Tapes N Tapes Glasgow Nice N Sleazy’s. Wednesday 24th May
With a name that has peppered many conversations recently and the NME declaring they were the band most likely to do an Arctic Monkeys after this summer’s festival circuit, all eyes and ears were on Tapes N Tapes to see if the talk was justified.
With a rather low-key entrance, the band seemingly appearing from nowhere and tuning up and then quickly launching into the set, there appeared no signs of pressure on them. From the first song onwards, the show came across as tight and edgy rock n roll, with a bass line that could only be described as subversive. It underpinned all the songs and had an incessant danceable quality to it.
The crowd that had gathered all seemed to be enjoying themselves, with the front rows heaving and head nodding in time. With every conclusion being warmly received, the biggest cheer of the night came for “Insistor.” The track may have had a strange rhythm but it snaked around the venue and by the time the galloping, yelping chorus came along, the majority of the room had been won over.
With the keyboard and guitars battling for supremacy, a major standout of the night was the drumming, holding together most tracks and at times venturing out as the lead instrument. Tapes N Tapes seem well aware of the quality of their drummer and allow him much of the spotlight in their set and it allows a more fluid side of their music to come through. They cross a few boundaries, at times sounding like the melodic behemoth that is Queens of The Stone Age and at other times, having the wiry feel of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but without the shrieking vocals.
With an encore of “The Iliad” which the band claimed was the only song they had left to play, sounding like New Orders “Blue Monday” with added strut and chimpanzee backing vocals, the crowd went home extremely happy and assured that this was the last time they would see Tapes N Tapes in a venue of such size.
This Review First Appeared in
