Thursday 04.22.10: Echo & FYF present JAPANDROIDS @ echoplex

Posted by damara - filed in All Ages, MP3, echoplex, events

japandroids

what makes Post-Nothing such a thrill is the manner in which Japandroids hold absolutely nothing back. As contagious as any of the lyrics, melodies, riffs, or drum fills are, their energy and lack of self-consciousness is every bit as equally lovable. Opening mission statement “The Boys Are Leaving Town” could be seen as a goof on Thin Lizzy, but the response, “Will we find our way back home?”, is delivered with such conviction that between those two lines, “Boys” displays a palpable desperation. Six tracks later, the question is still unresolved– amidst the cyclical thrum of “Sovereignty”, they observe: “It’s raining, OH-OH! in Vancouver/ But I don’t give a fuck/ ‘Cause I’m far from home tonight.”

Where it all comes together best is “Young Hearts Spark Fire”. Almost a flipside to LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends”, it’s thematically similar, trading wistful reminiscence for drunken defiance and pulsing electro for chaotic garage rock. The five minutes go by in a blur, and amidst the guitar heroics and cymbal-bashing, King lets his guard down on Post-Nothing’s key line– “We used to dream/ Now we worry about dying/ I don’t want to worry about dying.” It would be so easy to view this sort of musical and lyrical directness with suspicion, but “Young Hearts” is life-affirming stuff– if only it affirms that, even in these times, life doesn’t need to be as complicated as we tend to make it. – Pitchfork

@ Echoplex
enter at
1154 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026