Meet The Fire Tapes

It might be a little silly, but whenever I am introduced to a new Virginia band that kicks all sorts of ass, it causes me to puff up with pride and marvel at the multitudinous talented folks that call the Old Dominion home. The latest batch of Virginians getting me hot and bothered come to us from Charlottesville, land of Jefferson and Wahoos, and go by the name The Fire Tapes. I find them to be very interesting, friends, and I anticipate you'll soon feel the same.

The Fire Tapes sound is a little hard to pin down, but incorporates bits and pieces of post punk, shoegaze, folk, and even pure country (yes, really). And sometimes all that happens in the same song. The songs are given voice beautifully, with a mouthpiece that could as easily be singing Dolly Parton-esque classics as post punk noise. They cite Sonic Youth, the Velvet Underground, and Brian Wilson as sonic influences, and you'll hear all of that in their songs. But they manage to manipulate and contort and tangle those sounds into something undeniable, something at times like a waking dream, and for being so new on the scene the band is well ahead of the curve. It's not hard to imagine my talking about them again, but go ahead and get to know them now, won't you?

m4a: Reprise (The Fire Tapes from Dream Travel)