Originally Posted by xapplexpiex

Hmm...I've never even heard of this band. But I love good lyrics and your review makes me want to check them out. What's a good RIYL?

I'd say RIYL Johnny Foreigner, Architecture in Helsinki, and Art Brut.

Originally Posted by fluke182

Agreed. That is such a phenomenal track. It's the one part of the review I disagree with.

Although I have to ask, do you really think Los Campesinos! sound like Architecture in Helsinki or Art Brut at all? Those three bands couldn't be any different in my mind. They really are a band that in a lot of ways do not sound at all like anyone to me.

Yeah, I do. And this is pretty much why I stopped putting RIYLs on my reviews anyway. People want to get all analytical about it, but don't offer any alternatives. RIYL doesn't mean "sounds exactly like." They're all sort of left-field bands that avoid conventionality. Art Brut and Los Campesinos! both have an angularity to their styles of indie rock that seem to share a common influence in old school punk (not like Black Flag but more like Talking Heads via Gang of Four). Architecture in Helsinki has unique instrumental arrangements and a certain "Twee-ness" to their harmonies that has similarities to Los Campesinos! Their not all alike by any means, but if someone likes all three of the bands I mentioned, I'd be surprised if they didn't like Los Campesinos!, and that's pretty much what "recommended if you like" means.

Originally Posted by Drew Beringer

I definitely like this album, but I definitely enjoy the new Spoon, Beach House, Vampire Weekend, and MCS more than this.

I'm seriously not sure how I'd rank this year's albums so far. Despite the fact that the release calendar has been rather slow in terms of the number of releases, the relative few that have been released have been really, really great.