Japandroids are singer/guitarist Brian King and drummer/singer David Prowse of Vancouver, BC. We all know how big a drum kit and guitar can sound (thanks to godheadSilo and some duo from Detroit). So I won’t belabor that aspect of the Japandroids story. What I will say is that their songs burst with youth – all earnest, raw, wistful – and just the right dose of self-deprecation. In fact, if “Younger Us” doesn’t get you screaming along at the top of your lungs and drumming on your steering wheel you may want to check your pulse.
Younger Us from Younger Us 7-inch (2010)
Art Czars from Art Czar 7-inch (2010)
Darkness on the Edge of Gastown from Lullaby Death Jams (2008)
polyvinylrecords.com
www.myspace.com/japandroids
japandroids.com
Hey, I’m only a week late on the new Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Their last record was my favorite-album-that-took-me-a-year-to-listen-to. The CD kept getting shuffled to the bottom of my ‘listen to’ stack. Their name haunted me. I just couldn’t let go of a band called SSLYBY. To this day I still throw up a little in my mouth when I think of how much joy I missed by not having SSLYBY in my life sooner. From what I’ve heard, album number two from the Show Me State’s favorite indie sons, keeps the charming pop meter cranked up to eleven. Nothing groundbreaking except to say that their sophomore album is anything but sophomoric. New album and new tour 
Cale Parks — multi-instrumentalist for the band Aloha — released a solo album — Illuminated Manuscripts — about a year ago. It’s shimmery and delicate and quivery and pretty much electronic, save for the snappy live percussion. These characteristics contrast so nicely with the rasp and grit of the acoustic folk rock that’s lately been pouring through my earbuds that I don’t care how old it is; I’m just happy to be in the haze.
My dear friend Seth rarely pushes anything on me. He believes strongly in free will and all that jazz. He might occasionally make a gentle suggestion that I might enjoy a book, or ask me if I’ve heard of a band (knowing that I will lie and say yes and then immediately run to my computer and discover who they are). But he never pushes. (Except for his very favorite book, Winters Tale by Mark Helprin, which he pushes on everyone, but no one ever reads.) So, in rare form, Seth pressed on, asking me again and again if I had listened to the Headlights song. Lesson? When Seth makes an enthusiastic recommendation, a girl should listen. In any case, I’d say more about the music, but I’ll have to let the music speak for itself as I am walking out the door to go meet fellow ‘Hiver Joe for the very first time!
“For Money or Love,” the second song on The Like Young’s Last Secrets really says it all about the Like Young: for the love of their music, for the love of the band, for the love of each other (they’re married), Amanda and Joe made sacrifices to do what they loved, despite the struggles with money. Last Secrets explains it all, and perhaps, fittingly, was their last album before they retired the band back in August. Many more songs of their duo-punk-rock from earlier releases can be downloaded from their site.
The dilemna? Keep running with this whole anti-Valentines thing that the kids and the nation’s biggest retailers got going on and throw in a little post-Valentines Norwegian death metal today on 3hive? Or try to actually extend the blessed day–after all I do have four Valentines at home–by finding a band whose name had something to do with Valentines Day, other than 
xbxrx are, if I may quote the words of the American commander replying to a German demand for his surrender at Bastogne in WWII, simply “Nuts.” Think of Le Tigre, but rather than being quirky and political, xbxrx are just crazy. I mean that in the kindest, most complimentary way. And continuing the previous comparison, rather than having pop-punk-electronic leanings, xbxrx love the rock ‘n’ roll and let everyone know it.
There’s one thing you can say about bands who tour constantly: they love their music. Mates of State is one of those bands — and you’ll soon love their music, too. In antipication of the November release of their new EP and DVD, enjoy these songs, one off of each of their three albums. Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel are literally mates, and the things they do with a Yamaha organ and a drumkit will soon put you in another state. So that’s how they got their name…