Somewhere deep in the wiring of my brain, there are some jumbled up synapses. This is the part of my brain that decides to ignore hype—even when the thing being hyped is squarely in my Q-zone.
This has led to some gaps in my musical knowledge that make no sense. And in the case of Japandroids’ brilliant sophomore record, the exact overlap of my sensibilities are so close to the thing being hyped that you can see a perfect impression around it, like the swimming pool scene in Hollow Man.
Because friends, there has been a Celebration Rock shaped hole in my life.
When Punk exploded in 1977, the dam burst so hard it left a crater. It didn’t take very long for the maelstrom of no-frills sonic intensity to suck up other elements. Post-punk emerged almost immediately, deconstructing punk into unrecognizable shapes. Post-punk in turn splintered into its own series of subgenres—most notably, new wave and gothic rock.
I’m not sure how it’s taken me this long to add this record to my collection. Back when Enema of the State shockingly wound up on the Top 40, I was a blossoming punk who was a firm adherent that any band’s earlier stuff was always better.
When my family and I made our first excursion into Stockholm proper, I stepped off of the train in Old Town and was immediately greeted by a flier advertising a fifty percent off record sale. I wasn’t about to abandon everyone to go record shopping, but the more time we spent in town, the more I saw these fliers popping up.
Over the years, I have stated publicly and often that I missed the Get Up Kids when I was in the throes of my emo phase. Most publicly, on the