Los Campesinos!/The Orion Experience @ Maxwell's: Free the Adequate Seven

It doesn't seem that long ago since I last saw Los Campesinos!, the intensely, rambunctious college grads with a record deal. Then when I looked, it was last summer. Holy cow! The kids from Cardiff have finally come into their own with a full-length debut album and their first proper extensive U.S. tour, which began tonight in Hoboken.

I knew I would love them all over again, but I didn't expect it to be a friggin amazing experience with one pumped up crowd. As I always say, the true music fans go to Maxwell's because it's a tad out of the way and people recognize the importance of this little haven.

The setlist:

• Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats
• Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
• Death To Los Campesinos
• This Is How You Spell Ha Ha Ha We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux Romantics
• Drop It Doe Eyes
• The International Tweexcore Underground
• Knee Deep At ATP
• My Year In Lists
• Frontwards
• We Are All Accelerated Readers
• ...And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison
• You! Me! Dancing!
• We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives
• Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks

I've never seen a crowd try so damn hard to get the band back for an encore. It was a good five minutes of loud cheers and claps, even spontaneous outbreaks of "One blink for yes, two blinks for no. Sweet dream sweet cheeks. We leave alone." It wasn''t just a handful of people, it was a good half of the crowd. They didn't cone out, because that's pretty much all the songs they know. "It Started with a Mixx" has been scraped from their repertoire and "C is the Heavenly Options" and "2007" is not fully ready for live consumption. I say leave on high note, kids, but valiant effort to get them to come out.

The seven piece still look like they are staying up past their bedtime. I kid them, but with that youthful glow comes a youth exuberance in their music. On stage, they are a shy bunch, still getting use to the newfound attention. Like many bands in the myspace era, they were discovered and signed within six months of being formed. One day you're late for class, the next day your touring with Broken Social Scene.

Tonight's show was good stuff. Even when their new gear was wonky, they turned into a positive. When the guitar string broke at the beginning of "You! Me! Dancing!", the drummer just kept on keeping the beat. That aloud the crowd to get pumped up for their big rave-up favorite. Then, it happened again for the other guitarist during "Sweet Dreams Sweet Cheeks".

What comes off great during the show is the male-female vocals from my man Gareth and Aleksandra. In time, they'll build on that dynamic. They are a still a young band, but they play with such excitement and bravado that it doesn't matter in the end.

So after name-dropping them 15 months ago, they have a full-length out called Hold on Now Youngster. With all the elements coming together, it's an exhausting record at first listen. Even when they have sad, depressing songs, they throw in some high-speed guitar riffs, keyboards and glockenspiel bangs. It's the best Power Pop album to come out this year, and you'll be hard-pressed not to get caught up in it. It's a crazy, exciting, frantic and robust piece of BritPop in an era of fashionable, trendy bands.

Do check them out in your next of the woods. I was tempted to see them again Saturday in Philadelphia, but going switch it up with some DeVoTcha action, who are in Philly on Saturday as well.

As a side note: the drummer was wearing a T-shirt that said, "Free The Adequate Seven". The Adequate Seven are a defuncted band from their old Cardiff stomping grounds.

Previously:

• An interview with Gareth
• Their August 2007 show where me and a few members of I'm From Barcelona crew pick up Gareth so he can crowd surf.

You think living in this area for eight years, that I would know or at least heard of every popular New York indie band. Then you come across The Orion Experience, and they've been around since 2005. Even through they are local, they sound more Californian, with the nods to sunny mid-60s bubble gum pop. Mix that with some modern indie rock, even a little ska pop and you get their sound. I caught a handful of songs and some of it fun. I definitely like the more bubble gum elements of their songs.

Comments

[Brody McCoy]

Awesome photos I see these guys next wed. I'm also seeing M83 the same night.

[?]

The Orion Experience sucks!

[annon]

Shittiest band ever The Orion Experience!