Tapes 'n Tapes | The King Club | Jan 4th

Back in November, I posted about the most recent fab band hitting the blogosphere, Tapes 'n Tapes. Well, last night in Madison, WI they started their two-week mini-tour of the midwest and northeast. I wasn't within a thousand miles of WI but my friend, Tom, was there and he emailed me this review of the show.

Tapes 'N Tapes
King Club
Madison, WI
Jan. 4, 2006

Quality band, cheap price, small venue. It was difficult to go wrong with Tapes 'N Tapes playing the King Club in Madison Wednesday night.

I keep wondering what the catch is with the Minneapolis-based group. Albums like The Loon shouldn't have to be ordered to be bought at your favorite local indie record store and bands like Tapes 'N Tapes sure as hell charge more than a $4 cover.

The Loon is still somewhat below radar but it's hard to imagine that lasting for long. As a result, I'll put all other curiosities aside and simply relish the best bang-for-buck show I've ever seen.

It seemed like about a dozen people in the place were truly paying attention to the band. It didn't help its cause that Tapes didn't take the stage until after midnight on a midweek evening.

About the only complaint was that it was tough to hear the vocals on a couple early tunes, even more the case on numbers like 10 Gallon Ascots. Because the King Club is so tiny, when the band brought the sound down for softer, slower interludes, you had to contend with the chatter from the back half of the bar.

Still, the band sounded tight and played with great energy. On 10 Gallon Ascots, the keyboard player borrowed a page from The Arcade Fire playbook and started bashing away on the other side of the drum kit when the band cranked up.

Tapes 'N Tapes was equally adept at taking things down without dragging tempo as it was cutting loose. Such was the case on Buckle, a personal Loon favorite of mine, and the band ripped through versions of Insistor and Cowbell.

The band didn't play Omaha and I heard a couple of complaints about people wishing they played longer. Unless they were start playing covers, I'm not sure exactly how long a band with one album and one EP is supposed to play.

I almost felt guilty walking out, like I should have tipped the band for the performance they gave at the cost. Instead, I thought of some of the disappointing shows I paid to see and figured a night like this makes up for those and then some.

Approximate set list

Just Drums
Beach Girls
10 Gallon Ascots
Insistor
Manitoba
Icebergs
Buckle
Cowbell
Jakov's Suite

It sounds like a good show. Thanks for the review, Tom. I wish they were playing somewhere close to VT but no dice. Here are their tour dates:

Jan 4 2006 King Club Madison, WI
Jan 5 2006 Quiet Storm Pittsburgh, PA
Jan 7 2006 The Delancey New York, NY
Jan 8 2006 Pianos New York, NY
Jan 9 2006 Mercury Lounge New York, NY
Jan 10 2006 The Fire Philadelphia, PA
Jan 11 2006 Talking Head Club Baltimore, MD
Jan 14 2006 Schubas (Tomorrow Never Knows Fest) Chicago, IL
Jan 20 2006 St. Olaf College (The Paws) Northfield, MN
Feb 3 2006 the Cave (Carleton College) Northfield, MN
Feb 4 2006 Terminal Bar Minneapolis, MN
Mar 10 2006 The Cavern Dallas, TX

It'll be interesting to see what the NY tastemakers think of their shows this weekend. A few gushing comments from the big NYC blogs and it'll be a heck of a 2006 for the boys from Minneapolis.