TAPE LOOP - Reviews, Loopers speak their brains Options

[Sostie]

Here it is. Your own, brand new, Loop review thread

[maian]

Baz

Side A - Rockin' Tracks

Track 1 - Epic is one word for this track. Other, more accurate words, would be overlong and pretty boring. The choral vocals are the most interesting part for me, making the majority of the track, which consists of sub-standard rock guitar and disinterested lead vocals, something of a chore to get through after more than one listen. Next!

Track 2 - A entertaining cover of a song that I really like, even if the singer's voice sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me. A louder, more driving version of the original that I can't help but like.

Track 3 - This one annoys me because the lead singer's voice sounds really familiar but the music doesn't seem to fit, makes me think of Beck. Musically it's not dissimilar to what The Fall would sound like if they were more metal-influenced and a bit more proficient with their instruments. It's a cacophonous joy of noise that I was really drawn to. Look forward to find out who it's by.

Track 4 - Like Logger, I love this band, but for me it's actually one of the weaker songs off of my favourite of their albums. Still, by association it gets a thumbs up from me and reminded me of why I love them.

Track 5 - Ah, the kings of shouty Jewish guys making hip-hop. I love these guys and will listen to anything they do, though this is a particularly good example of what they do so well; a surprisingly gentle sample mixed in with swirling guitars and screaming. No one does it quite like them. Unless it isn't them, in which case ignore everything that went before.

Track 6 - I'm in two minds on this one. I liked the overall track, but can't decide if the vocals on the chorus are a piss-take or not. They sound a bit too much like someone is putting on a 'metal' voice for comic effect. If that is the case, then I don't get the joke and am a bit annoyed, but if it is serious, then it's pretty solid but with silly vocals.

Side B - Chillin ' Tracks

Track 7 - Superb. Saw these guys recently and this was one of the highlights. Beautiful vocals, laid back beats and one of their more hypnotic raps.

Track 8 - This is the sort of track I like waking up to in the morning; one that starts out slow and which you can have on in the background but then builds and builds and builds until you can't ignore it. Doesn't do much, but what it does do is really quite lovely.

Track 9 - I'm sure I've heard this track before, or maybe that's just because it's very similar to a lot of slow trance sort of numbers. Not terrible, but I could take or leave it and I think that the song it is a remix of is superior.

Track 10 - I've always hated this song. Dull, dull, dull, stupid lyrics and a soporific vocal make for a truly terrible song. The one major misstep of the mix.

Track 11 - Much better. A relaxed vibe and subtle electronics carry this along for the first half, then the hazy vocals carry it the rest of the way. Pleasant.

Track 12 - Kind of dull, but in keeping with the previous tracks so it rounds out Side B nicely.


A nicely structured mix that, with a few exceptions, I liked a lot. The two sides work as self-contained entities and even if I preferred Side A I still found stuff to like in Side B. There were a few tracks that I outright hated, namely track 1 and track 10, but everything else fell into the middle-ground of ''I like that'', though few made the climb to the heights of ''Ooh, that's good''. Whilst the separation of the kinds of tracks worked well, it did mean that the tracks ended up being samey and perhaps a more varied track order would have made the experience as a whole more interesting.

7/10

A tracklist would be much appreciated.

This post has been edited by maian: Oct 15 2008, 04:03 PM