This is fine.
It’s cold. Tokyo Police Club took on filling La Zone Rosa on a Wednesday night, temperatures in the teens. I knew it was worth the trip out when a friend asked of his Facebook status, “Hearing the sounds from across the street, should I have gone to see Tokyo Police Club?” Yep. Follow the jump for more.
| Date | 2/2/11 |
|---|---|
| Location | La Zona Rosa |
| Doors | 7pm |
| Tickets | $17 @ Frontgate |
Anyone looking for a solid lineup of bands on Wednesday night should head over to La Zona Rosa for a headlining set by Tokyo Police Club with Someone Still Loves you Boris Yeltsin providing support. Making the night even better, opening for both bands is Austin’s very own TV Torso. Not bad, not bad at all.
[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/tokyo-police-club-wait-up-boots-of-danger.mp3]Download: Tokyo Police Club – Wait Up (Boots of Danger) [MP3]
| Date | 6/18 + 6/19 |
|---|---|
| Location | Stubbs |
| Doors | 7pm |
| Tickets | Both Sold Out! |
So a little bit of a lengthy show post here so read carefully for all information you need. First up, Passion Pit has their highly anticipated shows with Tokyo Police Club and Brahms planned for Friday and Saturday night at Stubbs. Both those shows are sold out, but a quick craigslist search shows a slew of tickets going for fairly reasonable prices. You can also catch a free set by Tokyo Police Club and Passion Pit at Waterloo Records around 6pm. I’d also recommend an interview we did with Passion Pit during ACL and a show review from a year ago.
[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/passion-pit-moths-wings.mp3]Download: Passion Pit – Moth’s Wings [MP3]
Last week Raygun told us that “School’s Out for Summer” and shared the best songs to listen to about the school year finally being over. This week I want to take a look at the best songs from the year that will enhance your summer time easy living philosophy. Follow the jump for the list and a brief explanation.
Tokyo Police Club have another new song from their upcoming LP Champ floating around the internet today. The new track is called “Wait Up (Boots of Danger)” and shows even more pop goodness from the Canadians. Hoping this will be one of the better pop albums of the year. You can pick up your copy of Champ on June 8th via Mom + Pop Records.
Download: Tokyo Police Club – Wait Up (Boots of Danger) [MP3]
Monday couldn’t be a better day for some tasty pop-rock, and thanks to Stereogum, we’ve got just the thing from Canadians Tokyo Police Club. This sweet new jam “Breakneck Speed” will appear on the boys upcoming LP Champ which hits stores on Jun 8th via Mom + Pop. The longer than usual track from TPC shows a band growing up while retaining their ability to create catchy pop numbers.
Download: Tokyo Police Club – Breakneck Speed [MP3]
Rating: 
Sometimes a seasonal change will require a certain approach to listening to music; sometimes it will require that you ask something extra of your most recent purchase. Here Anonymous, the debut album from Eulogies is precisely that record; it’s the one you have been waiting to blast from your speakers as the windows roll down on that perfectly sunlit afternoon. It’s packed full of melody, throbbing bass lines and a certain sense of catchiness that just won’t let the album leave your head.
Bass and vocals open up the album on “Day to Day,” but it’s not until the guitar begins to chug along in unison do you really get a sense that you’re in for an afternoon joyride. Once you’ve taken a brief listen, your ears will require you come back for more.
It would be easier to type-cast this band; they are the next Tokyo Police Club; they sound a lot like Ra Ra Riot; these are all completely understandable, yet entirely unfair. The one thing that differentiates Eulogies from other such bands is that they don’t seem to come across as overly repetitive. Where as some bands in the same sphere of swirling guitar pop have a tendency to rehash the same moments from time, this band escapes it. This is largely in part to singer Peter Walker, who is able to change the pitch just enough so as not wear one down with his voice.
Another attribute that allows for the band to push through the more monotonous moments is the bass-work. It would be easy to use the angular guitar approach throughout the record, as this is a commonly used tool, but here, the bass seems to lay the ground work for a lot of the songs. This is beneficial because, well, you can’t go wrong with a solid rhythm section, but also because it allows for more space for the other instruments to meander and do as they please. A much more interesting listen.
Just to make sure you don’t get bored with the upbeat tunes, they toss a couple of slow-burners your way for kicks. “Two Can Play,” “Goodbye” and “The Fight” all have mellow moments that leave time for you to turn down the stereo long enough to see if the rest of your friends in your car need to stop for a drink. The latter is probably the more memorable of the slower songs, though the shared male/female vocal on “Two Can Play” is likely to hit home with some.
Now, the one detractor from the album, if you were to find one, is that the band isn’t breaking any particularly new ground with this release. They will draw numerous comparisons over and over, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have peers. Still, Eulogies benefits from the fact that at least they keep the game interesting. And they’re sure to keep you interested, at least the first two dozen times you play this on your drive home for Easter.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/07-out-of-character.mp3]Download:Eulogies – Out of Character [MP3]
So when we thought making an albums of the year post was hard, this one proved to be even harder. How do you take literally thousands of songs and narrow it down to the best 40 of the year? Not too sure how to answer that question, but we tried. Each of these songs scream 2008 in our ears. As evident by this list, the year in music was quite a good one and we had some tough choices to make. We’ve got some of the songs streaming for you or links to the song on youtube. Follow the jump to see if your favorite tune of the year made the list.
Rating:
Two records in one year is a highly ambitious goal from anyone, but the majority of the songs released on the debut full length from Los Campesinos, Hold On Now Youngster, has been lying around for a few years. Still, the band aimed to keep the pace with their angular jangling pop, releasing We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed, in the last week.
Everything about this band just screams sheer fun. The guitars pummeling your ears as the gang vocals ebb and flow throughout each song, and you find that your hooked immediately. Their flirtation with nonsensical lyrics makes code deciphering something all of us can enjoy. It’s energetic, and they never let up, not for a second.
Trading male and female vocals is always a perfect way to gather fans quickly, be it a band like Comet Gain or a group like Mates of State. The dynamic quality of such songwriting always makes it interesting for any listener, and lets face it, with so many bands putting out decent albums nowadays, it’s hard to find one that perfectly distinguishes itself from the masses. Yet again, Los Campesinos are standing out in the crowd.
A lot of credit gets thrown around for vibrant young bands, chasing the teenage underclass with energy-packed singles. Bands like Ra Ra Riot or Tokyo Police Club most recently come to mind, but Los Campesinos stand above the rest. Their guitars always seem to be combatting one another, as if the war to write a pop song could only be one. Aforementioned vocals dynamics prevail, mixing it up around any corner, just for kicks.
Take title track, “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” for instance. It opens up with a killer percussion line powered on by a little synthesizer, just before the rest of the band comes in for the attack. Swelling guitars pulsate, up and down, then make a splash, hinting at the chorus. Throw in a set of gang vocals, and you have a perfectly juvenile song written for adults.
Sure, the band is not breaking newer ground here with this album. In fact, you’ll find that a lot of the sounds appear strikingly similar to previous works put out by the band this year. Still, listening to an album like this reminds you of what fun we can all have if we just let it all loose once in awhile, taking in everything for the sake of fun.
If power pop ballads are more your speed, 101x will be showcasing Tokyo Police Club on the outside stage of Emo’s tonight. Tickets for this event are only $14 and can be bought from Ticketweb. Showtime is set for 10pm with an opening performance from The Whigs.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/04-juno.mp3]Download: Tokyo Police Club – Juno [MP3]
