HIDDEN GEM: Tapes 'n Tapes won't get its commercial release until the summer
|
This buzzed-about Minneapolis indie combo just signed to XL Recordings, superhip home of M.I.A. and Dizzee Rascal; next month, the label will give The Loon a much wider commercial release, which should increase the number of people buying a copy of Tapes ’n Tapes’ debut rather than downloading it. Until then, The Loon (first issued last year on the band’s own Ibid label) will remain a secret little gem of fuzzy post-Pavement guitar pop. Like Stephen Malkmus and his merry men, these guys regard noise and distortion and weird song structures as their birthright; they grew up in an era when lo-fi became more of an aesthetic choice than an economic necessity. But they’re also in love with melody and their parents’ Kinks LPs, and The Loon throbs with the band’s unwillingness to choose between the two sides. For now, they’re better at the quick, dirty rave-ups than the slow, tender ballads. (On a debut album, who isn’t?) But Tapes ’n Tapes are moving at beyond the speed of sound; if the pace doesn’t kill them, it’ll make them stronger in a hurry.TAPES ’N TAPES + FIGURINES + COLD WAR KIDS | June 5 | Middle East Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.EAST
On the Web
Tapes 'n Tapes: http://www.tapesntapes.com/
Related:
Tapes N' Tapes, Vinyl goes digital, Going on sale: January 11, 2008, More
- Tapes N' Tapes
Last time we heard from this young Minneapolis quartet — and if you spend any time on the Internet, you heard a lot — the story had little to do with music.
- Vinyl goes digital
Some of us still remember the famed Sub Pop singles club, and Simple Machines’ 1993 single-a-month series, which featured everyone from riot grrrls Bratmobile to slo-rockers Codeine.
- Going on sale: January 11, 2008
Mountain Goats, Joe Jackson, Stephen Malkmus, and more.
- Start with some Spice
The game is on for the reunited Spice Girls.
- Going on sale: April 20, 2007
Electrelane, Tapes 'n Tapes, Rosebuds, and more.
- Feel the music
I personally find it comforting that the current number-one single in the country has a chorus that goes "I'll gas up the jet for you tonight, and baby we can go wherever you like."
- SXSW 2010: Lost in Austin
I can’t resolve an obsession with a sound until I find it live.
- Tone def jam
Def Jam: Icon is a marketing memo disguised as a video game, a conceptual nightmare that collapses under the weight of brand names and ill-advised “synergy.”
- Rock-and-roll heart
Stephen Malkmus: expert Scrabble player, The Wire enthusiast, husband, father, indie-rock demigod.
- Voices carry
Stephen Malkmus never sounds like anyone other than Stephen Malkmus.
- Chop shop pop
The Brighton-based British sextet's voluminous French cuffs of sleeve-worn influences put the “hyper” in hyperlink.
- Less
Topics:
CD Reviews
, Tapes 'n Tapes, Stephen Malkmus, Dizzee Rascal, More
, Tapes 'n Tapes, Stephen Malkmus, Dizzee Rascal, Cold War Kids, Less