pilots of japan - the plan to reverse time ..
self released debut album from the pilots of japan which was recorded in a school, someone's home, and even a cottage ! expecting the worst form of lo-fi i was pleasantly surprised when a couple of minutes into the opening track 'bionic man' the unexpected addition of shoegazing layers and sci-fi noises suddenly lifted the track out of the stone roses styled pleasantness. it's these kind of extras that actually make the album a rather fine addition to the current playlist. having overdosed on the plethora of post punk funk recently it feels very nice and familiar to have a band take the stone roses blueprint of guitars and a laidback groove, and add subtle chunks of noise. subsequently, 'stay in bed', 'slow coach' are perfect examples of c86 indie anthems with an updated twist of dandy warhols, showing that someone obviously likes their creation compilations. which is no bad thing in my book, especially when the actual songs work as well as they do, which on the whole, they do. i mean. there's 'fred astaire', with the toybox opening noises, is a totally gorgeous, sweet innocent pop song of the highest order which would make any members of teenage fanclub blush with parental pride, knowing that they had spread the demand for such lovely guitar based pop songs. of course, the limited budgets and lack of real studio production, does reveal itself from time to time (especially in the vocals), but hey there's nothing wrong with a few rough edges from time to time.
good stuff.