Band: Tokyo Police Club
Album: A Lesson in Crime
Best Element: Raw energy
Genre: Post-punk
Website: www.tokyopoliceclub.net
Label: Paper Bag Records
Band E-mail: tokyopolice@tokyopoliceclub.com
The Plug Music Awards are about to go down in February. Why not support some independent artists in the same month the Grammys take place and usually leaves out all the true talent? Further research has led us to look into one of the Nominees in both Song of the Year for “Nature of the Experiment” and in a separate category for New Act of the Year.
The Tokyo Police Club is a 4 piece band from Newmarket, ON. They formed when their previous band broke up, and 4 of the members decided they missed working on music together. After a few months rehearsals they began playing very empty venues outside of Toronto. By the end of the fall they were invited to play the Pop Montreal Festival with the likes of Harvey Danger, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Dr. Octagon, and Regina Spektor.
The album covers a little more material than an EP and a little less than an LP at 7 songs. Even those songs are short, the longest clocking in at 2:44. But they are blistering pearls of post-punk triumph that are raw and poignant. Hand claps, organs/synths, and jagged guitars fill the soundscapes, but seem to be tucked in and put to bed with mellow vocals that sometimes get the best of themselves and tear through it all to happily bleed into distortion. Overall it’s a catchy, sloppy mess that will draw you in.
Imagine if The Walkmen met the Arctic Monkeys mixed some speed with anti-depressants to fight the gloomy Canadian skyline, and had a baby. Tokyo Police Club is the sound that we would be left with.
-Kendall
First printed on theplugg.com