Tapes 'n Tapes

Tapes 'n Tapes is a band from my hometown of Minneapolis, but despite this, I have been a little late to their scene. I tend to be cautious when scoping out new bands for some reason. I have to hear at least 2-3 songs I like by a particular artist before I dive into their discography, some exceptions notwithstanding. Depending on how much I like those songs, and how far their discography extends, I'll download either part or all of their complete musical works. With Tapes 'n Tapes, this decision was easy: I downloaded all of their music.

Tapes 'n Tapes has released 3 studio albums so far, the first in 2005 (The Loon) the second in 2008 (Walk it Off) and most recently a few weeks ago (Outside). With the exception of Freak Out, which I heard numerous times on my radio station The Current, I had basically heard none of their songs before I downloaded them two weeks ago. With that said, let's dive into the records individually.

The Loon

This album feels like a lot of first-albums I've heard from other bands I like: a lot of potential, a few sweet songs that compare favorably with the rest of their works later on, and even a little bit of that potential being squandered or unrealized. The first track - Just Drums - gets you in the mood right away, coming at you with everything they have. This song in particular has a lot of what makes Tapes 'n Tapes good: seamless guitar and drums, excellent movement and energy, and also a sense of scale, rocking out before dialing it back, then roaring back for the finisher. The Iliad does the opposite, starting off sounding like a lyric ballad before coming in with a sweet guitar riff which is driven home by the drums. I was surprised to hear Insistor, since I had heard it before but didn't know it was by Tapes 'n Tapes. Many think this is the best song on the album and I tend to agree. Its unrelenting energy is propelled by rolling drums.

There are several other good songs on The Loon, like the slower, but still powerful Manitoba, and the raucous Crazy Eights, but this album's flaws and strengths can be summed up via its final track Jakov's Suite. This song starts off as another fast moving rocker instrumental, but about a minute and a half in, it slows way down into a lumbering epic that somehow maintains its intensity. It's a fitting end song - reflective, thoughtful, possessing gravitas - but it could be much longer. Much more developed. Just as the song is at its most intense, it peters off and the song ends. When I heard this song and realized how short it was, it occurred to me how short most of their songs are, and how many of them (especially The Iliad at only 2:15) could have used a bit more development, or at least a bit more repetition.

Walk it Off

Tapes 'n Tapes' second album got panned by many critics as a letdown after their head-turning first album, and to an extent I agree that, with the exception of the album art, this is not as strong an effort as The Loon. A lot of the songs seem forced somehow, and worse, there's no real killer track that jumps out and declares that it is not only the best song on the album, but the only song you'll want to listen to for the next week or so. Probably the closest song to fit this description is Demon Apple, which admittedly is a pretty awesome song, again displaying the band's talent for lumbering guitar riffs over slow, purposeful drums. Hang Them All would be the single from the album, and it's decent without being great, much like the album itself. I like Conquest and The Dirty Dirty as well, if only for their guitar and drum licks, respectively. Overall, however, this album leaves me cold, which is disappointing. Let's just move on.

Outside

The third album by Tapes 'n Tapes is a nice step forward for the band. I can't stop listening to the first track, Badaboom, which puts everything the band does well into one song. It builds, moves, and peaks better than their previous efforts. Just do yourself a favor and click on that link to hear the song if you haven't already. Freak Out represents their most accessible song to date, providing a catchy sing-along chorus and fun chord progressions. The band also shows their sense of humor with Outro, ironically placed in the middle of the album. It even feels like a nice conclusion track, but instead transitions directly into the aforementioned Freak Out.

One other interesting thing about Outside is that they do the slower song better than before. The Saddest of All Keys and Hidee Ho are a kind of emotional, more purposeful song, whereas most of their other songs thrive on the rocking gene. On and On is another good example of this trend, adding what I think might be low synthesizer to the mix to great retrospective effect. The lack of development mentioned in The Loon part of my review is much improved in Outside, and I enjoyed this album a great deal, with few reservations. I'm excited to have added Tapes 'n Tapes to my mental inventory of bands, and can't wait to see what they produce next.