Tapes 'n Tapes

Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann is a good match for Tapes n' Tapes second LP, somehow managing to place the lolling march "Time of Songs" and layered up-tempo jive of "George Michael" in huge rooms of reverb without letting them get soggy. The release didn't win the deafening buzz that the band enjoyed with The Loon, but the succinct grooves of tunes like "Conquest" prove that they're hardly victims of sophomore slumping.

It may strut its funky virtuosity like Prince, threaten to collapse in a drunken heap like the
Replacements or rage like Hüsker Dü, but Minneapolis rock is always tuneful — an important
comfort to folks freezing their nuts off most of the year. On the follow-up to their 2006
debut, The Loon, Minnesota's Tapes 'n Tapes hew to tradition, conjuring the Hüskers on
"Le Ruse," a tirade on betrayal, with guitars and cymbals swarming like late-sum... More >