KYLE CALIAN

★★★★★ (5/5)

Overall this album is a great collection of classic SSLYBY and newer more developed sounds. Its a great example of them going back to their original deep sounds and combining them with their newer more “pop” stuff.

I’ve been a die hard SSLYBY fan since i was in 10th grade. Thats 5 years. The first album i ever got my hands on was Broom and i thought it was a god damn piece of art. I’d literally never heard a more beautifully put together album in my life. I couldn’t fall asleep without Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago” or “Broom” for almost a year. I even got my girlfriend to love and adore the sweet sounds of Broom and Pershing, when it arrived, and spent 2 years trying to see them live.

I even tried bringing them to my high school when they were rolling through NY doing a 21+ show, for a benefit concert, but i couldn’t get it together at 16. Anyway, i’ve known about the original “Tape Club” on their website for around 4 years now and most of the songs on this studio album are actually from these old recordings, just remastered.

The songs on www.iamwarmandpowerful.com/tapeclub were some of my favorites so i’m really glad to see some of those out on an album so i can hear them live.

On to my opinions of Tape Club as a whole.

A few of my favorite tracks include: Yellow Missing Signs, Let’s Get Tired, Song W+Song L, Spinning Sea, Bigger Than Yr Yard, Go Upstairs, Coming Through, Phantomwise (demo), & Lower the Gas Prices, Howard Johnson.

These tracks are almost 60% songs that existed before, but had never been refined for album release; but they sound great.

Yellow Missing Signs is a great fusion between the mystery and synths from Broom and the pop feeling of Pershing. Its in my opinion one of the best songs on the new album.

Let’s Get Tired gives you that great feeling of lying in bed on a Sunday morning, when you don’t wanna do anything at all while making you all the more nostalgic about simpler things. It has that classic SSLYBY sound too, and is full of warmth and positivity about being lazy.

Song W+Song L are two almost different songs combined into one that almost gives you the sensation of butterflies with a new girl or even a new experience. The song just gets more and more beautiful as you listen through it.

Spinning Sea is just literally what i think of when i talk about SSLYBY. It contains a huge majority of their sound in less than a minute and half.

Bigger Than Yr Yard is a classic SSLYBY song that i’ve actually heard live and its full of that Boris Yeltsin humor.

Go Upstairs is one of those songs that i feel would’ve fit right onto Pershing, because its not quite quiet or dark enough for Broom. It has a bright feeling, but the two part chorus gives two very different sensations.

Coming Through is one of those songs that could’ve been on Let it Sway, and at first i thought it was one of those songs. But after listening a few times, I found it to be one of my favorite songs in that grouping of SSLYBY songs. Its really pleasant and is comparable to the song “Critical Drain”.

Phantomwise (demo) is literally just a beautiful short rendition of the original. The harmony is just fucking gorgeous.

Lower the Gas Prices, Howard Johnson is just another of my Boris Yeltsin favorites full of that classic ridiculous subtle humor. Its one of those songs i just wanna jump around at a show to.

Give it a listen here. It’s available October 18th, 2011.

Hope to see them in NY in January!