Track Listing

1. Just Drums
2. Iliad
3. Insistor
4. Crazy Eights
5. In Houston
6. Manitoba
7. Cowbell
8. 10 Dollar Ascots
9. Omaha
10. Buckle
11. Jakov's Suite

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70561 in Music
• Published on: 2006
• Released on: 2006-07-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Another day another hyped indie band. You could look at it that way, or you could absorb the sprawling, slightly incoherent, and highly galvanizing sounds that populate this debut album and admit – as everyone else has so far – that Tapes N Tapes have really got it going on. The Loon is not the kind of album that grabs you and shakes you by the throat. It’s not as immediate as The Magic Numbers, or as quirky as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, but then neither is it quite as transparent. In fact the band avoid any obvious song structures, leaning towards the opaque as much as possible, throwing out Pavement-style rock riffs one minute, harmonizing in a Beach Boys style the next. Frontman Josh Grier adds oodles of charisma to the album with his warbling delivery and lines like "I've been a better lover with your mother." It’s not the most dazzlingly original document, but The Loon assimilates its references so well it often feels that way. --Paul Sullivan

CD Description
'The Loon' is the debut album from Minneapolis-based indie quartet Tapes 'n Tapes. Released though the eclectic XL Records after a major label bidding war at the beginning of 2006, the four piece deliver an album of indie-pop gems which have been favourably compared to the likes of Pavement, Pixies, Wire and The Beach Boys. The single 'Insistor' is also included.

Customer Reviews

Atmospheric slow-burner
Tapes 'n Tapes are (it's been claimed) one of the hottest bands around at the moment, and they're certainly not bad. A kind of strange mix of Bloc Party and Modest Mouse, The Loon is much more understated than either Silent Alarm or Good News For People Who Like Bad News. The use of clean, reverbed guitars and jazzy shuffles lend a loose, spacious atmosphere to the precedings. You probably need to listen to the album a few times to notice all the intricacies, which are sometimes lost in the deliberately lo-fi sound, but it's worth the investment.

Take Time Over The Tapes.
This is a really strong debut album from another band hyped around SXSW and which, like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah 6 months earlier, does live up to the hype. Awkward guitars, post-Beta Band shuffles, delicious harmonies - occasionally all 3 in one song alone! 'Insistor' is the strongest moment and worthy of the first UK single release but like much of the album the song took a little while to grow on me and you must give the album a chance to implant itself in your brain.

Simply brilliant
It is many years since a new "record" was so constantly stuck to my player as this. New details leap out at every listenting. If you listen to Indie radio now (in late 2006), there is lots of good stuff - killers, razorlight, kooks, automatic, and so on. However, after a time, it all kinds of blends together. Tapes 'n' Tapes are just that bit more inventive, in rhythm, in lyrics, in instruments. Give your musical sense a break, try this...