I was hanging out with my buddy Dugg the other night and randomly decided to put this record on. Out of nowhere, Dugg said, “What the hell is this? Smashing Pumpkins early demos or something?” This is the perfect description for the first song on this LP, and largely representative of what’s to expect from the rest of it. Still listening with Dugg, we both agreed that the next song sounded like the Breeders. Multiple songs have Sonic Youth-esque “guitar freakout” feedback noise parts where sometimes the placement of these “guitar freakout” parts seem like a natural progression within the song, while other times it just seems forced, awkward, and out of place. Dugg and I discussed their overuse of the “guitar freakout” just as an especially awkward-sounding freakout came from the speakers. The ‘90s alternative rock influence prevails throughout, as these guys seem to really wear their influences on their sleeves. The distortion is super heavy on every song, and the songs are all quite poppy with simple single string guitar leads. It would be remiss of me if I did not mention that Tape Rec are from Brazil, so the songs are all sung in Portuguese. While I absolutely think this record is highly derivative and not very original, I’ve found myself listening to it over and over again, which I guess means that I begrudgingly like it.
–Mark Twistworthy (Transfusao Noise, transfusaonoiserecords.blogspot.com)