RECORD REVIEWS
Tapes 'n Tapes — Walk It Off
I don't know Dave Fridmann personally. I am fairly sure we have never met. Yet, for some reason, he must not like me. "Why" you ask, "would you think such a thing, Erik?" Well, Mr. Fridmann has now done a good job ruining two bands that I liked a lot. First came Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, whose sophomore album Some Loud Thunder defined "sophomore slump" and Mr. Fridmann produced a good deal of it. Now, he's laid his hands on Tapes 'n Tapes and sure enough, Walk It Off is a big step down from 2006's The Loon. The album seems bogged down, underproduced and lots in a haze that does not do the band justice.
So, in my research for this review, I did have to look up what sort of CV Fridmann's sports, and sure enough, he's a hot shot, heck, he's nearly a legend. He was in Mercury Rev, he's a spiritual member of the Flaming Lips, he's produced and engineered songs for Weezer, Mogwai, Sleater-Kinney. He was called one of Mojo magazine "100 sonic visionaries" of all time. Well, great. I know Mr. Fridmann sleeps well knowing all of these facts and more. So why am I so sorely disappointed with his work with CYHSY and Tapes 'n Tapes. I'm not really sure. Wikipedia notes that Fridmann "often brings a distinctive, expansive, open sound to the albums he produces...", so I suppose he's post-Pink Floyd, post-Phil Spector sort of producer and in many cases, that might be a good thing. It has seemed to work for the Flaming Lips. Yet somehow, with all of Fridmann's pedigree and skill, his efforts with some of the modern rock world's current (well, semi-current) darlings have just produced a mess. I think this goes to show that no matter who the producer might be, from Butch Vig to to Flood to Brian Eno to Jacknife Lee, it takes more than just a reputation and knob-twiddling skills to make a band sound great.
What is it about Walk It Off that has me so riled up? Well, for one, it sounds like it was recorded off the radio onto a beat up XL-60 cassette. This is exactly the same problem I had with Some Loud Thunder: it just sounded bad, whether it be on questionable iPod headphones or my Sennheiser "real" headphones. You felt like you were hearing everything from under about 2 feet of water - and admittedly, for some bands, that sort of "wall of sound", echoing reverb might work, but for Tapes 'n Tapes, it doesn't. Not in the least. "Le Ruse" opens the albums and it has a bit of Sebadoh feel to it, but it also feels like they're pegging the meters when they recorded it. What you get is just a soggy soup of sound instead of any real melody. "Time of Songs" starts off more promising, with some of the crispness that tracks like "Insistor" on The Loon, but it never reaches the same energy levels. You feel that "Hang Them All" might get there, but it just still has that sloppy sound that permeates the album. I could go on to list all the tracks that are serious trainwrecks of garbledness, but really, I think you get the idea.
There are a few songs that seem to survive the Fridmann treatment, like "Conquest," a slight rolling number. "Anvil" might end up being the high point on Walk It Off, where Tapes 'n Tapes takes it easy to create a sort of sleepy ballad almost sounding like it came out of the Calexico discography. The distant piano mingling with the guitars and synths might be the best thing that Fridmann did on the disc without destroying the true core of the song. Both of these songs don't get mired on overmodulation or overindulgence in dense sounds, and thus they sound fresher and crisper than anything on the disc.
Now, maybe Mr. Fridmann just was off his game for Tapes 'n Tapes and CYHSY, maybe he just didn't know what to do with the bands' sound, but now I almost fear what other bands he might try to mold. Whatever happens, I hope Tapes 'n Tapes return to the roots the next time around because Walk It Off is a step backwards for the band, an endeavor where they lost of their songs in the fog of sound, and they ended up just burying what the tracks might have offered in layer after layer of noise.
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douglas martin said on April 14, 2008:
see, i thought fridmann's production is what saved the album from being borderline terrible. i mean, no matter the production, the songs themselves [with the exception of maybe three tracks] aren't very good.
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Mike Mess said on April 14, 2008:
Every band on Fridmann's list has experienced a dramatic decline in quality with the exception of the Lips & I'm more inclined to believe that the Wayne Coyne & Co. generally produce their own material and others chip in along the way. Look at Fridmann's own band, Mercury Rev: one truly amazing record (Deserter's Songs, which I will forever remain in my top 5) and maybe two good songs on three below-average records since. Know when to say when...
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Erik Gonzalez said on April 14, 2008:
Douglas @ 2: Yeah, I would agree with the sentiment that the songs are very good either, but to me, the production is such a disaster that even great songs wouldn't have saved this record.
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sparkrobot said on April 14, 2008:
Agreed. The mix is *all* drums, and it sounds like the drums were slammed through about three compressors set to "pump and breathe", out to a big muff and then back for another pass through the compressor again. The life is all squashed out. Too bad.
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Withnail said on April 14, 2008:
I agree with Douglas Martin. I really liked The Loon, and hoped this album would kill. But the songs are just not there. So I've been telling people, "Great Fridmann production. Insane drums. Weak songs." Ditto the CYHSY album, which is really pretty good. But the reason it's not awesome is that some of the songs lag, and the overall direction is a little aimless. Dave didn't ruin anything (except possibly that first song). On the contrary, I think he only helped in both cases. And The Woods? C'mon! Loudest album ever!
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Imaginary Shrie said on April 14, 2008:
Fridmann, in my opinion, always produces such great drums. They sound so big and bombast.
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Erik Gonzalez said on April 14, 2008:
You know, now that I think about it, I was pissed off by the overmodulation on The Woods as well. I think this goes back to my preference to hear the song rather than noise, which is why, on the whole, I hate live shows. Too loud, terrible mixing, it becomes a cacophony of garbage. Fridmann must love the stuff because he makes these bands just sound the same, sound distorted and to me, like crap.
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Ethanius said on April 14, 2008:
He produced MGMT's Oracular Spectacular which is one of the best albums I've heard in a LONG, LONG time. I think he was in familiar Lips territory with MGMT, though the latter has more beat-pop for the kiddies to shake their rumps too. I think he pulled something off with Oracular Spectacular that is the mark of a truly great producer; the album as a whole piece has an aural identity that is present in all the songs. Yet, all the songs stand up on their own and kill.
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imaginary dana said on April 14, 2008:
Thanks to our Twitter pal Sassmo for sharing this brutal and hilarious review from Vice.
An excerpt:
"This band’s entire career is a figment of Pitchfork’s imagination. What a tuneless, soulless piece of shit this is."
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Erik Gonzalez said on April 14, 2008:
Well, I wouldn't go that far. I think Vice just has it out for P4FK anyway. "Insistor" was a pretty great tune (albeit from The Loon, so I wouldn't condemn the band for eternity.
Not to say this will happen, but remember how much everyone hated Pinkerton when it came out. Heck, Rolling Stone ranked it as the #2 worst album of the year behind Bush. Sometimes the visceral first reactions are way off.
Walk It Off, to me, was a big disappointment but by no means was it a complete disaster (see: Ghostland Observatory).
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imaginary dana said on April 14, 2008:
Yeah, I haven't actually heard this record yet, so I can't comment as to whether or not that Vice review was true. But it sure was snarky/funny.
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Imaginary Shrie said on April 14, 2008:
Vice is garbage anyway. Erik: Maybe you're just not a fan of that sound that so many other people love?
I stand by Fridmann. I can't say much for the songs that Tapes n Tapes put together, but I can say that Fridmann is rad. Plus, I like the mess that a live show sounds like.
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Erik Gonzalez said on April 14, 2008:
Shrie: You know, I actually do like his stuff with the Flaming Lips, but when you stick him in with a less atmospheric band, it just doesn't work. Ah well.
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Imaginary Shrie said on April 14, 2008:
No, I get that. Maybe they're just not a good match for punchy drums and lo fi buzz? Who knows!
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douglas martin said on April 15, 2008:
shirie: agreed on fridmann's drums. he always mixes the drums loud as PISS, and to be honest, that's one of the reasons [besides, um, killer songs] that "the woods" is my favorite sleater-kinney album.
i suppose fridmann's penchant for including cacophony/noise/generally unnecessary shit is the reason why i like him as a producer. i enjoyed the clap your hands say yeah record he produced a lot more than most people. but then again, most people aren't noise fetishists like me. haha.
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John in Ballard said on April 17, 2008:
I've been listening to this album for the past week trying to get it to grow on my and so far it just hasn't. I agree the sound quality is worse than it was on the Loon, but I don't know if that's why I don't like it or if the songs just aren't all that great. I like 'Hang them all' and George Michael' but none of the other songs stand out yet.
Ethanius at 9: Agreed on MGMT! Might be my favorite album of the year so far. The sound of that album is great, not muffled like 'walk it off.' I'm disappointed I procrastinated and missed out on getting tickets to their show at Chop Suey.
Anyone else going to see Tn'T at the Showbox next month? Despite my moderate feelings about this album, I'm still excited about that show. At least the sound quality live should be a lot better.
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Tim Hanken said on April 17, 2008:
I haven't heard MGMT's album but I saw them live and outside of one song they were absolutely terrible. If that album rates out as one of the best of the year than Fridman has done the impossible and polished a turd.
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Reviews
Imaginary Shrie said on April 14, 2008:
Thats unfortunate about Fridmann. His Lips stuff is some of the best I've ever heard.