Search - High-Lows :: Relaxin With the Hi-Lows

Quirky punk with some surprises

J. Holmes | yokohama, japan | 10/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"when i was younger, i happened to stumble upon an lp record by a band called The Blue Hearts. they were a japanese punk group who had a huge following in japan and had released a few records in america to a bit of success. they never received mush radio airplay beyond some college radio stations; but they made a pretty solid fan base for themselves and toured the u.s.a. a few times. The Hi-Lows is a band splintered off from The Blue Hearts; sharing a few of the same members. but where The Blue Hearts music was more rooted in the punk sound of The Ramones and The Clash; The Hi-Lows take this template and add a bit more of a tropical element to the proceedings...almost casting themselves in the role of a punk band playing a Tiki longue. utilizing bluesy piano lines and some hawaian ukelele tossed in a few songs, the sonic pallete of this band grows and sounds much more realized with each new album released. there are quite a few great songs here, the big hit "No. 1" is a great pop song with a strong punk edge, and i love the "Tampopo" song. really nice. overall, there is alot of variety here within these songs and i would recommend the Hi-Lows to fans of the more quirky side of pop and punk."