Emotionalpunk.com
Media Review
Music Quality: 3.0
Production: 6.0
Originality: 2.0
Tracklisting
2. Time of Songs
3. Hang Them All
4. Headshock
5. Conquest
6. Say Back Something
7. Demon Apple
8. Blunt
9. George Michael
10. Anvil
11. Lines
12. The Dirty Dirty
The last words sang at the end of "The Iliad" by Tapes 'n Tapes, were " at least we tried". Was this a warning? Was it even a worthy effort?
When Tapes 'n Tapes burst onto the scene a few years ago, the buzz was big. They were being championed by Modest Mouse’s leading man, and it seemed every review of their first album was generally above high praise. The suddenly-super group gained its recognition through a raw thrashing of emotions and instruments, which, to the fresh ear, could seem somewhat cluttered and too sped up. But the band’s debut “The Loon” peeled open just nicely, and if you searched within the noise and hyper guitar and drums crashes, you could find the right melody: the intended melody. It seemed, at this point, everything would run well for the Tapes 'n Tapes and that their sound would take leaps in magnificent directions, or at least, remain the loving sound that it was. Well, as luck would have it, they didn’t seem to do that on their second time around.
It’s not that their sophomore release “Walk It Off”, is a complete failure; it’s more like a great beast of an animal that once walked tall and proud, but now walks crippled, worn, and dehydrated. What made “The Loon” a treasure, was that it took chances and didn’t seem to worry about not finding the right audience. But it did find the right audience, and a pretty large one at that. It seems now that Tapes 'n Tapes have found their target audience and they don’t want to upset them; so what do you get, stale material. The songs on “Walk It Off” have the presence of every track off “The Loon” but inside the great fish’s belly, is anything but guts; it’s almost only the “idea” of a Tapes 'n Tapes album.
Nothing gives me more pleasure than praising an album that deserves it, and nothing leaves a bitter taste in my mouth quite like panning an album from a band you respect and admire. The taste is even bitterer when it feels like said band, a band of incredible originality, is only making a second album to win over the other listeners out there, who didn’t quite “get it” the first time. There is no sense to go in and analyze these songs track by track because if Tapes 'n Tapes won’t go all the way and hit all the buttons, then neither will this review. But I’m confident this review has covered more ground and is slightly more entertaining, than listening to “Walk It Off” a second time.