Tokyo Police Club Forcefield

Tokyo Police Club wanted to “skip the terrible third album.”

At least that’s what David Monks said to Spin Magazine in April 2008 when commenting on the band’s slow-paced recording style. Well, nearly six years after that interview – and four years after their second LP, Champ – the third album has arrived. Forcefield is out on March 25th. And based on what we’ve heard, it’s far from terrible.

In fact it’s clear that Tokyo Police Club has come a long way… with a long opening track to prove it. “Argentina (Parts I, II, III)” clocks in at almost nine minutes, which is about 20% of their first EP and LP combined. (Rolling Stone once-upon-a-time noted that these first two recordings “crammed nineteen songs into only forty-four minutes”.) Though a clear divergent from their typically short and tightly crafted jams, the track retains the band’s characteristic energy and rock riffs.

TPC also released a shiny single from the album.”Hot Tonight” is undeniably catchy.

A bit of a side-note: we’re tossing a bunch of throwback nods into this post because we’re feeling nostalgic. Tokyo Police Club took us on tour with them in 2009 to help us spread awareness on Joseph Kony and Invisible Children’s message. To have worked with these guys while they were having a major breakthrough will forever be a staple on our IC music timeline.

Now from their timeline, here’s some cool stuff TPC has done during the interim between Champ and Forcefield: 

1. Graham Wright and a few other Canadian musicians’ cool project that had them record / write an entire EP in 24 hours. You can download it free, burn it to a few CDs, and spread the love by distributing copies around randomly.

2. David Monks’ cool collaboration track on RAC’s “Don’t Talk To” EP.

3. The group’s cool and ambitious covers recording – 10 consecutive days, 10 hours in the studio, 10 cover songs from each year of the previous decade.

4. Wright’s cool solo debut LP.

Tokyo Police Club will be touring in conjunction with the release of Forcefield. If you’re in San Diego, they’ll be playing at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach on May 2nd. Get tickets here. Check out the rest of their US tour dates here 

Lastly, for your viewing / listening pleasure, and because this post is into digging up the past, here’s a video of Monks performing an acoustic “Nature Of The Experiment” in 2008: