T CELLS s/t (Smash) 10" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of many new wave offshoots of the defunct Long Beach punk comedy troupe Le Shok. Hot Rod Todd and Darryl Licht get lo-fi nastee with cheap synths and a rhythm box. Four songs, including a warped cover of The Troggs' "Strange Movies". Limited to 1000, and on wacky mustard yellow vinyl (only).

T SKI VALLEY / FAMILY Catch the Beat/Family Beat (split) (Soul Jazz) 12" 10.98

T-LOVE Return of the B-Girl (Pickininny) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What a pleasant surprise! This self-produced-and-released massive hip hop statement from SoCal female MC T-Love features full-on kick ass rapping over a shuffling acid-jazz beatbox backdrop. Kool Keith of Dr. Octagon guests on one track ("Your whole family is wack!"), the Freestyle Fellowship are sampled, and beats and scratching by T-Love's musical collaborator This Kid Named Miles are scattered throughout. Local DJ Anna came in and bought 9 copies of this from us, yes it is that good. If you're tired of commercial testosterone-laden hip hop and its attendant sex and money preoccupations, this record will delight you, we promise. Everytime we play this record, two or three people come up and say "Wow who is this?!"

T-LOVE Return of the B-Girl (Pickininny) cdep 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What a pleasant surprise! This self-produced-and-released massive hip hop statement from SoCal female MC T-Love features full-on kick ass rapping over a shuffling acid-jazz beatbox backdrop. Kool Keith of Dr. Octagon guests on one track ("Your whole family is wack!"), the Freestyle Fellowship are sampled, and beats and scratching by T-Love's musical collaborator This Kid Named Miles are scattered throughout. Local DJ Anna came in and bought 9 copies of this from us, yes it is that good. If you're tired of commercial testosterone-laden hip hop and its attendant sex and money preoccupations, this record will delight you, we promise. Everytime we play this record, two or three people come up and say "Wow who is this?!"

T. REX s/t (A&M) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

T.I.T.S. / LEOPARD LEGS split (Upset The Rhythm) lp 16.98
Intercontinental all girl noise rock tag team match up. From right here in SF come T.I.T.S. (no idea what it stands for) an all-female troupe spewing their own skewed and venomous version of damaged psychedelic fuzzy garage rock stomp. Lo-fi brittle metallic riffing butts up against simple pounding caveman drums, haunting chant-like vocals, all with a seriously pagan primal, tribal vibe. Two whole sides of furiously fuzzed out chant and buzz, psych rock garage grrrrrrrrr....
The other disc features the UK's mysterious Leopard Leg, who are a bit like a witchier, soundtrackier No Neck Blues Band. Abstract soundscapes of bells and chimes nestled amidst prickly seas of record / campfire crackle, buzzing snarls of malfunctioning electronics, clattery tribal percussion, haunting abstract vocals, a slow drift through a dark forest, folk picked apart by hungry scavengers, leaving weird skeletal shapes and fuzzy fragments of sound, until about halfway through the second side when the band drop everything, and go all out with their haunted forest drum line, spitting out a huge cacophonous wall of Crash Worship drum damage. Woah.
Incredible packaging, super thick, glossy gatefold sleeve, colored vinyl, one white, one green, so nice...

T.O.M.B. Macabre Noize Royale (Todestrieb) cd 14.98
So many bands use periods like they use umlauts, just throwing them into to make their band name seem more fucked up or evil or grim. So we fully expected that T.O.M.B. were doing just that, until we discovered it does actually stand for something: Total, Occultic, Mechanical, Blasphemy.
Which is in fact a pretty good name for these guys. Cuz this is indeed some seriously occultic mechanical blasphemy. This one man band from Pennsylvania is one of the new breed of black metallers, with a healthy appetite for NOISE, but in T.O.M.B., that appetite is sated in a fairly unique way. Every song here was recorded in a different location, various places in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all in some way spiritual, whether they were the location of some tragedy, or perhaps they are supposedly haunted, each one adding their vibe and spirit to the recordings, not to mention their bizarre acoustics.
The tracks here range from blown out blurred dronemusic, thick with distortion and buzzing guitars howled vocals, and tons of reverb from the huge concrete environs, while others are more straight ahead blackened buzz, but even those tracks are far from straight ahead, the two disparate sounds often getting all tangled up in one another, or even overlapping, the more metal parts slipping from loping mathy black metal to furious thrashing, cool start stop dynamics, haunting minor key melodies...
But the best tracks are definitely the ones that sounds like some fucked up grim metal band set up at the bottom of some cistern or on the wide open floor of some burnt out factory. The drums a machine like pulse, the guitars a howling cloud of droney buzz, the vocals just adding to the din, every once in a while bits of guitar drifting to the surface, some tracks it sounds like the band is playing in another room, very much like it sounds standing right outside the door of a club, but way more murky and washed out. Because of the field recording aspect, the sound quality varies dramatically, and tends toward the raw and lo-fi, but that's the point, it's the industrial city version of Nordic bands recording in the woods, this is band out in 'the wild', incorporating the surroundings into their sound, almost creating a new kind of USBM, this is definitely not for everyone. The sound is damaged and really strange, the metal here is plenty buzzing and blasting, but more often than not is wreathed in reverb, or buried in murk, or just plain fucked up, but awesomely fucked up. Headphones help for sure, there's so much to hear, so much going on beneath the noise and within the black buzz. Definitely one of the coolest weirdest black metal records so far this year...
MPEG Stream: "The Inauguration"
MPEG Stream: "Immitis"
MPEG Stream: "Shaare Moth"
MPEG Stream: "Brazen Endurance"

T2 It'll All Work Out in Boomland (Acme / Lion) cd 14.98
We KNOW this is gonna be one that the legions of AQ customers into psych, prog and other late sixties/early seventies heaviness will want. And even if that's not one of your primary musical specialties, this would be a good choice to check out anyway if at all curious.
British psych/prog power trio T2 released this one amazing album on Decca in 1970, the bizarrely-titled It'll All Work Out In Boomland. Somehow, that LP didn't make much of an impact at the time (although the band did play the Isle of Wight Festival) and has pretty much been forgotten by all except obsessive psych/prog record collectors. Until now, it's been pretty hard to come by - the previous cd reissues we know of were either crappy bootlegs or rare, expensive Japanese imports. We've always wanted to list it, though. So we're very happy that the Lion Productions (US) and Acme Gramophone (UK) labels have just teamed up to put out this nice new reish, which boasts three bonus tracks as well!
T2, composed of drummer/vocalist/songwriter Peter Dunton, guitar whizz Keith Cross, and bassist Bernard Jinks, played HEAVY psychedelic bluesrock (a la Cream, Hendrix, Blue Cheer), mixed with progressive stylings (incorporating acoustic guitar, piano, mellotron, strings). Their songs combine Cross's big fuzzed-out hard rock riffs and psych-skronk leads with mellow, melancholic pretty parts and Dunton's gentle, whispery vocals. Very melodic yet heavy, totally classy and special. For instance, the song "No More White Horses" perfectly weaves amped up electric guitar feedback fury into a tasteful tapestry that also glows with lovely piano and majestic horns. Boomland also features T2's side-long, 21+ minute long masterpiece "Morning", a massive, memorable epic of many moods, a track meant to musically and lyrically describe (or potentially enhance?) an LSD trip, as the text and elaborate diagram included underneath the cd tray explains! There's two other songs on the album proper, the storming opener "In Circles" (which reminds us of stuff on Stray's first album, if you know 'em) and the calmer, exquisitely beautiful "J.L.T.", replete with lush orchestration.
Definitely one of the best bands from those magical years of the early '70s! Certainly one that should be better known. Do you dig the fuzzy, proto-metal heft of the aforementioned Blue Cheer? And also heavy progressive Krautrock stuff like Amon Duul II, Gila, Necronomicon, and Out Of Focus? Well kinda put those two together and you'll have some idea of T2's genius. Or imagine Randy Holden's Population II project gone all symphonic. Also, if you're into early, pastoral British psych/prog like In The Court-era King Crimson, Wishbone Ash, or the more obscure (but recently highlighted here) Bachdenkel then you need to hear T2! And for weird, psychedelic cover paintings, this is up there with Culpeper's Orchard, another lost '70s heavy druggy psych classic that we could compare this with musically as well.
Boomland is the kind of thing that turns up in the personal "Top 10 of All Time" lists of those lucky enough to have heard it. This is an official reissue, done up deluxe with those bonus tracks (live BBC Radio sessions from '70, including two non-album songs among them) and a thick cd booklet crammed with insanely extensive liner notes (excerpted from a book about the album or something) that discuss not just T2's history but also provide in-depth examination of Boomland's songs in regard to both the lyrics and the musical theory behind the compositions. Talk about prog! This goes even beyond the usual thorough Acme/Lion packaging treatment. Highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "In Circles"
MPEG Stream: "No More White Horses"
MPEG Stream: "Morning"

T2 It'll All Work Out In Boomland (Akarma) lp 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Currently out of print on cd as far as we can tell, but thankfully now available at least on vinyl, is this reissue of the first (and, at the time, only, though archival material has been released since) album by British psych/prog power trio T2, from 1970. A classic, something like a more serious, symphonic Blue Cheer.... If you like heavy '70s psych guitar, this is for you!

T2 s/t (Acme) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
British psych/prog power trio T2 released one amazing album on Decca in 1970, the bizarrely-titled "It'll All Work Out In Boomland". That LP didn't make much of an impact at the time (although the band did play the Isle of Wight Festival) and has pretty much been forgotten by all except obsessive psych/prog record collectors. Currently, it's pretty hard to come by -- even the cd reissue is a rare, expensive Japanese import, which we can't even get at the moment. Which is sad, 'cause "Boomland" is truly a lost classic, the kind of thing that turns up in the personal "Top 10 of All Time" lists of those lucky enough to have heard it. So, you'd imagine that the audience for a cd of unreleased T2 recordings (the cd under review here) would be fairly select (if enthusiastic), but we're going to try to sell 'em anyway, 'cause we've managed to get a few, and if anything, this disc is as good or even better, perhaps, than "Boomland"!
T2, composed of drummer/vocalist/songwriter Peter Dunton, guitar whizz Keith Cross, and bassist Bernard Jinks, played HEAVY psychedelic bluesrock (a la Cream, Hendrix, Blue Cheer), mixed with progressive stylings (acoustic guitar, piano, mellotron, orchestration). Dunton's songs combine big fuzzed-out hard rock riffs and Cross' psych-skronk leads with mellow, melancholic pretty parts and gentle, whispery vocals. Very melodic, very heavy yet beautiful, totally classy and special. Definitely one of the best bands from those magical years of the early '70s! (If you dig the aforementioned Blue Cheer, and can imagine them crossed with heavy progressive Krautrock stuff like Gila and Amon Duul II, or even early, pastoral British psych/prog like King Crimson, you've got some idea about the genius of T2.)
The seven tracks on this self-titled, 45 minute cd were recorded in 1970, intended as the follow-up to "Boomland" -- but the band broke up and this material languished in the vaults until this cd release. Had it come out at the time, who knows -- maybe people would have caught on and T2 would be more than just a cult band today. But, that's the way it is, and here's your chance to join the cult...
RealAudio clip: "Highway"
RealAudio clip: "Careful Sam"
RealAudio clip: "Fantasy"

T2 s/t (Acme / Lion) cd 14.98
Along with their crucial reissue of T2's 1970 album It'll All Work Out In Boomland, Acme/Lion have also made the self-titled T2 disc of unreleased (at the time) archival material available again. We have had this one before, but now it's nice to list it again alongside the long-overdue reissue of Boomland! And Acme/Lion have made some improvements, the booklet is thicker with lyrics, photos and info, and they've moved the sort of silly-looking, Boomland-inspired psychedelic cover art (which we actually liked) to the back cover and put photos of the band on the front.
If anything, this disc is as good or even better, perhaps, than their "actual" album! It all depends on your taste, 'cause this material is a bit rawer, with the the balance titled a bit more towards the searing hard rock guitar, with less of the proggy orchestration, that blended together so beautifully on Boomland. The songs are for the most part shorter and 'rockier', pointing up the Hendrix/Blue Cheer/Cream side of T2, and that's not a bad thing at all! T2's music here still features the marvelous mix of mellowness and mayhem found on Boomland, with fragile vocals in melodic reverie usually, eventually giving way to amplifier burning, wailing, proto-metal guitar action...
While there's always a delicacy to T2's music that's not heard so much in, say, Black Sabbath, it can't be denied that for 1970 this was some pretty heavy stuff! And totally hippie-druggy too, so fans of Hawkwind should dig - the track "T2", at almost 15 minutes long, is another album-closing epic inspired by an acid trip, a la Boomland's "Morning". Other tracks here include the awesomely riffed "CD" (heard in a live version as one of the bonus cuts on the Boomland reissue also), the driving "Highway", and the sleepily, sweetly drifting melodiousness of "The Minstrel", among others.
All seven tracks on this self-titled, 45 minute cd were recorded in 1970, the original tapes long ago lost but fortunately preserved on acetates, intended as demos for the never-to-be follow-up to Boomland. Sadly the band broke up and this material languished in the vaults until finally being released on cd decades later. Had it come out at the time, who knows - maybe people would have caught on and T2 would be more than just a cult band today. But, that's the way it is, and here's your chance to join the cult... if you like savage '70s psych guitar, this is for you! While It'll All Work Out In Boomland's the essential, we must say they're equally recommended, we can't imagine not wanting both.
MPEG Stream: "CD"
MPEG Stream: "Fantasy"
MPEG Stream: "Timothy Monday"

TA Correspondence (Little Brother) 7" 3.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Orchestra includes Mike Watt, Nels Cline and a fellow from Drive Like Jehu.

TAAKE ...Bjoergvin... (Wounded Love) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Second album from these obscure, grim black metallers. While not well-known, we really dug their debut ("Nattestid....") as an extremely well-executed slice of true black metal in the classic tradition, and this disc offers more of Taake's majestic dark-forest hymns. The songwriting operates within genre norms, but with much interest and variety, employing raspy lead vocals, clean choruses, fast parts, slow parts, strong melodies, and diverse instrumentation. They make use of piano and even jaw harp! The "boing boing" of that in the album's third track may seem humorous, but is really unsettling.
Runic warriors of rock n' roll, Taake join the likes of Kvist, Khold, Nagelfar, Potentiam, and Keep of Kalessin in the ranks of AQ-fave black metal acts that lack the hype of the Emperors and Dimmu Borgirs of the world, but are equally worthy of your attention. So, this album gets a definite thumbs up from AQ's own runic warriors Allan and Andee. It's one they'd play for curious and open-minded non-black-metal fan friends. Meanwhile, black-metal otaku, get this while you wait for the new Satyricon.
RealAudio clip: "track 1"
RealAudio clip: "track 2"
RealAudio clip: "track 3"

TAAKE ...Doedskvad (Dark Essence) cd 15.98
Back in print and available again (in a swank digipak, with bonus live video footage)!! Here's our review of Doedskvad when we reviewed it a couple years back:
In a recent show of photography by Peter Beste devoted to Norwegian black metallers, we were happy to see Taake's Doedsjarl Hoest pictured alongside better known musicans from bands like Immortal, Enslaved and Carpathian Forest. Hoest and Taake certainly deserve to be in such company, and they're definitely one of the current Norwegian bands really keeping the flame of blackened Viking metal flickering. We've been fans of these runic warriors ever since their debut Nattestid... in 1999, getting even more into 'em when their second album ...Bjoergvin... came out in 2002, and now are excited that the third installment in the Taake trilogy, ...Doedskvad, is at last here!
...Doedskvad surely equals its predecessors, upholding tradition (theirs, and that of cold, grim black metal in general) by offering up some seriously epic rasp n' riffage that's mostly majestically midpaced but sometimes thrashes forward at a headbanging, drums-blasting gallop. Really excellent, really cult. Think something along the lines of older Enslaved, with the torched cathedral architecture of Weakling and some Cradle of Filthiness in the vocals. And it should be mentioned that Hoest and comrades Lava, Corax and Mord are joined by a slew of guests, including Helvestekommandant Nattefrost of Carpathian Forest, Taipan of Orcustus and someone amazingly (or amazingly stupidly) named "Discomforter"!
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "IV"

TAAKE Helnorsk Svartmetall (Karisma) cd 14.98

TAAKE Nattestid.... (Wounded Love) cd 14.98
Been out of print for a while, but we managed to snag a few (perhaps it's been repressed, we're not really sure). This is the first album from these grim black metal purists.

TAARMA Remnants Of A Tormenting Black Shadow (Suffering Jesus Productions) cd 14.98

TABATA Brainsville (Elsie & Jack Recordings) cd 13.98
At long last, the debut solo full-length from Mitsuru Tabata (ex-Boredoms, ex-Leningrad Blues Machine, and of course still K.K. Null's longtime guitar partner in heavyweights Zeni Geva)! Self-described as "monumental abstract rural eastern psych" and that sounds about right. Avant-guitar-drone-ophiles line up here. Beautiful!

TABATA, MITSURU Lumrapideco ( Utech) cd 16.98
Yay, here's another new solo album by Acid Mothers Temple member Tabata Mitsuru (who also has Zeni Geva and the Boredoms on his heavyweight Japanese underground musician resume). We mentioned this one in our review of his other recent solo disc We All Gonna Face The Rising Sun not long ago, and it's pretty similar, again getting the thumbs up from us, for it's gorgeous, droning blend of guitar, loops, backwards tapes, and noisy (but not too noisy) glitch. The tracks Mahhagogo parts 1 and 2 (with their cute little vocal intros) bookend this disc, being the hissingest, harshest dronewerks here. In between them you'll find four other pieces that are mostly much mellower, prettier and placid... mostly. All instrumentals, made from bits of simple guitar melody and swooshing pulses of gentle psychedelic electronics. The likes of "Hydrozoa" are a lazy drift of ambient abstraction, for a sundappled afternoon nap... So nice! Feedback and distortion transformed into utter, sweet blissfulness.
So, it's been two Tabata Mitsuru albums in a fairly short span of time, but we've been fans of him for forever and by Acid Mothers Temple standards, he's not really that prolific. So, if he keeps doing what he's been doing on these, we'd be happy with a few more this year please!!
MPEG Stream: "Mahhagogo Part 1."
MPEG Stream: "Dust To Dust "

TABATA, MITSURU We All Gonna Face The Rising Sun (Ruby Red Editora) cd 16.98
Japanese guitarist Mitsuru Tabata's name should be better known than perhaps it is... he was an early member of the Boredoms, is a current member of Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, and has served as KK Null's axe associate in Zeni Geva for many many years, among other activities. He's also made some brilliant solo albums, of which this is one (his third -- a fourth, on Utech, also just came out)!
Rather than making much use of the heavier guitar blurt that so many of his other projects feature, on this solo disc Tabata works with layers of lovely loops, quietly cycling 'round a spacey cosmos of his own invention... well for the most part, though the track "Annihilation" does sound appropriately amped up and ferocious. But most of these pieces are built from backwards tapes, shortwave drones, guitars and synths spinning out gentle folky melodies amidst soothingly tripped-out electronic effects. Abstract psychedelic lullabies, calm and spacious and really nice! Highly recommended, all Acid Mothers Temple fans should check this out -- and not just them!
MPEG Stream: "Slave March"
MPEG Stream: "Seagulls"

TABLA BEAT SCIENCE Live In San Francisco At Stern Grove (Axiom) 2cd 19.98
A live recording from a local outdoor performance. Tabla Beat Science pretty much typifies world beat music; emphasis on the 'world', emphasis on the 'beat'. Zakir Hussain on tabla, Bill Laswell on bass, former Skratch Pikl DJ Disk wielding turntables, plus personnel supplying sarangi, synths, vocals, etc.
RealAudio clip: "Trajic"

TAD 8-Way Santa (Sub Pop) cd 10.98

TAD Busted Circuits And Ringing Ears (MVD Visual) dvd 14.98
TAD!!! Fuck yeah! We've long championed grunge around here. Green River, Mother Love Bone, Afghan Whigs, Mudhoney, Rein Sanction, Nirvana, and most of the grunge obsessives here were members of the Sub Pop single of the month club, and cherish records by The Fluid, Blood Circus, Malfunkshun, Love Battery, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Cat Butt, The U-Men, Skin Yard, Gruntruck, Swallow, Green Magnet School, Les Thugs, Pond, Sprinkler and loads more, many of whom only released one or two 7"s. Grunge quickly became a bad word, as the mainstream caught on, and suddenly it was a movement, a style of dressing, a movie with Matt Dillon, but it never took away from how powerful the music was, a sloppy, glammy punky mix of garage rock, heavy metal and punk rock, with huge heapings of POP mixed in. And no one did it better, or heavier, than Tad.
Tad Doyle the man, fronted TAD the band, one of the coolest of the grunge crop. As heavy and intense as any of the other bands at the time, but with a surprising amount of musical complexity, not to mention killer hooks galore. Plus they were just such a cool and weird looking band. Outside of the Screaming Trees, you were not gonna see another HUGE long haired dude fronting a killer rock band. And they played up the whole scary mountain man, right down to the song titles ("Wood Goblins") to the promo photos, that were almost always in the woods, and Tad almost always seemed to be brandishing a chainsaw.
When we discovered there was a documentary about Tad, we were so psyched. We also wondered how a whole movie about Tad would play out, since they weren't a hugely Behind The Music worthy outfit, nobody died, nobody O.D.'d, minimal bad blood between ex-band members, they never got HUGELY popular, they sort of just plugged along. But thankfully the movie is super fun, and super watchable, due in no small part to the fact that Tad is super fucking charming. As is his bandmate Kurt Danielson. They talk about all the different records, their co-headlining tour in Europe with Nirvana, the 8-Way Santa record cover lawsuit, their first major label experience, resulting in being dropped midtour, and their second, with the same result, the "Jack Pepsi" lawsuit, lots of drinking, smoking pot, drugs, interviews with Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Krist Novoselic from Nirvana, Bruce and Jonathan who ran Sub Pop, but most importantly, so much rocking. Amazing live footage of Tad in action, the band were a powerhouse, and Tad's between song banter was funny as shit, and it's amazing to see Tad leaping into terrified crowds.
We even watched it with someone who wasn't all that into Tad or grunge, and they thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Maybe not as much as us. For some reason Tad elicits all sorts of fanboy adoration in even the most jaded of rockers. Might be because they always seemed like underdogs, and they always seemed like cool guys too, but most importantly they just completely RULED. One of the grunge bands that almost all heavy music lovers seem to completely dig. This dvd had us going nuts relistening to all our Tad records, and even suddenly wanting to track down the last two major label records as well.
One of our favorite music dvds of the year for sure. And if that weren't enough, it also includes all the Tad videos, which like Tad, the man AND the band, completely rule.

TAGC (THE ANTI GROUP) Psychoegoautocratical Auditory PhysiogomyDelineated (Die Stadt) cd ep 21.00
The Anti Group has existed sporadically as a research and development project concentrating on specific ideas in numerous media and a fluctuating line-ups reflecting ideas of an egoless collective. It was initially founded back in 1978 by Clock DVA's Adi Newton and Stephen Turner, although very little has been heard from either Clock DVA or The Anti Group (who often abbreviate their name as TAGC -- with the C referencing 'corporation'). Psychoegoautocratical is the first output from TAGC in more than a decade and actually doesn't appear to feature any of the founding members; rather fellow Clock DVA technician Robert Baker joins M. Hogg, and Andrew McKenzie (best known as the mastermind of The Hafler Trio). Unfortunately, the trio only provides us with a 17 minute EP as their return to the public domain. It begins very quietly with some barely audible electric fluctuations that slowly increase in volume to resemble some of the hypnotic repetitions of William Basinski's epic Disintegration Loops. As hauntingly beautiful as these passages are, TAGC continue to press forward on the volume increase up to rather painful extremes with a brazen crescendo of digital aggression.
MPEG Stream: "Psychoegoautocratical Auditory (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Psychoegoautocratical Auditory (excerpt 2)"

TAGUCHI, KUMI Tokyo Emmanuelle Fujin - Amai Yoru No Tameiki (Tiliqua) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yet another release in Tiliqua's Erotic Oriental Sunshine series of Japanese erotic music from the sixties and seventies (the fourth of five!). We reviewed Kokotsu No Sekai from Japanese sexy action heroine Ike Reiko a while back, Kuwabara Yukiko To Anata from Japanese "Play Girl" Kuwabara Yukiko not long after that, and most recently, Modae No Heya from seventies bondage / S&M queen Naomi Tani, music recorded and released in 1979 to commemorate her retirement from the world of porn. And now we have Tokyo Emmanuelle Fujin - Amai Yoru No Tameiki from legendary porn actress Taguchi Kumi.
For those just discovering the wonderful world of Iroke Kayoyoku for the first time, it's a sort of loungy exotica, equal parts Les Baxter and Ennio Morricone, a bastardized version of a more popular Asian music of the time, a funky, groovy, soulful soundtrack music, but sexed up with chanteuse like crooning, and most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, very playful and silly and sexy.
Originally released in 1976, Tokyo Emmanuelle Fujin is a compilation, culled from the various porn movies which catapulted her to immediate stardom. This is not your average porn movie music, while some of this is funkier and a little bit groovier than the other volumes in the series, it's still rife with subtle Eastern melodies, spaghetti western guitars, soaring super dramatic strings, wild wah wah guitar, some seriously blasts of disco dance floor funk, some trippy Lawrence Welk style easy listening, a bit of twangy country guitar, dreamy piano balladry, some mysterious Pink Panther / Mission Impossible Mancini-esque minor key shuffle (in fact the last track pretty much IS the theme from the Pink Panther!), but over it all is Taguchi's breathless vocals, whispering, coo-ing, moaning, groaning and giggling. Not as sexy as it is kind of cute actually...
Erotic and exotic, sexy and silly, funky and fun, and pretty dang strange really. Definitely essential listening for lovers of weird music, and all sounds strange and sexy.
Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, saucy nude photos of Kumi on the cover, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese!
ULTRA LIMITED!!! Only 1000 copies pressed. Already almost sold out, so you know what that means...
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

TAIGA REMAINS Crushed Radiant Deities (Students Of Decay) cd 12.98
First proper cd release from Students Of Decay cd-r label head honcho Alex Cobb's solo guitar project Taiga Remains. Collecting two tracks from a long out of print cd-r as well as including two brand new looooong tracks, Crushed Radiant Deities is sort of the more active side of Taiga Remains' sound. On the Ribbons Of Dust series of 3" cd-r's Cobb wove spidery, smokey ambient shimmer from slowly unfurling guitars, creating a sound more like a whisper or a ghost, where as the last few releases have been more dense, more noisy, and more from the Birchville / Vibracathedral school of drawn out raga drones. The interesting thing is, Cobb's weapon of choice is an ACOUSTIC guitar! Hard to believe some of these sounds were coaxed from just an acoustic guitar, electronics and voice. 
The two new tracks are longform epics, slow shifting, layered and textural blurs of sound, gritty and fuzzy, layer upon layer, over the course of each track, building in intensity, becoming a near industrial blast of M83 fuzz and My Bloody Valentine swoon and Birchville skree all wound up into one thick pulsing shimmering wall of dense sound. 
The two older tracks aren't so sharp or shimmery, instead, they are a bit more lo-fi, one track is muddy and murky with mumbled melodies, all the hiss and skree, smoothed into warm warbly smears, very dreamy and underwater sounding, a static drift, the various layers of sound shifting almost imperceptibly, the other is thick and fierce, another static wash of buzzing and whirring, like a symphony of lawnmowers and weed wackers and air conditioners, subtle melodies and barely there shifts in tone and timbre buried within a serious squall of swarming insectoid buzz. Awesome stuff. 
Packaged in a super nice black white and red fold together cardstock sleeve, with a cool abstract splatter design on the outside, and liner notes and abstract little spirograph designs on the inside. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!
MPEG Stream: "Neone"
MPEG Stream: "Vistas"

TAIGA REMAINS Obelia (Barl Fire) cd-r 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another lost recording from aQ faves Taiga Remains, one of two unearthed releases that have been lurking on the shelves but have somehow made it unreviewed until now.
This one came out on Barl Fire a while back, and since then the label has called it quits, so these are absolutely the very last copies, so act fast. It's too bad cd-r releases like this are so limited, when you think about the time and care and love that went into beautiful sounds like these, it seems almost criminal that they might only be heard by 50 or 100 people. And these are beautiful sounds, Taiga Remains, aka Alex Cobb, is as comfortable weaving haunting noisescapes as he is unfurling sweet minimal Appalachia, this one is begins as the latter, a spacious reverb drenched chunk of Fahey-esque soft strum, notes and chords drifting in a wide open expanse of reverby shimmer. So delicate and soft focus and lovely.
This is quickly followed up by a bout of extended buzz. A prickly electronic hum, the excited vibrations of steel strings rendered in a subtly undulating layer of insectoid whir, cloaking a deep rumbling drone and mysterious barely audible melodies. The closer is a 3 minute reprise of the opener, more delicate harmonics and fluttery strum, quivering like a dew dappled spider web spun across a sun dappled sonic glade. So so so nice.
Hopefully this will get reissued one of these days, but for now, a handful of you can feast on these lovely sounds.
MPEG Stream: "Absence-Frost"
MPEG Stream: "Shining Metal Spheres"

TAIGA REMAINS Ribbons Of Dust (Root Strata) cd 12.98
Finally the way too limited Ribbons Of Dust cd-r's get a proper cd reissue. Three volumes, each a 3" cd-r, from one of our favorite abstract drone outfits going. We raved about all three installments, so if you missed out on any or all, or just want to upgrade to actual cd, then now's your chance.
Seems like the impetus for starting a cd-r label must be born from a similar need to create music yourself. Considering how many microlabel bosses are also serious sound makers in their own right (Campbell Kneale and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Antony Milton and PseudoArcana, Brad Rose and Digitalis, etc.) Makes sense, a passion for discovering new music can be fed directly by making that new music yourself. Taiga Remains is the solo electric guitar project of Alex Cobb, who also happens to run Students Of Decay, a pretty badass cd-r label. Volume 1 of Ribbons Of Dust is a slow moving, bleary eyed, slow moving morning of a track. The guitar is rendered riffless, instead it's transformed into a sparkling glistening glimpse of a sun dappled expanse of still water, foggy and fuzzy, a dream world of shimmering muted high end drift and warm soft hum. Reminds us a bit of ex-Souled American axeman Scott Tuma, and his abstract slow motion soundscapes. So totally lovely and blissfully otherworldly.
Volume 2 is made up of huge billowy clouds of dense but soft electric guitar drift. Melodies played out over minutes instead of seconds. Ambarchi meets Fennesz but with the bones removed, leaving just a drifting ghost of the guitar. It's hard to even think of this as a guitar. There's no strumming, or picking, or bowing, instead it's nothing but shimmering and glistening and sparkling and reverberating and drifting and shining and floating and twinkling and slowly fading away...
The final volume is all about late night, disembodied slow shifting guitar glimmer. Huge soft clouds of warm chords, thick swells of reverberating steel strings, minor key drifts of shimmer and whir, very oceanic, like drifting on some soft sleep sea, each note another gentle swell, lulling you into a state of complete bliss out. So beautiful.
Packaged in a super striking silkscreened origmai style fold over cardstock sleeve with a printed insert.
MPEG Stream: "Ribbons Of Dust"
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

TAIGA REMAINS Ribbons of Dust (Students Of Decay) 3" cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Seems like the impetus for starting a cd-r label must be born from a similar need to create music yourself. Considering how many microlabel bosses are also serious sound makers in their own right (Campbell Kneale and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Antony Milton and PseudoArcana, Brad Rose and Digitalis, etc.) Makes sense, a passion for discovering new music can be fed directly by making that new music yourself. Taiga Remains is the solo electric guitar project of Alex Cobb, who also happens to run Students Of Decay, a pretty badass cd-r label. This 3" cd-r is a slow moving, bleary eyed, slow moving morning of a track. The guitar is rendered riffless, instead it's transformed into a sparkling glistening glimpse of a sun dappled expanse of still water, foggy and fuzzy, a dream world of shimmering muted high end drift and warm soft hum. Reminds us a bit of ex-Souled American axeman Scott Tuma, and his abstract slow motion soundscapes. So totally lovely and blissfully otherworldly.
Packaged in a mini jewel case, with a pretty black on brown sleeve. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. And you know these will be gone quick...
MPEG Stream: "Ribbons Of Dust"

TAIGA REMAINS Ribbons of Dust (Students Of Decay) 3" cd-r 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Seems like the impetus for starting a cd-r label must be born from a similar need to create music yourself. Considering how many microlabel bosses are also serious sound makers in their own right (Campbell Kneale and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Antony Milton and PseudoArcana, Brad Rose and Digitalis, etc.) Makes sense, a passion for discovering new music can be fed directly by making that new music yourself. Taiga Remains is the solo electric guitar project of Alex Cobb, who also happens to run Students Of Decay, a pretty badass cd-r label. This 3" cd-r is a slow moving, bleary eyed, slow moving morning of a track. The guitar is rendered riffless, instead it's transformed into a sparkling glistening glimpse of a sun dappled expanse of still water, foggy and fuzzy, a dream world of shimmering muted high end drift and warm soft hum. Reminds us a bit of ex-Souled American axeman Scott Tuma, and his abstract slow motion soundscapes. So totally lovely and blissfully otherworldly.
Packaged in a mini jewel case, with a pretty black on brown sleeve. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. And you know these will be gone quick...
MPEG Stream: "Ribbons Of Dust"

TAIGA REMAINS Ribbons Of Dust Pt. 2 (Students Of Decay) 3" cd-r 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Students Of Decay label head honcho Alex Cobb returns with part two of his Ribbons Of Dust series of solo guitar explorations under the name Taiga Remains. And since volume one is gone as is the super limited cassette we got a while back, you're gonna want to grab this one quick, cuz we'll be out before you know it and it's pretty dang great. Huge billowy clouds of dense but soft electric guitar drift. Melodies played out over minutes instead of seconds. Ambarchi meets Fennesz but with the bones removed, leaving just a drifting ghost of the guitar. It's hard to even think of this as a guitar. There's no strumming, or picking, or bowing, instead it's nothing but shimmering and glistening and sparkling and reverberating and drifting and shining and floating and twinkling and slowly fading away...
Packaged in a mini jewel case, with a pretty black on dark blue sleeve. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. These will be gone in no time!
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 2"

TAIGA REMAINS Ribbons Of Dust Pt. 3 (Students Of Decay) 3" cd-r 7.98
Students Of Decay label head honcho Alex Cobb returns one final time (well, not final, he's not dead or anything) with the last installment in the Ribbons Of Dust trilogy, a series of 3"cd-r's, each featuring gorgeous dreamy late night solo guitar excursions performed under the name Taiga Remains...
If you have the first two, or he long out of print cassette tape, you'll know what this is all about and probably want this too.
But for those who have missed out on last few, Taiga Remains is all about late night, disembodied slow shifting guitar glimmer. Huge soft clouds of warm chords, thick swells of reverberating steel strings, minor key drifts of shimmer and whir, very oceanic, like drifting on some soft sleep sea, each note another gentle swell, lulling you into a state of complete bliss out.
So beautiful.
Packaged in a mini jewel case, with a pretty black on dark maroon sleeve. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES. These will be gone in no time!
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

TAIGA REMAINS The Nothing And Nowhere (Ruralfaune) cd-r 10.98
Brand new disc from AQ faves Taiga Remains, the solo guitar project of Students Of Decay label head honcho Alex Cobb. We've been digging the Ribbon Of Dust series of 3" cd-r's since we first got them a while back and have been anxiously awaiting more of TR's gorgeous ambient guitarscapes.
The Nothing And Nowhere is just that, a 40 minute expanse of the sound of nothing and nowhere. Almost. With just an electric guitar and some effect pedals, Cobb transforms his axe into some sort of drone producing dream machine, unfurling wispy, vapor trails of abstract melody, of glistening midnight shimmer, long drawn out tendrils of sound that seem to be on the verge of dissipating and disappearing completely.
Like Spacemen 3 with all the rock sucked out, leaving just a ghostly trace of that buzzing raga like guitar, let loose to drift foglike over moonlit landscapes. Or Loren Connors, playing at the bottom of a well, the sounds just barely making it to the surface, and by then, more soft shadows of the sound than the actual sound itself. Dreamlike, delicate and so completely captivating.
Packaged in a full color sleeve with a printed insert and sealed shut with an actual TWIG!!
LIMITED TO 95 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

TAIGA REMAINS Under The Weather (Onomato) 3" cd-r 8.98
It's been a little while since we've heard from Taiga Remains, aka Alex Cobb, seems he's busy running the kick ass Students Of Decay label, but we've been doing some digging around and discovered a few Taiga titles lurking in the shadows. The first is this 3"cd-r, now long out of print, these are absolutely the last copies, released on Onomato, in a cool mini 3" jewel case, a single 17 minute song, a symphony of hiss, a wash of soft white noise draped over a swirl of dark drones, the reverberate and pulse beneath the staticky surface, eventually, as your ears become accustomed to the hiss, it sort of melts away and becomes another layer of drone, a warm billowy sonic halo, while the buried tones, spell out a slooooow drawn out melody, pretty intense when you realize this was recorded using just an acoustic guitar and some delay. Eventually much of the hiss does in fact melt away, leaving the buried tones revealed, as they begin to blossom into extended tones, muted high end, gently throbbing and pulsing hypnotically, eventually fading out completely.
As always super nice stuff. And again, LIMITED like crazy, OUT OF PRINT, these are the last copies ever...
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "excerpt 2"

TAIGA REMAINS Unfamiliar Sphere, Thin As Light (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon) cd-r 11.98
Alex Cobb, aka Taiga Remains, has been a busy boy of late, with a whole clutch of cd-r's, a brand new proper cd full length, as well as finding time to run his Students Of Decay label. This, his first for Celebrate Psi Phenomenon is a bit of a departure from his usual modus operandi, trading in an electric guitar and a suitcase full of FX for an acoustic guitar, an organ and a delay pedal. And the results are pretty fantastic. It's a little bit difficult to believe that the majority of this disc was made with an acoustic guitar, there's so much jagged scrape and mysterious shimmer. The opening track alone is a strange slow shifting stretch of insectoid buzz, with little bits of melody drifting up here and there, but for the most part, it sounds like a dentist's drill, or as if he were somehow playing the guitar with a tiny fan, an endlessly oscillating reverberation, that is rife with subtle overtones and barely discernible melodic color. At first it sounds a bit harsh, but as you sink in, it's strangely soothing and dreamy. The second track somehow whips the acoustic guitar into billowing clouds of glistening metallic whirs, again transforming any trace of a typical acoustic guitar into blissful drifts of soft focus drone. The third track is the most acoustic sounding of the bunch, almost like a slowed down, stretched out bit of abstract Appalachia, the guitar humming lazily upon a thick layer of wheezing organ. The final track is another gorgeous expanse of dreamlike sound, the organ and acoustic guitar whirled into a looped hypnotic drone, thick with lo-fi detritus, room sound and all manner of buzz, sounding quite a bit like Birchville Cat Motel oddly enough.
SUPER LIMITED AS ALWAYS!! NOT SURE WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET MORE WHEN THESE ARE GONE!
MPEG Stream: "Upon Reflection On Think Language"
MPEG Stream: "Blown Ash Firmament"

TAIGA REMAINS Vermillion Dusk (Twonicorn) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another batch of WAY too limited cassette releases from Twonicorn, whose releases seem to go out of print in the blink of an eye. This time we managed to get even more copies, in fact we took most of the copies from each pressing, but considering the fact that the pressing usually run between 40 and 100 copies, you know these won't last long either way.
A few weeks back we reviewed a killer 3" cd-r from Taiga Remains, aka Alex Cobb (the man who runs the amazing Students Of Decay cd-r label), a gorgeously bleary, dreamy solo guitar exploration that we couldn't stop listening to. So here we have the recently releases cassette only follow up, but unlike the cd-r, the tape is a lot more aggressive, less drifty and abstract, more growling and distorted. The vibe is still of the blissed out drone variety, but the drones here are constructed from buzzing snarling metallic rumbles, shimmering sharp edged distorted crunch, and thick slabs of murky whir. Still totally dreamy and otherworldly, but a lot darker and grittier, falling more along the lines of Sunroof! or Birchville Cat Motel. Which is not a bad thing at all!
LIMITED TO 85 COPIES. We got 20 and we will not be able to get any more.
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

TAIGA REMAINS / HEAVY WINGED s/t (Not Not Fun) 12" Picture Disc 14.98
Not sure why this never got listed, but if it had, we definitely wouldn't have any left. A killer match up, one man drone against blown out psych rock trio.
A deluxe vinyl version of a long out of print cd-r. Heavy winged kick up some serious shit with their sidelong jam, freaked out andheavy as fuck, a serious sonic pumelling for sure. Taiga Remains offers up a gorgeous thick fuzzed out dronescape, and tacks on a bonus track not on the original cd-r.
Packaged in over the top hand screened vinyl sleeves with cut out triangular stickers artfully arranged on top, Pressed on foggy clear vinyl. LIMITED TO 300 COPIES! We're guessing this is probably WAY out of print, we do have 5 or 6 in stock, and odds are that's all we'll ever get...

TAIGAA s/t (self-released) cd-r 7.98

TAIHO Chugalug (Howling Bull) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Metallic hardcore along the lines of Biohazard. Heavy and chugging, with a vocalist that sounds remarkably like Lemmy from Motorhead.

TAINT The Ruin Of Nova Roma (Candlelight) cd 13.98
It's kind of nuts when you realize that Taint have been a band for a dozen years and this is their first actual full length. Sure there've been a bunch of ep's and splits and compilations and demos, but on The Ruin Of Nova Roma the band finally get to flex their musical muscles and let it all hang out. What IT is, is a huge sloppy, sludgy lurching stoner pummel with wild throat shredding caterwaul vocals and killer downtuned grooves. A sort of math rockier Neurosis, with plenty of Motorhead, High On Fire, a whole lot of Fugazi (especially the vocals), some of that classic Amrep buzz and some serious post rockage as well. A quick listen will definitely have your head banging, your juices flowing and have you air guitaring (or drumming) all over the place. Taint are heavy as fuck, and every song is packed with killer riffs, pummeling drums, and lots of hooks. But repeated listens reveal all sorts of subtle stuff going on, strange little melodies, dense melodic clusters, convoluted rhythms, epic keening guitar harmonics, thick layered drones, wailed vocals, blissed out stretches of loping post rock, but at the very heart of it all is one seriously epic, lumbering beast of a metal band. Just listen to those sound samples. Not sure if this stuff makes us want to fuck or fight or rock or all three...
There's something seriously wrong with the world when all the modern metal nerds slobbering all over Mastodon and High On Fire and the rest of the current crop of 'hip' metal aren't blogging their goddamned brains out about these guys or at least lining up in droves to let their pansy asses be musically trampled to death by these brutal metallic behemoths. So good.
MPEG Stream: "The Sound-Out Competition"
MPEG Stream: "Zealots & Whores"

TAIRIKUOTOKO VS SANMYAKUONNA Viva Young Florida (Magaibutsu) cd 14.98
The wonderful, surprise second album from this all-star Japanese outfit (with members of Ruins, Omoide Hatoba, Bondage Fruit, etc.) whose main songwriter is Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins. Musically this combines the manic, complex prog of his main band with elements of jazz, pop, cartoon music, and unclassifiable weirdness with instrumentation that includes guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, sampler, trumpet, violin, clarinet, sax, and of course lots of bizarre vocals. This is some of the most intensely strange, happy, lovely, beautiful, well-played "rock" music of 1998.

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS August 1974 (Columbia Japan) 2cd 41.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
FINALLY BACK IN STOCK. THE ULTIMATE DRONE RECORD.
We love this record so much. The Taj Majal Travellers are so utterly mind blowing. This is a double cd reissue of this legendary Japanese psych ensemble's second lp which has been unavailable for several years now, but when we did have it in stock, if anyone asked about drones, this is the record we would always suggest. One of the most hallowed artifacts of the psych-rock collector scum scene (originals on vinyl could set you back more than $1000!), this album is an epic higher key improvised drone extravaganza, all performed live on beaches and deserted hills in Sweden, India, Iran and England. Slow, complex, irregular throbbing waves of sound, broadcast through distant loudspeakers and recaptured and reincorporated. Feedback, time-space lag, horns, echo machines, and primitive handmade electronic devices all contribute to the ever shifting clouds of sound. So unbearably awesome. And this is not electronic music, or studio based carefully constructed drone music, this is massive and organic, dreamy and natural, waves of sound drifting through sun and sky, rain and fog, trees and electrical wires, the shape of the earth, the temperature, the wind, all affecting the sound, changing the timbre ever so slightly, band members spaced out over hundreds of yards, improvising on an impossible grand scale, the earth as their stage, nature as their recording studio, a deliriously abstract sound world of subtle drones and drifting ambience. Imagine some long hairded seventies Japanese psych rock combo, but filtered through the Jewelled Antler Collective, jamming with Chris Watson, set up on sandy dunes, grassy knolls, forest glades, each not necessarily -playing- their instruments, but instead coaxing sounds from within the instruments, setting those sounds free and sending them skyward, watching it drift downwind, where a bandmate snatches the sounds and coaxes complimentary sounds from his instrument, sending a sonic respone, until these messages, these sounds weave into and around each other, the sky full of warm warbly mysterious sound. Psychedelic for sure, but more a sort of eyes closed, mind open dream drift drone psychedelia. ONE OF OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE RECORDS!!
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS August 1974 (P-Vine / Columbia Japan) 2cd 41.00
Once again, repressed and back in stock, but who knows for how long?! THE ULTIMATE DRONE RECORD!! We love this record so much. The Taj Majal Travellers are so utterly mind blowing. This is a double cd reissue of this legendary Japanese psych ensemble's second lp, the reissue has gone in and out of print, and has been unavailable for several years now, but when we did have it in stock, if anyone asked about drones, this is the record we would always suggest. One of the most hallowed artifacts of the psych-rock collector scum scene (originals on vinyl could set you back more than $1000!), this album is an epic higher key improvised drone extravaganza, all performed live on beaches and deserted hills in Sweden, India, Iran and England. Slow, complex, irregular throbbing waves of sound, broadcast through distant loudspeakers and recaptured and reincorporated. Feedback, time-space lag, horns, echo machines, and primitive handmade electronic devices all contribute to the ever shifting clouds of sound. So unbearably awesome. And this is not electronic music, or studio based carefully constructed drone music, this is massive and organic, dreamy and natural, waves of sound drifting through sun and sky, rain and fog, trees and electrical wires, the shape of the earth, the temperature, the wind, all affecting the sound, changing the timbre ever so slightly, band members spaced out over hundreds of yards, improvising on an impossible grand scale, the earth as their stage, nature as their recording studio, a deliriously abstract sound world of subtle drones and drifting ambience. Imagine some long hairded seventies Japanese psych rock combo, but filtered through the Jewelled Antler Collective, jamming with Chris Watson, set up on sandy dunes, grassy knolls, forest glades, each not necessarily -playing- their instruments, but instead coaxing sounds from within the instruments, setting those sounds free and sending them skyward, watching it drift downwind, where a bandmate snatches the sounds and coaxes complimentary sounds from his instrument, sending a sonic response, until these messages, these sounds weave into and around each other, the sky full of warm warbly mysterious sound. Psychedelic for sure, but more a sort of eyes closed, mind open dream drift drone psychedelia. ONE OF OUR ALL TIME FAVORITE RECORDS!!
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS July 15, 1972 (Showboat / Sky Station) cd 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Taj-Mahal Travellers double cd 'August 1974' has to be one of the most essential drone music documents of the 20th century. Our description of that record describes the Taj Mahal Travellers sound perfectly: "epic higher key improvised drone extravaganzas performed on beaches, deserted hills in Sweden, India, Iran and England. Slow, complex, irregular throbbing waves of sound, broadcast through distant loudspeakers and recaptured and reincorporated into the sound. Feedback, time-space lag, echo machines, and primitive handmade electronic devices all contribute to the ever shifting clouds of sound." 'July 15th, 1972' is the precursor to that seminal record and is equally as vital and musically breathtaking.
Three extended tracks of sublime and transcendental musique concrete/drone. Sparse and spacious. With vocals and electronic trumpets augmenting the violin, contrabass, harmonica, sheet iron, castanet, vibraphone, guitar, percussion and radio oscillators. Dreamy and otherworldly, three epic tracks of hum and rumble, squeak and skree, clatter and tinkle envelop you in a completely new world of sound. So essential.
RealAudio clip: "Between 6:20-6:46P.M."

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS Live Stockholm 1971 (Drone Syndicate) 2cd 26.00
Yay! Another old favorite finally reissued and back in stock. We first listed this back in 2000, and we still love it more than ever. First we had a Drone Syndicate edition, then a more expensive one on Walhalla, and now the DS version has been repressed, at the same cheaper price (though it lacks the liner notes, photos, and overall fancier packaging of the Wahalla one).
In the AQ canon of all time essential artists, of groups who have shaped all the music that followed in their wake, somewhere very near the top spot would be Japan's Taj Mahal Travellers. This sprawling seventies psych drone unit led by Fluxus legend Takehisa Kosugi, were crafting gorgeous abstract drone drenched ambience long before most of the current crop of dronesters were even born.
The Taj Mahal Travellers were masters of the organic, of vibration, texture, timbre, utilizing bowed cymbals, violins, loudspeakers, tape loops and all sorts of unique source material, this collective created some of the most enduring and unique psychedelic music ever recorded. Their music and performances were the physical embodiment of a philosophy, a way of life more than just simple 'playing music.'
It's hard to imagine the Skaters or Birchville Cat Motel or the Yellow Swans or even Wolf Eyes without the Taj Mahal Travellers. Often referred to by the press as "La Monte Young on acid", in a review of another, unfortunately out of print TMT album, we described their sound as "epic higher key improvised drone extravaganzas performed on beaches, deserted hills in Sweden, India, Iran and England. Slow, complex, irregular throbbing waves of sound, broadcast through distant loudspeakers and recaptured and reincorporated into the sound. Feedback, time-space lag, echo machines, and primitive handmade electronic devices all contribute to the ever shifting clouds of sound."
The music of the Taj Mahal Travellers thought is stubbornly indescribable. No words can possibly do justice to the spirits they were able to invoke, the atmosphere they were able to create, dark and dense and mysterious and ominous, but at the same time beautiful and brilliant and epic and spacious.
This double cd features nearly 100 minutes of improvised droning captured live in Stockholm, Sweden in 1971, the group (minus Kosugi for some reason) run stand-up bass, tuba, trumpet, select percussion, violin, flutes, mandolin, harmonica and synthesizer through primitive tape loops and delay effects for an awesome ritualistic performance, predating the likes of Zoviet France and about a million others by decades!
The live sound is just as amazing as their records, which makes sense since their albums were essentially documents of live aktions.
The first disc is a single nearly hour long low end ritual, strings buzz and reverberate, as do voices, and bits of bowed metals, all beating against each other and creating all manner of cosmic vibrations, all accompanied by simple bells, or a single plucked note repeated over and over. Near the end, the vocals are soaring, and the tones have become long buzzing streaks, with plenty of spacey echo and strange damaged FX, it's hard to hear this and not wonder where in the hell Sunburned Hand and No Neck get off, these guys were creating the same sort of primitive primeval sounds, nearly 4 decades earlier, and with so much more depth and emotion. The fact that a music so minimal and abstract can be so utterly moving is testament to the Travellers' unparalleled skill.
Disc two is much less low end rumble, and more a dizzying swirl of strange sonic events, here the horns are in full affect, sounding like a herd of alien elephants, moaning and bleating, the tones stretched out and draped across all manner of lower register rumbles and whirs. Percussion surfacing now and again like an angry rattlesnake roused from a midday nap, or a swirling cloud of tiny buzzing insects. Vocals drift in and out, shamanistic and chant like, moaning out strange melodies, mostly low and throaty but sometimes like curious feline mewling, all intertwined with the various other drawn out sounds. An incredibly intense organic ritual, purified by its intransitive nature, the improvisation guaranteeing that each performance belonged to the time and the place as much as the players. Absolutely and utterly breathtaking.
Absolutely essential, and probably more recommended than nearly any record we've ever reviewed!
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 1 (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 1 (excerpt 2)"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 2 (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 2 (excerpt 2)"

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS Live Stockholm July, 1971 (Walhalla) 2cd 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In the AQ canon of all time essential artists, of groups who have shaped all the music that followed in their wake, somewhere very near the top spot would be Japan's Taj Mahal Travellers. This sprawling seventies psych drone unit led by Fluxus legend Takehisa Kosugi, were crafting gorgeous abstract drone drenched ambience long before most of the current crop of dronesters were even born.
The Taj Mahal Travellers were masters of the organic, of vibration, texture, timbre, utilizing bowed cymbals, violins, loudspeakers, tape loops and all sorts of unique source material, this collective created some of the most enduring and unique psychedelic music ever recorded. Their music and performances were the physical embodiment of a philosophy, a way of life more than just simple 'playing music.'
It's hard to imagine the Skaters or Birchville Cat Motel or the Yellow Swans or even Wolf Eyes without the Taj Mahal Travellers. Often referred to by the press as "La Monte Young on acid", in a review of another, unfortunately out of print TMT album, we described their sound as "epic higher key improvised drone extravaganzas performed on beaches, deserted hills in Sweden, India, Iran and England. Slow, complex, irregular throbbing waves of sound, broadcast through distant loudspeakers and recaptured and reincorporated into the sound. Feedback, time-space lag, echo machines, and primitive handmade electronic devices all contribute to the ever shifting clouds of sound."
The music of the Taj Mahal Travellers thought is stubbornly indescribable. No words can possibly do justice to the spirits they were able to invoke, the atmosphere they were able to create, dark and dense and mysterious and ominous, but at the same time beautiful and brilliant and epic and spacious.
This double cd features nearly 100 minutes of improvised droning captured live in Stockholm, Sweden in 1971, the group run stand-up bass, tuba, trumpet. select percussion, violin, flutes, mandolin, harmonica and synthesizer through primitive tape loops and delay effects for an awesome ritualistic performance, predating the likes of Zoviet France and about a million others by decades!
The live sound is just as amazing as their records, which makes sense since their albums were essentially documents of live aktions.
The first disc is a single nearly hour long low end ritual, strings buzz and reverberate, as do voices, and bits of bowed metals, all beating against each other and creating all manner of cosmic vibrations, all accompanied by simple bells, or a single plucked note repeated over and over. Near the end, the vocals are soaring, and the tones have become long buzzing streaks, with plenty of spacey echo and strange damaged FX, it's hard to hear this and not wonder where in the hell Sunburned Hand and No Neck get off, these guys were creating the same sort of primitive primeval sounds, nearly 4 decades earlier, and with so much more depth and emotion. The fact that a music so minimal and abstract can be so utterly moving is testament to the Travellers' unparalleled skill.
Disc two is much less low end rumble, and more a dizzying swirl of strange sonic events, here the horns are in full affect, sounding like a herd of alien elephants, moaning and bleating, the tones stretched out and draped across all manner of lower register rumbles and whirs. Percussion surfacing now and again like an angry rattlesnake roused from a midday nap, or a swirling cloud of tiny buzzing insects. Vocals drift in and out, shamanistic and chant like, moaning out strange melodies, mostly low and throaty but sometimes like curious feline mewling, all intertwined with the various other drawn out sounds. An incredibly intense organic ritual, purified by it's intransitive nature, the improvisation guaranteeing that each performance belonged to the time and the place as much as the players. Absolutely and utterly breathtaking.
A really nice reissue of this long out of print two disc set, with liner notes, a history of the band, the story of this recording as well as amazing photos. Not sure how long we'll be able to keep these in stock, so please be patient if we run out, and it takes us a while to track down more.
Absolutely essential, and probably more recommended than nearly any record we've ever reviewed!
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 1 (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 1 (excerpt 2)"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 2 (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation, Part 2 (excerpt 2)"

TAKAGI, MASAKATSU Pia (Carpark) 2cd 17.98
Takagi Masakatsu's electronic ambience has been glitchified as another laptop excursion, yet he maintains a whimsical sense of melody rarely heard since Oval's "Diskont 94" and a sly use of the field recordings, allowing for the laughter of children and various sounds of domesticty to intervene in the subtly shifting glitch collages. Only disc one has audio, with disc two being a CD-Rom for both Mac and Windows.

TAKAHASHI, IKURO Domori To Sanshu (Siwa) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The packaging here is real nice and maybe should be mentioned even before the music: the cd is nestled between two white cards screenprinted in silver-and-black with someone's intricate, abstract artwork (a fine-lined tangle of grass? or bones?). These cards and cd come in a plastic sleeve, inserted into a slot in a slender wooden box. The box is itself painted/printed in dark grey and white with identical artwork. Yup, very nice! This is a limited edition, of course.
What manner of music is deserving of such special packaging? Well, Japan's Ikuro Takahashi is a percussionist who has played in or with all sorts of amazing bands from the Tokyo psych-rock underground, including Fushitsusha, High Rise, Kosukuya, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Nagisa Ni Te, Overhang Party and LSD-march. As a solo music-maker, though, he also experiments with electronics. So this release is quite different from most of those bands, though sharing a "darkness" that several of them possess! Domori To Sanshu consists of two long tracks (27 and 31 minutes apiece), one of 'em live, the other rendered on a computer. The live track comes first, immersing you in what (you might imagine) could be the night sounds from outside a rural temple...a high-pitched insectoid flutter and hum, in fact produced by the keening of Ikuro's oscillators and electronic effects. Subtle and strange. Eventually the echoing rattle and clatter of percussion enters the sound-field, but emptiness and hum are still the main attraction. This track builds in drone-ful intensity, with long notes drawn out into abstract mystery. Abstraction that continues with additional density on the second, computer-composed track, which is basically one seemly unchanging but in truth slowly undulating drone... both cuts provide some serious meditative 'music' for drone-heads to get lost in.
MPEG Stream: "Domori To Sanshu (live)"

TAKAHASHI, SO 30/30 (Carpark) cd 14.98
Takahashi So specializes in high piercing tonalities and chest-cavity rattling bass originating from pure sine waves that crystallize into hypnotic rhythms and structured loops -- much like Noto, Ryoji Ikeda, and Sachiko M, but not quite as austere with a few cut up intrusions.