Japandroids at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, Hoxton, London « New music, features, reviews, news and free mp3s

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Japandroids

Hoxton Bar & Kitchen

London

14/12/09

Japandroids are in a hurry, it seems. “We’re ready to go wild, I hope you are too,” a breathless Brian King (guitars & vocals) blabbers into the mic before, with a full-body jerk, throwing himself into the first of many gargantuan riffs. Tonight he and his drummer buddy David Prowse are restricted to a support slot, but are determined to make the most of it. They yelp, chug and pound their way through the super-chunky guitar pop of their acclaimed debut ‘Post-Nothing’ with a likable abandon, but also with a slightly deflating sluggishness. The joy of songs like ‘Young Hearts Speak Fire’ and ‘Rockers East Vancouver’, on top of being baggage-free slabs of rock fun, have tunes to lift themselves above the somewhat tedious majority of the new noise brigade (Titus Andronicus, we’re looking at you here). So when King and Prowse miss the right note by half a tone or cop out of singing a hook properly, it is a tad frustrating, even though King’s guitar is satisfyingly meaty and fills out most of the cracks that become apparent during the course of the set. But then, that is only 30 minutes long anyway, and most of it is very enjoyable indeed.

By Reef Younis

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Originally published in issue 13 (vol 3) of Loud And Quiet. December 2009