Artist.......: Tokyo Police Club
Album........: A Lesson in crime
Label........: Naive
Genre........: Indie
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Dec-07-2006
str.date.....: Feb-2007 (France)
quality......: VBR/44.1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. Cheer it on 02:01
02. Nature of the Experiment 02:02
03. Citizens of Tomorrow 02:46
04. Shoulders and Arms 02:39
05. If it Works 02:05
06. Cut Cut Paste (Bonus) 01:45
07. Be Good 02:05
08. La Ferrassie 02:51
Runtime 18:14 min
Size 28,3 MB
Release Notes:
If there were ever a movement for an indie farm
system, somewhere to designate those young, raw
bands needing more time in the oven, Tokyo Police
Club would be the poster children. This
blogger-approved Toronto quartet has the potential
to become a real five-tool player in indie for a
long time; Pretty Girls Make Graves' agility, Les
Savy Fav's curveball, the Strokes' sweet swing--
there's no questioning the latent talent here.
Strangely, most bands follow a developmental arc
similar to those of professional athletes. Just as
the minor leagues help hone those nascent all-star
skills, there's almost an unwritten rule that bands
should become road-tested to refine their
power-chord angst into slick, nuanced songwriting.
Without even knowing Tokyo Police Club's ages, you
can hear the greenness in their excessive
handclaps, their ham-handed sci-fi narratives, and
their opening alarum, "Operator, get me the
president of the world!" The band may have spawned
some of these tracks from a bored biology class
daydream, but when they're on musically, the
post-adolescence imbued in their sound doesn't even
matter.
For all the raging hormonal awkwardness, the Club
knows how to self-edit like the most scrupulous
adults. The seven songs here contain no extra
gristle, each weighing in around a svelte two
minutes. Even tighter are the twitchy micro-Strokes
riffs adorning tracks like "Cheer It On" and
"Nature of the Experiment". Frontman Dave Monks
even apes Casablancas' vox-via-megaphone a bit,
though with more nasal, less growl. The Strokes
comparisons only hold for so long though as the
EP's second half forks off into Pretty Girls/Q and
Not U hyper post-punk and straight-laced emo.
"Shoulders & Arms" demonstrates the band's ability
to pull off the former, a bustling juggernaut of
stratospheric guitars and squalling synths.
Meanwhile, "Citizens of Tomorrow" headlines the
emo-minded selections, swelling to a futuristic
climax that's three parts Sunny Day Real Estate,
one part Sparta.
While for now any genre may be their oyster, I hope
these guys stick to the prickly garage rock
prominently featured early on the EP. Not only do
they do it best, but the cushy-sounding stuff
closing the release lacks the idea density of the
rest of Crime, and choosing to pursue more of this
ethereal fluff could result in an overblown LP
letdown not unlike that of Rahim's or the Chinese
Stars'. Either way, we-- and the rest of the indie
rock world-- are waiting and listening for their
next move.