: More You Becomes You CD
reviewed by Larry Crane
Plush is Liam Hayes, a keyboardist, song- writer, singer and Mellotron fanatic. Unlike his highly orchestrated singles, we get no Mellotron on this outing - just Hayes mostly singing and playing...
Music Reviews
What we are listening to. Non-critically.
: I Hear a New World CD
reviewed by Larry Crane
Joe Meek. The name haunts anyone who researches record production of the 60's. His secretive and forward-looking production techniques presaged what many others developed later on. I mean some of this...
: Hooray for Tuesday CD
reviewed by Larry Crane
Ever since the Apples (In Stereo) made their self-recorded splash on the indie music scene, a lot has been said in praise of Robert Schneider and his Pet Sounds Recording Studio and we here at Tape Op...
: Beep, Kiss CD EP
reviewed by Larry Crane
It took me some time to figure this out, but Holland is our pal, Trevor, formerly the Sea Saw/Magnetophone guy. Holland is in a similar vein - Kraftwerkian drum sounds, lush analog synths and sad,...
: Ini-dependence LP
reviewed by Dewey Mahood
AMF's new one follows in the soft/loud direction of their first record, but manages to keep the some- times generic formula sounding fresh-inspired even. They push everything to the extreme; the low-...
: New Eyes on the Universe CD
reviewed by Larry Crane
I'm a big fan of Brian Eno. Not of everything he writes, records and produces, but of the way I perceive that he thinks about music and recording. Systems approaches, how a system (a complex effects...
: December 96 CD
reviewed by Dewey Mahood
Poole improvises on a Martin acoustic guitar using an alternate tuning of his own invention. He is concerned with the perfect fourth, the neutral third, and the micro uneven intervals between. This...
: Train Songs CD
reviewed by Dewey Mahood
According to the disc technical notes, this music was "captured by veteran field engineer Gene Holder [ex dB's], in a studio/bohemian flophouse called the Jolly Roger". Sound is on the lo-fi side of...
: Starters Alternators CD
reviewed by Dewey Mahood
The Ex on Touch and Go? While they do seem at first to be strange company (T & G don't exactly conjure images of anarcho-squatters and euro- improvisers), the union couldn't have been more...
: CALIFONE
reviewed by Adam Selzer
If you're a Red Red Meat fan, you probably already know about this record. Tim Rutilli, the songwriter behind Califone proceeds from where his previous outfit (Red Red Meat) left off. It continues...
: DEFORMO
reviewed by Matt Mair Lowery
The only way I can adequately express my excitement over this record is to say that I haven't been so unexpectedly and pleasantly surprised by an album since I first heard Pavement's Slanted and...
: Y PANTS
reviewed by Larry Crane
I like reissues of obscure groups. Usually they have all sorts of different source material on them plus it's music from a different place and time, and usually you can feel that. Y Pants were a...