a review of “Tip toe loops” by it foot it ears

Experimental music frequently crosses paths with noise music. Experimental groups are pretty famously known for harsh sounds and yelling. I say this because that is what I personally think of when I think about experimental music. However, underground SLC duo it foot, it ears and their newest project “Tip toe loops” is exactly what I haven’t been thinking of in the experimental genre, and I love the album for it. It exposes the dark side of the moon that you find when the weird sounds you’re hearing come from a voice more quiet and introverted, that of which brings out an unknowable amount of truth.

it foot, it ears consists of Nick Foster on drums and percussion and Jason Rabb on guitar and vocals. At the duo’s core, it is just drums and guitar, but that allows for a tense minimalism that is pulling at our social contract. A great example of this is in the first track, “it Sermonette,” which puts electronica sounds in the stew while a very Utah picture is painted, with all the juts and jests you could ask for. Everything’s at odds with each other, and each thing is very odd on its own, like the digitized bird sounds in “Doomed vacuum duet (with Lo)” that poke fun at the very nature of real or unreal nature. 

The quietest moments of this album, the tip toes, are the standout to me. They freak you out in a way that captivates, not unlike the part of every “what’s really going on” movie where you have just begun discovering what’s really going on in that metaphorical underground lab. “Boom/bloom” is like creeping through the lair, and “Micro” is like the horrific realization that follows figuring out why things are the way they are. There’s a subliminal feeling to these tracks that keep the mind on its toes.

All things considered, “Tip toe loops” is a clever reflection of the atmosphere of SLC, Utah, eccentricities and all. The project is experimentally experimental, something I really dig and want to see more of.