Album Reviews

Tokyo Police Club – Champ
6.0
 on
Sunday, August 1, 2010 - 00:00
submitted by
Thomas

Tokyo Police Club’s debut EP “A Lesson In Crime” was short, to the point and had energy pouring from every single song. On “Elephant Shell”, the band’s first full-length, they showed a more contemplative side of themselves but tried a little too hard. It resulted in a not so impressive album. Which brings us to album number two, “Champ”.

This one is a bit of a mix of the abovementioned releases where these Cannucks will get up right in your face with their post-punk in one song while silently brooding in the corner for the entire duration of the next track. Everything is embellished with keyboard sounds in the right places which - musically at least - places them ahead of the post-punk pack. At times they even come close to their countrymen in The Weakerthans. Their biggest problem however is their singer who sounds like he’s bored out of his mind and can’t wait to get his sorry ass out of the studio. The result is a slightly disappointing album that sounds like a missed opportunity.

Tom Dumarey
Tom Dumarey

Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.