Eclectic Tapes ’n Tapes Play Their New Favorite Town

If you thought that the albums of Tapes ‘n Tapes, the American band that made waves on the South by Southwest festival of 2006, were eclectic, oh boy, then you’re in for a surprise. The trademark of their albums The Loon and, to a lesser extent, Walk It Off that was released this year, is that all the songs sounded nothing alike. From the peaceful ‘Manitoba’ to the bluesy growl of ’10 Gallons Ascots’ to the manic up-tempo of ‘Insistor’, the lads all just put them together on one album. Of course, the half filled (and even that is generous) venue Doornroosje does not expect anything else, but still Tapes ‘n Tapes finds a way to do something else.Even the way the band takes the stage, after a proper supporting show by Canadians Land of Talks, is slightly peculiar. After the soundcheck the guys do not leave the stage, but instead start an instrumental jam over the music of the DJ. Then they kick off with ‘Jakov’s Suite’ off of their first album, to follow it up with ‘Le Ruse’, which also in the live show is one of their weaker songs. The lads sturdily keep on playing until halfway Josh Grier for the first time speaks to the audience. The funny thing is that when he does, it seems like talking comes pretty easy to him. Spontaneously he jokes that this is the first city with good weather that they’ve played for ages, and that Nijmegen now is their favorite city. “Of the whole world!” he smiles. However, this is the only time we hear him talk, as for the rest of the evening they just keep on playing right until the end.Their playing has become quite a bit better since their show in Amsterdam two years ago. They seem to have more confidence in their instrumental qualities, which leads to the confidence to add extra things to the songs instrument wise. The bluesy sound also leads to bluesy behavior, with more instrumental freedom. Funny is also that they’ve brought along a trumpet for just this one song, and also some sort of device like thingy which says “woo- woo” (which at the start of the song is either sung or mimed by bass player Erik Appelwick). But the experimental behavior does not end there, because not only do they add to songs, some songs they play differently altogether. ‘Cowbell’ is played twice the speed, for instance, and ‘Insistor’ is also played slightly different, and is a tad less catchy because of it. So you can say that the experimental side both has positive and negative consequences, with the positive being that instrumentally it all sounds a bit more daring.Highlight of the gig is probably ’10 Gallons Ascots’, which live gets a huge boost. They play it very gutsy, en the growling voice of Grier really fits this song. The frail ‘Say Back Something’ and the bluesy ‘Demon Apple’ are also beautiful live. Especially the more blues orientated songs are played very well. However, it is a pity that you can hear Grier’s voice just fine half of the time, which automatically means that the other half he is almost inaudible for some reason. Not that his voice is God’s greatest gift to mankind, but it would be nice to actually hear it. Also remarkable is that even though they only have two albums and they play sixteen songs, they still manage to create a setlist that misses some of the albums’ highlights. The omission of ‘In Houston’ and ‘Omaha’ is peculiar to say the least. Especially the last song would have been great for the encore that did not exist.Despite those things you can see that a real proper band has taken the stage, and one that has grown since their last Dutch performance in 2006. They commanded the stage in Nijmegen, for some reason I cannot pinpoint. Which naturally is something else completely than act and pretend like you command the stage, which they certainly do not do. Actually, they do the opposite of that. The gig is precisely what you expect from an American indie band; delightfully stubborn. And sometimes that pays off into great things, and sometimes it does not work at all. And that’s why the show will always be raw and flawed. It’s real American indie, not unlike Modest Mouse, who eventually found a bigger audience as well. To get to that level of success Tapes ‘n Tapes will have to become more consistent in churning out quality, also in their live performance. Because though this Americana show is full of eclectic sounds and quirks, and is delightful because of it, even here there are things that even in a show like this you know just won’t work. But for everyone who loves the stubborn American indie sound, and who do not want a slick British production, it was a good night to be in Doornroosje.