Bricks by Kaleta

Rob - Multi-instrumentalist, vocals (2025)

One of seven LEGO builds created as gifts for my favorite band and dear friends in Los Campesinos!

A true renaissance man, Rob’s accolades include solo work as Sparky Deathcap, and after joining LC! In 2010, creating some of the most amazing artwork for the band - (I think his work is very Chris Ware-esque). When I asked member Kim about some details in Rob’s setup, she stated: “Rob’s set up is a chaos so I wouldn’t get too hung up on the details!” But, the details are what make these builds work, so I made sure to include his synth, guitar, cymbals, tambourine, woodblock and pedal board as accurately as possible.

In honor of these seven builds, I’m going to list my favorite song off of each of Los Campesinos!’s seven albums. The November 11th, 2010 release Hello Sadness was Rob’s first full album with the band and his presence was felt right off on the opening track, By Your Hand, in which he took the vocals on the bridge with his signature baritone.

Slide 5 photo credit Juliette Boulay

Neil - Guitar (2025)

One of seven LEGO builds created as gifts for my favorite band and dear friends in Los Campesinos!

As one of the founding members of LC!, Neil’s guitar has consistently shredded over the past 19 years. I tried to capture the focus and intensity of his performance style in this pose, which his bandmates noted “will lead to serious back trouble later in life”. It was also fun to create the pedal boards for the band including their bright red Mortal Joy collaboration with Buzzing Bugs Audio Devices.

In honor of these seven builds, I’m going to list my favorite song off of each of Los Campesinos!’s seven albums. Their third album, Romance Is Boring was released January 26th, 2010 and marked an evolution from the band’s twee-pop beginnings. The track In Medias Res kicks things off and the unconventional song structure, vigente verses, and layering of sound make it one of my favorite songs - also worth checking out the acoustic reinterpretation from the All’s Well That Ends EP

Slide 5 photo credit Juliette Boulay

Tom - Guitar (2025)

One of seven LEGO builds created as gifts for my favorite band and dear friends in Los Campesinos!

This was the first build I did for the series. I studied Tom’s mannerisms carefully and upon seeing his pose, his bandmates all said they recognized the lifted leg move - even though Tom himself was not aware he did it! Tom’s signature Gibson SG was fun to recreate in LEGO form. It was so fun that I made 100 of them to give out as tokens of appreciation at Brickworld 2025 to acknowledge some of the many wonderful builds and builders that I admire - drop a comment if you got one. I also had to include the Korg MS1 microsampler, which is only used in one song - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed.

In honor of these seven builds, I’m going to list my favorite song off of each of Los Campesinos!’s seven albums. Their debut Hold On Now Youngster was released February 18th, 2008 and contains (possibly) their best known song You! Me! Dancing! Which was featured in several media, but most notably a Budwiser advert from 2011. However, I will never tire of listening to the sub two minute banger and trading vocals of My Year In Lists.

Photo credit of slide 6: Dory Valentine

Stay Up Late (2024)

Much of early parenthood is memory holed for a good reason - lack of sleep and just trying to do your best to fake it until you make it. One vivid memory I have is trying to get my son back to sleep after a middle of the night feeding. I would stand at the front of our 2nd floor apartment looking down at a silent street, watching the traffic light change over and over. The pets, barely disturbed by the swaying and shushing noises, slept on in the comfort of their beds. But as tired as I was, I’d happily hold that tiny human one more time, immersed in the glow of a silent city.

This build is part of my ongoing autobiographical series. Along with the other 20+ installments, this build was on display at Brickworld Chicago 2024 (but not posted online until now).

Each time I take on one of these builds, I like to use it as an opportunity to try something I haven’t yet done with LEGO. This build was an exercise in forced perspective with the room built as my signature miniland plus scale and the exterior using progressively smaller microscales to create the illusion of depth in the world beyond the windows. In the later images, you can see some details of the exterior world, and an image showing the true size of the model with lightwell to help illuminate the scenery.

Ultimately, I think I’d go back to this one and take out the translucent elements in the windows to make it easier for the viewer to see what’s happening out the windows. This is one build that really needs to be seen in person for the forced perspective to work, so I learned somethings to apply for the next iteration.