A band named for a law enforcement agency shouldn't make me want to go out and break the law. Tokyo Police Club [0] does.
Whenever "Cheer It Down" or "Box" comes up in iTunes, I am filled with the urge to commit immature trangressions against people and property. But here's the thing: I don't want to actually hurt anyone doing it. I just want some Bellevue dude to find his mailbox covered in pancake batter and shake his fist at my getaway Zipcar, screaming "You wild kid, yuh!" Such is Tokyo Police Club's slighty goofy brand of aggression -- call it victimless garage rock.
I may have to get those kicks while I still can. The two-minute bursts of punk lunacy that made the Newmarket, Ontario, punk band's first two EPs ("A Lesson in Crime" and "Smith") an integral part of my pre-coffee routine for a couple months are in short supply on the band's debut album, "Elephant Shell." It's not a bad record -- quite the contrary, in fact -- but it does find the band in the midst of growing up a bit. The production is deeper, the arrangements richer, the songwriting more mature and some of the songs -- most notably the Band of Horses-like "The Harrowing Adventures Of..." -- are slow and thoughtful.
I don't anticipate that the band's upcoming show [0] at Neumos will be as introspective as its new record indicates it will be. The band is doing what it needs to do in the studio, but at the core of every one of their songs there remains a streak of teenage anarchism, and onstage all the niceties will be stripped away. The pranky spirit is still there, carefully hidden, but ready to wreak havoc. Smoosh and We Barbarians open the all-ages show.
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