt at the loss of someone so loved. Indeed, all these words sound flippant when measured against the incident itself and its aftermath.

Our experience touring with Parenthetical Girls last year, is the greatest touring experience I have had in my life. I left that tour a different person to that which started on it, and the friendships I made with Zac, Luke, Eddie, Matt and Rachael are some which I will treasure forever. If it wasn’t for Zac and Rachael’s influence in particular, the entirety of We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed would never have had any lyrics and I would still be muddling around, wondering who I am and what I wanted to be doing.

As a small gesture, and in the hope that we can do a little to alleviate the subsequent financial burden faced by the Jensen family as a result of the nature of the US healthcare system, we have turned our forthcoming show at LA’s El Rey into a benefit concert, with all the proceeds from the show benefitting the Kris Jensen Memorial Fund.

We would like to express a huge thank you to our booker Matt Hickey, and to Goldenvoice for allowing us to do this, and being incredibly supportive.

Tickets can be purchased here.

The line up for this show, now reads like this:
Los Campesinos!
Girls
Ramona Falls
Former Ghosts

Doors at 8pm.

For more information on the fund, and to donate, please click this link.

Details on further benefit shows:
August 25 YACHT, Au, May Ling Holocene, Portland
August 29 Au, The Very Most Flying M, Nampa, ID
September 17 Built To Spill Neurolux, Boise, ID

Coventry Kasbah (October 21)
Southampton Joiners (22)
Exeter Phoenix (23)
Cardiff The Gate (24)
Manchester Deaf Institute (26)
Newcastle University (27)
London Garage (28)
Oxford Zodiac (29)
Leeds Cockpit (30)
Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (31)

Where’s the Brighton date?????

Not-really-Welsh-but-went-to-University-in-Cardiff seven-piece, Los Campesinos! have announced the departure of Aleks from the band.

In a post on their official blog the band informed the world that the co-vocalist/keyboardist and whatnot is to leave the band to return to her studies.

It’s a pretty long blog post, so here are the most important bits of it.

This is a difficult announcement to have to write, and one we’d have hoped we’d never need to, but it is with a heavy heart we in Los Campesinos! need to announce the forthcoming departure of Aleks Campesinos! from our number.

After three years of LC!, in an incredible journey that has gone from inaudible student union side room gigs to playing infront of thousands in Caracas city centre; Aleks is now, as she always intended, departing the band in order to return to her studies.

It shouldn’t need saying, and perhaps it almost seems insensitive, but it’s inevitable news of this nature will cause tongues to wag, so it’s best to confirm that Los Campesinos! will continue as a band, stronger and more united than ever. The individual joining the band to take on Aleks’ duties, and more, has been a friend of the band for a long time and though we are understandably maudlin, nay, heartbroken, this is coupled with a great excitement for what we intend to go on and achieve in the near and distant future.

The band then go on to say that they’re finishing up their new record/album – being recorded in America with John Goodmanson – with Aleks before one last final hurrah in the form of a rather extensive U.S tour, taking in Lollapalooza along the way.

One final thought simply reads:

The girl will go out in fucking style; we will make completely sure of that.

August
04 New York, NY Webster Hall
05 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
06 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
07 Indianapolis, IN Spin Nightclub
08 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza
11 St. Louis, MO Firebird
12 Kansas City, MO Record Bar
14 Austin, TX Emos Outside
15 Dallas, TX Granada Theatre
16 Houston, TX Warehouse (Studio)
19 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad
20 Tucson, AZ Club Congress
21 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
22 Pomona, CA Glass House
23 Costa Mesa, CA Detroit Bar
25 Las Vegas, Nevada Beauty Bar
28 San Francisco, CA Outside Lands Festival
29 San Diego, CA Street Scene

I knew the Campesinos were coming in August but never in my wildest dreams did I think they’d play the El Rey. I cannot wait to see them again, they’re such a fun, wonderful band.

Los Campesinos! are planning to hit the US in support of their new record, “We are Beautiful, We are Doomed” which comes out here state-side on November 25th. The Welsh band plan to hit up the states that no one cares about and ignore Los Angeles. Am I a little hurt by this? Absolutely yes. They are totally fun live and energetic and ~qt~ and every awesome word I could come up with and if you are anywhere in the Texas area, you need to go to Club DADA because its one of my favorite places ever and I’m pretty sad that I won’t be in Dallas to catch them. So be sure to see LC!~

Baltimore, MD Ottobar (January 15)
Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle (16)
Atlanta, GA The Earl (17)
Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits (19)
Tallahassee, FL Club Downunder (21)
Nashville, TN Exit/In (24)
Memphis, TN Hi Tone (25)
New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jack’s (27)
Houston, TX Walter’s On Washington (29)
Austin, TX The Parish (30)
Dallas, TX Club Dada (31)
Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck (February 3)
St. Louis, MO The Gargoyle (4)
Madison, WI Der Rathskeller (6)
Chicago, IL Logan Sq. Auditorium (7)
Grand Rapids, MI Calvin College/Ladies Literary Club (10)
Columbus, OH Wexner Center for the Arts (11)
Swarthmore, PA Swarthmore College/Olde Club (12)
Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club (13)
New York, NY Bowery Ballroom (14, 15)

LOS CAMPESINOS! TOUR UNITED STATES FINALLY

They are playing SXSW and ATP vs PITCHFORK (with BLACK LIPS i might add). Last time they came they did the standard 5 date British band tour, but this time they are expanding! Argh, I can’t wait. We will let you all know whether you should see them after SXSW, but I love them, they are adorable. Go forth, children and see them~

05-14 Hoboken, NJ – Maxwell’s
05-15 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
05-16 Washington, DC – Black Cat
05-17 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
05-19 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
05-21 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
05-22 Montreal, Quebec – Petit Campus
05-23 Toronto, Ontario – Lee’s Palace
05-24 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
05-26 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
05-27 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
05-28 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theatre
05-31 Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
06-01 Vancouver, British Columbia – Plaza Club
06-02 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
06-03 Eugene, OR – WOW Hall
06-05 Sacramento, CA – TBA
06-06 San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s
06-07 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
06-08 Pomona, CA – Glass House

LOS CAMPESINOS! & OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN confirmed for Sxsw!

This band (LC!) was playing the Tuesday after my Thanksgiving break this past November. And I had originally been scheduled to come home for Razorlight but then they cancelled (WTF DIAF JBO) and ended up seeing Maximo Park twice which was FUCKING AWESOME (lukas!!!! *hand chop*!) so anyway, I had to miss LC! @ the Echo, I believe. And I was sad, because I’ve liked them for quite some time now before the EP, and I think maybe even before the first single but IDK (ELITISM FTW). So I’m realllly glad to get to see them.

Check out “Hold On Now, Youngster” immediately. Its like, um, a mixmash of like 7 people all playing instruments loudly, but they mesh well, are a bit twee, and on the poppy side but with cool lyrics. And yeah. “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” is my favorite.

YAY SXSW!!!~~~~