Vinyl Record

Tokyo Police Club - Champ

Tokyo Police Club - Champ album cover

Tokyo Police Club - Champ on LP vinyl. A 2010 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

LP ยท 2010

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 2010 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

Champ is Tokyo Police Club in 2010 learning how to make their nervous brevity feel like a full album without losing the snap that made the early EPs travel so quickly. The Newmarket, Ontario band had already become shorthand for compact indie-rock adrenaline; Champ gives that energy more melody, more polish and more emotional directness. Breakneck Speed opens with memory and motion rather than pure twitch, Wait Up (Boots Of Danger) rides a rubbery bassline into one of the band's most durable hooks, Bambi turns minimal keyboard figures into jumpy pop pressure, and Favourite Colour lets Dave Monks sound more exposed without sanding away the band's bright edges. The record's charm is that it still feels young, but not weightless. Tokyo Police Club remain economical, almost allergic to excess, yet Champ proves they can write songs that linger after the cleverness has passed.

It matters because Champ is the band's second-album consolidation: bigger than Elephant Shell, less frantic than the earliest material and full of songs that became central to their live identity. It showed Tokyo Police Club could grow without abandoning speed, wit or angular momentum.

For collectors, Champ is the core Tokyo Police Club LP for the early-2010s indie-rock shelf. It connects the blog-era rush of A Lesson In Crime and Elephant Shell to a more confident band sound, with Wait Up, Bambi and Breakneck Speed as major anchors.

Taut Canadian indie rock with clipped guitars, springy bass, bright keyboards, quick song forms, sharp hooks, youthful urgency and a cleaner emotional center than the band's earliest recordings.

Recommended for: Collectors of late-2000s and early-2010s indie rock; Fans of Wait Up (Boots Of Danger), Bambi and Breakneck Speed; Listeners who like short, hooky guitar albums with restless momentum.

When was Champ released? Champ was released in 2010 as Tokyo Police Club's second studio album. Which songs are key to Champ? Wait Up (Boots Of Danger), Bambi, Breakneck Speed and Favourite Colour are central to the album's identity. How does Champ compare with Elephant Shell? Champ is broader and more polished, with more room for melody, while keeping the band's compact indie-rock energy.