Seattle Subsonic

Tapes ‘n Tapes Play It Off, White Denim Sticks

May 23rd, 2008

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I went to the Tapes ‘n Tapes show at the Showbox last Wednesday (5/14). That was pretty sweet. I’m a big fan of the Minneapolis garage-pop band, and was eager to see them during their latest tour for the recently released—and repeatedly maligned—Walk It Off. While not quite the overall success of the widely acclaimed debut, The Loon, the album is not without its own victories. I really enjoy the insistence of “Hang Them All” and the filthiness of “The Dirty Dirty”, the latter of which I incessantly yelled for the band to play. Which they did, of course, as the finisher to their close-to-90 minute set.
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The crowd that showed up at the Showbox demonstrated that maybe it isn’t quite yet the venue for TnT. A bit too large for the band’s (apparent) following here in Seattle, they might’ve been better suited to play Neumos or even Chop Suey. They played the Crocodile a few years ago with the Cold War Kids. I can’t help but think the attendance was a bit of backlash for the new record, which is unfortunate. Grier implored adamantly to the booze hounds in the bar to come join the all ages crowd up front; eventually, many of them obeyed. I will say that the set started off a bit flat, however. The crowd was sparse and evidently the awesomeness of opening threesome White Denim wasn’t enough to pump people up. But the dudes of TnT exploded during a rousing performance of “Demon Apple” and the second half of the show was first-rate. All your favorite hits were played, with added polish to songs like “10 Gallon Ascots”, “Insistor” (obv), “Jakov’s Suite”, and “Cowbell”. Erik Applewick is a big, goofy mess of a bassist—I mean that in a positive way—and he and songwriter Josh Grier kept the crowd engaged with their back-and-forths.

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Back to White Denim. I’m not sure I remember being blown away so thoroughly by a band I’d never even heard of. They sounded like a mix between the Black Keys, the Stooges and the Band of Gypsys. I know, right?! Anyway, the vocalist had a howling classic rock voice and brandished a crunchy Gibson, but it was the rhythm section that ultimately stood out. The first four songs were played without pause, with the drummer looking like a man possessed by the devil himself. THE DEVIL HIMSELF. I was amazed that the bassist was able to keep up with him so well. Keep these guys on your radar, for sure.

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As for TnT’s album, I’ve heard arguments against the way it was produced (a reference to the already-common knowledge of producer Dave Fridmann, who has worked notably with the Flaming Lips and notoriously on the sophomore record of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, among many others). I understand where it might put some people off; Grier’s vocals are difficult to discern at times, which is too bad because his vocals are one of the strongest assets TnT has going for them. The bass is overbearing on a few songs where it seems it shouldn’t be. I’ve found that tweaking the “equalizer” on my car stereo and turning the bass down has remedied that issue fairly well. What I don’t get is when people have ripped on the songwriting and guitar work. Where’s the loyalty? Walk It Off sounds exactly how I would expect it to sound from this band: they’ve kept the roughness and boisterousness of their punk jams (“Le Ruse”, “Blunt”), they’ve expanded and improved upon their saloon ballads (“Time of Songs”, “Demon Apple”) and they’ve maintained that summertime Beach Boys charm (“Conquest”, “Say Back Something”) that amassed such a huge following in the first place.

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Here’s to hearing more tapes ‘n tapes ‘n tapes ‘n tapes ‘n tapes ‘n tapes from these talented guys from the Land of 10,000 Lakes.