Tokyo Police Club
A Lesson in Crime EP
[Paper Bag; 2006]
Rating: 7.9
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.
Posted to Pitchfork by Adam Moerder on August 11, 2006