Tokyo Police Club: A Lesson In Crime/Smith EP (limited edition, fire colour vinyl) [PAPER BAG]

Why you'll love it

This limited edition of 800 copies comes on fire colour vinyl and pairs both early EPs on one record. A Lesson in Crime is the Newmarket band's breakout, the record that took them from Toronto clubs to Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury.

This edition

• Limited to 800 copies
• Fire colour vinyl

About the album

Four friends from Newmarket, Ontario, who got their band name from an online band name generator, signed to Toronto's Paper Bag Records, and two of them dropped out of college to do it. Their first EP, A Lesson in Crime, came out in 2006 and ran under seventeen minutes, and it was enough; that year they played Edgefest and the first Osheaga.

Dave Monks's urgent vocals and bass, Graham Wright's keys, Josh Hook's guitar and Greg Alsop's drums pack every song tight. "Cheer It On" and "Nature of the Experiment" are jittery, hook-crammed indie rock, "Citizens of Tomorrow" and "Shoulders & Arms" race past, and "La Ferrassie" shows off a moodier side. "If It Works" and "Be Good" keep the energy sky high. The Smith EP side adds "Box," "Cut Cut Paste" and "A Lesson in Crime," and the RAC remix of "Be Good" wraps things up.

The band went on to Saddle Creek, Elephant Shell, Champ and two Juno nominations, and played their last shows in late 2024 after a farewell tour. Twenty-odd minutes of music has rarely led to quite so many festival wristbands.

Also at Kops: more Tokyo Police Club on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Paper Bag Records (cat# PAPER020LPB), a reissue of the 2006 compilation.