album of the week: 12.3

the telephones

Rock Kingdom

(2011)

why you'll love it: Less gimmicky than previous albums, more rock, short and sweet

why you'll hate it: Still just a guilty pleasure with bad singing and dumb party songs.

It's that time of year where I take a deep breath and look inwards at the dark corridors of my subconscious. Do I really like a another telephones album? A band that, by all logic, should have worn out their "lol disco" welcome long ago. Yet here we are, their fourth album, Rock Kingdom. Somehow, this band manages to stay within the bounds of my patience, despite an ever present high pitched delivery and an almost insulting lack of substance.

The path they were going down the last two albums would have been a dead end by now. Lately, the course has been louder and faster, but not really doing anything different. Okamoto's incoherent gibberish during breakdowns is entertaining at first, but would become adversely routine in time. This album stands out by being surprisingly toned down. There is no disco here, just power pop. I'm sure there are some fans grinding their teeth over this, but I gotta be honest, they never really were that disco in the first place. It's a cute thing to name drop, and a good excuse to be eccentric, but they've always been (and more so now) a dance punk band.

Without the constant references to disco (although there are still a couple), the telephones play things a bit more straightforward here. I get a sense that the songs are more for fun and less for laughs. The ballads are a lot better than they previously have been because the are less sapped with gimmick. I kinda like "Just One Victory". The lyrics and delivery are a lot better than usual too. Akira Ishige's Engrish is starting to wear off, but still (most likely unintentionally) applied to the right places. A few songs like "Yeah Yeah Yeah" and "Punk is Not Heavy Metal" are sort of clever and charming because of their simplicity. They remind me of old Mr. T Experience songs.

There are a couple surprises on this album too. Like the well paced "I Am Me", providing some proper epic builds and breakdowns without a shred of irony attached. The Americana pop closer, "Can't Stop Loving You", is probably the most enjoyable surprise.

Once again, I can't believe I've written so much about this dumb stupid "disco" band. But… they keep improving. They keep offering just enough for me to stay onboard. Just look at the cover. It's a ridiculous drawing of the band as if they are starring in a remake of The Warriors, or a new Streets of Rage game. It's stupid, but charming to the point where I actually did laugh aloud when I first saw it. If you have the patience for high vocals, and shallow pop, these guys still deliver a satisfying guilty pleasure.