Countdown to Ecstasy! (one)

Christmas is over and the geese are getting laid
Please to buy me prezzies cos I haven't been paid;
If you ain't got no prezzies then some money will do,
If you ain't got bugger all then piss off!

One.
Los Campesiños!
Hold On Now, Youngster...

Ooh, slightly stunted and later than scheduled, we reach the brief pinnacle of my 'Year In Lists'. With their hand drawn artwork, wordy lyrics and flurry of seven inch singles, at first glance this many-headed Welsh, but not Welsh beast of a band recall the 80s golden years of do-it-yourself indie schmindie. But the useful difference is that everything seems so joyful, even when they're breathlessly shouting out their never ending stream of self-deprecating teenage angst. In amongst all that, there are healthy dose of annoyance (Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)), youthful hope (You! Me! Dancing!) and downright weirdness (This Is How You Spell, "Ha ha ha, We've Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics").

This punctuation loving combo (there's an exclamation mark, a comma and ellipsis on the cover alone) are full of exciting contradictions: taut but messy; tuneful yet shouty; both adult & childish; they have clanging guitars mixed with tinkly glockenspiel & folky violin; they can be deathly serious yet bladder-burstingly funny. Their wise, but silly, witty turns of phrase, with short stabs of petulance are the most exhilarating thing I've heard all year.

With two albums already under their belt this year (no matter how much they protest that the last one wasn't an album) I don't think we'll have to wait too long for their next exhuberent burst of brilliance. The future's bright, the future's shouty!