Last night, I think I got about as close to Brooklyn's early 00’s punk mess as anyone these days should come. Before everyone started talking about this borough ad infinitum, there was the great and all-powerful Japanther representing, and last night at Music Hall of Williamsburg they came out in force to celebrate ten years underground, along with buddies Shellshag and Heavy Cream.
Now a decade old, they're reaching middle age time, where they've become something of a reluctant institution. The hipster symbol of last night’s party, complete with a decades’ worth of silly string, telephone microphones, and a weird but enthusiastic stagediving hypeman with wooden wings on stage to remind us of why mosh pits still work for shows like this. While some members of the crowd looked a bit more grizzled after 10 years of hipster flag waving, Ian Vanek and Matt Reilly themselves still looked fresh out of Pratt, and their hour-plus set of exhausting, high-energy wailing dared anyone to count how many years it’s been since they formed way back in 2001.
Japanther haven't given us a new LP in too long, (though Tut, Tut Shake Ya Butt still works in its weird little way) but the pair still do that messy party thing better than any of their peers. Their noisy bass/drum/Casio SK-1 combo worked great in my faves ‘She’s the One’ and ‘Surfin Coffin’. Happy ten years Japanther!!! - Mike Levine (@goldnuggets)
P.S. Japanther in 2005 declined to be featured on the cover of The Deli. Asked to explain why, they answered: "It's not our kind of thing, you know? We are not that good looking either... You should put a good looking band on the cover, like our friends Matt & Kim"
We've always been big fans of Luke Temple, and it's good to see that, together with the Here We Go Magic crew, the man is keeping at it with increasingly beautiful records and videos. The band's new album "A Different Ship" (stream it here) will be out on May 8, and betrays at least a partial return to Luke Temple's more intimate and melodic sound from his solo repertoire - in this regard, lend a ear to "Hard to Be Close," "Alone but Moving" and "Over the Ocean". This is welcome news for fans like us who always thought that in most HWGM material Luke's noteworthy songwriting skills seemed a little sacrificed on the altar of textural experimentation. This doesn't mean that the band's signature hypnotic, impressionistic sound is lost - it's just that these two elements work together better than they did in past records, and this is what makes this album one of the NYC highlights of the year so far. Indeed, this collection also features songs more in line with the band's past releases ("Make Up your Mind", "I Believe in Action"), which follow on the steps of brainy-pop icons like Brian Eno and The Feelies, but there's definitely a balance here, also betrayed by the almost perfect alternation of melodic songs and less traditional ones.The just released video of "How Do I Know," telling the story of a rejected dancing robot that ends up revitalizing an older man's appreciation for life, seems to reflect on this brain/heart, mechanic/organic dichotomies and somehow bring them to unity. - PDG
