Tapes 'n Tapes with Wild Light at Metro

February 17, 10:02 PMChicago Live Music ExaminerAmanda Nyren

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Chicago Live Music Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Tapes 'n Tapes: Carleton College knows how to rock!

Minnesota boys Tapes 'n Tapes bring their urgent, strummy rock, which has been compared to the likes of Pavement and Pixies, to Metro (3730 N. Clark) for a show with Wild Light on Saturday, March 7.

I’ve been enjoying Tapes’ 2006 LP The Loon for a while now, and I’m not the only one. Pitchfork Media commended it with a "best new music" nod, and the single "Insistor" was featured on the Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist soundtrack (in case you actually saw that movie). Given Tapes’ grooming at Coachella and Lollapalooza, but relatively up-and-coming status, you can expect a well-done performance by a band that's still pink inside.

Opening act Wild Light boasts a former Arcade Fire member (Timothy Kyle), but I remain unconvinced that this New Hampshire-based indie pop group comes anywhere close to the French Canadian band, whose 2004 “Funeral” stands as one of my all-time favorite albums. Based on my listenings, which are admittedly still cursory at the time of writing this, Wild Light’s lyrics tend toward kitschy and the vocals can sound a little whiney. Take their first single "California on my Mind," for example. Its incessant declaration, "F* today, f* California" almost reminds me of Blink 182, who fall pretty darn close to zero on my Good Music Barometer.

That said, don’t write this concert off based on my rather low opinion of Wild Light. Tickets cost only $16, so you can afford to risk a mediocre opening act to see Tapes ‘n Tapes, who earn my hearty approval.