Let me give you guys a hint. If you are going to press your cd without your band's name or album title on it, fine. Go for it. Art is good. But if you don't AT LEAST put a sticker on it, or write your band name with a sharpie (they cost $.93), then chances are reviewers are going to have a hard time identifying it. Seriously, you should see my office; I have hundreds of releases laying around, many out of their cases, and my cd player holds five at a time. So if you want me to know who the hell you are, write the damn band name on the disc.

That said, a half hour of deep office exploration uncovered the case (and band name) for this release. And I must admit I'm kind of glad it did; the artwork and song titles actually add to the listening experience, as Harajuku No Emo Ko reveals itself to be a release which contains neither pretense nor a sense of import, but rather a self-reflective whit. Tober definitely leave the listener with the feeling that they are enjoying the hell out of what they're doing.

They want to be the next They Might Be Giants, this is obvious. Equally creative music, nasally underproduced vocals, and not quite as hooky lyrics, but they make up for it by throwing in some heavy, pop-distortion guitars and fun, lighthearted rhythms and words. They definitely have the ability to step outside the norm; lines like "I don't want to be the man on your lunchbox / I just want to be the straw in your jizzbox" and "You've seen my junk, now here's my heart" make it really hard to take them seriously. Then again, I doubt they wish to be. With lighthearted song titles such as "The Benefits of a Liberal Arts Education" and "My Inability To Talk To Girls", they seem to be poking fun at the fundamentals of indie rock, a genre which they are simultaneously effectively utilizing and taunting.

Actually, that line might have been "the straw in your juicebox". Which definitely makes more sense, even as a sexual metaphor.

-Dave Mandell