Our album We Feel Safer At Night has received 4 stars in Spin. We Feel Safer At Night was named a Song You Must Download This Month by Spin Magazine. Time Out New York: "Takka Takka seems preternaturally gifted at conveying prettiness through guitar pop. The band's casual swagger, both on record and stage, suggests an ease at pursuing this difficult task. Harp Magazine reviewed We Feel Safer At Night: [They] catch you with little details like the handclaps, whistling and "oh-ah-ah-oh" refrain on "Coco on the Corner" or offhand rhymes like "Utah" and "you, pa" on "Living Out of Trouble." They're as sweet and hooky as you'd hope that any up-and-coming indie rockers could be. We Feel Safer At Night was named the Number 8 Album Of the Year by The L Magazine: Takka Takka has made a record that makes us think about Lou Reed, 70s Dylan and late-period Pavement all at the same time. Takka Takka was named a reason to love New York by New York Mag: They mesmerized fans at SummerStage, then played to packed shows at the CMJ festival. Takka Takka was featured in Rolling Stone mag's On The Edge section. Spin dot com recently had a nice little bit on us: Something about this reminds us of that decidedly excellent winter tale, The Ice Storm: Picture Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci spinning this on the basement turntable as icy weather reigns outside and everything falls apart. Takka Takka was named one of the Top artists at this year's CMJ by the NME: Meanwhile NYCs Takka Takka played shows rammed with A and R folk... WOXY.com: Fresh off a tour with friends Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Architecture In Helsinki, this New York 4-piece have been earning raves for their self-released debut disc. It's easy to hear why the blogosphere has already been won over by these guys. Time Out Chicago: Could Takka Takka be the next big thing? That, friends, is up to you. But whether or not everyone else catches on and claims to have been there first, the Brooklyn band has made some nice pop music you should enjoy, wowing people one roomful at a time. Earfarm checked out our recent Crackers United Friction show at Sin-e: Takka Takka will rock ya rock ya. That's my new slogan I'll be pitching to them for t-shirts. Funny thing is, it's not like they're out to Motley Crue-rock your socks off each time they take the stage but more like they're there to deliver their unique and honest brand of rock & roll as best they can so that you'll have no option but to end up loving them. See, Takka Takka rules the school and when they're finished with you and you pause to evaluate the show you'll think to yourself "wow, they were awesome! Takka Takka rocked my world and I didn't even know until it was too late! why wasn't I dancing?!" AmpCamp Review of We Feel Safer At Night: Gabe is interviewed by The L Magazine: Pitchfork has news on the tour-only live EP: Attendees of the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah / Architecture in Helsinki / Takka Takka tour this fall will be able to take home more than memories, ringing eardrums, and cameraphone pix from the indie pop extravaganza. All three bands have contributed live tracks to an EP that will be on sale exclusively at the shows. Only 1500 copies have been pressed, so exactly 100 will be available at each gig. Better get to the merch table early, kid. Takka Takka's contribution was recorded just a couple weeks ago, August 11, at the Mercury Lounge in NYC. We recently answered some questions for Stereogum's Inside The Rockers Studio series: The four-to-the-floor kick, organ, and tamborine may make you Say Yeah, but Gabe's conversational baritone is more Lou Reed than it is Ounsworth, and later instances of bar room basslines and indie country give 'em a home of their own. (And judging by their Rockers Studio responses, they laugh a lot at band practice.) PaperMag interviewed us! We talked and talked...: So could it be? Does a new New York sound stand before us? One less concerned with NYC cops, pornographic subways, and dancing to the underground, and more interested in dancing in the moonlight, midnight musings, sunshine, clouds and pop art. Perhaps, we can call it the Outer-Borough sound: dreamy, dark, yet pacific, with a touch of some urban refinement peeking just across the proverbial river. Brooklyn Vegan on our CD release show at Union Hall: Union Hall is a great new venue - good sound and space, plus Takka Takka rocked (Aug 17, 2006) - they actually rocked more than I expected given the mellower nature a lot of their music. They gave me more of a Hold Steady bar-band feel than the indie rockness of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who they're touring with). Don't miss them. And oh yeah, they all smiled a lot. I love that. SteroactiveNYC also checked out our CD release show at Union Hall: Not only do these guys know how to play; they unabashedly enjoy it and aren't afraid to show it, something perhaps rarer in a band from New York, the oftentimes-capitol of cynicism, than you might think. And, watching them live - or listening to their great new album, We Feel Safer At Night - you'll not only enjoy the experience, but also how much they seem to enjoy it. Crackers United on our show at Gothamist's Movable Hype 8.0: I've been listening to the band's web only EP, Fall Apart Art, a lot recently and had high hopes for the live show. Takka Takka's live show certainly exceeded my expectations and it seems like this local quartet has everything in its right place, be sure to keep an ear out for them. Deli Magazine reveiw of our WEB EP: It's tough to pinpoint the sound of a band who's named after a Roy Lichtenstein painting. We hate when that happens. We'd say that Takka Takka don't sound like they're from Queens or Brooklyn, but a small midwestern town surrounded by miles of wheat fields. Their Fall Apart EP (online here) starts as honest acoustic folk over an occasional higgledy-piggledy synthesizer, but changes midway to solid indie-pop/country retaining a certain quirkiness throughout. Just gotta listen to understand... Village Indian mp3 masala: Weeding through a million and one tracks for ya this morning, trying to find something that fits the Tuesday sun. Think I got the thing. Takka Takka is a band. They're from around these parts. Their drummer Conrad is a friend. They have other friends too, like the guys from Clap Your Hands, who are helping them produce the next studio effort. So, they're like, popular and stuff. They also write good tunes. "Safer" is a tasty rough mix. The four-to-the-floor kick, organ and tamborine may immediately recall the Clap's aesthetic, but the conversational baritone is more Lou Reed than it is Ounsworthian. If you will. Get yourself to that "And I'm feelin' alright...we're feelin' safe at night..." bit of the chorus. Should be enough to make you want to join me at Beg Yr Pardon 2(@ The Delancey). $5, free brownies and beer at 11:30. Conversely (or in addition), download their web-only EP here. And if you see Conrad, tell him I said "hi." Gothamist band interview: The sound? An optimistic Lou Reed, Pavement but not Pavement-worship, quirky, smart and for the most part upbeat. Takka Takka appreciation day @ Village Indian: Meanwhile, Takka Takka have a few things going for them that can and should see them as fixtures in the live scene for a bit. There's a distinct possibility of explodability there. I posted a rough cut of the title track to their upcoming LPWe Feel Safer At Night a few weeks back. I hadn't heard too many more of the songs, but loved their set. And I was lucky enough to get a hand-made cloth covered copy of their unreleased album. Today is Takka Takka appreciation day over here, so I'll save the rest for a later post on the band. Subinev: Whenever one of the songs from Takka Takka's web-only album, Fall Apart Art comes up on shuffle on my computer I get this weird sense familiarity and excitement. There's a definite Pavement vibe to them, with some Unicorns-style wackiness, all wrangled by some very tight (not to mention concise!) songwriting. Brooklyn Vegan: Takka Takka is a band from Brooklyn and Queens. That picture there to the left is Clap Your Hand Say Yeah's drummer wearing their shirt Saturday night at Bowery Ballroom (He likes that shirt). FreeIndie posted Takka Takka's web-only seven song EP for download. The band has even more good MP3s at their website and on MySpace. Welcome to the M!dwest!: "These New Yorkers have some serious talent. What I found when I ventured to their simple (yet charming) website was a bunch of neat, folky indie/rock songs. Their sound is so familiar, but not stale. I spent a few hours last night listening to "They Built You Up Too Fast," "Joshua and Professor Faulkner," and "American Queen" trying to pinpoint who they sound like. Even after scanning thorugh my extensive iTunes library, I couldn't really put my finger on it. I heard a little bit of Yo La Tengo. A little American Analog Set. And even a little Neutral Milk Hotel. Yet those comparisions still don't really work all that well. I really can't wait to hear more."
http://www.harpmagazine.com/reviews/cd_reviews/detail.cfm?article_id=5178
http://www.thelmagazine.com/4/25/musicology/.cfm?ctype=2
http://nymag.com/news/articles/reasonstoloveny/2006/25605/index.html
http://www.spin.com/features/heythisisawesome/2006/12/061206_takkatakka/
http://www.woxy.com/music/loungeacts/index.php?id=143
http://earfarm.blogspot.com/2006/09/friction-brief-smile-femme-generation.html
One thing that's certain is that We Feel Safer At Night feels like a New York record, despite the fact that it completely deviates from bands like the Strokes or Interpol. If those bands sound more like the sweaty nightlife of the city, then this band sounds like just being in the city. Put your headphones on with Takka Takka and just take a walk around the blocks, and you'll know what I mean. It's easy music to lose yourself to, but beyond that, it's just a great record. It's unpretentious, and I think it's going to be something a lot of people are going to connect with because of it's refusal to limit itself.
http://www.ampcamp.com/product_info.php?&products_id=2641
The L: The album has a bit of war commentary on it. And I think the way you do it is sort of emblematic of a new way people are talking about the war, especially people our age. It doesn't come off as particularly opinionated or even overtly political. There's a certain disconnect from it, where people are writing about it as a daily frustration, just an annoyance that we're all fucking sick of hearing about.
GL: Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's insane that we're not talking about it more. I definitely have sat down and tried specifically to write protest songs, and I'm just not good at it. It's just not who I am or what I do. It's everywhere, though. It's this unending thing right now, and it's become a fabric of our lives. After 9/11 and after Bush, it's just not going to go away. I wish more people would sing more explicit songs about it, but I'm part of that too. I've come close every now and then, but it feels forced when I try to do it. I don'y have any political agenda. It's weird, though. I don't know why half the country isn't pissed off about it. I definitely want to talk abut it artistically, and I'm doing it the only way I know how.
http://www.thelmagazine.com/4/18/musicology/musicology1.cfm?ctype=2
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/38365/CYHSY_Architecture_in_Helsinki_Takka_Takka_Prep_#38365
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/003247.htm
http://www.papermag.com/?section=article&parid=1488&page=1
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2006/08/takka_takka_uni.html
http://www.stereoactivenyc.com/2006/08/18/last-night-slowlands-takka-takka/
http://crackersunited.com/blog/index.php/2006/07/13/540/
http://www.thedelimagazine.com/bigcontact-deli.php?itemId=133008%20
http://www.villageindian.com/village_indian/2006/06/mp3_masala_takk.html
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/07/07/gothamist_band_28.php
http://www.villageindian.com/village_indian/2006/07/a_few_movable_h.html
http://subinev.com/newblog/archives/000607.php
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2006/04/takka_takka_fro_1.html
http://welcometothemidwest.blogspot.com/2005/07/takka-takka.html
