A LESSON IN CRIME

"Operator...Get me the President of the world!!! This is an emergency!"

Thus begins one of the best new CD's I've bought in a long while. I first found out about Tokyo Police Club on MySpace. I was browsing, looking for free MP3's and I happened upon their page. They had three songs (all available for download). I tried to download them, but MySpace is a temperamental creature, and I was forced to email the band. They got back to me fairly soon, I was surprised. They congratulated me on my good taste and emailed me the three files. This sort of behavior isn't uncommon among small time bands (who know that it's the fans that will make or break them). Flash forward and they're in RollingStone!

I'm not sure how they managed to go from obscurity to less obscurity but thankfully they achieved this rare feat. Now they have a CD out--A LESSON IN CRIME (not really a full album it's only 7 tracks and clocks in at 16 minutes, however it's too long to be an EP). As some of you may no, The Strokes are no more, and I needed a jangly garage band to fill the void...Tokyo Police Club has the makings of a band that could fill this void. However, TPC is a bit more Indie than The Strokes. The third track "Citizens of Tomorrow" is very Shins-like (hands clapping, ghostly fireside camp song with surreal robot themed lyrics) however the fourth track "Shoulders and Arms" has kickin' drums and guitar lines. So they're a bit hard to peg down. I'd say they fall somewhere between The Shins and The Strokes.

As far as singles go, I'd say "Nature of the Experiment" is probably the album's best contender (with the "12:51"-ish track "Be Good" coming in a close second). The hook is strong and the guitar work is nice. The biggest problem I have, however, with the song (and the rest of the album) is that it's entirely too short. I feel like screaming the pop song mantra at them "Three minutes!!! Three minutes!!!" The longest song clocks in at a meger 2:49. Close, but no cigar (as it were). Still, what they have is divine, I just wish there was more of it. I guess that's better than overstaying their welcome (which is what artists seem to be doing more and more frequently).

I know no one that reads this blog actually listens to decent music, but if you wake up one day with taste...go on i-Tunes and listen to some song samples. You just might be impressed, I was.

Jason gives A LESSON IN CRIME an A-