Another Secret To Everybody

Don't be fooled by the moniker, Mark Knight's Tropic Zone. This band is really Tokyo Police Club incognito, and the excellent news is that they will be playing Mercury Lounge this Sunday night. If you're in the mood to hear some great indie rock at a venue that's way to small for these guys, do yourself a favor and pick up some tickets now while they are still available. They're 10 bucks. Again, feel free to thank me afterward.

Listen To The Math

Throw in a dash of Decemberists and an ounce of Ozma, stir with The Strokes, and you got yourself Tokyo Police Club's Elephant Shell -- the year's most eagerly anticipated indie debut since Vampire Weekend's self-titled album. Considering how this Canadian quartet has only been around for a couple of years and has only released a handful of songs on a pair of EP's, this is a lot to live up to. Fortunately, for the most part these guys are worth the hype. Clocking in at just under 30 minutes (the longest song is just over three minutes), Elephant Shell is a lyrically ambitious piece of work that is both raw yet well-calculated. You can tell a lot of ingredients go into these songs, yet nothing ever really gets too overbearing for the listener. Fast-paced post-punk strumming (a la Albert Hammond on The Strokes' Is This It) and catchy hooks meld well with new wave synthesizing on songs like "Tesselate" and album standout "Graves". The only real downside about Elephant Shell is its lack of depth. The homogeneity the album's body of work is pretty apparent and can get very repetitive after a few listens. However, this should not undermine the band's overall creativity that makes this debut noteworthy.

My Rating: 7.0/10