Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell

Hey! I’m here again…with week 2. This might be a more laborious process than I anticipated! Once a week really is once a week. Enough blabbering though! Let’s get to that all important band: Tokyo Police Club!

These guys are from somewhere special – my homeland. That’s right…these wonderful creatures come from Canada. Newmarket, Ontario to be more precise. They formed in 2005 but garnered enough buzz in indie circles in Canada and beyond to propel them to a wider audience.

I first heard of them through an awesome website: www.insound.com. It’s a great place to discover new artists as it allows for a free download to sample the music. I was initially attracted to their name in all honesty – and that hunch proved right as their music was equally incredible! I downloaded the track Elephant Shell, which grew on me each time I listened to it. It was after this that I couldn’t wait for the full length to be released. At that time, it was still a month or so before it was unleashed on the public.

I patiently waited, and in the meantime, listened faithfully to their EP – A Lesson In Crime. This EP is not to be taken lightly though – it rocks hard and fast. It has a different feel than their full length but just as impressive. I would highly recommend listening to this as well as another EP titled Smith. Both are short but worth every second.

Once Elephant Shell started rocketing around online – I started pumping it through my speakers. (Elephant Shell was released on April 22nd). Truthfully, I was expecting something a little more upbeat or even aggressive but that’s not to say this is an exceptional album. It is – really is. Intelligent at times and sonically brilliant always. But don’t just take my word for it. Check it out!

Website: http://tokyopoliceclub.com/

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tokyopoliceclub

Until next time…

-Paul

Foals - Antidotes


What better way to start this blog than with a band like Foals? Each week I will post about which album/artist is inspiring and motivating me through the week – and this band has fulfilled that role all too well.

I first heard of this band through the British music magazine NME. Now, I find you’ve always gotta take what they say with a grain of salt – as things are often hyped beyond any sort of reality. So, when I saw Foals on the cover as one the bands to watch in 2008 I was certainly a bit leery. However, I gave them the benefit of the doubt and took a listen.

Almost immediately I was drawn in. Their sound was so unique…compelling. I put their album on loop and listened to it endlessly for a few days. When I try to describe their sound, I’m often at a loss for words. They’re described as dance-punk or indie-rock or even math-rock. I guess it’s a combination of styles really. It all flows and it’s easy to move around to. You’ll know when you hear it.

Some info on the band: They’re from Oxford, England. Their full length debut Antidotes was released on March 24th, 2008 in the UK and April 8th in the US. The disc was originally produced by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio but Foals didn’t like Sitek’s heavy use of reverb and decided to remix the entire record themselves. That takes some guts if you ask me – especially for a band that’s just beginning.

Here’s snippet of an interview from BBC about the origin of the name:

First of all, I hear that the name Foals is an inspiration from your surname?

"Well, strictly, that came after we'd called ourselves Foals. I was chatting to my father back in Greece and I was telling him about this band that was draining all my money and my time.

"He brought it to my attention that my surname is Phillipakis: 'phil is 'friend' or 'lover', 'ypos' is 'horse' and 'akis' is the diminuitive of that, so it's 'little friend of horses'.

Now there's a coincidence!

"It seemed like fate you know!"


Website:

http://www.wearefoals.com/

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/foals

Until next week then…

-Paul