Japandroids - Post-Nothing

Japandroids
Post-Nothing
(2009, Unfamiliar)
RIYL = rock n’ roll summer jams

Mighty capes and stars, these dudes are rockin’! Seriously. And just in time for summer too. Sheesh. Yesterday I dropped off my last final up at the U (holla!) and I was making my way back through the sunny streets of Salt Lake City with Sass and our new babe and I just couldn’t help but grin, roll down the windows and blast Post-Nothing (well, ‘blast’ may be the wrong word – the kids only 2 months old after all - don't want to ruin his ears just yet). It just took over – all the sudden I couldn’t help but frantically air drum to the perpetual fills like I was having some type of heightened epileptic seizure. And, of course, Sassigrass scolded me for being a horrible driver, but it couldn’t be helped. Post-Nothing is the kind of album that gets your blood flowing. As far as the band goes, I’m pretty sure that Japandroids consists of two Japanese manufactured robots bent on hook-laden summer jams. They must have embedded some type of eternal energy packs in these suckers too because the energy never dims. It’s just track after track of soaring, manic rock. This is the kind of stuff that brings the sun out. Just this morning as I started listening to album opener, “The Boys Are Leaving Town,” and the sun emerged like it was waiting for someone to play that track so that it could start the day. Also, Post-Nothing demands to be “turned to 11.” (Except when the baby is in the car.) I think it is part of some subliminal guitar riffage embedded in Post-Nothing, but listening to the album at anything lower than eleven is like buying a bunch of ice cream and then throwing it in the garbage… Heh, you have got to give me some kind of break after just finishing finals. Obviously it is going to take a bit before the writing picks up again (assuming that it ever had been at a higher level). So yeah, there is a lot of repeated lyrics and endless guitar hooks, but somehow, instead of dipping into monotony, the Japandroids simply keep rising into some heavenly rock ether. You simply are not experiencing summer in 2009 if you aren’t listening to Post-Nothing.

-Lil' Thistle