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TPC STIR NOHO INTO A FRENZY

Tokyo Police Club stir NoHo into a frenzy

Daily Collegian | April 29, 2008

With a backdrop of sirens and the unified chanting of their name, Tokyo Police Club emerged onto a tranquil, illuminated stage amidst a hue of blue light and much fanfare. What followed was far from a peaceful Saturday night.

Translating their frenzied material seamlessly in the live setting, the band powered through the lengths of almost their entire discography before a capacity crowd at the Pearl Street Night Club. Four-piece bands generally don't create the kind of energy and depth of sound that the Canadian quartet mustered, and for that the band deserves their due. Whether rattling tambourines, emphatically clapping, or incorporating crowd interaction, the band not only stretched the limitations of what a relatively simple four-piece arrangement can offer in a live environment, they abandoned them altogether.

The frantic pace of their recorded works took on new life on stage, aided by the band's theatrical flair, engaging material, and the elaborate circle of fluorescent punctuations that accompanied every second of their set. Surrounded by synchronized glowing pillars, every break down was met with an elaborate array of colors, and every lull was met with soothing and still light. This added visual provided a unique dimension to their stage performance, accentuating the insatiable highs and melodic lows of their set list.

Bassist and lead vocalist Dave Monks was front and center and proved to be a stabilizing force to the band's eccentric on-stage persona. His bass lines carried the majority of the night's selections and were accented by Graham Wright's over-the-top keyboard arrangements and the spirited drumming of Greg Alsop.

Guitarist Josh Hook served in a variety of roles, playing his guitar positioned well below his midsection and periodically letting it hang from its strap in favor of inspiring clap-alongs and feverishly providing a supplemental layer of tambourine.

Wright was the true showman of the quartet, owning his corner of the stage with an unparallel flair for the dramatic. Onlookers could see the sweat drip from Wright's hair and collect on the lenses of his black-rimmed glasses and the exhausted expression on his face as he screamed into the microphone, lunging over his synthesizer, desperate to reach the audience.

When he wasn't playing or grinding his hips into the casing of his keyboard, he was violently rattling and slamming a tambourine, using his free hand to punctuate the fourth beats so hard your palms felt sore even from the back of the clubroom.

On this night, one of the biggest criticisms of the band's records turned out to be one of their live shows greatest strengths. With a discography that runs under an hour in length, the band provided a taste of everything, both old and new, and delivered their quick hitting songs with all the necessary dynamism.

Despite their newest album "Elephant Shell" being released just this past Tuesday on Saddle Creek Records, the crowd was familiar with the wide range of the new material performed by the band. Slower selections such as "Juno" and "Listen to the Math" resonated through the clubroom and were met with softly mouthed audience renditions to accompany the relatively calm lightshow.

Upbeat songs like the cheekily titled "Your English is Good" and the clap-along single "Tessellate" caused quite a stir in the crowd, as dancing broke out in patches throughout the packed room while those on the outskirts were likewise helpless to stand motionless.

As is almost always the case, the band's older material garnered the most positive response from the crowd. Tearing through tracks from "A Lesson in Crime," the bands 2006 release, the band managed to supplement their newest material with their established works, maintaining a delicate balance throughout the length of the set.

"Nature of the Experiment" elicited the warmest response of the night. The franticly paced number got people moving in unison with the song's aggressive pace and singing out with a complete lack of restraint in unison with Monks' vocals, which arguably sounded superior in the flesh then they did on the songs digital counterpart.

The band fittingly concluded the night with "Cheer it On," a song that served as the introduction to their first album and the band as a whole. As band and crowd yelled in unison along with the song's chorus "When you're standing near/ Tokyo Police Club/ when you're standing next to me/ Tokyo Police Club," the lyrics developed new meaning. With each emphatic declaration of their namesake it became increasingly obvious that the song was no longer an introduction; rather, it was a statement that they had truly arrived.

Photos Courtesy: Brian Tedder / Daily Collegian
Click for an awesome Photo Slideshow

TOKYO POLICE CLUB IN NOHO SATURDAY

Tokyo Police Club embrace internet success
Daily Collegian | April 25, 2008

While some are quick to dismiss the journalistic credibility of blogging, its undeniable influence over pop-culture seems to grow exponentially with each passing day. If there ever was a poster child for this newfound impact the Internet has in shaping the modern musical landscape, it would be Tokyo Police Club.

The youthful Canadian quartet started out in 2005, building a small following while generating buzz in their local Toronto area, catapulting them to play larger venues and local festivals, and ultimately signing a deal with the Canadian-based independent label Paper Bag Records to release their first studio recording.

In 2006, "A Lesson in Crime" was released to the public; a debut collection of frantic and quick-hitting tracks that seemingly defied genre typecasting. The band teased listeners with its potential and brevity by racing through the EP's eight tracks with reckless abandon, the finished product clocking in at fewer than 17 minutes.

While some mainstream music critics lauded this as a glaring flaw, the album was openly embraced for its frenetic pace and audacity by bloggers and online music communities. This freshly-generated publicity catapulted the band from localized obscurity into the mainstream musical climate.

"It was really surprising but awesome," said keyboardist Graham Wright of the online buzz that surrounded the band in a recent phone interview with The Daily Collegian. "But with any kind of hype you have to take it with a grain of salt really."

Modest in both experience and nature, Wright, as well as the rest of the band, is very conscious of the power online communities have on propelling relatively unknown bands into national prominence.

"I think Vampire Weekend is the prime example, their like what, the biggest band in the world now? The people creating the hype today are just regular people, not necessarily professionally-trained writers, just people with blogs," Wright said.

"These are everyday people, so they don't have to deal with the pressures or the politics of more traditional media. They have no loyalties so they can turn on you just as easy as they praised you and that hype can disappear really quickly."

In the wake of "Crime's" success and the bands growing online contingent of supporters the band signed to Omaha-based Saddle Creek Records in 2007, a partnership that left many fans perplexed given the two parties contrasting trademark sounds.

"Initially I was a bit skeptical of signing with Saddle Creek" Wright said of the partnership. "We really don't fit that 'Saddle Creek' sound they are so well known for. But looking back I truly believe it was the best choice, it has worked out better than I dared imagine."

While the band is admittedly overjoyed with how their affiliation with the label has turned out, the jump from a small independent label to Saddle Creek was hardly a rash decision.

"We talked to every record label we could think of both big and small," said Wright. "When it finally came down to it Saddle Creek really just offered the best of both worlds for us by being small enough to get in personal contact with while still being large enough to transcend beyond the indie scene. They're really super great people too."

Last Tuesday, the bands first full-length offering from Saddle Creek, "Elephant Shell," was released in stores. While still possessing the band's unmistakable style of relatively brief and quick-paced songs, "Elephant Shell's" sound is decidedly less scattered than its predecessor and can be best described as a more centralized, cohesive effort than "A Lesson in Crime."

As with any shift in sound, there is always the chance of a backlash from fans, but according to Wright, this was a risk the band was willing to take as they strongly believe in the quality of their latest album.

"The reaction from fans has been mixed, which is honestly what I expected," Wright said in regards to fan feedback, "Some of our diehard fans, if I can really use the term die-hard, seemed a bit puzzled at first, but we have gotten some really positive responses as well. The album is defiantly different in some very key ways [from 'A Lesson in Crime,'] so it takes a little while to warm up to. I'm sure it'll grow on them though, it did for me."

One thing fans and critics universally can agree on is that even with the lengthier confines of a full-length album, the band still has a flair for creating songs that barely break the two-minute barrier. "My first thought was 'Oh great, we made another batch of two minute songs,' but we honestly never put any thought into how long a song is going to be" Wright said with a slight chuckle, adding, "We don't go back and add things in after the fact, we just write them the way we do. I guess you could say we have musical ADD."

With their current tour, the band hopes to win over more fans that may be on the fence about the new album and, according to Wright, this has been going exactly as planned.

"The tour has been going great and we've been playing some fantastic shows to some really responsive fans," Wright said. "We're all excited to come back to Northampton; Pearl Street is a really awesome venue."

Tokyo Police Club plays Saturday, April 26 with opening acts Smoosh and Who Shot Hollywood at the Pearl Street Night Club in Northampton. Doors open for the event at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $12.50 in advance, $15 at the door.

THE CANADIAN ONSLAUGHT CONTINUES

Well, I'm still recovering from the insanity that was Grand Buffet last night, and still feel a bit awestruck to be honest. Expect a full review in the coming days that tries to document how ridiculously good of a time it was. That is sure to be a difficult task.

The next show I'm covering in depth will be Tokyo Police Club @ Pearl Street on the 26th. I was lucky enough to speak with Graham via cellular telephone the other day and I am pretty excited to see them with a fresh accompaniment of tracks at their disposal. Their new album "Elephant Shell" took a few listens, but has really started to grow on me. Here's the video for the albums first single (and perhaps strongest offering) "Your English Is Good." Expect a full preview within the week. Enjoy!

WEAKERTHANS @ PEARL STREET REVIEW

Shifting dynamics please Pearl Street
Daily Collegian | April 15, 2008

Emerging from behind the shadows of speakers and other sight-obstructing objects, The Weakerthans received a hero's welcome Saturday night from a capacity crowd at the Pearl Street Night Club in Northampton. Following an hour-plus set filled with uproars of applause and on-stage theatrics, such a reception proved decidedly warranted.

Building anticipation for the band was opener AA Bondy, a singer-songwriter with a distinctly travel-infused, folk inspired sound. From his half-buttoned collared shirt and tarnished denim to the cigarette suggestively placed behind his ear to his raspy voice and wailing harmonica solos, it was almost impossible not to draw a very obvious (and tiresome) comparison to a young Bob Dylan.

Bondy, however, delivered a fresh approach to a style that often is inundated with imitation rather than innovation, implementing elements of blues throughout his set while using simplistic means such as stomping his foot to accentuate and bring life to his lyrical narratives.

In the wake of Bondy's set came what the singer himself jokingly described as "a Canadian Onslaught." Over 15 minutes of setup and microphone checks teased with the crowd's patience, but when five figures finally emerged into focus from the dimly lit corners of the stage, the crowd uncorked in unison with raucous applause complete with a stray "Yeah Winnipeg" proclamation flying in from the bar. The sporadic side conversations and murmurs that could be heard during Bondy's set all but disappeared, and the crowd hushed in delight for the band's first selection.

The rather mellifluous-sounding "Bigfoot" served as a precursor for an evening in which the band chose to run the spectrum of their catalog. Diversity is not always a recipe for success in a live setting, but their deftly arranged set never allowed for too much of the jovial or upbeat without a necessary counterbalance of the introspective and delicate.

The band transitioned into "Our Retired Explorer" to the delight of the crowd; they clapped along with the breaks and chorus and let out loud chants of approval during vocal breaks throughout the first lively selection of the evening.

Following this, the focus shifted back to more melodic selections from the band's newest release "Reunion Tour." The album's opener, "Civil Twilight" was met with head bobs and gentle swaying and was immediately followed by "Sun in an Empty Room," which turned out to be perhaps the band's weakest offering of the night. Recorded, the layered backing vocals featured in the chorus are a welcomed addition, supplementing vocalist John K. Samson's otherwise dominant presence on the album, but on this night, with the vocal levels being perhaps a bit off, they were flat and unflattering.

Finishing up the portion of their newest material was "Night Windows," another slower-tempo track that was met with more audience participation in the form of unison clapping during the song's conclusion.

After bringing the crowd into somewhat of a stationary lull with some slower material, the band jerked the audience back to life with "The Reason" and "Tournament of Hearts," with the crowd screaming, "I know you might roll your eyes at this, but I'm so glad that you exist" along with the Canadian quintet on the former and moving all around the cramped confines on the latter.

Guitarist Stephen Carroll and bassist Greg Smith proved to be quite the showmen on the tracks; playing up to the crowd with some flamboyant stage movements and guitar caressing that had almost arena rock sensibilities to them.

From this point, the show really hit its stride. Launching into two of their most popular tracks, "Reconstruction Site" and "Aside," the crowd responded positively, becoming as audible as Samson in delivering the words of the respective songs, a quality that would be present for the remainder of the evening.

The first few notes of "Left and Leaving" received one of the loudest ovations of the night. Its subtlety delivered, yet heavily poetic verses were met with an adoring echo of fans, eyes closed, heads swaying, singing in unison. Ultimately this was short lived, as the crowd lost their collective composure for "Plea for a Cat Named Virtue," which saw Carroll leap into the crowd, guitar and all, during the buildup to the song's finale of hectic noise and the band's eventual departure from the stage.

Following a steady minute of building applause, Samson returned to play two songs solo, first "One Great City" followed by "My Favorite Chords" after at least a half dozen requests for it from the crowd. The full band returned for the conclusion of the "My Favorite Chords" and they closed the night with "Virtue The Cat Explains Her Departure" and "(Manifest)," clumsily singing in unison the trumpet notes that herald the song's, and in this case the concert's end.

On more than one occasion following a song's conclusion, The Weakerthans received a cat-call unheard by most concert-goers or bands alike: "Play that one again." While it's often advisable to leave your audience yearning for more, The Weakerthans have managed to transcend that old adage. The applause, the enthusiasm, and the participation they generated from the crowd are proof that not only the desire for more is present, but also that fans are ecstatic with what is delivered.

* The Weakerthans Official Site
* The Weakerthans on Myspace