We’ll Stick Together Forever

June 25, 2009

You guys have heard Japandroids by now, right? I’m not so great at keeping up with all the musics flooding the intercool*. I prefer to digest my music until I have a firm grasp on it, instead of consuming it an moving on to the next thing. That’s not to say the latter approach is all bad, but it’s not for me. I’ve always thought there was something to old maxim of quality over quantity. With that being said, Post-Nothing is one of those albums I’ve spent a lot of time with over the past few months, and I recommend you do the same (if you haven’t already).

Post-Nothing is the sound of the nostalgia for a time before jobs, debt, or responsibilities in general. “Young Hearts Spark Fire” perfectly sums up the album with the lines: “We used to dream/Now we worry about dying.” The album captures that feeling of a time when many people’s chief concerns were being young and stupid with no regard for consequences. The only thing “Wet Hair” is worried about is getting to France to french kiss some French girls. The simplicity of the album is what makes it great; the songs are built around a basic structure with a few repeated lyrics, but it never feels lacking. It’s the sound of two friends making one hell of a racket and having a blast while they’re at it. When you’ve got it down, why go and mess things up by getting all complicated? Sometimes a few bars can communicate more than an entire album.

Japandroids strike a beautiful balance among the current wave of lo-fi bands that have been popping up the past few months. The production is noisy and the band is loud enough to make a statement, but the songs are so good that it doesn’t matter. The spot of irony is that if the record probably would sound fine if it wasn’t so loud, but then it would lose the sense of urgency that is one of its most appealing features. They don’t have time to check if the guitars are too fuzzy or if the vocals are mixed too low. It’s as if Japandroids absolutely must get the songs out as quickly as possible or risk losing them altogether. Beneath everything though, Post-Nothing is full of songs that burrow down into the folds of your gray matter and propagate until they take over and you can’t help yourself from breaking out into a wide grin and shouting along. And maybe getting into some trouble, too.

Oh yeah, and the guys just signed to Polyvinyl, who are going to re-release Post-Nothing on CD later this year. All you iPod and turntable types can score it right now, though.

MP3 Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire
MP3 Japandroids – Wet Hair

*Can we all start calling it this, please?

Posted by Matt in Album Review