6A — Monday, March 20, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
“I’m taking far too many
chances / On these less than
idealistic romances.”
Nobody would have picked the
scrappy Welsh band with cutesy
matching last names and gleefully
overwrought song titles to secretly
become one of the best bands of its
generation, but I don’t think even
Los Campesinos! themselves ever
expected to survive their own
brief moment. Their first full-
length, Hold On Now, Youngster, is
where you can find this line, from
a track titled “Broken Heartbeats
Sound Like Breakbeats.”
(If you don’t like that song
title, I probably shouldn’t tell you
about “This Is How You Spell
‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed the
Hopes and Dreams of a Generation
of Faux-Romantics.’ ”)
Already on 2008’s Youngster,
the Campesinos! — yes, all 11
members, past and present, have
taken that last name — were
already recording like they’d never
get another shot at an album. On
“Breakbeats” alone, the opening
count-off is shrieked by every
band member, Aleks Campesinos!
gets a line in about Spider-Man in
the chorus, and bandleader Gareth
sings at least some of his lyrics like
he’s trying to imitate the tortured
wailing of the old Internet dial-up
sound.
The
songcraft
of
Los
Campesinos! has always been
less than idealistic, less than
commercially
viable.
These
songs are filled with obscure
lyrical
references,
too
many
instruments, multiple lead singers
and catchy hooks buried under
breakneck tempos played by
overactive musicians. This is not a
band criminally deprived of fame.
This is an underdog band that has
taken aim at a very specific kind
of listener — one that’s awkward
and anxious, but loves to dance
and shout their feelings — and hit
them square in the heart.
“We’re undeveloped, we’re
ignorant, we’re stupid, but
we’re happy.”
This is probably the one you
know. Well, you probably don’t
know the lyric, because Gareth
stuffs it into a mile-a-minute rant
at the end of the song, quietly
slipping it underneath the final
chorus amid lines comparing
supermarkets to discotheques.
But you might know the slow,
opening guitar build-up to this
seven-minute opus from the
debut album. I think it was in
a beer commercial once, which
makes it LC’s most-heard song by
a longshot.
“You!
Me!
Dancing!”
crystallized Los Campesinos! as
part of something called “blog
rock,” which basically came about
when MySpace was still a thing
and everyone was excited rather
than horrified at the unlimited
possibilities of the World Wide
Web. It was the first time bands
didn’t need a label to distribute
music, and it gave a lot of left-field
bands 15 minutes of fame.
Most blog rock outfits were
overhyped and faded away after
an album or two, but LC! have
held on for dear life. Listen to the
debut, and they’re just as jittery
and smart-alecky as all their peers,
but this line from “Dancing!”
completely undersells the band.
Lurking
underneath
all
the
distracting frills, soon to emerge,
are beautiful anthems.
“I identify my star sign / By
asking which is least compatible
with yours”
By the next album, Gareth and
the band seemed smarter, more
developed, but unhappy. This
comes off the opening track to
Youngster’s follow-up, “We are
Beautiful, We Are Doomed,” and
it’s the best way to say “fuck you”
I’ve ever heard.
Albums two and three in the
Campesinos! catalog are pricklier
than the youthful, instrument-
inclusive debut. They’re made for
catharsis rather than dancing,
dense with guitar noise and
emotion while trying once again
to obscure catchy hooks and
choruses. “Shout at the world,
because the world doesn’t love
you,” goes one indicative line.
They’re also the albums where
Gareth solidifies his persona as a
songwriter. He’s unlucky in love,
either because he’s too obstinate
or too clingy in relationships.
He’s constantly worried about
the future. He suffers no fools. He
believes his break-ups should be
front-page worthy tragedies. Aleks
is always there to counterpoint,
though: “You think you’re the
needle that drains the blood
donation / You’re just a repetition
on an old, worn out pin cushion,”
is so bizarre and brilliant it could
only come from the Campesinos!.
“Here it comes / This is the
crux / She vomits down my
rental tux.”
But
if
Gareth
swaggered
around
every
song
like
a
misanthropic wanker, LC! would
be borderline unlistenable. Thank
Morrissey he’s got a sense of
humor too, one that continually
allows him to narrate himself into
memorably hilarious situations.
“I’ve spent too much time on
my knees / Next to urinals in
garish Mexican restaurants /
Sobbing into my warm, pale palms
/ For a better understanding
of my dietary requirements,”
he
shamelessly
admits
on
“Miserabilia.”
Even better, on “By Your
Hand,” he imagines an entire
hook-up with Fate, personified
as the prettiest girl in the world.
They kiss for hours, and her hand
is down Gareth’s trousers when
she invites him back to her place.
“But here it comes, this is the
crux,” he sings. “She vomits down
my rental tux.”
In a review of the new
Campesinos!,
Sick
Scenes,
Pitchfork editor Ryan Dombal
called Gareth Campesinos! “our
bard of throwing up.” He writes,
“Nearly every word that has
come out of the Los Campesinos!
singer’s mouth has presented
itself
with
rash
inelegance,
candidness and the need to be
ejected from his body this very
second.”
That is entirely the appeal
of this quixotic band. Gareth
cannot contain himself, and these
odd, ultra-specific feelings that
get spewed out over the course
of every Campesinos! album
somehow look the same as a
lot of other people’s inner guts.
He’s failed to digest all of his
own experiences and throws
them back out through his art,
and what do you know — his
misfortune makes a lot of fans feel
less alone in their own awkward
everyday screw-ups and missed
opportunities.
The best icebreaker I’ve ever
been a part of is, “When was the
last time you threw up?” That’s
how you learn about a person;
that’s how you hear the best
stories.
What I’m trying to say is,
everybody pukes. Gareth is just
the one who writes all about it.
“They promised they’d be
best of friends from now until
forever / But both were far too
needy not to fall for the other.”
No Campesinos! song has
fascinated
me
more
than
*inhales* “A Heat Rash in the
Shape of the Show Me State; or,
Letters from Me to Charlotte.”
For the record, I don’t think it has
anything to do with a relationship
between Gareth and Aleks, but
no song better illustrates their
chemistry.
“Heat Rash” is a quieter,
meditative
song
about
a
tempestuous couple. It’s still a
Campesinos! song, so you’ll hear
the word “erection” when you
listen, but unlike the overflowing
drama of most of their songs,
this one is more restrained and
thought-through, open to many
interpretations. The voices of
dual-singers Gareth and Aleks
mix perfectly here, with Gareth
taking the narrative verses with
his usual directness and Aleks
hitting notes of longing on the
more ambiguous chorus.
Unfortunately, Aleks left after
three
albums,
which
makes
releases four and five a little less
dynamic. She was the best foil
Gareth could have asked for, and
the loss of her presence is naturally
a little tough to adjust to.
“Renato Dall’Ara, living off
2008 / Renato Dall’Ara, once up
then back down again.”
I don’t think I can understate
how miraculous it is that this band
is still making albums. Indie rock
is not a viable business anymore,
unless you’re doing arenas like
Arcade Fire or banging out
afternoon sets at every festival
that calls. Los Campesinos! is not
a stable endeavor, and they rely
on their hardcore fans more than
a major-label pop star ever could.
This line, off the opening track
of Sick Scenes, is one of many
obscure (for Americans) soccer
references you’ll find throughout
the Campesinos’ work, but there’s
some pretty clear double meaning
here, with 2008 also being the
release of Hold On Now, Youngster.
Gareth has said, too, the “once up
then back down again” line refers
to how, in the music industry, “you
play a venue once on the way up
and once on the way back down.”
But if Sick Scenes is Los
Campesinos! on the way back
down, it’s a return to form and a
fantastic way to bottom out. After
two solid albums, this sixth effort
is their most exciting in years, filled
once more with weirdly danceable
arrangements and easily quotable
lines. In the very first verse of this
track, Gareth snidely cuts at a self-
professed Marxist reading by his
parents’ pool. (“It’s only outdoor
and it isn’t heated.”)
Sick Scenes is mature yet fun
and everything else you could
ask for from a veteran band, and
it’s hard not to wish that Los
Campesinos! had received more
public attention when you listen.
It’s hard to tell if this new release is
an artistic resurgence or a proper
finale for a group that by all odds
should have been dead eight years
ago, but more than anything it just
makes me hope that these albums
survive long enough to influence
another young, up-and-coming
band — one who can shine a light
on all these should-be classics.
“We are beautiful / We are
doomed.”
This is the one. This line, the
titular culmination of my absolute
favorite song, is why I needed to
write so many words about these
Welsh would-be deities. It starts
with four staccato synth notes that
roll into a repeating melody. There
are strings and a glockenspiel
along with the guitars. It’s epic.
Gareth isn’t rapping, but he’s
sort of speak-singing as fast as
he can, ranting at you about the
slow dissolving of his relationship
and that time he ate too many
crisps and threw up while playing
soccer. He slows down for this
gutwrenchingly
honest
line:
“You feel terrified at the thought
of being left behind / Of losing
everybody, the necessity of dying.”
Then he turns up the shouting
for this classic quote: “Oh, we kid
ourselves there’s future in the
fucking / But there is no fucking
future.”
Gareth is angry and jealous and
lost. He’s working out strategies
to keep from being heartbroken
but finds himself outmaneuvered
every time. The last quote from
him I’ll write out is the climax, in
its entirety:
“I cannot emphasis enough
that my body / Is a badly designed,
poorly
put-together
vessel
/
Harboring
these
diminishing,
so-called vital organs / I hope
my heart goes first. I HOPE MY
HEART GOES FIRST!”
Los Campesinos! is a band that’s
always ready to die, but thrilled to
have lived and loved. They couldn’t
control the volume of their voices,
the number of instruments they
let into the mix or the intensity of
detail in all their embarrassing
anecdotes. They’ve spent a decade
reaching out from Wales to the rest
of the world, looking for pissed-off
romantics who’d always be up and
then back down again. They’ve
touched a very specific subset that
likes erudite soccer references and
awkward, inclusive dancing in
equal measure. They’ve inspired at
least one case of extreme devotion.
They’ve always been doomed to
fail. They’ve always been beautiful.
A lyrical guide to indie
rock’s best-kept secret
‘We’re undeveloped, we’re ignorant, we’re stupid, but we’re happy.’
NBC
NBC’s new comedy “Trial & Error”
Silly crime spoof ‘Trial &
Error’ surprising delight
Theoretically,
a
show
like
NBC’s “Trial & Error” shouldn’t
work. Given its single-camera,
mockumentary-style storytelling
and silly humor, “Trial & Error”
sounds like one of those typical,
offbeat cookie-cutter sitcoms that
attempts to mirror previously
successful comedies like “The
Office” and “Parks & Recreation.”
However, “Trial & Error” subverts
the “formulaic comedy” trope
with a talented cast, hysterical
one-liners and a premise that is as
wacky as it is clever.
Though it’s not necessarily
thought-provoking or complex,
“Trial & Error” is nevertheless
a genuinely funny, sometimes
touching show that pokes fun at the
criminal justice system and masks
the grittiness of crime TV with
gleeful absurdity.
While the majority of characters
are portrayed as dumb, each of the
actors imbue their roles with wit,
delivering the whip-smart dialogue
with ease and adept comedic
timing. Nick D’Agosto (“Gotham”)
leads the band of cast members as
the tirelessly optimistic attorney
Josh Segal, who travels from
New York to East Peck, South
Carolina to defend eccentric poetry
professor Larry Henderson (John
Lithgow, “The Crown”). Having
played mostly supporting roles,
D’Agosto does an admirable job as
the lead character, but it’s Lithgow,
at his kookiest and funniest, who
fuels most of the show’s humor,
channeling a nervous energy in his
character’s desperation without
coming off as pitiful or plain stupid.
With the help of the lead
investigator Dwayne Reed (Steven
Boyer, “The Wolf of Wall Street”),
the
maladie-ridden
secretary
Anne Flatch (Sherri Shepherd, “30
Rock”) and Larry’s
daughter Summer
(Krysta Rodriguez,
“Smash”),
Josh
is
tasked
with
developing
a
compelling
case
for
Larry,
who
was
accused
of
murdering his wife
Margaret. Despite the menace of
the case’s cut-throat prosecutor
Carol Anne Keane (Jayma Mays,
“Glee”), the steadfast Segal and his
slightly incompetent team do their
best to fight for Larry’s innocence,
even when the odds are stacked
against them, such as when two
breaking
news
stories
reveal
Larry’s affair with another man
and the murder of his first wife.
These events prompt outrage
from the community, but also
spark
some
darkly
amusing
antics from Josh’s team. Guest
star Andy Daly (“Review”) plays
forensic investigator Thom Hinkle,
who helps Josh find evidence in
Larry’s defense, despite having
an
obsessive
compulsion
to
masturbate in highly stressful
situations.
Shepherd,
whose
performance is more outlandish
and much tamer than her previous
comedic outings, gives Anne an off-
kilter, if somewhat deranged edge.
Her character suffers from facial
amnesia, dyslexia and Stendahl’s
syndrome, which causes her to
faint every time she observes
something beautiful. It’s possible
that these kind of odd quirks can
become annoying the more they are
referenced, but they are also what
make “Trial & Error” surprisingly
entertaining,
strange
and
humorous.
Along with the
brilliant
casting
and writing, “Trial
& Error” utilizes
its
Southern
setting
effectively
as well. Being a
Northeasterner, Josh is a fish out of
water who has trouble acclimating
to the South’s culture. In one
particularly funny sequence, the
courthouse
security
mistakes
Josh’s “lip balm” for an actual bomb,
but lets Carol Anne through with
a gun. Later on, he has difficulty
in pronouncing Carol Anne’s and
the Judge Horsedich’s names,
despite the fact that the correct
pronunciation of both characters’
names are impossible even for
viewers to understand. It’s easy
to play into the many stereotypes
of the South, but “Trial & Error”
highlights these little cultural
tidbits as something casually funny
rather than egregiously overt.
This show could’ve started out
like the first few seasons of “Parks
& Rec” and “The Office,” where
the characters weren’t quite yet
developed and the humor was too
awkward and clumsy. Luckily,
“Trial & Error” already seems to
have found its footing.
SAM ROSENBERG
Daily Arts Writer
LAUREN THEISEN
Daily Music Columnist
MUSIC COLUMN
‘Trial & Error’
2-Part Series
Premiere
NBC
Tuesdays at 9 p.m.
Tracey Snelling opens up
the life behind windows
When stepping into Tracey
Snelling’s
exhibit
“Multiple
Realities,” gallery-goers will
find themselves immersed in
countless “different sounds and
languages”
while
absorbing
the vibrant colors and various
characteristics of, what Snelling
refers to as the “shacks.”
One
piece
of
her
work
which will be on display, “One
Thousand Shacks,” is usually
16-feet-tall
by
10-feet-wide,
but will need to be split apart
as the ceiling in the gallery
space is too low. Composed of
many substances and various
mediums, Snelling built her
work out of recycled materials.
Snelling created her work by
“saving old boxes, food boxes,
tin foil and a lot of plastic,”
which plays on a critical theme
of the work: Making do with
what you have.
“I just had the image in my
head: Wow. I had to do it,”
Snelling said, referring to her
inspiration for “One Thousand
Shacks.”
During her travels through
Mexico,
Cuba
and
China,
Snelling began to get an honest
look at the “extreme global
poverty,” both around the globe
and in the US. With her new
awareness
and
perspective
came the image of “One
Thousand Shacks.”
“I mean people are starving
and very thin, and have no
place to live,” Snelling said
when recalling her experiences
abroad. In her own work,
Snelling illustrates the global
devastation of poverty.
Despite the heavy subject
matter, Snelling will display
her work as she saw it: as an
outsider.
“I realize that I am an
outsider, I try to be neutral and
just take things
in
and
put
it
out;
to
not
be
judgmental,” she
said.
As a result, the
work
does
not
focus
solely
on
the struggles of
poverty. Snelling
recognized
that
while
global
poverty is one of
our most plaguing
and
devastating
issues, the people living in
poverty are still living.
“These
people
are
very
resilient, a lot of people start
businesses in the favelas or
wherever
they
are
living,”
Snelling
said.
“There
are
kickboxing schools that they
start, all sorts of different
things.”
Snelling’s
work
is
transparent,
and
every
component
matters.
She
encourages the audience to take
a look behind the shacks to see
how they are put together.
The shacks’ frames are made
of wood while countless simple
wires race along the walls to
power miniature TVs and lights.
Snelling explained that “the
back is almost as important as
the front because it shows that
in a lot of these areas you just
have to take what you have.”
Her exhibit will also contain
a set of miniature store fronts
and rooms. Some of these
play off of stereotypes, social
issues and other rooms that,
to her, were just
“intuitive,” such
as
the
“disco-
party” room.
While
some
make statements
on topics such as
prostitution and
feminism, others
“subtly look at
the social issues,
not
necessarily
making
a
statement,
but
pointing out that
there is an issue.” Snelling’s
ability to jump into and out
of
troubling
realities
will
lead to a socially intriguing,
yet
artistically
beautiful
experience for gallery-goers.
While Snelling’s passion for
creating art is unmistakable,
she also has a clear hunger to
change the way people see the
world.
“I
would
love
if
this
influences anyone to donate
money or do something to help
with poverty, but on a bigger
scale, I hope that my work
opens people’s minds a little bit
more to be more inclusive and
accepting.”
ISABEL FRYE
Daily Arts Writer
TV REVIEW
COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Stamps Lecture:
Tracey Snelling’s
“Multiple
Realities”
March 20th @ 5:10
P.M.
Helmet Stern
Auditorium UMMA
Free