tapes 'n tapes 'n pushovers

The quartet worked through pretty much all of 2005's The Loon, with considerable energy for each tune, complementing the album and suggesting potential for more cohesive future recordings. Out of the box, though, singer Josh Grier’s voice registered a little lower than the brighter moments from their record, which has been embraced by fans of Stephen Malkmus through Spencer Krug. This only highlighted the fact that tapes 'n tapes are riding a pretty lucky wave of popularity, having found the right balance of listenable, amateurish rock with the kind of friendly reviews and opening slots that pepper the dreams of your basement-bound musician friends.

Three or four songs into the show, “Insistor” had all of its recorded urgency and more, as Josh Grier found his Gordon Gano on The Loon’s catchiest track, and carried a wider vocal range on the remaining songs through the night. “Insistor” is a damn catchy song that admittedly none of Bostonist’s friends have written the likes of.

“Omaha” also brought more life than on record, sounding off nicely like Broken Social Scene complete with horn accents; this would seem like quite an accomplishment for a mere 4-piece band, if not for the pre-recorded rhythm track conspicuously used just once.

The wordless “Crazy Eights,” like a late-night basement jam amongst friends, has its hooks but hardly seemed like a worthy inclusion for a set at Middle East’s Downstairs—a sign of a fledgling band in need of more quality material. Similarly, “10 Gallon Ascots” missed while the keyboardist’s distracting tambourine stumbling was at least enough to get the indie kids to stop their arrhythmic headbobbing and open their eyes to watch where the tambourine would land for each cymbal crash.

While strengths can be found in The Loon and nearly any band willing to break a serious sweat onstage, tapes 'n tapes seem like they haven't yet adjusted to the light they've been pushed out into from the cellar that cooked up their mix of Pavement, punk, and premature popularity. Bostonist is interested to see what they come up with when they retreat home with all of this support and experience. But the Middle East Downstairs isn’t just another basement. It's a landmark music venue and everyone feeding on these blogs needs to get out more!