C/D - Tapes 'N Tapes

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Stylus give The Loon a "C" grade:

"So I come, far too late admittedly, to burgeoning Minneapolis fave Tapes ‘n Tapes and their over-hyped album, The Loon. They embody all of the town’s musical failings, the desperation for relevance in a bi-coastal market increasingly losing sight of the in-betweens. Touch all of the bases in passing, just a corner but not the whole square. Thanks to the blogs and the word of mouth over their last LP, Tapes ‘n Tapes is posited as the next CYHSY. But unlike that band or last year’s Wolf Parade, both of whose records I adored, Tapes ‘n Tapes lack the discipline for singularity. They want to be every band to every bloke, shuffling between genres in an effort to jack all and master nada."

Pitchfork scored it 8.3 and "Best New Music" status:
"What makes a great rock record can be difficult to pin down, but if there's a formula out there somewhere, Minneapolis-based Tapes 'n Tapes decoded its secret. Over the past few months, they've utterly dominated the music blog scene purely by word-of-mouth enthusiasm and the staggering strength of their frenetic, amped-up pop assaults. The press is warranted: What at first seems like a promising local band's modest demo becomes increasingly blissful with each listen, its 11 tracks stuffed with hook after addictively anthemic hook. Kneeling before Pavement, Wire, Beach Boys, and Pixies at rock's canonical altar, the scrappy four-piece shuns feigned hipster malaise to proudly wear its influences on-sleeve, like hand-traced logos on a wide-ruled notebook. Unconcerned with manic experimentation and ostentatious production techniques, the band focuses instead on the heart of all great pop music-- rhythm and melody. Their total lack of pretentiousness is a breath of fresh air: The Loon brings something for everyone."

― Col Tom Blue (Col Tom Blue), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:04 (twenty years ago)

that stylus dude is just mad indie chicks in mpls think he's lame.

i have not heard this record.

live, they are super energetic but can be a little bar-bandy.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:20 (twenty years ago)

neither classic nor dud. the record is pretty good, and that's it. but either way, that pitchfork quote is completely fucking ridiculous.

― sovietpanda (sovietpanda), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:27 (twenty years ago)

Nothing I have heard has made me want to hear any more.

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 15:47 (twenty years ago)

sounds like they 'arrange old elements in fresh new ways'

― hjfksd, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:00 (twenty years ago)

http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drg000/g084/g08496t7rrr.jpg

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Loon was the worst live performer I've ever seen.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 16:41 (twenty years ago)

"What at first seems like a promising local band's modest demo becomes increasingly blissful with each listen"

this meme of quality-as-indenfinable-feeling rather than something you can, you know, actually QUALIFY, is obviously tied to a familiar indie romanticism/sentimentalism, but at this point it's evolved into this sinister hegemonic force of apologism for mediocrity that somehow reminds me of Dubya-style modern doublespeak -- 'when we're talking of war, what we're really talking about is peace' - George W::'this seemingly boring and run of the mill indie band is actually ... not!' -- pitchfork

― fjskld, Tuesday, 28 March 2006 18:06 (twenty years ago)

Similarly to the Fake Smile Test, record reviews should be a clip of someone raving about an album while looking you in the eyes and then I can decide if I believe them or not.

Most would crack up or gag if they had to say out loud what they wrote.

― alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 19:19 (twenty years ago)

Hahahahaha, once I wrote a press release for work wherein a quote for my boss included a semicolon. This was deemed unbelievable, but a lot of old money types actually do employ it when they speak: "I wish you hadn't invited him, dear; he's on scholarship, after all."

― M. Biondi (M. Biondi), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 19:38 (twenty years ago)

It would probably be worse if we wrote as we spoke:

"Tapes 'n' Tapes is...they're pretty cool. Yeah, I saw them...where was it, The Whiskey? The Whiskey or the Troc? Somewhere with a balcony. The opener sucked, Wolf something, but, like, Tapes 'n' Tapes reminded me a lot of...Pavement? I guess Wowie Zowie era maybe, or more like Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain...are those Parliaments?"

― M. Biondi (M. Biondi), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Doesn't a negative review from Stylus traditionally mean it's a great record? (i.e. their trashing of the first two New Pornographers' albums).

― erklie (erklie), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 20:01 (twenty years ago)

It's a record that gets better and better with each listen. Incredibly melodic, often really beautiful. I love it.

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 21:50 (twenty years ago)

Paulhw, what's the address of your blog?

― Col Tom Blue (Col Tom Blue), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

Don't have one.

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 28 March 2006 22:57 (twenty years ago)

Tapes n Tapes are a very good live act and their new album is pretty good. I've just heard a mastered copy of fellow Minneapolis band, Bridge Club and that album is spectacular. They are the best band in the Twin Cities.

― Nicholas Shurson (Shurs), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 00:10 (twenty years ago)

They embody all of the town’s musical failings, the desperation for relevance in a bi-coastal market increasingly losing sight of the in-betweens

WTF? Indie Rock fans have ignored midwestern cities for too long!

― erklie (erklie), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 00:50 (twenty years ago)

not classic but not dud. Better than Clap Your Hands Beat Off though.

― don weiner (don weiner), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 00:52 (twenty years ago)

I think The Loon's pretty boring, with the exception of "In Houston." I saw them open for Dr. Dog, and Dr. Dog blew them away.

― WillS (WillS), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 00:59 (twenty years ago)

ew...I don't know about your show WillS, but Dr. Dog is the worst live band I've ever had to bear.

"over-hyped album, The Loon."
Is it really over-hyped? Who's the hype, Pitchfork?
Neither C nor D. But I did get this record at the end of '05, and on occasion it's still a nice listen. So it holds. Don't think it's classic, though.

― mox twelve (Mox twleve), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 01:21 (twenty years ago)

I like Bridge Club a lot..I dunno about best band in the cities though...

They embody all of the town’s musical failings, the desperation for relevance in a bi-coastal market increasingly losing sight of the in-betweens

I didn't get that at all....most mpls bands I know seem to not really give a fuck abt. anything outside of our own little insular world....i don't see much "desperation for relevance"

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 14:55 (twenty years ago)

I listened to the album this morning, and nothing about it really captivated me. CYHSY are way better.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 14:58 (twenty years ago)

Bwahahaha. Yeah, eek.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 14:59 (twenty years ago)

XPOST

"Is it really over-hyped? Who's the hype, Pitchfork?"

These people

― Col Tom Blue (Col Tom Blue), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:35 (twenty years ago)

What in the heck kind of a name is "Tapes 'n' Tapes?" Are they a part of some indie subgenre that includes Clap Your Hands Say Yeah where bands have really intentionally dumb names?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:45 (twenty years ago)

subgenre?

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Jam bands?

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 18:51 (twenty years ago)

No, you know, like a particularly stylized kind of bad band name aesthetic. A sort of nouveau super-dumbness in band names, if you will.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:09 (twenty years ago)

I didn't get that at all....most mpls bands I know seem to not really give a fuck abt. anything outside of our own little insular world....i don't see much "desperation for relevance"

i've been thinking a lot about this. i think it's too bad there isn't more "desperation for relevance," but that seems mainly cos there's so little chance of "getting out" anymore. as in, the tc's generate enough energy for the scene(s) to sustain itself really well, but somehow not enough to make a major point of outside interest. there will always be local music, but the wall btw the local and the "national" (let's say) seems really high. What was the last band from here to just be, like, a band, and not a local band? (well, Tapes n Tapes, i guess, hah...)

really don't like either review. but the stylus one at least gets at that feeling of dissatisfaction with M-SP which i swear lurks underneath everyone here...

i think i have seen T n T once, opening for the Streets (of all things) and i pretty much ignored them at the time. Then again, I haven't been to a purely local show in a looong time so I'm out of touch.

― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:12 (twenty years ago)

i like seeing a lot of bands in mpls/st.paul right now. perhaps moreso than anytime in the 10 years or so that i've lived here.

but geoff yr right, i think we are an extraordinarily "local" scene...which has it's good and bad points....maybe there isn't enough ambition as you suggest, that's probably true...still the insularity leads to some sort of wierd and cool things, like the frequency w/which local bands of different genres play together (mostly because everybody's friends and hangs out at the same bar)...like a recent show we played was my band (sort of gothy post-punk new wave whatever), a early Def Jam Beastie Boys type rap group (MC/VL), Half Fiction (Muffs/Buzzcocks style sugary pop punk), and a hardcore band (April Epidemic)....or the Plastic Constellations CD release which was them (post LFTR PLLR meets classic indie rock), the STNNNG (fall-ish noise), and Doomtree (rap)

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:21 (twenty years ago)

or once I remember we played with this other rap group, who I can't remember (our singer knew them from work), and anyway I was asking him about stuff he was listening to and he was all, "Man, you know Musab is a huge influence, and Oddjobs and Kanser and etc etc..." basically naming all these local rap guys...making conversation, I was asking him about stuff that was fairly recent like that it seemed like he would like like MF Doom or Ghostface or Common and he sort of drew a blank like "Oh yeah I've never really checked that out."...basically like this kid strictly grew up on and listened to local Mpls rap all the time, it was sort of bizarre.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:24 (twenty years ago)

no kidding? see that's what's so interesting and (to my mind) sad. there's a fine line between a place being supportive and being just kind of circumbscribed.

― geoff (gcannon), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

that's an extreme example...most people i know in bands are very into bands from all over, going to national band shows, etc...but it's (maybe) a telling anecdote in a way....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 29 March 2006 20:08 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

"Walk It Out," the new album, is pretty good.

― paulhw, Monday, 10 March 2008 21:47 (eighteen years ago)

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/734/untitled9vr.gif

― stephen, Monday, 10 March 2008 22:03 (eighteen years ago)

yeah what ever happened to these guys

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 10 March 2008 22:32 (eighteen years ago)

they put out an album and then toured behind it then went back into the studio and released a second album

― J0rdan S., Monday, 10 March 2008 22:33 (eighteen years ago)

Yep the new one is solid. Nice full-bodied production (if a little overly loud) courtesy of Dave Fridmann.

― Simon H., Monday, 10 March 2008 22:56 (eighteen years ago)

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C/D - Tapes 'N Tapes - The Loon