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Mark Hoppus' Pick of the Week: Japandroids

Hopp on Pop

By Spin Staff on November 4, 2009 2:49 PM (15) Comments

Japandroids

When he's not commandeering the stage as the boisterous bassist for SoCal punks Blink-182, Tweeting wisdom to more than 1.4 million followers, or handling album production duties for bands like Motion City Soundtrack and New Found Glory, you'd think Mark Hoppus would turn down the music.

Not. Possible.

In our new series Hopp on Pop, Hoppus will be sharing his favorite up-and-coming acts, culled from his incessant pursuit of all that rocks. Check out his first entry below, and come back to SPIN.com every Wednesday for Mark's next musical revelation.

Be sure to follow more of his opinions and exploits on his Twitter and on his blog!

JAPANDROIDS

HOMETOWN:
Vancouver, Canada

THE BASICS:
Duo that's just guitar and drums, with both guys singing live.

WHERE HOPP HEARD THEM FIRST:
"I actually heard about this band through the dude that cuts my hair. He plays drums in bands, and whenever I get my hair cut we talk about new bands and music. He was talking about Japandroids -- described them as '90s alt-rock -- so I got their record."

WHY THEY ROCK:
"There are a lot of two-piece acts out there right now and some are really great, but Japandroids just sound really different from anything out there. I've seen a video of them playing live and the guitar player actually splits his signal into two different amps -- one is really distorted and the other is more clean, so it sounds like there are two guitars being played even though it's just one guitarist."

HOPP'S TOP TRACK:
"My favorite song on their album, Post-Nothing, is 'Heart Sweats.' It really reminds me of early Smashing Pumpkins stuff that I've always loved, and I dig the break as it goes in the chorus."

DOWNLOAD: Japandroids, "Young Hearts Spark Fire" (DOWNLOAD MP3)

WATCH: Japandroids, "Heart Sweats" (Live on KEXP)

Topics:

Posted By coreln

07.29.10 11:33 PM

not bad at all.. :) online casino

Posted By Anonymous

03.29.10 9:05 AM

Thanks, ABILIFY

Posted By Anonymous

01.27.10 7:30 AM

Mark Hopper.. Your comparison to the pumpkins.. Yes I know what you mean but my own comparison goes with one of your songs, My Pet Sally, the intro!!

Posted By Anonymous

11.23.09 4:44 PM

Way to go Brian! Represent Canadian punk! Cheers to all - Yo Mark. 'sup.

Rogan (yes, I'm human... i'm a human geologist)

Posted By Anonymous

11.17.09 7:09 PM

hi guys i just want you to know that mark hoppus is a great great person i so down to earth and as you can see he always try to help people, and i say this because i went to the last concert they played in houston texas there was a couple of people was around 3 o 4 pm it was raining and even so he came to the main gate to give us some stikers and sign some autographs it was the best day of my life he was like "hey guys how r you doing" always friendly i went driving all the way from mexico city when i came back i was broke and stuff but if i have the opportunity to do it again i surely will cuz i love blink ,so much that im namim my kid after markus allan ,by the way mark keep helping the bands so many things good will come from it i enjoy seeing you aruond everywhere, see ya! jal_ve@hotmail.com

Posted By Anonymous

11.12.09 6:17 PM

to be honest this is a miss for me. just sounds like yelling and banging. and i usually like yelling and banging...

Posted By Anonymous

11.06.09 1:13 AM

Hey Mark
You should hear No Age. They are such a rip off of Japandroids!

Posted By bully

11.05.09 3:23 PM

Oh the powerhouse that is Pitchfork.

Posted By ier182

11.05.09 12:50 PM

don't know.... still in doubt whether I like them or not. I think they can be even better with a bass player (for the record, I'm not a bass player myself, just what I think).

Posted By DJSharc in ATL

11.05.09 10:56 AM

I heard these guys in Atlanta a few weeks ago and they tore it up. I'm not very "up" on new bands but I ended up buying their CD and I love it!

"There is no God. Only Japandroids."

Posted By Anonymous

11.05.09 2:32 AM

Well, seems like everything is cool... Spin seems to have forgotten how they bashed Blink back at the beginning of summer, and this article proves it didn't phase Mark in the least. Cool.

Look forward to many more recommendations!

Posted By leo7

11.04.09 7:38 PM

wow, not bad, cant wait till next wednesday!

Posted By LCorley

11.04.09 6:28 PM

Well, thank you Mark. Haha, I really like Japandroids! Looking forward to checking this every Wednesday for new bands!

Posted By Monica

11.04.09 5:42 PM

i follow mark on twitter and love how he always recommends new music. this makes me even happier!

you guys are winners! :)

Posted By Cody