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 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
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 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 The Nowhere (Ruralfaune) cd-r 10.98
Not sure why we had this marked as out of print on our website, well, it IS actually out of print, but we still had 7 or 8 tucked away in the closet, so last chance to grab a copy of this gorgeous chunk of ultraminimal guitardrone ambience....
Taiga Remains is the solo guitar project of Students Of Decay label head honcho Alex Cobb and 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 (note: some of our last copies may not have a twig)!!
LIMITED TO 95 COPIES!! Out of print at the label, but we've still got a few...
MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Two"

TAIGA REMAINS Under The Weather (Onomato) 3" cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 Xiaguan' (Students Of Decay) 3" cd-r 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been a while since we've heard from Taiga Remains, aka Students of Decay head honcho Alex Cobb, but this is not actually a new record, it's another one of those releases that somehow slipped through the cracks, and we only just now noticed we had a handful of these in stock, and had somehow never listed it, so here we go, Taiga Remains' Xiaguan', a 20 plus minute super limited 3" cd-r, well, super limited when it came out, now plain OUT OF PRINT, so these are the very last copies we'll see, so grab one while you can.
Like other Taiga Remains releases, Cobb takes guitars, and a small arsenal of other noise makers, and weaves them all into something ghostly and abstract, here it's an acoustic guitar, and it's paired up with electronics, bows, loops and chopsticks(!). The result is a strange shimmery dronescape, of bowed and scraped metal strings, lots of layered high end, creaks and groans, streaks of skree wrapped in reverb and left to drift in soft billows of soft focus whir, a dizzying expanse of soft soft noise, that about part way through slips into the lower registers, and the scrapes now in the background, behind a deep cavernous thrum, warm and languid and hypnotic, the thrum growing thicker and more intense, a slow smoldering build that eventually becomes a heaving swell of softly pulsing buzz and whir, before finishing off with a swirling high end cacophony. Good stuff, anyone into abstract guitar drones and minimal free dronescaping will dig this big time. And again, these are the last copies ever!
MPEG Stream: "Music For Early Mornings"

TAIGA REMAINS / GARETH HARDWICK split (Low Point) 10" 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Another split record featuring two aQ faves, each offering up a sidelong slab of dreamy dronemusic, with each giving it their own subtle twist.
Taiga Remains, aka Alex Cobb, head honcho of the Students Of Decay label, unleashes a deep reverberant drone, all shimmery metallics and soft low end swells. As the track progresses though, the sounds gets more and more dense, thickening, sprawling, becoming more ominous, the bass deepening, within this viscous flow, lurk buried melodies, steel string buzz, super deep melodic rumbles that surface like some massive sea creature before slipping back under. Near the end the sound becomes almost orchestral before finally flickering out.
Gareth Hardwick takes the other side, and his sound is much more tranquil and gentle than the Taiga side, but still similar, almost like the same piece, just stripped to its essence, warm languid layers drifting to and fro, unfurling a soft slow motion melody, melancholy and wistful. About halfway through, electric guitars join in, pulsing and buzzing over the soft shimmery drift, adding an ominous edge, layer upon layer, constantly shifting, overtones appearing and disappearing, the whole thing warm and thick and mesmerizing. Almost metallic but managing to remain somehow soporific and soothing.
Pressed on ultra thick vinyl, housed in a plain green sleeve, and VERY VERY LIMITED!

TAIGA REMAINS / HEAVY WINGED s/t (Not Not Fun) 12" Picture Disc 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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...

TAIGA REMAINS / RV PAINTINGS split (Blackest Rainbow) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Blackest Rainbow has been pretty damn consistent in their survey of the pharmacologically tainted realm of dronemusik, releasing great albums from Aidan Baker, Barn Owl, Elm, Tom Carter, Jazzfinger, more recently that Bong / Quttinirpaaq split, and certainly this incredible split between Taiga Remains and RV Paintings. The former is the work of Alex Cobb, who also runs the equally great label Students Of Decay; and the latter is a side project of the Starving Weirdos. Both sides of the LP dwell heavily upon reverb saturation grafted onto acoustic dronings from various sources - probably guitar, certainly some bells, maybe a long-stringed instrument. Such is a typical strategy for RV Paintings, but is somewhat novel for Taiga Remains, whose driftscape sensibility tends more towards the smooth surface arcing for tone and harmony. If Blackest Rainbow hadn't etched the names of each artist into the surface of the wax, you'd have a 50 percent chance of guessing who was doing each side. Perhaps Cobb was deliberately trying to coax more of a RV Paintings sound from his gear and vice versa. The major difference in these two sides only becomes apparent when RV Paintings begins to gently tap across sheet metal, gongs, and a drum kit a la Eddie Prevost from AMM. The drone is still the central feature, and the percussive serves to levitate and propel the drone forward. Really great stuff to be found here, and limited to a mere 400 copies.

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 TRAVELERS Live (BB) lp 30.00

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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 August 1974 (Phoenix) 2cd 25.00
Not sure how we never made this our Record Of The Week before, considering most aQuarians would probably rank this as one of their all time favorite drone records. Or all time favorite Japanese psychedelic records, heck, it's pretty much just one of our all time favorite records ever PERIOD. We've listed it in the past as a pricey import double cd, and an even pricier double lp, and maybe we thought it a bit too expensive before, but now with this new, more reasonably priced reissue, it seems like a no brainer to finally bestow the Record Of The Week honors on an album that has deserved it ever since we first heard it years and years ago. For those who have yet to discover the mysterious psychedelic beauty of Taj Mahal Travellers, you are in for a treat, and most likely a new musical obsession...
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 sporadically available over the years, and 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 impossibly 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 haired 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 them drift downwind, where a bandmate snatches the sounds and coaxes complimentary sounds from his own instrument, sending a sonic response, these messages, these billows of abstract shimmer and steaks of lush reverberation weaving 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 the most hauntingly mysterious and utterly beautiful drone records we've heard, and one of our all time favorite records!
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS August 1974 (Phoenix) 2lp 34.00
Made the latest cd reissue of this a Record Of The Week last time, now the same label has also done a fancy double vinyl version!!!
Not sure how we never made this our Record Of The Week before, considering most aQuarians would probably rank this as one of their all time favorite drone records. Or all time favorite Japanese psychedelic records, heck, it's pretty much just one of our all time favorite records ever PERIOD. We've listed it in the past as a pricey import double cd, and an even pricier double lp, and maybe we thought it a bit too expensive before, but now with this new, more reasonably priced reissue, it seems like a no brainer to finally bestow the Record Of The Week honors on an album that has deserved it ever since we first heard it years and years ago. For those who have yet to discover the mysterious psychedelic beauty of Taj Mahal Travellers, you are in for a treat, and most likely a new musical obsession...
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 album which has been sporadically available over the years, and 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 impossibly 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 haired 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 them drift downwind, where a bandmate snatches the sounds and coaxes complimentary sounds from his own instrument, sending a sonic response, these messages, these billows of abstract shimmer and steaks of lush reverberation weaving 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 the most hauntingly mysterious and utterly beautiful drone records we've heard, and one of our all time favorite records!, Gatefold packaging, 180 gram vinyl.
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 July 15, 1972 (Klimt) lp 24.00
Finally available on reissued vinyl!
The Taj Mahal Travellers double album 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, as the title chronologically suggests, 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.

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS Live At Moderna Museet In Stockholm - 1st & 9th July 1971 (Klimt) 2lp 36.00
This all time aQ psychedelic / drone favorite reissued for the first time on vinyl. One of our favorite groups of all time, whose rare recordings are psych-drone holy grails, we gushed extensively about the (now out of print) cd version ages ago, so for those of you who have somehow yet to discover the transcendental sonic beauty of TMT, or even if you've just been dying for this to come out on vinyl, read onÉ
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 lp 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, not to mention "suntool" and "electronic technique" 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 lp 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 exactly where Sunburned Hand and No Neck found their inspiration, these guys were creating the same sort of primitive primeval sounds, nearly 4 decades earlier, and with so much depth and emotion. The fact that a music so minimal and abstract can be so utterly moving is testament to the Travellers' unparalleled skill.
The second lp 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 like pretty much ALL Taj Mahal Travellers records, probably more recommended than nearly any other record we've ever reviewed! REALLY!
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 at Sohgetsu Hall in Tokyo, 15th July 1972 (BB) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS Live in Tokyo, 19th August 1974 (Part One & Two) (BB) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS Live in Tokyo, 19th August 1974 (Part Three & Four) (BB) lp 30.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

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.

TAKAYANAGI MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION FOR THE ART Complete "La Grima" (Doubtmusic) cd 24.00
When an avant-garde free jazz outfit plays, and the audience is moved not just to boo and jeer but to also THROW THINGS at them, that's when real fans of outside improv insanity should go, man, I've got to check this out! That the band in question featured the legendary Japanese guitarist Masayuki Takayangi makes perfect sense, since back in the day he was pretty much THE most shockingly extreme electric guitarist in the realm of "jazz."
As would likely be the case today, too, were he still alive. What we have here then is the notorious "La Grima" ("Tears"). 41 minutes, 45 seconds of EXPLOSIVE densefreejazzfreakout from a true power trio: Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Kenji Mori on sax, and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums, recorded live at the Genya Festival on August 14th, 1971. This wasn't a normal music fest, rather it was more of a demonstration organized in protest against the expansion of the Narita airport. And as radical as the protesters were, they apparently couldn't handle Takayanagi's "new jazz" music AT ALL. His New Direction For The Arts group was NOT well-received at Genya. Those folks who were throwing stuff would probably be surprised to learn that 36 years later, "La Grima" would be a handsomely-presented cd release, eagerly awaited in fact by fans not even born back then!
Yes, here at last is the full unedited recording -- previously just a tantalizing six minutes were heard on the Genya compilation LP, reissued on cd a few years ago. It's been remixed and remastered, and packaged in a miniature LP-styled gatefold sleeve.
If you're familiar with Takayangi's work, you can guess that this is what he'd term a "Mass Projection" piece, nobody in the group holding anything back, Takayangi's guitar rumbling heavily under Mori's flights of sax-skronk, the splattery drumming of Yamazaki running circles 'round the other two, everything endlessly tumbling forward, into the abyss of amplifier abuse spawned by Takayanagi, who simultaneously offers up scrabbling leads, dissonant drones, and fierce feedback attack. We suppose the saxophone is the most "jazz" sounding element, offering some snippets of melody amidst the blasting cacophony, but even then serving to highlight, in contrast, the electric violence of Takayanagi's playing. With so much energy being released, maybe it's no surprise that the audience couldn't help but give some back!
MPEG Stream: "La Grima"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Action Direct (Tiliqua) cd 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Tabletop guitar noise from the legendary late Japanese jazz guitar god, recorded 1985.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Archive 1 (Jinya) 5cd 95.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We have precisely ONE of these (although, we may be able to order more, eventually). So no big review, you (YOU?) either want this or you don't, several hours of archival live performances full of squealing, squeaking, squalling skronk by this Japanese improv jazz guitar legend and his New Direction Unit from the late '70s. Five separate shows, on five cds in individual slimline jewel cases packaged in a plastic sleeve/box with booklet (in Japanese): Regular Concert no.35 1977.6.2, Regular Concert no.36 1977.8.4, Another Situation First Concert 1977.9.4, Regular Concert no.39 1978.2.10, and Regular Concert no.43 1978.10.6, to use the formulations they do. Not sure what's so "Regular" about these concerts, exactly... Most of the discs/concerts consist of 2-5 lengthy pieces, the NDU improvising in various instrumental combinations, Takayanagi playing electric guitar or "gut guitar" (acoustic), others in the outfit variously on flute, clarinet, saxophone, bass, percussion. Sometimes it's the full ensemble, sometimes trios, duos, few solo tracks too. Obviously if you're a Takayanagi fan, and only if you're a Takayanagi fan, you just might be interested in this, to get some more "Mass Projection" into your life. "Gradually Projection" too! Good stuff as you'd expect, from quiet textural moodiness to utter gurgling frenzy.
Limited edition of 500 copies. And, the one we have happens to come shrinkwrapped with a free bonus dvd disc, footage of Takayanagi performing in Tokyo, 1990. (Any further copies we might order, if we even can, won't have that.)
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation 4, Another Situation First Concert 1977.9.4"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation 1, Regular Concert no.43 1978.10.6"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Dislocation (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Inanimate (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Lonely Woman (Vivid Sound) cd 26.00
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Yay! Yet another astonishing and beautiful Takayanagi document becomes available (again). Solo electric "jazz" (quotations theirs) guitar improv from this Japanese legend, working with tunes by Ornette (the title cut, of course), Charlie Haden ("Song For Che"), Lee Konitz, Lennie Tristano, and his own self, as well as a version of "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair". Definitely on the more inside, trad jazz side of his ouvre, but that's only relatively speaking, since the "outside" includes tabletop guitar noise fests that would make Thurston Moore run for cover. Again, fans of Fred Frith, Sonny Sharrock, Ray Russell, and the like should get in line. Recorded in '82.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Mass Hysterism (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Qadhafi (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Shibito (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI "JOJO" Cool Jojo (Three Blind Mice) cd 30.00
From 1979, Japanese improv legend Takayanagi's "Second Concept" quartet plays some perhaps uncharacteristically straight ahead, "cool" jazz...there's none of his famed guitar freakouts here, but it's still a nice jazz date, demonstrating that his facility with "outside" avant-garde free jazz playing was rooted in an appreciation of "inside" stuff as well. Japanese import in handsome hardback digibook packaging.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & KAORU ABE Gradually Projection (DIW) cd 21.00
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The sequel to the "Mass Projection" disc (reviewed last list), here's more live guitar/sax improv action drawn from the same 1970 performance by these cult Japanese free jazz masters. This release explores an equally "out" but just not as quite as noisy side to Abe and Takayanagi's music. Abe's sax wanders lethargically on a latenight bender, offering melody and misery in equal measure. Takayanagi's guitar provides near-percussive backing to the doomy drone of Abe's blowing. Lonely beauty and anguish abound. It's one long, intense 49 minute track.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & KAORU ABE Mass Projection (DIW) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the black-on-black packaging worthy of a Keiji Haino release, complete with badass photos of these two '70s Japanese free jazz legends (the soon-to-die-young saxophonist Kaoru Abe clutching his horn in a suitably doomed pose, and jazz-meets-noise guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi looking commanding in shades), you know that this disc is going to be a serious listen. And intense it is, drawn from the harsher portions of a 1970 live performance (the somewhat mellower remainder of the set is also soon to be released, as "Gradually Projection"). Unlike several recent Takayanagi archival releases, this doesn't have anything to do with his more straight ahead jazzy "Cool Jojo" style. No, this is all loud, scary skree looking to fuck with your head. Abe takes the lead, actually, his saxophone sounding utterly desperate and apocalyptic, but Takayanagi doesn't flinch from the fray either. Not for the faint of heart!

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTION Call In Question (PSF) cd 17.98
Some of the heaviest "jazz" ever, recorded in 1970 amazingly enough. The drummer should be in a hardcore band, the guitar player (the legendary Masayuki Takayangi) makes Sonny Sharrock sound like a wimp, and the bass and sax are equally intense. Our fave Takayangi release. Noise guitar way ahead of its time. Beautiful, beautiful noise.
RealAudio clip: "Extraction"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTION Live Independence (PSF) cd 22.00
More 1970 out-jazz from a trio version of pioneering noise guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi's New Direction unit. Two long tracks, "Herdman's Pipe of Spain" and "Mass Projection" that are a little more mellow and melodic than the stuff on the "Call In Question" cd, but not much more.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTION UNIT Live At Moers Festival (Three Blind Mice) cd 16.98
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TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTIONS Independence - Tread On Sure Ground (Tiliqua) cd 25.00
Oh man. Over the past year or so we've been lucky enough to get a hold of reissues of a bunch of rare albums by Japanese jazz legend Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi performing with his New Direction(s) unit: Axis Another Revolvable Thing Parts 1 and 2, Eclipse, La Grima. Lucky 'cause we LOVE way-out-there improv electric guitar, which Takayanagi provides in spades, 'specially when he and his group are off on one of his "mass projection" freakouts. Well this here cd reissue (a deluxe gatefold mini-LP sleeve styled import on the always interesting and well-packaged Tiliqua label) is another must have for any Takayanagi fan, documenting his first recording session in 1969 as leader of the initial incarnation of his New Directions group, a trio consisting of drummer Sabu Toyozumi and bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa along with Takayanagi. That's right, no saxophone for you sax haters out there! Just amped-up, feedback-filled guitar skree, brutally bowed bass and crashing drums on such lengthy mass projections as "The Galactic System" and "Piranha". There's also quieter, "gradually projection" pieces here too, some really beautiful, abstractly atmospheric ones including "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain" (with Yoshizawa on folk-pipe) and the interludes "Deepnight...Swamp" and "Sick...Sick...Sickness...My Aunt". Wow what great titles!!
This Tiliqua reissue of this classic adds a bonus track, from the 1970 compilation LP Guitar Workshop, that in fact is maybe the most intense thing on here. There are also liner notes from the perceptive and well-informed Alan Cummings, who proceeds to really set the scene for this music with his evocative description of the seedy Tokyo jazz quarter of Shinjuku in the sixties and early seventies, a place where Takayanagi's revolutionary jazz explorations fit right in with experimental artists and acid rock radicals.
MPEG Stream: "The Galactic System"
MPEG Stream: "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI AND NEW DIRECTION UNIT Eclipse (Iskra) cd 17.98
Fans of heavy duty improv jazz guitar freakout awesomeness, who were so recently thrilled by the sudden, first time on cd re-release of Japanese electric guitar improv legend Masayuki Takayanagi's super-rare Axis Another Revolvable Thing Parts 1 and 2 (those cds reviewed here two lists back) now have *another* incredible Takayanagi document from way back in the day to get excited about! Again from 1975, this album by Takayanagi and his fierce New Direction Unit is definitely in the same mind blowing mold as the Axis discs. Side one (tracks 1 and 2 here) are slow-burning "Gradually Projection" pieces, to use Takayangi's unique terminology. Side two (the 25+ minute third track) is a "Mass Projection". Whether "gradual" or "mass", these "projections" all share a dense, dark, energetic sound (potential energy in the case of the former, energy fully unleashed with the latter). Here, as on those Axis albums and elsewhere, Takayangi's music is filled with sinuous drones, sharp-edged feedback, trilling fret frenzies, scabrous sax soloing, freeform flute flutter, roiling percussion... the group really creates a living thing, compelling, threatening, electric, violent, beautiful. Thirty years later, this still destroys!!
This reissue is on a different Japanese label than the Axis reissues, but comes in similarly nice packaging, a miniature replica of the original LP sleeve, which came out in an edition of just 100 copies back in '75.
MPEG Stream: "First Session I"
MPEG Stream: "Second Session"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION UNIT April Is The Cruellest Month (Jinya) cd 24.00