Tapes ‘n Tapes

There are two good things about making an airport pick-up at one in the morning: 1) I got to see my sons for the first time in a week, and 2) I got to listen to CBC Radio 2’s Brave New Waves which doesn’t come on until midnight. Over the course of an hour, I was stoked to hear a couple of 3hive favorites, Metal Hearts and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. (Sadly, Patti Schmidt didn’t mention you can get free and legal downloads of these tracks at 3hive.com…) I also heard, as I always do on BNW, something new to me. This time it was a Minneapolis outfit called Tapes ‘n Tapes. They play nervous, clever pop that draws on a number of typical indie inspirations (Wire, Pixies, Talking Heads, etc.) but — just to save time and incite the inevitable “love/hate” debate — I’ll say they sound like a less fashionable Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Who knows? Good as they are, they may not be less for long…

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