Japandroids' breed of optimistic, heart-on-your-sleeve power guitar-rock isn't particularly "cool" at the moment. Stacked up next to the year's other best records — like Grimes's Oblivion, or Beach House's Bloom— it's decidedly less ethereal, futuristic, or sonically complex. To that end, perhaps the only comparable contemporary of Japandroids would be Cleveland's Cloud Nothings, who channeled a similar breed of second-wave-emo inspirations on their latest album, Attack on Memory. When juxtaposed with that LP, the timeliness of an optimistic record like Celebration shines. Attack's opener, "No Future/No Past," whether it intended to or not, summed up the ethos of a post-recession cultural moment for young people, as singer Dylan Baldi repeatedly screams, "No future/No past/No future/No past." That's where Japandroids come in. It makes sense that in bleak times, indie-rock fans would flock towards a feel-good band preaching "live for the moment."
"That's why its called celebration rock— it's celebratory," says King. "Not all rock-and-roll music is celebratory. It could be sad and be rock-and-roll music. It could be angry, it could be bitter, it could be jaded, it could be a million things and still be rock-and-roll music. . . . We're not really interested in making those kinds of rock music."
JAPANDROIDS + CADENCE WEAPON | Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston | June 26 @ 8 pm | 18+ | $14 | 617.779.0140
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