Tape Club

A 26-track compilation of B-sides, demos, and other unreleased miscellany from an indie pop band out of Missouri. The result is a super-sweet, super stripped down collection you might well find on, duh-huh, a home tape. By turns heartbreakingly darling, exuberantly pop, little-kid punk, boppingly jangly, and backyard honest. In a lot of ways this reminds me of See You In Heaven (the Elliott Smith comp): the same achey sweetness, the same bare acoustic guitar sound, and the vocals, well -- the resemblance is all there. Sounds like summer camp. Or dandelions. Or something.

RIYL: Wilco, The Shins, Elliott Smith, that unassuming skinny-boy indie band from your high school whose members all went their separate ways to eastern colleges and never played together again

try: 5, 6, 8, 11, 18, 20, 23 (in no particular order)
FCC: 14

1. (2:53) sad, quiet, slow. naked crystal solo electric, fragile male vox. mournful deep strings. ends with some kitchen sink noise.
2. (2:15) easy acoustic strum. pleasant beachy harmonies.
3. (2:03) demo quality. cute walky acoustic, very "rainbow connection". whispers of wilco.
4. (3:16) earnest yet eerie sticky acoustic and fragile falsetto. 'needle in the hay', etc.
*5. (2:25) lazy yet bouyant sway, cool beat, clarinet. low harsh whispery vox.
*6. (1:19) melancholy, harsh, sweet. doubled elliott-style harmonies. sticky acoustic, spare beamy electric. the end (which approaches, but does not complete, an FCC) is priceless.
7. (2:11) mid-slow island vibe. handclaps, claves, uke. melancholy melody.
*8. (2:59) noisy yet sparse punkish rock that makes space for sweet vox. "i like my body with your body." the rhymes are sort of great.
9. (2:11) clear bright dual acoustic. rocking chair porch folk. no drums.
10. (2:38) lo-fi. mixed boy/girl vox. some kitchen sink percussion and acoustic knocks.
*11. (2:18) jangly indie pop. boppy bass and sticky acoustic. happy, short and cute.
12. (3:02) hooky indie beat, intertwining melody electric. beachy harmonies.
13. (3:43) falsetto harmonies and sticky hard strummed/picked acoustic. handclaps. deep rich sound.
14. (4:50) FCC ("shit") dark and slinky syncopated groove mixes with sweet indie pop harmonies. oh, the lyrics.
15. (2:12) country camp. picked acoustic, handclaps. tight, tight recording. sort of sounds like a joke. "you're gonna lose me if you don't choose me."
16. (2:46) fastish pop rocker. jangle guitar, rudder guitar. sparse, happy, light.
17. (2:06) slowish staccato banjo, melody bass, tambourine. meandering, pleasant.
*18. (2:24) celebratory punkish pop. harsh keys over rudder guitar. handclappy drum hits. loud and anthemic. see: the get up kids.
19. (3:03) muddy recording. lazy shuffling bass and what sounds like a clarinet. 'fixing a hole', etc.
*20. (1:34) fast lo-fi punk lite, sparse hard snare and funny 'huh huh' callbacks. high-larious vocoder effects. brainiac goes twee. this is actually sort of marvellous.
21. (1:09) lullaby guitar and harsh falsetto over tape noise.
22. (2:28) crappy recording, harsh high vox, pops, clanging slow guitar. a great song, despite the dragging beat and sloppy execution.
*23. (2:37) mid-slow electroclash. hi-reg vox and flutey synth. kinda adorable. "now i'm gonna tell you about missouri"?
24. (3:43) power pop. rapid circular picked guitar. quick light boppy beat. cute, pleasant, with some rockish elements. sounds like the secrets.
25. (4:58) low-frequency noise under slow sweet acoustic. lazy sway strummed electric + drums midway in. no hurry here.
26. (3:11) lo-fi harsher. messy ominous bass, fuzzy power chords, aggressive falsetto that melts into the noise.