All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Onion (A.V. Club)

The Welsh band's debut full-length captures more believable, crackling punk energy than most hardcore bands.

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100

MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)

A glockenspiel in a guitar band? Freshens up the sound, they think. And they're right.

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PopMatters

Cynics and those who just don’t feel it may claim instead that this is, at best, just a collection of good songs, with witty lyrics, without much dynamic variation; but I tell you today, five or ten or 20 years from now, the only way we won’t be speaking of Hold on Now, Youngster… as a classic will be if Los Campesinos! have already topped it.

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Drowned In Sound

There really isn’t anything wrong with this album. It’s just the most amazing sugar rush you’re going to have this year, and is what, at this point in time, sounds strongly like the best debut album by a British indie band since Tigermilk.

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All Music Guide

Recommending this album seems too light a course of action; requiring it may be more apt. Consider Hold on Now, Youngster...highly required, then.

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The Phoenix

Even Youngster’s more modest near-ballads, like 'My Year in Lists,' preserve the band’s boisterous style through outlandish lyrics (“You said, ‘Send me stationery to make me horny’/So I always write you letters in multi-colors”) and ecstatic delivery, making twee fare like long-distance relationships or working in a bookstore seem like serious pop paydirt.

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Filter

The tasteful kiddy nature and contrastingly mature metaphors, literary lessons and appropriate disdain, all end with a sense of urgency, making for an impressively full album [Winter 2008, p.100]

Pitchfork

This debut is unusually taut and polished, with hooks, crescendos, and clever turns of phrase nearly always in the right place.

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Under The Radar

The band's full-length debut continues where last year's "Sticking Fingers Into Sockets" EP left off. [Winter 2008, p.82]

Blender

Thanks to a sneaky sense of emo self-awareness and shambling, expansive instrumentation, they avoid cute overload. [Apr 2008, p.80]

Hot Press

Hold On Now, Youngster is the proverbial promising debut, brimming with attitude, ideas and oomph. We await their next move with interest.

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musicOMH.com

Their debut album is a riotous cacophony of perfectly sculpted indie boisterousness.

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Uncut

LC! balance their more precious tendencies-winsome vocals, chiming xylophone--with a sharp wit and ideas that arrive in energetic tumbles. [Mar 2008, p.88]

Spin

Spirited and frenetic, Hold On adds up to more than just the sum of the band's five-star libraries. [Apr 2008, p.100]

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Billboard

Chock-full of glockenspiel, keyboards, hand claps and boy-girl harmonies, Youngster is playful and fun.

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Observer Music Monthly

While their coming-of-age tales entertain some, it's their 'us versus the world ' spirit that makes this such an enthralling debut.

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Boston Globe

A welcome throwback to the raw energy of early Kill Rock Star bands, this delirious debut still boasts enough cheeky vigor to sound fresh and new.

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Magnet

Hold On Now, Youngster... overflows with irony, pumping out bright indie-pop songs with titles such as “... And We Exhale And Roll Our Eyes In Unison” and “This Is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics.’”

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Almost Cool

It's the sort of album that at times sounds like the group simply threw everything against the wall and hoped that something would stick. In many cases, it did, but in others it sounds like a raucous mess.

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Prefix Magazine

Hold on Now, Youngster... succeeds where the band does hold on: to genuine emotions, to vulnerability, to a cohesion that threatens to shatter under the pressure of self-deprecation and relentless skin-pounding.

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Village Voice

For a band about whom most of the talk (pro and con) has focused on their unrelenting giddiness, Los Campesinos! have produced a debut that's surprisingly muddled emotionally.

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Hartford Courant

However much Los Campesinos! need a good editor--both for its music and lyrics--a red pen would only ruin the fun.

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Austin Chronicle

It might be one big, saccharine, catchy fuck-you to the industry and culture, but it's really just addictive songwriting reared on Britpop pioneers who didn't prioritize reputation over substance.

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Dot Music

Two things save Los Campesinos! from being utterly insufferable. The first is that many of these songs are such fun, hurtling from the speakers in a blur of fuzzy guitars, big shouty choruses and smart vocal jousting between singers Gareth and Alexsandra. The second saving grace is that Los Campesinos! have the brains to back up their smart arse attitude.

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New Musical Express

It is, however, undoubtedly a collection of many good songs. From start to finish, it’s a relentlessly difficult listen, and one that suffers from little in the way of dynamics or variety of tone.

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NOW Magazine

Los Campesinos! are hyper-literate college kids out to make big statements from microcosmic situations, but the metaphors in the overly abstract lyrics often get away from Gareth and co-vocalist Aleks.

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Q Magazine

More variety is needed and it's all been done before, but rarely with such a sense of fun. [Apr 2008, p.108]

Paste Magazine

In terms of mere diversion, though, the perfectly titled Hold On Now, Youngster… is best administered in small amounts; otherwise, you run the risk of overdose.

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Alternative Press

Youngster is only temporarily satisfying. [June 2008, p.135]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 17 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Alan F. gave it a9:
Wow. Refreshing smooth with energy, melody, and originality. Not trite, not too much. Please play loud.

Matt H. gave it a10:
There's no way an album this catchy should still sound so good after 30, 40 or 50 listens, but "Hold on Now, Youngster" is packed with just as much detail as it is raw energy. This is a spectacular debut album.

Richard B. gave it a9:
Great debut album, did take me a couple of run throughs to really like it, but its definitely worthy of being in anyone's record collection

tap tap gave it a2:
One great song, 'You, Me Dancing' but the rest are absolutely terrible. And bad singing as well. I seriously don't understand the above reviews.

Adam D gave it a10:
Do yourself a favor, buy this album. Amusing, musically mature and diverse, takes hilarious shots at its fan base while still being a powerful album. I cannot stop listening

Paul C gave it a10:
A solid, fun album you will find yourself listening to over and over again. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of the year.

matt a gave it a6:
Okay but very overrated. What is injustice is that this album has a higher metascore than Neon Neon. Sounds exactly like thier EP from last year, except it worked much better in that format. One of the weaker bands in the Arts & Crafts family.

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Hold On Now, Youngster

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