Nerd Magnet - Crazy, Stupid, Love

This band's name is Nerd Magnet. That's about all the introduction they need, but I'll give them just a little more. Nerd Magnet has been around a surprisingly long time , only releasing a few mini-albums and singles. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" is their first full-length album, as well as their major label debut. This brand of high-energy power pop has been making somewhat of a comeback here in the US, but Nerd Magnet is the first Japanese band I've heard giving it a go.

"Crazy, Stupid, Love" opens up with the driving "Bokutachi no Shippai", a study in self-deprecating 90s pop punk. It's fantastic. "C.S.L." is one of the catchiest songs of the year thus far, which will fill your head with calls of "I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in crazy stupid love" for weeks to come. Check out the music video below, but be warned - you won't be able to get this Weezer-esque power pop out of your head.

This whole album is setting out to accomplish absolutely nothing, sitting pretty in the realm of slacker pop inhabited by indie greats like Guided by Voices, Rozwell Kid, and even the aforementioned Weezer. Rarely do you see an album being praised for simply being comfortable, but Nerd Magnet has honed the art to near-perfection. The melodies are sweet and memorable, the production is punchy and crisp, it's all a very solid project.

Songs like "BOTTLE ROCKET" and the lead single "Mixtape" (which came with one of the best music videos of all time, embedded below) keep us planted firmly in this very laid-back, seemingly effortless world of teenage crushes and sick leather jackets. There's a certain beauty in the proclamation of "we are infinite!", like they truly believe that they are. From the heartbroken choruses of "TRAGICOMEDY" to the triumphant love declaration of "YOU & I", this album just bleeds out sugar like the bluest of Blue Albums, the... pinkest(?) of Pinkertons??? It's the album Weezer wishes they could have made under a title as misleading as "Raditude", it's what Cheap Trick might have done had they been born a few decades later. The powerful overtones of youth and innocence meld in with the ultra-saccharine songwriting to create a perfect time capsule where Number Girl was stored only to emerge a decade later as Nerd Magnet.

Let me be perfectly clear, if I haven't been up until now: I love this album. I love this band. There is honestly not a lot to say, because it's not like they're innovating in any way. They're not experimenting, they're not furthering the genre or making an impact in any visible way. Nerd Magnet are playing their hearts out to give you a glance into their little 90s-drenched souls, and they're doing a fantastic job of it. This is the kind of band who probably won't be inspiring generations to come, but still might inspire some kid to pick up a guitar and in turn belt out their own feelings to the world. I have nothing bad to say about "Crazy, Stupid, Love". It's not because the album is perfect or anything like that. Nerd Magnet is simply setting out to tell you all their feelings in the most honest and sincere way, and it makes for some great power pop. It's pure and unapologetic pop music. If they ever make it over to America, I'll be the one crying along to every song in the front row.

-Justin

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Nerd Magnet is...

• Ryota Suda - Vocals/Guitar
• Ryosuke Fujii - Guitar
• Tomoko Maekawa - Bass
• Shigerumura Takuya - Drums
  

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