Japan’s answer to the Modern Machines, exercising a wee more restraint? Eschewing being a musical kaleidoscope, Your Pest Band opts for the hard-rolling, train-on-tracks playing that builds a shaking, vibrating momentum throughout the album. It’s rough-voiced punk pop that features ultra-proficient and confident playing, keeping the wanking in check most of the time. (Dear world, Led Zeppelin still sucks and so do any Zep covers. Sorry, Japan.) I can hear a whole host of American rockers hidden inside their cabinets and underneath the drum carpet—Mellencamp, Petty, and Springsteen, especially—but they seem to want to update and move forward instead wear their influences on their sleeves and sleep through cover sets in worn-out bars, so it’s endearing and definitely worth checking out. Good stuff.
–todd (HS!BF, hsbfrecords.com / Snuffy Smiles)