Review by: Joe Callaghan
Band names are getting worse. Have you noticed? I have. It’s just unacceptable. From now on, you should just be named after a list of your names, first or last, depending on if your parents were cruel, like Crosby Stills and Nash. Shit like that pulls no punches. It’s just three guys. You don’t have to like it, but it’s impossible to hate. It’s clear that gobshites with guitars can’t be trusted to give their band a non-repulsive name, so that’s the way it just has to be. I’m not having any of this Dude Japan lark. In fact, I’m quite strictly opposed to the word Dude in general anyway, so to hear it in a band name makes me wince just a little bit.
It’s a good job Dude Japan aren’t shite. In fact, they are really pretty great, and not shite at all. It’s actually a shame there’s only 2 tracks here, and not 10, because 10 is more than 2, and 2 isn’t very many. So that’s a kick in the shitter. But, the 2 tracks you do get are gnarlyrad, and it made me not want to flip the record over, in case I was greeted by something not as gnarlyrad as Dude Japan. Whilst the other song didn’t reach the same gnarlyrad levels as DeeJay, it’s still the dogs knees. Japan Dudes are that sort of super-good-time-fun indie rock that you’ve been dying to hear done properly for a decade or two – but it always fell short “” done right! Toe tapping, finger clicking, belly rubbing melodies, and an oscillating, slightly off kilter noodling guitar, a little like Pavement, but way more pop. Righteously pop. Pop as fuck. Up the pops. Great side A. Extremely play-over-and-over-again-able.
Weed Hounds calm things down a little. Their tranquil, reverb soaked post-something rounds the split off nicely. A calming climax, just when you were ready to inhale helium balloons and barf on the big wheel from the rampant giddy fuzzpop on the reverse, sounding almost like if Pains turned off the distortion pedals for a few minutes. Sickly sweet harmonies, drenched in sports-hall reverb and placid string jangling. The split has it all, well, a bit. Kind of. Good!