If I could capture a band as a sex symbol, I get the impression that Tapes 'n Tapes would be Johnny Depp and Jessica Alba: nearly everyone wants to sleep with one of the two or both. Like with most sudden sensations, however, there's more sugar coating here than real substance.
Evidence of how much Pavement still means to some people can be found in the reaction this band elicited after their performance at SXSW. There wasn't a single Pixie loving, Malkmus worshipping writer and/or music nut in existence that didn't have words of praise for this four piece plastered across their website at some point. Practically find an entire album's worth of free music from these guys can be found online because everyone wants to spread the joyous word of Tapes 'n Tapes. The Loon is not, however, everything everyone has made it out to be. While it doesn't inspire dry heaves in me every time I hear it, it doesn't exactly make me want to sing hallelujah. Letting the dust settle around a band always seems to reveal a sensation for a dud. The Loon isn't a dud and it thankfully doesn't revolt me. In fact, I like a couple of songs on this album.
The record begins, there is singing, guitar playing, drums pounding, the usual, and then later the album is over and I feel as if I've been cheated of my thoughts. All the musicians are obviously talented and they play well together; all the things that don't necessarily form the building blocks of a great record are present. I wish the band were much worse or much better than they are, because their popularity has now baffled me. How can a band be hailed as a group of mavericks and simultaneously be praised for their apparently deft handling of indie scripture? This is another rock record, another indie album that successfully rides a line between accessible pop and so called sophisticated, tasteful rock.
I suppose it's just another lesson in how out of hand praise can be when a bored or perhaps overexcited fan witnesses what he or she perceives to be a genre or musically defining moment. With the internet, MP3s, blogs, message boards, and a myriad of band sites available, anybody with a computer can access an enormous history of music. Such an advantage can be expected to breed dissatisfaction with repetitious, generic, and derivative music, but the opposite is happening. Everyone knows who Pavement was and now this generation wants a Pavement of their own. I'm bored with it: mediocre music by anyone (Pavement and Tapes 'n Tapes included) is still just mediocre music.
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