Tapes 'N Tapes

Tapes 'n Tapes wants you to put some sugar on its tongue. Or maybe it just wants you to cut your hair and be its summer babe. With one eye winking and the other twinkling in innocence, the act captures the off-kilter mania of early Talking Heads and the insouciant joie de vivre of peak Pavement in shambling, endearing and blushingly sincere indie-pop tunes -- all while pretending not to know how to play. It might be maddeningly precious if the rhythms weren't so pleasing and the melodies so damned beguiling. Josh Grier uses his warbly, indolent voice to harangue and seduce, and his scrawny arms to hold us at bay, beckon us in and, almost accidentally, play some mean, scritchy guitar. Like that sexy girl at the end of the bar with the slightly asymmetrical face, Tapes 'n Tapes ain't pretty, but you still can't help staring.