Tokyo Police Club

Being honest, I've not really been to many live gigs of late, certainly not enough for someone who contributes to such a high calibre blog like this one. So when I got the offer to go and watch the Tokyo Police Club at Liverpool's Barfly, as part of Levi's One's To Watch, I jumped at the chance.

Tokyo Police Club are a band that I've heard a lot about, but have not actually heard their music. They've been gathering a bit of pace recently, even appearing on Letterman I believe. Now, I understand that when hearing a band for the first time live, you have to give a bit of leeway as the recorded sound is often incomparable to the live attempt. In spite of this, breathing space shall we say, I found the whole experience to be a rather turgid yet lacklustre event, often verging on annoying.

In the first instance, the vocals were feeble at best, delivered by a front man/bassist whose shoulders were in a constant state of hunch. I've listened to the recorded effort and can assure that the singing doesn't lose any of its frailty. The whole sound was often unnecessarily bloated, with keyboards, guitar and drums constantly jostling for attention within the incredibly short length of the songs, all of which seemed to end abruptly. Something I wouldn't mind once or twice for poignancy, but constantly? It became rather irritating yet was so avoidable. Then there was the obligatory 'mad scientist' keyboard player, whose input to the overall sound, aside from a few notable tracks, seemed to be something of an after thought. Stuck-on almost. That coupled with his incessant shrieks (which harked back to At The Drive In) made for a most unpleasant performance.

To sum up, Tokyo Police Club are like a Bloc Party gone bad. Pretentious, without any call to be. Tight, but often cluttered. There are enough of these bands who can do this kind of sound well...Tokyo Police Club are not one of them.

MP3: Tokyo Police Club - Your English Is Good MP3 DOWNLOAD

MP3: Tokyo Police Club - Be Good (RAC Remix) MP3 DOWNLOAD