Tape Deck Mountain: Not Really Chillwave!
by Mike Conklin
Secret Serf EP
Lefse
Their name implies a solidarity with the indistinct, melody-starved, wishy-washy bands that have been hit with the chillwave tag for the past couple years, and while it's true that San Diego trio Tape Deck Mountain rely on multi-layered feedback and plenty of reverb, occasionally giving everything a sort of glazed-over feel, they also know when to let certain instruments cut through. The drums are surprisingly loud, cracking instead of just constantly swooshing, and the guitars, though integral to the walls of noise the band's so fond of, are at their best when they take charge, squealing and almost jangling. With his deadpan monotone vocals, frontman Travis Trevisan sounds somewhat typically disengaged. Unlike so many of the other bands working in the makeshift genre, though, Tape Deck Mountain do enough to convince us it's an aesthetic decision and not just a product of no one involved giving a fuck.
