Hailing from San Diego, California, you would expect Tape Deck Mountain to have fully embraced the omnipresent surf-rock movement that has beset the indie landscape in the last few years. Hell, their own photos foreshadow such a sound, just see above. Also, their new EP is entitled the “Secret Serf EP…” (I am sure their tongue was planted firmly in cheek when naming it.)
Shockingly, Tape Deck Mountain hit you with a sound more likely to be heard on ’90′s alternative stations than lounging on the beach. It is a true relief that a band with such blatant surf/beach roots has the guts to step outside expectations and craft a sound of their own. Okay, maybe the sound is not exactly ‘their own,’ but Tape Deck Mountain definitely is not afraid to hearken back to a different era on the “Secret Serf EP,” which they recently posted on bandcamp for free.
Comprised of two tracks, the “Secret Serf EP” displays TDM’s love for soft/loud/soft dynamics and distorted guitars and vocals. Both of the tracks, “P.I.” and “It Goes Down,” feature the same general sonic template. The echoed and submerged vocals no doubt reflect a certain beach influence in TDM’s music, but it is the muscular guitars that set them apart from that genre. Whereas most surf-rock bands avoid a guitar riff like the plague, TDM embraces those riffs and writes entire songs based around them.
After a few years of mopey indie-rock dominance, it is nice to see a young band that is willing to rock! Along with bands like Yuck, Tape Deck Mountain appears to be on the forefront of a movement reinventing the distorted sounds of the ’90′s. The “Secret Serf” does so in a very dignified way, revealing that TDM is not just mimicking old trends. Instead, they are rebelling against an indie landscape that has gotten slightly too monochromatic. We should appreciate Tape Deck Mountain’s injection of a little color.
Check out Tape Deck Mountain on the web: MySpace | Last.fm | Blog | Facebook | Bandcamp
Tape Deck Mountain – “P.I.”
Tape Deck Mountain – “It Goes Down”
