Premiere: The Blank Tapes, ‘Ojos Rojos’ (full album)
Kevin Bronson on
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One of Matt Adams’ drawings for his band The Blank Tapes depicts a bearded, shirtless dude in sunglasses on a beach, dipping his feet in the waves. A bottle of beer, a small keyboard and shakers lay nearby, and, hands clasped behind his head, the dude is smoking something fragrant. This is the life, right? Slacker heaven?
The illustration fits the music but the not the man. Adams is one of the most prolific songwriters stationed (on and off) in L.A. in the past decade, having released more than a dozen albums. His latest “Ojos Rojos” (offically out June 20) is another misty-eyed (more than red-eyed) journey through 1960s rock, folk, psychedelia and surf. The release follows “Geodesic Dome Piece,” released in early 2015, and last fall’s “Sha-La-Love,” which found him dusting off a gobsmacking 18 archival songs for a Cassette Store Day release.
The new album, recorded to tape (naturally) at studios in Costa Mesa, features D.A. Humphrey on bass, Will Halsey on drums, Pearl Charles on backing vocals and every damned one of your hazy memories from the 1960s (for those who lived through that) on general aesthetic. So many of Adams’ lovingly ruffled songs sound as if they should have already been made, but no time capsule was opened to reveal them. They are perfectly, imperfectly his, the product of somebody who seems to wake up every morning and treat the day like a blank slate.
||| Stream: “Ojos Rojos”
||| Watch: The video for “LA Baby”
||| Live: The Blank Tapes play June 24 at Resident.
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