23 Apr 09
Japandroids
(Wiki) | (Last.FM) | (Myspace)
Post-Nothing
[April 29, 2009] | [Unfamaliar]
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8.0/10
Japandroids, the two piece band intent on making up enough noise to pass for a fledged band plus more, hit us with their full length debut Post-Nothing after two self released EPs. Post’s sound isn’t as ferocious as 2008’s Lullaby Death Jams EP; yet it comes with a tamed maturity that is most likely the result of touring experience, band growth, and well, being signed. Nonetheless, the band has held onto their energy, and the teenage angst lyrics deliver suitably. Save a few vocal modifications, it’s refreshing to hear such a raw production of the album. It’s garage rock at its purest - two kids slamming on their instruments naively screaming about girls, sex, and leaving town as though they’re pubescent punks in their mom’s garage.
Taking a look at their Facebook page reads “Japandroids are 2 sweethearts still naive enough to think they’ll never sell out.” Post-Nothing is filled with this cynical and embraced naiveté. The opening track “The Boys are Leaving Town” find themselves questioning “Will we find our way back home?”, but as they move into following track “Young Hearts Spark Fire”, they scream “We used to dream / Now we worry about dying” as though they are faced with reality. Equipped with only drums and a guitar, the two hold a dangerous ecstatic vitality as if to suggest their only means of survival are the instruments in their hand. The music doesn’t like to give up, nor do the drums or guitars take turns. Instead, the duo smashes on the drums relentlessly and the guitar holds no shame to break into note after note. The keen subtlety within Japandroids’ instrumentation is their ability to not overwhelm one other or the listener. When the guitar lingers, the drums pound away, and when the drums are subtler, the guitar exercises its magnitude. Yet it’s when they do come together (while harmoniously screaming into the microphones mind you) that makes Japandroids one of the most exciting garage rock bands of the year.
All the meanwhile, it manages to throw in a couple serious songs into the mix. Though more a male fantasy than a dreadful tale about a distanced lover, “Sovereignty” confesses an insistence and very right to love a girl (even if you did just meet her): “It’s raining in Vancouver / But I don’t give a fuck / Cause I’m in love with you tonight”. But it’s album closer “I Quit Girls” whose heavy machine-like guitar mixed in with crashing cymbals that reflects how painful and dreary the fall can be from blissful naiveté.
As a whole, the garage rock scene can be filled with approachable catchier albums (or at least the revival garage rock scene - think The Strokes), or the less accessible punk-rock approach (ie: The (International) Noise Conspiracy). Japandroids tread a safe medium but lean more on the punk side of things. Their sound is a distinct one, and regardless of it all, it’s still fun raw rock bursting with energy. So forget about this serious-minded indie-folk/pop/electronic explosion for a second, and turn the volume up on the Japandroids and feel what it’s like to be a little crazy again.
-Mark
