I have sort have removed myself enough from the music blogomasphere enough that I really don’t know what people are picking up on of new music. I mean, I know people are crazy for Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective, but I mean more at the Chin Up Chin Up/Beirut level of exposure. You know, for bands that Michael McDonald doesn’t do guest vocals for.
Tap Tap has been a Hearsay favorite ever since “100,000 Thoughts” smacked us across the head, and we went on to realize that we could fill more of our Tap Tap needs with singer Tommy Sanders’ other band, Pete And The Pirates. I fully recognize that Tap Tap isn’t at the level of exposure of getting a day of release Pitchfork/Cokemachineglow review. I think he deserves to be, but I get it, not yet. Well the new album, On My Way, will hopefully change that. I loved 2006′s Lanzafame, but the new album is more cohesive, catchy, and lasting. It starts well and ends well, but it really picks up midway through with “Half Moon Street.”
I think what I like so much about the song is the way it is simultaneously a simple song with some complex guitar and vocal harmonies that builds well to take on different moods. Plus I love the lyrics… a somehow sweet song about a casual hookup; it seems to convey itself in a very honest way:
I’ve seen photos of you
I know we’ve nothing in common, girl
But I share a love of drinking
And you want a polite man, that’s not me
But my favorite part of the song has to be the high energy chorus, where the lyrics come out so fast that the breath control alone almost makes it a rap:
My thoughts are tearing each other apart
In the back of the car
Conversation has probably gone too far
Keep me guessing
Tongue-tied and messy
Don’t make me feel stupid
I’ll do that on my own
You put the key in and
Just stop believing that
You’ll go to hell if you have fun this evening
Come to me telling me all kinds of secrets
Promises, promise I think I can keep it
While I’m on the topic, I want to point out that last year’s Pete And The Pirates album, Little Death, is also awesome; in a more rock-oriented, Built To Spill way. I’m desperately hoping for a Tap Tap tour, but I fully recognize that L.A. is a far cry from Hackney, London. For now I’ll just have to work on my own car-karaoke renditions.
: Tap Tap – Half Moon Street :
: Pete And The Pirates – Bears :
Found your site because I just heard this song and loved “Don’t make me feel stupid
I’ll do that on my own”, and so Googled the lyrics. Thanks for capturing them. I missed some of those earlier intensely sexy, passionate lines. I’ll be listening to it again now.