Japanese Motors, 'Japanese Motors' (Vice)

Boarding brosefs take their skinny-tie jams out in the sun.

By Mikael Wood 11.06.08 4:22 PM

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.