"It's you! It's me! It's dancing!"

So last Friday I was feeling like crap. So I did what I normally do when I feel like crap -buy a random album by a band I know little about in hopes that they will lift my spirits just a tad. It turned out Los Campesinos! debut EP Sticking Fingers Into Sockets was more than up for the job. From the very first track "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" I knew these guys were something special.

The British seven-piece led by Gareth Campesinos! makes it ok for you to like bands with gratuitous exclamation points in their name again. Seriously, with track titles like "Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s)" and "You! Me! Dancing!" these guys have a thing for excessive punctuation. They also have a thing for glockenspiel and uber-clever lyrics. I hate making up weird genre-hybrid terms, but for the sake of describing them I'm gonna go with the somewhat cringeworthy modifer "twee-punk". They sound something like a more frenzied Architecture in Helsinki crossed with a less-abrasive version of Art Brut, with a dash of the Unicorns thrown in for good measure.

While the entire output of their career only spans 16 minutes, it might just be the most joyous 16 minutes I've heard all year. Listen for yourself.

Don't Tell Me to Do the Math(s) - Los Campesinos!
You! Me! Dancing! - Los Campesino!

And here they are leading the International Tweexcore Underground (their words, not mine):