Thursday 18/05/06 Tapes n Tapes @ Metro Club, London

New darlings of America’s budgeoning indie scene, Minneapolis’ Tapes n Tapes hit British shores for the first time this week with the weight of the ‘next big thing’ millstone hanging around their necks. Drawing comparisons with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s angular post-punk, Pavement’s eclecticism and The Pixies’ DIY low-fi recordings, TnT couldn’t bee any cooler right now if you stuck them in carbonite. A critically lauded debut album, The Loon, and a triumphant set of gigs at SXSW have only increased the buzz surrounding the group, and a capacity crowd of music industry types have turned the Metro club tonight into a communal indie love-in (albeit a friendly, nodding appreciatively one, not a frothy, foaming at the mouth orgy-type)  
 
Listening to the album, it’s hard to get an idea of what kind of band will turn up. No one song sounds the same, there are spiky pop numbers, full-on balls out Rock n’ Roll and moments of beautiful stillness, all wrapped up in a record that sounds as if it were lovingly pieced together in a basement (which it was). Absurdly catchy, singles ‘Insistor’ and ‘Cowbell’ should survive the hype and become a fixture at indie discos across the land, but the album as a whole will probably puzzle more mainstream audiences. So, truth is, with this hipper-than-thou rep, there’s every chance Tapes n Tapes could turn out to be a cold and aloof live experience, but luckily, nothing could be further from the truth. They take to the stage and proceed to gamely tear the roof off the place. Tonight, Matthew, I am going to be ****ing AWESOME.

With a set down pat thanks to extensive touring across America, and a mammoth 8 gigs in a week at SXSW, the brothers Tapes tear through almost every song on the album, before ending on a spectacular Guns n Roses style guitar and drums breakdown on ‘10 Gallon Ascots.’ Songs that, on record sound sparse and sometimes willfully obtuse are much more muscular and full-bodied on stage. To take nothing away from the production of the album, which is sparky and clear, tonight ‘In Houston,’ 'Insistor' and ‘The Illiad’ pulse with raw, punky energy, bassist Erick throws shapes in the corner, singer Josh Grier screams his little lungs out and multi-instrumentalist Matt flits from xylophone to (bizarrely) a tuba and ends up leaping about the stage, crashing drummer Jeremy’s cymbals with a tambourine.
There are moments of beauty too. Set, and album highlight 'Omaha' throbs with longing and distance, and would be enough to reduce Gigwise to tears, if it wasn’t for the two middle-aged idiots in front of me who decided it was a brilliant time to have a shouted conversation about an obscure Neutral Milk Honey album during the quiet bits. Anyway, ‘Just Drums,’ which sounds like the Strokes back when they were cool soon shuts them up, and has the rest of the crowd bouncing about like demented fools. As the night ends, the band grin, shuffle off nervously and then proceed to get mobbed at their merchandise stall.

Hopefully, TnT can deal with the plaudits that will soon rain down on them from all sides. They seem better equipped than most – a cracking live show, a great debut album and more material on the way, but it remains to be seen whether anyone outside the magic circle of the indie press will take to them. An opening slot at this year’s Carling Festivals should be a barometer of popular opinion, and could see the band being catapulted into a limelight they already seem destined for. Here’s hoping.