Japandroids
Celebration Rock
(Polyvinyl)
Canadian indie-rock duo Japandroids know that the best records don’t fuck around and waste your time. Their second album, like their first, 2009′s Post-Nothing, includes eight tracks and clocks in at a super-tight 35 minutes. Nothing is superfluous, and everything has its place. Celebration Rock lives up to its title, with the band tearing through songs at a pace that shoots for the cheap seats while remaining faithful to their punky noise-rock origins. And guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse still manage to tie it all together with the sound of bookending fireworks that double as the album’s mission statement. “We yell like hell to the heavens,” they sing over buzzsaw guitars on the opening “The Nights of Wine and Roses.” And with the almost-pop “The House That Heaven Built,” they check in with one of the year’s best singles.
