That said, the influence of their more abrasive forebears has steadily decreased with time. Essentially a standard four-piece guitar band cleverly compressed into two units, their take on classic ’70s and ’80s rock comes filtered through the stringency of punk and post-punk alternative rock. What makes Japandroids stand out from other duos, however, is the lack of an overt blues base. Like those pairs, their popularity is rooted in the kind of exhilaratingly raw live performances which offer a corrective to the pre-set, almost-live predictability of so many contemporary rock bands. The Vancouver band, comprising Brian King (guitar, vocals) and David Prowse (drums, vocals), have come to prominence during a post-White Stripes boom dominated by the likes of The Black Keys, Royal Blood, Shovels & Rope, Drenge and Wye Oak. Yet, with guitars soaring and grooves accelerating, the words feel undeniable, and you know that when you hear ’em in a club – or theater, or arena – you’ll be bouncing off the walls, shouting every word.Japandroids’ rise through the ranks has coincided with the golden age of the power duo. Part of the thrill here is how King’s constructs teeter at cliché’s brink see “North East South West,’ with its cheer-trolling regional shout-outs, or “Midnight to Morning,” with its shopworn road-hog catalog: the bottle, the devil, the highway lines, the way home. It’s awesome.ĭrummer David Prowse still plays like Keith Moon weaned on the Ramones, with stoic muscle-beats full of sprints and lunges. The song’s about a kid leaving behind his small-ass town for big-ass dreams, and when the voices harmonize on the “whoa-oh!”s, thick with top-shelf reverb, you hear every cheeseball Eighties pop-metal chorus chant in history distilled and vindicated. “It got me all fired up, to go far away/And make some ears ring from the sound of my singing, baby!” hollers Brian King on the title track. On their third LP, that band is out of the closet. Even when they were screaming Vancouver scrappers recording songs like “Darkness at the Edge of Gastown,” you knew there was a classic rock act at the punk heart of Japandroids.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |