Japandroids, two just lads from Vancouver, officially released their debut album on Unfamilar in August, though it seems to have been doing the rounds for a while now - Pitchfork gave it a gushing review in April. It is the follow up to two very promising self-released EPs, All Lies (2007) and Lullaby Death Jams (2008). They have decided to forego the services of a bass player and instead deliver garage power-pop - lead guitar, drums and hoarse harmonies only. Though this is not posed or post-rationalised garage rock, sparse and refined à la White Stripes or The Kills, this is a wall of sound. It is classic heart on sleeve twenty-something guitar angst, delivered with feeling. Early Lemonheads or Dinosaur Jr would be a fairer comparison.Post-Nothing, as the title hints, ruminates over a contemporary politicised world, where politics itself is swamped by issues we'd rather not concern ourselves with. Within this landscape are young kids who just want to meet girls, get laid and have fun and this album is their frustrated soundtrack, "We used to dream, now I worry about dying. I don't want to worry about dying, I just want to worry about those sunshine girls". In a way it is a throw-back album, both in musical style and content, but when it sounds this good, and this tight, and this intense, who cares? I love it - my playcount informs me that it is the album I have returned to most this year.
There are no singles planned for release yet but I would wager that there are enough strong contenders amongst these eight tracks to make it worth a stab for airplay somewhere, "Young Hearts Spark Fire" and "I Quit Girls" being the pick of a rich crop. A short tour of the UK is planned for the end of October/November. I am free-ing up my diary to catch them in London.
http://japandroids.com/myspace/japandroids
youtube/japandroids - live on KEXP - crazy forever/heart sweats
lastfm/japandroids - post-nothing
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