Tokyo Police Club revive post-punk
Published Oct. 13, 2006
It has been a quiet year for post-punk revival, that much-maligned genre that so maliciously burned up both headphones and Web sites alike last year. Its recent stars — Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Maxïmo Park — have taken 2006 off, and maybe its most promising band, The Futureheads, released a decidedly non post-punky second album.
Meanwhile, the country that birthed those aforementioned stars, England, has either been drowning in overblown grandiosity (Muse, Kasabian) or over-hyped bullshit (The Horrors). Who's here then to save post-punk from the hell of a forgettable 10 months? Ontario's young, hyper Tokyo Police Club.
The band hails from Canada, yeah, but this stuff is hallmark contemporary U.K.: the jittery, layered guitar play of The Rakes, the blasting energy of The Futureheads, the social commentary of Bloc Party and the darting, swirling keyboards of Maxïmo Park. It's all been done before, but rarely better.
Don't get it twisted, though; Tokyo Police Club isn't just clipping parts of the last two years and making a collage — its first EP, A Lesson in Crime, shows a band bringing oven-fresh ideas to a genre that has long been carbon copying itself. The arresting Super Nintendo keyboard break on "Cheer It On," the brilliant guitar-only hook on "Shoulders & Arms," the guitar solo of "Citizens of Tomorrow" and the throat-shredding backing vocals on "Be Good" all show that these Canadian teens are well on their way to being heads above their peers.
Like most good post-punk bands (Bloc Party's Matt Tong is the most unheralded secret weapon in pop music), Tokyo Police Club is powered by tight, relentless and never-intrusive drumming. Greg Alsop beats his toms with a raucous fervor that is not lost on the rest of the band. For what Tokyo Police Club lacks in polish, it makes up in raw force and vivacity.
The department in which Tokyo Police Club passes most bands of its stature (that is, they still can't drink and with one EP) by leaps and bounds is songwriting. Case in point: the brilliant "Shoulders & Arms," which could become the anthem of modern day Baghdad. To wit: "We know you've come here with a plan/ To lift our city out of ruin/ Shoulders back and arms at our sides/ We sincerely hope you know just what you're doing," bemoans resigned lead singer Dave Monks.
Monks then mocks modern day over-censorship on opener "Cheer It On" ("Do your neighbor a favor/ Collect their morning paper/ And clip out all the sad bits, no one wants to see that") and then places himself in a militaristic robot-controlled future on "Citizens of Tomorrow," ending the song with a very foreboding "Citizens of tomorrow be forewarned." These lyrics aren't noticed on first or second listen, but once you've stopped thrashing your head long enough to actually stop and pay attention, Tokyo Police Club rewards you by actually holding it.
Whether Tokyo Police Club translates its brand of unrelenting, 90 mph dance-rock to an equally successful full album obviously remains to be seen. But in any event, A Lesson in Crime is no doubt one of the most solid debuts, album or otherwise, released this year — a work whose sum far surpasses its parts.
If Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade are the Ronaldo and Ronaldinho of Canada's Indie World Cup Team (by far the equivalent of soccer's Brazil), Tokyo Police Club is that young star waiting in the wings. Thankfully, we don't have to wait until 2010 to see it kick ass.
Album Review:
Artist: Tokyo Police Club
Album: A Lesson in Crime (EP)
Genre: Post-punk
Record Label: Paper Bag Records
Release Date: Oct. 10
Most Listenworthy Track: 'Nature of the Experiment'
Reviewer's Rating: 4 out of 5