| Allmusic |
 With a pro surfer as their lead singer and a drummer who used to be a designer for the surf gear brand Hurley, it's no surprise that Japanese Motors' music is all about surfing, drinking, parties, and girls (not necessarily in that order). At its best, Japanese Motors embodies that lifestyle so completely that it transports listeners into the band's laid-back, sun-drenched world. The album kicks off with "Single Fins & Safety Pins," the perfect distillation of the band's sound world: over lapping waves and keening seagulls, Alex Knost's vocals are half Richard Hell's deadpan cool and half surfer boy drawl, while the rest of the band's handclaps, hooks, and backing vocals pay homage to the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean, and all the other California surf rock bands that came before them. "Single Fins & Safety Pins" is so undeniably charming that the rest of Japanese Motors doesn't quite live up to that high standard. Japanese Motors are a party band and this is definitely a party album -- in fact, it often sounds more like a rowdy live album than something recorded in a studio. This off the cuff, have-another-beer feel helps lanky rockers like the Strokesy "Coors Lite" and "Spendin' Days," which features the great line "Too hippie to be a punk/Too punk to be a hippie," and the drunken lament "Regrets a Paradise" captures the romantic confusion that Japanese Motors' easygoing lifestyle isn't immune to. However, "B.N.E." and "Crooked Gun" shamble where they should be razor-sharp, and though this album shows that Japanese Motors are on to something good, they'd be a lot better if they tried just a little harder -- not too hard, of course, since spoiling their fun would spoil their work, too....full text |
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| Spin |
| Like a West Coast beach-bum version of the Strokes, this Orange County foursome (with pro surfer Alex Knost on lead vocals) sing amiably about wearing one's hair in one's eyes and sitting in traffic on the 405 over poppy, sloppy garage-punk grooves that sound like they were written simply to score a fistful of drink tickets at Costa Mesa's Detroit Bar. (Few bands sum up their worldview as succinctly as Japanese Motors do in "Single Fins & Safety Pins.") A good time, if not a terribly memorable one....full text |
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| Urb |
| Going through my adolescence in the early 2000s, when “The” bands reigned supreme, I had developed a strong aversion to any cutesy, too-cool-to-actually-be-cool band that counted “raw,” “garage-y,” “vintage,” or “retro” as accurate descriptors of their music. Thankfully, over the past several years, few bands have cropped up that could potentially be subject to the wrath of “The” backlash and my biases toward that music; I would be able to put off dealing with my tendency to cringe at anything that tries to rock in some retro way. Then come along Japanese Motors, yes, a garage-y band out of Costa Mesa that specializes in raw, vintage rock, with their self-titled debut to challenge my ability, or lack thereof, to objectively listen to any group. From the moment I heard the jangly guitars, distant handclaps, and mega-phoned-in vocals sung in a Lou Reed drawl of first track “Single Fins and Safety Pins,” my mind instantly took a turn toward the cynical. Japanese Motors sound like they were came to the party six years too late, I thought without realizing that there’s an audacity and defiance to forming a garage rock band during a time when the platform for that type of music is becoming increasingly narrower. Certainly, there’s something truly rock, not of that postmodern type that was so appalling during my high school years, about making music that really has little potential for catching on. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Japanese Motors write some catchy tunes that demonstrate a pop sensibility that draws from, surprise, surprise, the older generation. “Regrets a Paradise,” with its jagged, heart-tugging guitars and a vocal part fit for hipsters and lounge crooners alike, is a bittersweet anthem that is much heavier on the sweet than the bitter; “Better Trends” sounds like a crowd sing-a-long waiting to happen over its surf-tinged rhythms. Japanese Motors’ debut is a solid dose of garage pop, but chances are, it won’t change your life. Although I suppose that it did sort of change mine; it’s been a while since I could muster up the courage to use “solid” and “garage pop” in the same sentence....full text |
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