Tapes 'N Tapes

8:30 p.m. Saturday, August 21. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

By Christian Schaeffer on Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 4:00 am

Tapes 'N Tapes

$12. 314-535-0353.

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Followers of new independent music have by now become accustomed to the vagaries of the blogosphere. Keeping up with the weekly coronation of the next Hot New Thing has made the term "blog buzz" sound as appealing as a herpes outbreak. Tapes 'n Tapes was among the first crop of bands to receive heightened exposure thanks to blog-based fervor, but the quartet was able to meet the expectations laid out by its self-titled EP and 2005's The Loon. Like a less carnal Pixies or a peppier Feelies, the band corrals the best impulses of chipper, melodic college rock. Tapes 'n Tapes' last record, Walk It Off, hits the gas pedal where earlier songs tapped the brakes, and singer Josh Grier displays enough entrancing weirdness to keep the songs from becoming too formulaic.