Noughties By Nature #23: Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!

All you ever need, in the field of creative endeavour, is to have a brilliant idea, and to do it brilliantly. The rest takes care of itself. Los Campesinos! are a band who have a lot of brilliant ideas. Whether you believe they execute all of them brilliantly would normally depend on the kind of music you're into, as it's clearly a taste thing. However, on this song, you're either with me or you're wrong. Sorry.

You! Me! Dancing! is blessed with a brilliant central refrain, one which sounds grand on twinned distortoguitars, it sounds grand on glockenspiel, it sounds grand on keebs, it just. Sounds. Grand. When it begins, happiness descends from on high, like a tortoise from an eagle's claws, right between the eyes.

Naturally, this being a pop song from an uncompromising, lyric-driven hardcore indie band (albeit an uncompromising lyric-driven hardcore indie band with an abiding love of Kenickie), this is a song which a lot of the band's fans dismiss for being slight, or throwaway. THAT'S how good it is.

Not that it IS slight, you understand. How could it be, with lyrics like this?

"I always get confused, because in supermarkets they turn the lights off when they want you to leave, but in discos they turn them on"

Or this?

"on the way home, it seems like a good idea to go paddle in the fountain, and that's because it IS a good idea, and we're all like how Rousseau depicts man in The State of Nature - we're undeveloped, we're ignorant, we're stupid, but we're happy."

Hardly 'I Like To Move It, Move It', is it?

Apparently Los Camp's third album is gonna be their masterpiece, but it's not out until next year, which gives us just enough time to play this until the mp3 is worn smooth. And believe me, we WILL.

PS: Extra points are awarded for having an incredibly exciting introduction, which I've always meant to use as an alarm clock ringtone thing. Imagine the kind of productive day you'd have after a start like that.
Fraser McAlpine

[Spotify]
[YouTube]
[Album: Hold On Now, Youngster...]