Review: Mixtapes – “Maps”

March 19th, 2010 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

Calling your band Mixtapes is kind of ballsy. Mixtape culture is huge in an era when all the music nerds in the world are connected by fiber optic cable and sharing a virtual “mixtape” is as simple as clicking open a conversation on AIM. But this band has a certain mixtape-y vibe that makes their name appropriate and totally inoffensive; sometimes they sound like three bands duking it out for supremacy. And these battles occur in the space of one-to-two minutes; Mixtapes’ debut full-length Maps crams ten songs into eighteen minutes, allowing their detractors at least the concession of brevity.

But I don’t think there will be many detractors: It’s well-nigh impossible to object to music this home-made and fun. The disc kicks off with choppy acoustic guitar and cocaine jokes but ramps up to a full-band chug, with complimentary male/female vocals resting on top; this track, “Sunrise,” lasts exactly one minute but is dynamic and just straight-up cool enough to sustain thrice that running time. But Mixtapes seem to have learned some valuable lessons from Guided By Voices, the undisputed titans of this epic-in-miniature style of songwriting. There’s significantly less filler here than any GBV record, though – that would be the band’s overriding punk influence, which keeps the music ebbing and flowing in tuneful bursts of hollering and heavy guitar. It’s a good formula because it doesn’t feel like a formula at all; Maps is as much of a sonically volatile listening experience as you could hope for from pure basement rock like this.

With only one song crossing the dreaded three minute mark (that would be closer “Sunsets,” which borders on tastefulness with it’s well-implemented acoustic instruments), Maps is expertly sloppy fun that never wears out its welcome. Mixtapes are a young band with some very clear ideas about what they’re doing; the hints of jagged Jawbox-style emo mixed into tracks like “Hope Springs Eternal” prove they’ve got a few tricks that haven’t been fully revealed yet, and clever lyrics like “The color of your shirt reminds me of your bed / I don’t mean that in a sexual way” hint at a brain behind all the charming noise. Maps is satisfying as a statement of essential purpose, but it still functions primarily as a teaser for all the awesome things a band like Mixtapes can (and, hopefully, will) do in the future. I’m pretty excited to see where they go next.