Japanther
Eat Like Lisa Act Like Bart
Recess Records
Street: 05.21
Japanther = Snowden + Deerhunter
Japanther are one of those long-running Brooklyn duos who are typically heralded by music snobs for their heavyhandedness in lo-fi synth ostinatos and inability to stay rooted in one particular stylistic element for a whole album’s length. However, with their latest release, Eat Like Lisa Act Like Bart, it’s becoming increasingly easy to ascertain a familiar pattern with their recordings. You have a splash of ’90s electro hardcore and a narcotized hip hop filler or two, per usual. Then there are Japanther’s bread and butter tracks, which usually consist of crusty bass rhythms, raw synthesizer, slightly unintelligible vocal unisons and the prominent drum machine. Don’t get me wrong, this album is entirely great, it’s just essential Japanther—nothing more, nothing less. Artists who constantly crutch upon spontaneity and "weirdness" eventually become so predictable and cyclic that they completely forego the most classic element of surprise: growth.¬ –Gregory Gerulat