Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Record Review: Tapes 'n Tapes - Outside


"In which I write a record review while obviously hungry" or "Tapes n tapes n tapes n tapes...."

For Tiny Mix Tapes:

Tapes 'n Tapes
Outside

Ibid

I like bar food. I like veggie burgers and fries and the occasional (okay, extremely frequent) plate of nachos. I like feeling that when I go somewhere for such food, I can show up looking however I please, that no visual or behavioral state of being (barring unruly and destructive) will be frowned upon.

In 2005, Minneapolis’ Tapes ’n Tapes released a record I consumed like bar food — ravenously, insatiably, uninhibited...[Read more]

Tiny Mix Tapes' 50 Favorite Albums of 2010


I feel so privileged to have contributed to Tiny Mix Tapes for the duration of 2010, and weighing in on their best albums of the year was just the icing on the cake. Some of the top 25 albums I voted for made their cut, some didn't, but by asking me to write about TMT's #14 choice, the editors gave me a second stab at a review I thought I could've done better.

Read the whole 50-item feature here.


See the page with selections 20-11 to read my blurb about #14, Women's Public Strain:


"...Public Strain, like their self-titled debut, was a tactile album, one to be felt like someone unseeing recognizes a face, complete with all the relief found in that face's familiarity."

That full review can be found here.



For the record, here's the stuff I voted for, though I gotta say I lack conviction on a lot of it:

25. Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
24. Beach House - Teen Dream
23. Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy
22. Owen Pallet - Heartland
21.Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
20. Future Islands - In Evening Air
19. Mount Eerie - Song Islands vol. 2
18. Megafaun - Heretofore
17. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
16. Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band - Where The Messengers Meet
15. Kurt Vile - Square Shells EP
14. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts
13. Abe Vigoda - Crush
12. Friendo - Cold Toads
11. Wolf People - Tidings
10. The Harvey Girls - I've Been Watching A Lot of Horror Movies Lately
9. Carnivores - If I'm Ancient
8. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
7. Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
6. Yeasayer - Odd Blood
5. No Age - Everything In Between
4. The National - High Violet
3. Secret Cities - Pink Graffiti
2. The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt
1. Women - Public Strain

Big Boi shoulda totally been on there....