Review / 200 Words Or Less
Otoboke Beaver
Love is Short

Damnably Records (2017) Andy Armageddon

Otoboke Beaver – Love is Short cover artwork
Otoboke Beaver – Love is Short — Damnably Records, 2017

To put it mildly, Otoboke Beaver's Love is Short doesn't beat around the bush, though that phrase seems wildly inappropriate given the origin of the band's name. Following a churning title track that sets off immediately at breakneck speed and features aggressive foreign-language vocal shouts, shrieks, and howls, even -gasp- a bit of melody, the album transitions to the more playful “Introduce Me to Your Family.” Here, back-and-forth vocal outbursts between the four bandmates play out over a slick bassline, but the more relaxed and sometimes almost sugary sections are book-ended by furious guitar-driven chaos. The EP finishes off with the noise punk romp “Mean,” which rips and grinds through all of 20 seconds. Irresistibly jagged and compellingly "different," Love is Short's only downside is explained by its title: the five-minute run time is almost painfully short. That said, it's gonna be complete insanity when this energetic Japanese group, who may literally be the antithesis to the flashy and polished world of J-pop, gets around to putting together a US-release full-length.

Otoboke Beaver – Love is Short cover artwork
Otoboke Beaver – Love is Short — Damnably Records, 2017

Related news

Otoboke Beaver's Super Champon

Posted in Records on March 5, 2022

Recently-posted album reviews

Faulty Cognitions

Somehow, We Are Here
Cercle Social Records (2024)

The opening track on Somehow, We Are Here is a statement. Yes, Faulty Cognitions is a punk band with members of Low Culture, Shang-A-Lang, Nocturnal Prose,and more. Yes, this shares a lot of commonalities, but it’s also a new band with a new sound. The band humbly says they were going for an early, jangly R.E.M. vibe but self-confess that it has more of a Replacements thing going on … Read more

Lussuria

Under Crumbled Stairs
Hospital Productions (2024)

Jim Mroz is no stranger to the darkest dungeons of the human mind. These locked doors of the psyche are a common destination for his project Lussuria, through which Mroz has quietly amassed an impeccable discography. And so another immersive chapter of harrowing music sprouts forth with Under Crumbled Stairs, with Lussuria extending their phantom limbs to touch upon numerous sonic … Read more

Pearl Jam

Dark Matter
Monkey Wrench, Republic (2024)

When Pearl Jam dropped Gigaton in 2020 - a mere two weeks after the world shut down, there was a lot of fear and uncertainty about what track we were on as a society, and even as a species. We clung to whatever north star could guide us through those dark times. So it really says something that still, four long years … Read more