TAPE Revelationes (Hapna) cd 16.98
We knew after their breathtaking collaboration with Bill Wells last year that Tape were really reaching a zenith in their career. With a back catalog rich with so many beautiful records, it's so nice to see them continue to reveal subtle shifts in their sound and sonic scope. Revelations flows with such melancholic grace. Instrumental songs that are filled with rich tones and warm melody, taking you to some perfect place, evoking that feeling of staring out the window on a long drive, late at night when there is nothing left to say to the person in the seat beside you.
Other bands that have tried to create a sound like this end up falling so short, coming off as nothing more then post rock band with more moody intentions, but lacking the means or depth to make something really substantial. Tape exist on a totally different level, absolute masters of their craft. Nothing ever feels forced or contrived in their songs. There is an integrity in their compositions that allows you to sway back and forth and get lost in swirls of musical memory and long lost images of other times and places... An utterly gorgeous record.
MPEG Stream: "Dust And Light"
MPEG Stream: "Gone Gone"
MPEG Stream: "Byhalia"

TAPE Revelationes (Immune) lp 16.98
Now we've also got enough of Immune's vinyl version to list, here's what we said about the cd on Hapna a couple weeks ago:
We knew after their breathtaking collaboration with Bill Wells last year that Tape were really reaching a zenith in their career. With a back catalog rich with so many beautiful records, it's so nice to see them continue to reveal subtle shifts in their sound and sonic scope. Revelations flows with such melancholic grace. Instrumental songs that are filled with rich tones and warm melody, taking you to some perfect place, evoking that feeling of staring out the window on a long drive, late at night when there is nothing left to say to the person in the seat beside you.
Other bands that have tried to create a sound like this end up falling so short, coming off as nothing more then post rock band with more moody intentions, but lacking the means or depth to make something really substantial. Tape exist on a totally different level, absolute masters of their craft. Nothing ever feels forced or contrived in their songs. There is an integrity in their compositions that allows you to sway back and forth and get lost in swirls of musical memory and long lost images of other times and places... An utterly gorgeous record.
MPEG Stream: "Dust And Light"
MPEG Stream: "Gone Gone"
MPEG Stream: "Byhalia"

TAPE Rideau (Hapna) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAPE & BILL WELLS Fugue (Immune) 12" 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Vinyl only release of an ultra dreamy collaboration between Swedish daydream instrumentalists Tape and the seemingly always collaborating Bill Wells, who has worked with a long list of bands we love including, The Pastels, Isobel Campbell, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and loads more. The meeting of worlds between Tape and Wells is so perfect. Tape have long mastered the ability to create such lush and varied sounds yet maintain a lovely level of understatement. Wells does such a nice job of keeping his piano, Fender Rhodes and melodica as restrained as possible, perfectly blending with the gorgeous dreamlike accompaniment. The four songs on Fugue unravel with such sparse yet evocative and moving energy. Tapping into such longing feelings of melancholy and memory. Like some of our favorite classic Eno/Budd collaborations this is beyond perfect for those chilly mornings or rainy nights when all you want to do is stay inside and drift away into some sonic warmth. So nice!

TAPES 'N TAPES The Loon (Ibid Records) cd 14.98
In the last month or so we've been bombarded with folks walking in the store with one question at the tip of their tounges: "Do you have Tapes 'N Tapes?" Unfortunately the buzz has meant it was kinda tough to get copies of this in stock. The excitement and buzz around this band rivals past years' anticipation for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Broken Social Scene. Due to some big exposure on Myspace and a performance at the 2006 SXSW that got everyone talking. We're not averse to turning frowns upside down so now we finally have this in stock and those of you who've been craving this can get your fix. What you'll be fixing on is some off kilter catchy guitar rock with vocals that got us thinking lots about Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Think: the all out rocking moments of Bright Eyes, deep admiration for The Pixies and Modest Mouse and you can get a rough idea of what Tapes 'N Tapes is all about. Maybe not the most original new band to hit the scene but for sure they can get your head bouncing and your foot tapping. Ain't nothing wrong with that.
MPEG Stream: "Just Drums"
MPEG Stream: "Jakov's Suite"

TAPES 'N TAPES Walk It Off (XL) cd 13.98

TAPES 'N TAPES Walk It Off (XL) 2lp 15.98

TAPIMAN s/t (Guerssen Records) cd 21.00
First things first: yes, this album IS every bit as cool as the cover looks, the cover being a photo of a pink skull! There's no relation to Glenn Donaldson's Pink Skulls cd-r label, of course, these guys thought of it first, way back in 1971!
So yeah, here's another vintage '71 gem for all of you into hard progressive bluesy psych rockin' action. Last list we had Japan's Strawberry Path, this time around, from the fertile underground of Franco's Spain, we've got the power trio Tapiman, which features the burning electric guitar heroics of one Max Sunyer, later of Spanish jazz rock outfit Iceberg. He'll definitely make hard rock guitar fans happy, though -- Tapiman is riffy, heavy rock, full of psychedelic poppiness.
The main riff of storming opener "Wrong World" is sorta "Sunshine Of Your Love" mixed with "Lord Of This World", and the track is full of energetic, impressive guitar soloing and wild vocals. Some subsequent songs are more gentle and moody, though you're never far from some wailin', cranked-up amplifier worship on this disc. It's a groover, and a grower, too, from a classy band who knew what the heck they were doing. For all of you who dig the obscure '70s sounds of stuff like Blues Creation, Buffalo, Eduardo Bort, and other things along those lines we've recommended before...
Newly remastered for this reissue, with four bonus tracks and detailed liner notes in both English and Spanish.
MPEG Stream: "Jenny"
MPEG Stream: "Gosseberry Park"

TAPIO, JORMA & TERJE ISUNGSET Aihki (Ektro) cd 14.98
BACK IN STOCK! While the name Jorma Tapio may not be familiar to you, the name Terje Isungset sure as heck should. He's the man responsible for the Igloo record, a past record of the week, recorded entirely on instruments made from ice. We've been selling that like CRAZY, when all of a sudden we got an email from Jussi (Circle, Pharaoh Overlord, etc.) letting us know that his label Ektro was releasing a brand new record by Isungset, teamed up with some guy names Tapio. We were of course intrigued, but had no idea what to expect. And had we actually expected something, we probably never would have guessed how weird and wonderful this record would be. No ice instruments sad to say, but armed with flutes, bells, voices, kantele, percussion, Jew's harp and lots and lots of drums, these two whip up a super wild and wooly, ultra dense blast of what we can only describe as tribal forest folk free jazz. Or something like that.
Free jazz is probably the closest comparison, the first few tracks are dense psychedelic percussive freak outs, lots of splattery spastic free jazz drumming all over the place, deep bowed bass, steel string zings, and super creepy strangled and howled vocalizations. Everything sounds very primal and tribal, thick swaths of rhythmic throb underpinned by shimmering washes of cymbal sizzle and warbly mumbled melodies. Isungset proves to be a pretty bad ass drummer, whipping up some seriously wild squalls of spastic skitter, and octopoidal crash and bang. The vocals grunt and chant, sort of yodel, and hoot and holler, very festive and just a little nuts sounding. When the drums recede a bit, the band sort of wonders through some ancient forest, fluttering flutes, simple subtle percussion, distant drones. A bit reminiscent of Avarus or Anaksimandros for sure. The 20+ minute centerpiece, the track "Selainin Tuli / Sacred Fire" lets the duo spread way out, and lay out an expansive tribal soundscape, like the earlier 'free jazz' tracks but stripped way down. Hints of No Neck Blues Band and Sunburned Hand definitely surface now and then, the track eventually building to a howling shrieking psych drone freakout before settling back to almost complete silence. then a gentle lilting smudge of soft flutes and abstract clatter. That smeared clatter sort of drifts into the next two songs, disembodied scrapes and creaks, random bits of percussion, thick washes of low end thrum, quite dark an lovely.
The final track is a flittering flutescape, a spare landscape of woodwinds and distant shimmer, which is soon joined by a buzzing Jew's harp, and the harp and flutes get all tangled up into a strangely propulsive groove, some sort of skeletal prog laced with primal psych rock primitivism and festive Renn Faire revelry, like stumbling into some clearing in the woods and finding some strange open air market, with a very strange duo performing before a crowd of rapt onlookers. Weird, but pretty darn cool as well. Finnish music obsessives need this no matter what. Lovers of that modern free folk new weird America thing might just find that this pushes all their buttons, and REALLY REALLY open minded jazz heads might also want to give this a try.
Highly recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Seita"
MPEG Stream: "Nocturnal Wind From The Lake"
MPEG Stream: "Alone In Public"

TAR BABIES Face the Music / Respect Your Nightmares (Lexicon Devil) cd 14.98


MPEG Stream: "Be Humble"
MPEG Stream: "Punch"
MPEG Stream: "The Word"
MPEG Stream: "Native Son"

TAR PET The Artist Revealed Is Taralie Dawn (Eclipse) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Tar Pet is the solo project of Miss Taralie Dawn, who you might know as a member of the Spires That In The Sunset Rise, and Tar Pet does indeed sound quite a bit like her group proper. Old timey piano, recorded all scratchy in a wash of reverb like some dusty old 78, mournful flutes and damaged atonal guitar, creaking scraping steel strings, buzzing frets, and all sorts of hiss and static. A fuzzy blissful ambient dream world of fractured folk and bedroom recorded psychfolk nursery rhymes, with Dawn's creepy, almost spoken vocals, occasionally building to a Diamanda Galas like wail, but more often groaned and whispered, barely a croak. Truly haunting and intense. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

TARANTELLA Esqueletos (Alternative Tentacles) cd 14.98
From the same deep dark part of Colorado (umm... Denver!) that brought us the dark swampy dirge folk of the mighty Sixteen Horsepower, comes the mysterious and lovely Tarantella. Featuring an unlikely pedigree (Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Blood Axis) Tarantella, are equal parts Calexico's desert mariachi twang, 16HP's creepy Biblical swampfolk with a bit of bolero, a touch of tango and just a pinch of that Decemberists-y Victrorian shuffle. A dark and swoonsome swirl of mournful strings, shuffling rhythms, warm washed out guitars, plenty of twang and the torch song vocals of Kal Cahoone, who you might recognize from her contributions to the gorgeous Short Stories record, from 16HP side project Lilium, her vocals a raw mix of PJ Harvey swagger and Cat Power moody mumble. Here, her vocals are the focal point, rich and warm and dripping with emotion, occasionally singing in Spanish, a deep sultry croon, wrapping you in its deliriously dangerous embrace. Definitely for fans of Calexico, Howe Gelb, Friends Of Dean Martinez, 16 Horsepower, M. Ward, Cat Power, PJ Harvey and all that smolders and twangs.
MPEG Stream: "Esqueletos"
MPEG Stream: "A Chi Sa Dove Sara"

TARANTULA A.D. Book Of Sand (Kemado Records) cd 14.98
Not sure what it was exactly, but something kept us from checking these guys out before now. Ultimately it might have been the band's penchant for dressing up in period costumes for their record covers. Who knows. Whatever it was, we're sure kicking ourselves now, this record is a killer. And it sounds nothing like we would have imagined from the name and the album cover and the label. Yeah, we know, book, cover, book cover. We're sorry. We were wrong. We love this record. Penance? All we can do now is try to convince you all how great it is. And it is. Some impossible hybrid of classical chamber music, post rock and sludge metal. Sort of. Or if you can imagine the Rachels, or maybe Godspeed You Black Emperor in their practice space, and every few minutes when someone opens the door, the sound of Corrupted, who practice right across the hall and leave their door open all the time, comes rushing in. Big riffs battle keening strings, huge pummeling waves of downtuned guitar, segue into near pastoral stretches of moody meandering post rock, or occasional bits of moody psychedelic folks, with lilting vocals and gentle guitars, or long passages of classical guitar, or gorgeously abstract ambient interludes constructed from subtle vocals and Eastern tinged drones but they eventually always return to the RIFF, exploding in a frenzy of guitar versus string section, like a heavy metal Dirty 3 or Apocalyptica jamming with Boris, or... heck we don't know, it's just so perfectly schizophrenic, veering wildly from heaviness to melancholy moodiness and back again over and over and over. Epic and dreamy and heavy and darn near perfect. We love discovering new music, sort of why we do this, but there's definitely a special satisfaction and secret joy in realizing a band you thought sucked actually completely kills! Being wrong never felt so right!
MPEG Stream: "The Century Trilogy I: Conquest"
MPEG Stream: "Who Took Berlin (Part I)"

TARENTEL Big Black Square (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 9.98
Tarentel's 2004 album We Move Through Weather found the San Francisco's sonic journeymen balancing their penchant for moody atmospheres and a new found spirit of improvisation, which hurtled them somewhere near Jackie-O Motherfucker meets This Heat territory. In constructing that record, Tarentel had to sift through hours and hours of recordings in order to pare down to a mere 72 minutes. Well, they could have done a Supersilent or Necks and released a massive 3 or 4 cd set of material; but instead they chose to wait and release two EPs (which both clock in well above 30 minutes each) of material that was not included on the We Move Through Weather album.
The companion to Paper White, Big Black Square is a 43 minute sprawling epic recorded at the very end of the We Move Through Weather sessions. Opening with a lengthy passage of humid drones from amplifier buzz, aqueous flutterings, organ tones, and somnambulant field recordings, Big Black Square lumbers into action after some 20 minutes as drummer Jim Redd slowly transforms an indifferent textural clatter across his drum kit into a complex elliptical groove. Multi-instrumentalists Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Danny Grodinski flesh out the skeletal rhythms with a spindly duel between their two guitars crumpled through tons of effects both high and low tech, making for a beautiful, dark, and evocative EP.
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

TARENTEL Ephemera ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 13.98
Handy cd format for some heretofore vinyl-only outta sight outta print Tarentel cuts. While we still favor Tarentel's first proper full length From Bone To Satellite as their peak moment, this is still pretty, epic instrumental work, lots of arpeggiated chords, softly shimmering cymbals and sad sack melodies. Very very slow; sometimes a heady climax finishes off a piece, and sometimes we're left hanging midair, holding our breath, waiting for redemption... ahem.
Five tracks, one from the Temporary Residence lathe cut 10", two from Resonant's "Looking for Things Searching for Things" 12", and two tracks from Static Caravan's "Two Sides of Myself" 7".
RealAudio clip: "Searching for Things"

TARENTEL Fear Of Bridges (Three Lobed Recordings) cd ep 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
While strictly limited to the subscribers of the "Purposeful Availment" series, we have managed to get hold of a handful of this 6 song EP from the San Francisco ensemble Tarentel, which finds the group pushing even further away from the epic post / space rock that defined their "From Bone To Satellite" album. These days, Tarentel is far more content to build their barren, desert-like atmospheres out of those interwtining Slint-ish / Morricone guitar quotations, without ever having to crank up the volume. While their earlier incarnations of the quiet / LOUD dynamism mounted some furiously beautiful live shows, Tarentel's recent balancing act has been located between the traditional rock instrumentation of bass, guitars, and drums (although the drums haven't been of much use as of recent) and the Max/MSP digital tricks promoted by Fennesz, Stephan Mathieu, and Ekkehard Ehlers. "Fear Of Bridges" switches off with the spartan guitar interplay on one track and the laptop re-interpretations of Tarentel sounds into gossamer droning pieces spinning with digitally pointilistic details. If it's any indication where Tarentel is heading, guitarist Jefre Cantu has a couple of solo projects of his laptop work coming out soon and there's a Tarentel release on the electronica boutique label Bottrop-Boy also in the pipeline.
RealAudio clip: "2"
RealAudio clip: "5"

TARENTEL From Bone To Satellite ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 13.98
CD finally back in stock! The debut album from San Francisco's Tarentel is a majestic affair as multiple guitars churn through slow epic songs that build slow yet catchy melodies out of a deep space sonic miasma. Follow this with super-nova explosions of radioluminescent guitar / bass / drum crash that does very well to replicate the q...u...i...e...t L!!!O!!!U!!!D!!! dynamism of the likes of Mogwai via Morricone, or Godspeed You Black Emperor without the warm strings. Sure, Tarentel may in fact be wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves. But, unlike so many 'post-rock' bands who think you have to badly rip-off Tortoise to be artful, Tarentel's admission of their their influences is anything but detrimental. A solid, quite excellent album.

TARENTEL From Bone To Satellite ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The debut album from San Francisco's Tarentel is a majestic affair as multiple guitars churn through slow epic songs that build slow yet catchy melodies out of a deep space sonic miasma. Follow this with super-nova explosions of radioluminescent guitar / bass / drum crash that does very well to replicate the q...u...i...e...t L!!!O!!!U!!!D!!! dynamism of the likes of Mogwai or Godspeed You Black Emperor. Sure, Tarentel may in fact be wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves. But, unlike so many 'post-rock' bands who think you have to badly rip-off Tortoise to be artful, Tarentel's worship of their influences is anything but detrimental. A solid, quite excellent album. The vinyl has extra tracks not on the cd!!! (The cd which hopefully will be back in stock sometime later this week, after being re-pressed).

TARENTEL Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2cd 15.98
We listed the individual vinyl installments of Tarentel's Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun a while back (all now out of print so don't order!), each one a mind blowing blast of druggy, psychedelic free form rhythmic bliss out, and each one could well have been an AQ record of the week. But good thing we held off, cuz here we are a year or so later, and all four slabs of wax have been digitized and compiled as a massive double cd set, and needless to say, four -possible- records of the week, all piled on top of one another, can only mean one thing! Well, yeah, obviously, this absolutely had to be a record of the week. Quite possibly (and very probably) the best music we've heard from these guys, which is saying a lot considering how much we dig most everything Tarentel does...
When we first heard the title of Tarentel's 2cd (formerly FOUR lp) set, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun, we were pretty sure they were being ironic, or facetious, or something, and there would be no beats, ghetto or otherwise, to be found anywhere, just their usual gorgeously slow shifting epic postrock soundscapes. But actually, Ghetto Beats IS all about the beats, not sure if they're 'ghetto' or not, but they sure are dense and funky and weirdly rhythmic, from blissed out shuffling skitter to super propulsive krautrocky pound, these discs are definitely a whole new side of Tarentel. A much more raw and ragged, caustic and groove based beast. It almost sounds like Tarentel covering This Heat, or a krautrock No Neck Blues Band, or maybe even Tussle via This Heat with a bit of 23 Skidoo thrown in for good measure.
While the framework of most of these songs is some dense web of percussive clatter or some sort-of-funky drum jam, these gorgeously hypnotic skeletal rhythms are surrounded on all sides by thick swaths of crumbling ambience, disembodied guitar loops and rumbling bass, thick swells of warm whir and all sorts of other random dreamlike shimmer. Often building into seriously caustic squalls, big churning white hot sonic swirls, each wrapped around beats that seem on the edge of falling apart, or splintering into rhythmic fragments. Maybe that's the ghetto angle, the beats are super lo-fi, blown out, strangely recorded, so they sound sort of alien, with lots of strange FX and stuttering stumbling variations. So fucking awesome.
We originally reviewed Ghetto Beats one lp at a time, and while they do work perfectly as one epic cohesive chunk of sound, they still sort of play out like the separate movements they started out as...
The first movement (lp #1) is six tracks, a little over a half an hour, a dense assemblage of abstract rhythms and brooding, swirling psychedelia, heavy on the This Heat worship, beats stretched out over huge expanses of industrial whir and jagged angular guitars, very loping and hypnotic, brooding and drone-y, mysterious tribal rituals stretched out into epic spaced out, abstract rhythmic jams.
Part two (lp #2) is 4 tracks, 40 minutes, two epic jams, both 16+ minutes, separated by two shorter tracks. The opener starts with an endlessly hypnotic, near metal drum jam, over which guitars and sound makers creak and keen, a crystalline web of high end sonics over a swirling tribal rhythm. It could seemingly go on forever, and it sort of does, but near the end it dissipates into a dark spacious soundscape of distant clatter and thick rumbling buzz. After a one minute rhythmic experiment, all freaked out psych rock effects and super distorted drum sputter, the second lengthy jam kicks in, and it's definitely the most mellow and blissed out track so far, some muted free jazz skitter, over a slow burning expanse of chiming guitars and smears of abstract melody all stretched into a near static glacial groove. So nice. As if that weren't enough, the last 5 minutes is some of that fuzzy crumbling blurry ambience we can never seem to get enough of. Soft focus and indistinct, shimmering guitars wrapped in thick crumbling guitars and a glistening sonic glow, like Tim Hecker, Fennesz, and that sort of thing, a gorgeous late night coda of dreamy drone-y bliss.
For part three (originally the third lp), the group start out by moving even further out into space (rock) on the ten minute "Stellar Envelope", blown out crumbling sheets of distorted psych guitar and dizzying FX wrapped around propulsive tribal beats, feedback everywhere, it almost sounds like Hawkwind with all the structure sucked out, leaving a huge swirling mass of psychedelic tribal ambience, while managing to still rock somehow. The rest of volume three area gorgeously obfuscated drift through a sonic landscape at once rough and lo-fi and blissfully lush, strange industrial clatter and clang is muted and smeared into mumbly ambience, guitars are looped into hypnotic stretches of throbbing drone, bits of dreamlike melody, simple spacious piano, are wreathed in fuzz and warped into gorgeous slabs of pop ambient fuzz, the whole thing is surprisingly tranquil and shimmery, especially after that opening salvo, and the dense rhythmic intensity of the first two movements, but within the context of Tarentel's seriously epic Ghetto Beat symphony, it couldn't sound more perfect.
The final movement (the 4th and last lp in the series) offers up Ghetto Beats' heaviest moment in the form of "Somebody Fucks With Everybody", a sidelong doom dirge blow out, referencing everyone from SUNNO))) to Growing to Nadja, a thick glacial swirl of downtuned guitars, wreathed in effulgent streaks of damaged outerspace FX and psychrock solar flares, all underpinned by Neurosis style tribal rhythms, constantly sounding as if any second the song will kick into the heaviest riff of all time, but instead, it stretches on and on, building and building, some sort of cosmic lo-fi krautrock ambience, massive and heavy, but strangely dreamy and blissful.
The rest of Ghetto Beats pretty much eschews the titular beats entirely, instead offering up several brief ambient drifts, the far away foresty folk hovering above slow moving slabs of glacial low end of "Where Time Forgot", the ultra brief scrape and shuffle of "Isalais Delay", the murky disembodied post rock of "You Do This. I'll Do That", a strange landscape of fuzzy melodies and indistinct song fragments, all woven into some sort of soft focus fever dream, and finally, "Lake Light", a two minute outro, the glorious final flurry of sound in this epic sonic travelogue spread out over 2cds, a gorgeously hopeful, sparkling glistening drift of shimmery harmonics, and misty minor key flutter...
Like we mentioned before, we've loved everything Tarentel has done in the past, but this is by far our favorite, and how could it not be after drifting dreamily through two plus glorious hours of Ghetto Beats, immersing ourselves in a dreamy, druggy, murky world of drifting space drones and propulsive beats, of fuzzed out shimmer and barely there ambience... So amazing!
Packaged in a super striking, full color, eight panel fold out sleeve, limited to 3000 copies, each with a numbered metallic sticker affixed to the front.
MPEG Stream: "Everybody Fucks With Somebody"
MPEG Stream: "All Things Vibrations"
MPEG Stream: "Sun Place"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmic Dust"

TARENTEL Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun Vol. 1 (The Music Fellowship) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When we first heard the title of this new Tarentel FOUR LP series, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun, we were pretty sure they were being ironic, or facetious, or something, and there would be no beats, ghetto or otherwise, to be found anywhere, just their usual gorgeously slow shifting epic postrock soundscapes. But actually, these lps ARE all about the beats, not sure if they're 'ghetto' or not, but they sure are dense and funky and weirdly rhythmic, from blissed out shuffling skitter to super propulsive krautrocky pound, these discs are definitely a whole new side of Tarentel. A much more raw and ragged, caustic and groove based beast. It almost sounds like Tarentel covering This Heat, or a krautrock No Neck Blues Band, or maybe even Tussle via This Heat with a bit of 23 Skidoo thrown in for good measure.
While the framework of each song is some dense web of percussive clatter or some sort-of-funky drum jam, these gorgeously hypnotic skeletal rhythms are surrounded on all sides by thick swaths of crumbling ambience, disembodied guitar loops and rumbling bass, thick swells of warm whir and all sorts of other random dreamlike shimmer. Often building into seriously caustic squalls, big churning white hot sonic swirls, each wrapped around beats that seem on the edge of falling apart, or splintering into rhythmic fragments. Maybe that's the ghetto angle, the beats are super lo-fi, blown out, strangely recorded, so they sound sort of alien, with lots of strange FX and stuttering stumbling variations. So fucking awesome.
Volume 1 is six tracks, a little over a half an hour, a dense assemblage of abstract rhythms and brooding, swirling psychedelia, heavy on the This Heat worship, beats stretched out over huge expanses of industrial whir and jagged angular guitars, very loping and hypnotic, brooding and drone-y, mysterious tribal rituals stretched out into epic spaced out, abstract rhythmic jams.
As much as we dig pretty much everything Tarentel does, Ghetto Beats is by far the best stuff we've ever heard from these guys. So fantastic!
MPEG Stream: "Everybody Fucks With Somebody"
MPEG Stream: "All Things Vibrations"

TARENTEL Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun Vol. 2 (The Music Fellowship) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When we first heard the title of this new Tarentel FOUR LP series, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun, we were pretty sure they were being ironic, or facetious, or something, and there would be no beats, ghetto or otherwise, to be found anywhere, just their usual gorgeously slow shifting epic postrock soundscapes. But actually, these lps ARE all about the beats, not sure if they're 'ghetto' or not, but they sure are dense and funky and weirdly rhythmic, from blissed out shuffling skitter to super propulsive krautrock pound, these discs are definitely a whole new side of Tarentel. A much more raw and ragged, caustic and groove based beast. It almost sounds like Tarentel covering This Heat, or a krautrock No Neck Blues Band, or maybe even Tussle via This Heat with a bit of 23 Skidoo thrown in for good measure.
While the framework of each song is some dense web of percussive clatter or some sort-of-funky drum jam, these gorgeously hypnotic skeletal rhythms are surrounded on all sides by thick swaths of crumbling ambience, disembodied guitar loops and rumbling bass, thick swells of warm whir and all sorts of other random dreamlike shimmer. Often building into seriously caustic squalls, big churning white hot sonic swirls, each wrapped around beats that seem on the edge of falling apart, or splintering into rhythmic fragments. Maybe that's the ghetto angle, the beats are super lo-fi, blown out, strangely recorded, so they sound sort of alien, with lots of strange FX and stuttering stumbling variations. So fucking awesome.
Volume 2 is 4 tracks, 40 minutes, two epic jams, both 16+ minutes, separated by two shorter tracks. The opener starts with an endlessly hypnotic, near metal drum jam, over which guitars and sound makers creak and keen, a crystalline web of high end sonics over a swirling tribal rhythm. It could seemingly go on forever, and it sort of does, but near the end it dissipates into a dark spacious soundscape of distant clatter and thick rumbling buzz. After a one minute rhythmic experiment, all freaked out psych rock effects and super distorted drum sputter, the second lengthy jam kicks in, and it's definitely the most mellow and blissed out track on the first two volumes, some muted free jazz skitter, over a slow burning expanse of chiming guitars and smears of abstract melody all stretched into a near static glacial groove. So nice. As if that weren't enough, the last 5 minutes is some of that fuzzy crumbling blurry ambience we can never seem to get enough of. Soft focus and indistinct, shimmering guitars wrapped in thick crumbling guitars and a glistening sonic glow, like Tim Hecker, Fennesz, and that sort of thing, a gorgeous late night coda of dreamy drone-y bliss.
As much as we dig pretty much everything Tarentel does, Ghetto Beats is by far the best stuff we've ever heard from these guys. So fantastic!
MPEG Stream: "Sun Place"
MPEG Stream: "Cosmic Dust"

TARENTEL Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun Vol. 3 (The Music Fellowship) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When we first heard the title of this new Tarentel FOUR LP series, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun, the first two of which we raved about a little while back (both of which we still have in stock, although there are only a handful of copies left!) we were pretty sure they were being ironic, or facetious, or something, and there would be no beats, ghetto or otherwise, to be found anywhere, just their usual gorgeously slow shifting epic postrock soundscapes. But actually, these lps ARE all about the beats, not sure if they're 'ghetto' or not, but they sure are dense and funky and weirdly rhythmic, from blissed out shuffling skitter to super propulsive krautrock pound, these discs are definitely a whole new side of Tarentel. A much more raw and ragged, caustic and groove based beast. It almost sounds like Tarentel covering This Heat, or a krautrock No Neck Blues Band, or maybe even Tussle via This Heat with a bit of 23 Skidoo thrown in for good measure.
While the framework of most of these songs is some dense web of percussive clatter or some sort-of-funky drum jam, these gorgeously hypnotic skeletal rhythms are surrounded on all sides by thick swaths of crumbling ambience, disembodied guitar loops and rumbling bass, thick swells of warm whir and all sorts of other random dreamlike shimmer. Often building into seriously caustic squalls, big churning white hot sonic swirls, each wrapped around beats that seem on the edge of falling apart, or splintering into rhythmic fragments. Maybe that's the ghetto angle, the beats are super lo-fi, blown out, strangely recorded, so they sound sort of alien, with lots of strange FX and stuttering stumbling variations. So fucking awesome.
On volume three, the group start out by moving even further out into space (rock) on the ten minute "Stellar Envelope", blown out crumbling sheets of distorted psych guitar and dizzying FX wrapped around propulsive tribal beats, feedback everywhere, it almost sounds like Hawkwind with all the structure sucked out, leaving a huge swirling mass of psychedelic tribal ambience, while managing to still rock somehow. The rest of volume three area gorgeously obfuscated drift through a sonic landscape at once rough and lo-fi and blissfully lush, strange industrial clatter and clang is muted and smeared into mumbly ambience, guitars are looped into hypnotic stretches of throbbing drone, bits of dreamlike melody, simple spacious piano, are wreathed in fuzz and warped into gorgeous slabs of pop ambient fuzz, the whole thing is surprisingly tranquil and shimmery, especially after that opening salvo, and the dense rhythmic intensity of the first two volumes, but within the context of Tarentel's epic 4 part Ghetto Beat symphony, it couldn't sound more perfect.
As much as we love pretty much everything Tarentel does, volume three of Ghetto Beats only further convinces us that this is by far the best stuff we've ever heard from these guys. So fantastic!

TARENTEL Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun Vol. 4 (The Music Fellowship) lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
When we first heard the title of this new Tarentel FOUR LP series, Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun, the first two of which we raved about a little while back (both of which we still have in stock, although there are only a handful of copies left!) we were pretty sure they were being ironic, or facetious, or something, and there would be no beats, ghetto or otherwise, to be found anywhere, just their usual gorgeously slow shifting epic postrock soundscapes. But actually, these lps ARE all about the beats, not sure if they're 'ghetto' or not, but they sure are dense and funky and weirdly rhythmic, from blissed out shuffling skitter to super propulsive krautrock pound, these discs are definitely a whole new side of Tarentel. A much more raw and ragged, caustic and groove based beast. It almost sounds like Tarentel covering This Heat, or a krautrock No Neck Blues Band, or maybe even Tussle via This Heat with a bit of 23 Skidoo thrown in for good measure.
While the framework of most of the tracks is some dense web of percussive clatter or some sort-of-funky drum jam, these gorgeously hypnotic skeletal rhythms are surrounded on all sides by thick swaths of crumbling ambience, disembodied guitar loops and rumbling bass, thick swells of warm whir and all sorts of other random dreamlike shimmer. Often building into seriously caustic squalls, big churning white hot sonic swirls, each wrapped around beats that seem on the edge of falling apart, or splintering into rhythmic fragments. Maybe that's the ghetto angle, the beats are super lo-fi, blown out, strangely recorded, so they sound sort of alien, with lots of strange FX and stuttering stumbling variations. So fucking awesome.
The final volume in the series, offers up Ghetto Beats' heaviest moment in the form of "Somebody Fucks With Everybody", a sidelong doom dirge blow out, referencing everyone from SUNNO))) to Growing to Nadja, a thick glacial swirl of downtuned guitars, wreathed in effulgent streaks of damaged outerspace FX and psychrock solar flares, all underpinned by Neurosis style tribal rhythms, constantly sounding as if any second the song will kick into the heaviest riff of all time, but instead, it stretches on and on, building and building, some sort of cosmic lo-fi krautrock ambience, massive and heavy, but strangely dreamy and blissful.
The second side pretty much eschews the titular beats entirely, instead offering up several brief ambient drifts, the far away foresty folk hovering above slow moving slabs of glacial low end of "Where Time Forgot", the ultra brief scrape and shuffle of "Isalais Delay", the murky disembodied post rock of "You Do This. I'll Do That", a strange landscape of fuzzy melodies and indistinct song fragments, all woven into some sort of soft focus fever dream, and finally, "Lake Light", a two minute outro, the glorious final flurry of sound in this epic sonic travelogue spread out over 4 lps, a gorgeously hopeful, sparkling glistening drift of shimmery harmonics, and misty minor key flutter. So lovely.
We've loved everything Tarentel has done in the past, but this is by far our favorite, and how could it not be after drifting dreamily through all 8 sides of Ghetto Beats, immersing ourselves in a gloriously murky world of drifting space drones and propulsive beats, of fuzzed out shimmer and barely there ambience... So amazing!

TARENTEL Ghost Weight (Acuarela) cd 10.98
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Tarentel have been on a madly prolific run, both as a group and individually -- particularly AQ pal Jef Cantu whom you can also hear in The Alps and as J.C. Ledesma. Following up the companion EPs Paper White and Big Black Square from earlier this year is another beautiful release from those dear fellows, and it's on the Acuarela label from Madrid, Spain. Barely there shifting layers of haze and shimmer punctuated by spartan plucked strings and strums. Ultra delicate and airy.
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Weight"
MPEG Stream: "Holy Throbs Of Silence"

TARENTEL Home Ruckus (Root Strata) lp 14.98
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ULTRA LIMITED, HAND SILKSCREENED lp from local post-drone-rock outift Tarentel. We've had the sonic good fortune of listening to Tarentel develop over the years from a Tortoise like post-rock ensemble to a truly risk taking experimental group, who wield a deft hand with catchy melodies and clever, complex song writing, but never shy away from taking big chances, experimenting with sound and sounds, leaning lately much more toward the abstract soundscape end of the spectrum, which of course we can't get enough of. From the opening track, a downright dreamy expanse of gentle piano, warm whooshing woodwinds and delicate acoustic guitars to the much darker and abrasive second track, a super distorted rumbling dronescape, swirling and churning around a shuffling jazzy rhythm and some creaking machine like melodies. The remaining seven tracks are a mix of the two, stretched out, blissed out smears of twinkling synths, and fluttery minimal percussion, all occasionally disrupted by big fuzzy spurts of distorted rumble and sunspot like flashes of digital glitchery. So gorgeous. And again, VERY LIMITED. Beautiful hand screened sleeves, strictly limited to 500 copies, not sure how many we'll be able to get!
MPEG Stream: "One "
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

TARENTEL Home Ruckus (Type) 7" 4.00
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**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Latest in the super limited Type Records 7" series, that in the past has featured Goldmund, Benoit Piolard, Machinefabriek and Paavoharju, so it's really no surprise that they would invite Tarentel to participate. And their contribution is as good as any of the others if not better.
Continuing on with their 'new', more organic tripped out and rhythmic sound we found so appealing on the recent Ghetto Beats On The Surface Of The Sun series of lps, the A side finds the band blissfully abstract, a sun baked late afternoon, instrumental sprawl, little bits of percussion, melodic fragments, guitar lines drifting in and out, brief flares of distorted psychfuzz, little slivers of industrial hiss and whir, the whole thing very warm and dreamlike, tranquil, but still super active under the surface.
The B side begins in a similar fashion, but quickly ramps up the sound to decidedly un-tranquil levels, unfurling drawn out streaks of shimmery upper register guitardrone and little flurries of rhythmic skitter, the whole thing sort of moaning and majestic, a bit reminiscent of Matthew Bower's Sunroof!. Really nice.

TARENTEL Live Edits Italy / Switzerland (Digitalis) cd 12.98
It's been over a year since we've heard from Tarentel. Not since their Ghetto Beats release in 2007. Since then the various members have been doing their own things, recording solo records, playing in other bands, running labels, and while this is not an actual new record it will go a long way to tiding us over until the next proper Tarentel release.
Live Edits, as the title suggests, are various recordings from their 2005 European tour, short excerpts and edits from looooong live performances. The first thing you notice, in one of the Switzerland shows, which was hinted at on Ghetto Beats, is how much more rhythmic they can get live, the drums seem to be THE driving force. Offering up dense flurries of tribal rhythms, pounding out mysterious rituals, while the rest of the band contribute sounds and textures in the background, high pitched sine waves, sheets of feedback, processed guitar scrabble, whirring drones, very abstract and tripped out. But at another show in a different Swiss city, the drums are ditched completely, or if they are present, they are processed into another layer of buzzing drone, to pile atop the already intense wall of sound being conjured up, lots of rumble and hiss, a deep mysterious pulse buried beneath, which eventually builds to something much more blissy and melodic, guitars ringing out, chiming, woven into an ethereal shimmer.
Back at the first Swiss show, the group create a mysterious soundscape of creaking machinery, haunting loops, and heavily effected guitars, left to drift through a super abstract dubby drift.
In Italy, Tarentel offer up yet more minimalism, guitars scrape and groan, creating a rough smear of textured hum, over a distant soft focus shimmer, before letting the guitars growl and buzz, building to a thick throbbing swirl.
The above were just the longer tracks, those are actually separated by brief snippets of various performances, from awesomely chaotic glitched out synthscapery, to deep FX drenched dark ambience, to creepy expanses of low end sprawl and whirring blackened rumbles, all of the tracks, are deftly placed to create the flow of a proper record, the various performances, and the varied sounds, smeared and blurred into one stretched out abstract freeform whole.
Packaged in a cool 2 color silkscreened cardstock sleeve, and LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!
MPEG Stream: "Geneva, Switzerland"
MPEG Stream: "Bern, Switzerland"
MPEG Stream: "Perugia, Italy"

TARENTEL Live Edits: Natoma (Root Strata) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local ambient drone rockers Tarentel have kept a pretty low profile as of late. Jefre Cantu has focused on his solo recordings as well as running the amazing Root Strata label, while the other members have had their fingers in all sorts of Bay Area exploits. But it seems like maybe Tarentel is starting to gain momentum again, a recent tour with Pelican, a flurry of upcoming releases as well as this here live cd (a cd, NOT a cd-r, although still limited to 500 copies). Recorded last year, this 40 minute set displays some new facets of Tarentel's sound. The opening track is a dense collage of aggressively strummed acoustic guitar amidst swirls of feedback, guitar grit and what sounds like chantlike vocals. A thick cloud of tribal skree that sounds like it could be some lost NNCK track or a Sunburned Hand jam. The next track, the disc's 15 minute long centerpiece, is a murky drift of abstract percussion, haunting horns, muted melodies all in a cloud of room sound and natural reverb. Pretty and space-y and dreamily delicate. The last two tracks, each about nine minutes, find Tarentel dabbling again in New Weird America, albeit offering their own slant. Random percussion, shakers and bells, moaning horns and bits of clatter and clank, cloudy ambience, a muted scrape and scrabble, adding a drone like background texture, peals of feedback drift through a whirring sheet of amp hum and staticky FX, whistles send squiggly little melodies fluttering into the ether, the whole thing a deliriously laidback jam, free and unmoored, a deliriously druggy drift. So nice.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!! Packaged in beautiful brown and metallic silver hand screened cardstock sleeves, with a photocopied insert.
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

TARENTEL Looking for Things Searching for Things (Resonant) 12" 10.98
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Two extra long songs of majestic instrumental post rock from local favorites Tarentel, who have been getting well-deserved attention from all over the world. This single is limited to 500 copies and comes from Resonant, house label of the Chunky Records shop in the West Midlands of the UK. Tarentel specialize in long emotional tracks composed of delicately strung together sections, each one a miniaturized soundscape of its own. Deep. Buy now or cry later! Orange vinyl if you're quick, black vinyl otherwise.

TARENTEL Mort Aux Vaches (Staalplaat) cd 15.98
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Newest in the Mort Aux Vaches series of live performances, here are four pieces from local boys Tarentel, in their best lineup -- when Trevor Montgomery and Jeff Rosenberg were still in the band -- during Holland's 1998 VPRO festival. If you've never heard Tarentel before then this is a fine way to start. And if you're already familiar with their incredibly warm, lulling, yet tension-building and climactic post-rock instrumentals, then know that there's one track here is a song never before recorded. Nice. Limited to 1000 numbered copies.

RealAudio clip: "When No One's Listening"

TARENTEL Paper White (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 9.98
Tarentel's 2004 album We Move Through Weather found the San Francisco's sonic journeymen balancing their penchant for moody atmospheres and a new found spirit of improvisation, which hurtled them somewhere near Jackie-O Motherfucker meets This Heat territory. In constructing that record, Tarentel had to sift through hours and hours of recordings in order to pare down to a mere 72 minutes. Well, they could have done the Supersilent or Necks thing of releasing a massive 3 or 4 cd set of material; but instead they chose to wait and publish two EPs (which both clock in well above 30 minutes each) of material that was not included on the We Move Through Weather album.
Paper White is the four-song companion EP to the drone-rock epic EP Big Black Square. Strangulated post-Joy Division guitar chords jaggedly alternate with atonal Gastr Del Sol stabs of repeating clunky guitar melodies on top of the atypical marching percussion supplied by drummer Jim Redd. Tarentel fleshes out their skeletal sound with a subtle use of live Max-MSP patches and more conventional guitar pedals that actively transform their sounds into a aural kaleidoscope with muted colors and blue-gray hues. In comparison to Big Black Square, this could be constued as the "pop" side of Tarentel; but even so, this is a pretty avant-garde mutation of what pop music could be.
MPEG Stream: "Isalais Straight"
MPEG Stream: "Paper White"

TARENTEL s/t ( Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 6.98
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An impressive debut from this delicate spacy local group that is very reminiscent of Low and the good stuff from Kranky. A hidden bonus track features a great electronica reworking by Arrow.

TARENTEL The Order of Things (Neurot) cd 14.98
AQ has previously praised the post-rock instrumental drama of popular local kids Tarentel. Certainly fans of Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and the like have found Tarentel quite enjoyable as well. Nearly two years after their stunning debut album, From Bone To Satellite, the band is back with The Order of Things, released on Neurosis' label Neurot. In addition to the traditional guitar/bass/drums Tarentel sound, all expressed in minor key melancholy chord progressions, there's some new elements incorporated -- string sections, horns, accordion, field recordings and even some sad, beautiful bell-clear folk vocals courtesy of Wendy from Court & Spark (in an epic rendition of 'Ghosty Head' by Rickie Lee Jones). Fair warning to all of you fans of bombastic, epic rock: there are no Mogwai-esque explosions on here. As a matter of fact there are only about 5 minutes worth of drums on the whole album. And some unfortunate funky bass. And a lot of waiting for something to happen. This record is not nearly as conventional as their debut, and reflects the band's recent leanings towards more experimental, less predictable song structures, which is a good thing when executed well, and I'm not quite sure what's happening here but I think The Order of Things is a transition piece for Tarentel, from the crowd pleasing song structures of their debut to a more truly experimental future.
RealAudio clip: "Adonai"
RealAudio clip: "Ghosty Head"

TARENTEL The Order of Things (Neurot) 2lp 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on LP... AQ has previously praised the post-rock instrumental drama of popular local kids Tarentel. Certainly fans of Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, and the like have found Tarentel quite enjoyable as well. Nearly two years after their stunning debut album, From Bone To Satellite, the band is back with The Order of Things, released on Neurosis' label Neurot. In addition to the traditional guitar/bass/drums Tarentel sound, all expressed in minor key melancholy chord progressions, there's some new elements incorporated -- string sections, horns, accordion, field recordings and even some sad, beautiful bell-clear folk vocals courtesy of Wendy from Court & Spark (in an epic rendition of 'Ghosty Head' by Rickie Lee Jones). Fair warning to all of you fans of bombastic, epic rock: there are no Mogwai-esque explosions on here. As a matter of fact there are only about 5 minutes worth of drums on the whole album. And some unfortunate funky bass. And a lot of waiting for something to happen. This record is not nearly as conventional as their debut, and reflects the band's recent leanings towards more experimental, less predictable song structures, which is a good thing when executed well, and I'm not quite sure what's happening here but I think The Order of Things is a transition piece for Tarentel, from the crowd pleasing song structures of their debut to a more truly experimental future.
RealAudio clip: "Adonai"
RealAudio clip: "Ghosty Head"

TARENTEL Two Sides of Myself (Static Caravan) 7" 5.98
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Rare UK import limited to 500 copies, and we have only a few left. Local spacerock group that's been compared to everyone from Ennio Morricone to Mogwai. Emotional, stretched out music that makes you wait for the climaxes.

TARENTEL We Move Through Weather (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 14.98
Very little has remained constant with San Francisco's Tarentel over their seven year existence. Revolving around two core members Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Danny Grodinski, the band has shifted from their original beginnings as a slowcore, post-rock trio to an explosive radioluminescent on their debut album From Bone To Satellite to the art rock experiments with absence on The Order Of Things. We Move Through Weather marks yet another transition for Tarentel, but perhaps what is remarkably diffferent about this album is that its inspirations are far more difficult to discern. All of the previous Tarentel albums wore their influences on their sleeves: Winsdor For The Derby, Mogwai, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Radiohead, Fennesz, Stephan Mathieu, etc. Here on We Move Through Weather, the spirit of This Heat is the only thing that's recognizable. Even so, Tarentel doesn't really sound like This Heat but they share a similar lust for adventurous and risky music. Sonna's Jim Redd has been moonlighting with Tarentel for sometime on the drums, bringing vertiginous, stumbling percussive patterns that are somewhat like Charles Hayward or Jaki Leibezeit. Around Redd's centering rhythms, Grodinski and Cantu-Ledesma fill the space with a sort of humid Bark Psychosis abstraction with sad sack piano melodies, haunting tape flutterings, and twin guitar drones. After so many years of reinvention, Tarentel have finally come out the shadow of mimesis and produced an emphatic album that is uniquely their own. Well done, boys!
MPEG Stream: "Hello! We Move Through Weather"
MPEG Stream: "Get Away From Me You Clouds Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "A Cloud No Bigger Than a Man's Hand"

TARENTEL We Move Through Weather (Temporary Residence Ltd.) 2lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Very little has remained constant with San Francisco's Tarentel over their seven year existance. Revolving around two core members Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Danny Grodinski, the band has shifted from their original beginnings as a slowcore, post-rock trio on their debut album From Bone To Satellite to explosive radioluminescent art rock experimentalists on The Order Of Things. We Move Through Weather marks yet another transition for Tarentel, but perhaps what is remarkably diffferent about this album is that its sonic predecessors are far more difficult to discern. All of the previous Tarentel albums wore their influences on their sleeves: Winsdor For The Derby, Mogwai, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Radiohead, Fennesz, Stephan Mathieu, etc. Here on We Move Through Weather, the spirit of This Heat is the only thing that's immediately recognizable; but even so, Tarentel doesn't really sound like This Heat although they do share a similar lust for adventurous and risky music. Sonna's Jim Redd has been moonlighting with Tarentel for sometime on the drums, bringing vertiginous, stumbling percussive patterns that are somewhat like Charles Hayward or Jaki Leibezeit. Around Redd's centering rhythms, Grodinski and Cantu-Ledesma fill the space with a sort of humid Bark Psychosis abstraction with sad sack piano melodies, haunting tape flutterings, and twin guitar drones. After so many years of reinvention, Tarentel have finally come out the shadow of mimesis and produced an emphatic album that is uniquely their own. Well done, boys!
MPEG Stream: "Hello! We Move Through Weather"
MPEG Stream: "Get Away From Me You Clouds Of Doom"
MPEG Stream: "A Cloud No Bigger Than a Man's Hand"

TARENTEL You Can't Hide Your Love Forever Vol. 3 (Geographic North) 7" 6.98
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The third in a new series of 7" singles from some very familiar names. Elsewhere on this list you'll find the first two volumes, one from local boys Tussle and the other from A sunny Day In Glasgow, and now this one, number three, comes from another bunch of local boys, Tarentel, who have been a bit quiet as of late, the various members pursuing their various solo projects, leaving us to enjoy little bits of Tarentel here and there, archival recordings mostly, as we wait patiently for a new full length.
We recently reviewed Tarentel's Live Edits disc on Digitalis, a collection of, well, live edits from various performances, and one of the things we noticed was how rhythmic and almost heavy some of the performances were. The A side, here, or the North side, in keeping with the series theme, sounds like it could have come from the same performance, very drum heavy, a loping groove that sounds almost looped, as the drums are subtly effected and all around them swirl bits of feedback and blurred noise, very krautrocky, with that noisy backdrop surprisingly caustic at points, but just as often smoothed out into buzzing snarling dronescapes, still littered with jagged shards of feedback, and still hovering over that relentless rhythm.
Turning South (to the B side) we find the band ditching the drums completely, for a brooding soundtracky drift, spidery abstract guitars, warm whirring buzz, lush smears of hazy ambience, subtle effects and mysterious rumblings, all woven into the theme music for some late night rainy day wander through some crumbling city, culminating in a haunting bit of cacophony, a corrosive blackened drone, that plays out to the very end of the side before suddenly blinking out.
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES! Super simple, striking covers, mint green vinyl!

TARENTEL & PAUL CLIPSON Over Water (Root Strata) dvd-r 12.98
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Yet another collaboration between local filmmaker Paul Clipson, and musician and Root Strata co-head honcho J.C. Ledesma (although the first three of the previous collaborations were with Ledesma solo, so technically this is the first one with the whole band) and it's another fantastic feast for the eyes and the ears.
Clipson is a master of Super 8, his films more about light and shadow than the particular images, street lights, lit buildings, reflections of the moon or the sun on bodies of water, all become streaks and blurs, trains racing by, escalators, street signs, are examined close up and become textures, moving designs, Clipson often layers image upon image creating lush tapestries of dense visuals, sometimes high contrast, sometimes colorful and saturated, here, the first film is a nighttime cityscape, but rendered city-less in Clipson's able camera, instead a series of shapes and lights and textures, visuals that play like a score to some late night symphony, Tarentel offer up an equally busy sonic backdrop, mostly percussion, a tribal wash of toms and the occasional flurry of snare, shrouded by soft distant shimmers, looped guitars, also blurred and smeared, all very abstract and ethereal, a perfect match for the visuals.
The second film, Over Water, begins with shots of rivers reflecting the sunlight, photographed from a plane, clouds, edged by sunlight, a constantly shimmering slideshow of water in its various forms, already gorgeously abstract, with no help from Clipson, although he edits them and occasionally superimposes to create even more abstract impressions of water, the music this time around is equally hushed, no drums, just shimmery guitars, distant loops, lots of textural buzz, and warm barely there whirs, super delicate and dark. Finally, Tuolumne finishes off the program, the visuals impressionistic, close ups of what seems to be leaves and water, slow moving streams filmed with bubbles and a strange white scum that makes gorgeous patterns as it floats atop the nearly black water, branches offer a high contrast foreground, Tarentel counter with the most active of their scores, a muted insectoid buzz, drifting atop a deep thick smoldering thrum, which builds to a gorgeous almost metallic crescendo.
Gorgeous packaging too, sort of mimicking Clipson's films, light dappled vellum, yellow on a warm brownish backdrop, that folds over and into itself, a small Xeroxed insert inside, and like the first three installments, LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!

TARENTEL / LILIENTHAL split (Awkward Silence) 7" 4.98
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Tarentel "Sets And Rises". Lilienthal "Rises And Sets".
Two new songs exclusive to this release, limited to 500 copies. Tarentel, you may already know, play majestic instrumental post rock. Lilienthal, the electronic solo project from New Yorker Arrow Kleeman, are similar in prettiness and mood to Boards of Canada.

TARKIO Omnibus (Kill Rock Stars) 2cd 16.98
Decemberists alert! This was Colin Meloy's band before the Decemberists that not many people got to hear. Maybe if you were really on top of the Montana indie-rock scene of the late '90s you have one of their releases that were limited to a couple hundred copies. But if you are like us, maybe you missed the boat on them the first time around, but thanks to the popularity of his current band the all out of print recordings of Tarkio have been unearthed on this two-cd set. There is no mistaking Meloy's voice and lyrical stylings with Tarkio but with a more Midwestern/salt-of-the-earth, less Victorian and dramatic delivery. In fact this reminds us so much of early and mid-era R.E.M. which ain't a bad thing at all. And his Robyn Hitchcock-like delivery was in full effect as well. Had they been on a label like Merge, Alias, or Matador they would have been staples of college radio but their location and lack of distro kept them pretty much a Missoula secret. A must have for Decemberists enthusiasts!
MPEG Stream: "Keeping Me Awake"
MPEG Stream: "Save Yourself"

TARKUS s/t (Repsychled) cd 15.98
BACK IN STOCK!
What's this? Maybe the cover, all-black but for the name Tarkus, caught your eye? Holy grail time here, people. We've been wanting to get this album on cd FOREVER. There was a hard-to-find LP reissue some years ago, but we'd never yet found a cd version -- until now, at last, and it's a totally legit one from the master tapes! Released (barely, in an edition of just, like, 50 copies) in Tarkus' native Peru back in 1972, this is an album to go down in the annals of heavy rock, proudly belonging to the pantheon of proggy proto-metal!!! We'd definitely rank this with favorites of ours in that truly cult realm, other early '70s stuff like Necronomicon and Night Sun and Eduardo Bort and Steamhammer's Speech!
It may be that they're named after the ELP's 1971 album Tarkus (you know, the one with that freaky armadillo/tank on the cover), but they don't sound much like ELP in any event. While progressive rock is part of their sound, this Tarkus come across more like a bizarro hybrid of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and some of the more out-there and baroque Italian prog outfits of the era, rather than ELP. It's music that's dark and doomy and powerful and psychedelically dosed, sometimes with really weird operatic vocals -- and always with about a zillion cool, heavy guitar riffs. It's meant to be played LOUD. Shouldn't be hard to comply!
With some very pretty melodies and acoustic moments, Tarkus somehow seem like a '60s garage psych act (which they previously were, Tarkus being formed by members of Peruvian psych-pop group Telegraph Ave.) in possession of a crystal ball that enabled them to gaze into the future to be anachronistically inspired by Black Sabbath's Sabotage album, which was released three years later in 1975 (we'll have to assume that crystal ball had a place to plug in earphones).
This previously came packaged in a gatefold, miniature LP styled sleeve, but now it's in a jewel case, with cd booklet including liner notes in both Spanish and English, which make mention of the band dressing like monks when they made one of their rare live appearances.
And by the way, we'd somehow suspect that Portland's Danava have heard this record. If not, they should -- we think they'd like it! And we think you will too, if any of the above raving and referencing strikes a chord!
MPEG Stream: "El Pirata"
MPEG Stream: "Team Para Lilus"

TARTUFI Nests Of Waves And Wire (Southern) cd 11.98
This dynamic Bay Area duo continue onwards and upwards into the stratosphere of terrific music making with their latest release, Nests Of Waves And Wire. After 2006's Us Upon Buildings Upon Us left our ears wonderfully tangled in its wild mathiness and quick twists, we still have to admit we're a bit happy to hear Tartufi bringing back some of their earlier poppiness. This is really really good! Just as ambitious as its predecessor and perhaps even more fully realized. Lynne Angel and Brian Gorman really let their creative juices flow. Each of the seven tracks are impressively multilayered and detailed musical journeys incorporating elements of prog, post-rock, psych (yup, all the good stuff!) - particularly the almost thirteen minute long awesome third track "Engineering" and the final "Hole Or Space". Most are feverishly propulsive and highly rhythmic with vocals chanted and howled in hypnotic cycles. That said, the fifth song "System Folds" does brings a bit of calm to the otherwise breathless proceedings! Recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Fear Of Tall Giraffes, Fear Of Some Birds"
MPEG Stream: "Engineering"

TARTUFI So We Are Alive (self-released) cd 12.98
Tartufi's second cd is simply burstin' with energy and confidence. We still stand by our previous comparison of this Bay Area band (which we made with regards to their six-song EP Westward Onward) to what you might imagine a collaboration between Jody Bleyle (Team Dresch, Hazel) and Rob Crow (Heavy Vegetable, Pinback) sounding like. Sounds pretty darn good to you, don't it? As well, some of their new songs are very much along similar lines as the recent Electrelane album Axes. Hope that doesn't sound like we're oversimplifying things. Really, we're just tryin' to say that Tartufi's music is packed with all the good stuff: a solid emotive pop core, infectious hooks, smartly crafted, challenging twists and strong female vocals. And they just keep gettin' better. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Distractions"
MPEG Stream: "Terremoto"

TARTUFI The Goodwill Of The Scar (Southern) lp 14.98

TARTUFI Trouble EP (Acuarela) cd ep 9.98
Bay Area indie pop trio Tartufi have reached across the ocean to release a four-song EP with the Spainish label Acuarela... and we're glad to hear the word is spreading on this terrific band. If you've dug their intelligent, well-crafted first two cds So We Are Alive and Westward Onward then this will surely be a welcome treat too. Pop tunes played primarily on the straight-forward instrumentation of guitar, bass and drums (okay, there's a little piano, synthesizer and xylophone too), but with lots of plot twists (melodic, rhythmic and tempo-wise) to keep things interestin' and movin' along at a spritely clip. Check 'em (all) out!
MPEG Stream: "Slow Man"
MPEG Stream: "Nurses"

TARTUFI Us Upon Buildings Upon Us (Thread) cd 14.98
Now that they're a duo instead of a trio, SF's Tartufi have shifted their focus away from punchy pop hooks and towards a more epic and expansive punk/prog/pop exploration. The news has created some division around here between those who totally thought their old incarnation was pretty darn great and let down somewhat by their new direction; and those who think their old sound was good but a tad derivative and find their new direction amazing, ambitious and refreshingly their own. Perhaps this division would have been better resolved with a new name for their new sound, but what's done is done. Singer and guitarist, Lynne Angel and drummer, Brian Gorman with the help from Tim Green (of The Fucking Champs) have crafted a mathy stew of beauty and noise with vocals that are at times both angelic and damning with turn-on-a-dime changes, majestic sweeps, soft interludes, and only a touch of over-indulgence. The acrobatics that Angel brings doubly to the guitar and her voice have to be seen live to be believed, where they seriously sound like a four piece with a choir. While their new sound to some of us is definitely less immediately engaging than their old sound and may take a little getting used to, we think there will be plenty of fans, love and support for their new shift in focus. Rock on!
MPEG Stream: "Mourning's Wake"
MPEG Stream: "Boat Of Armor"

TARTUFI Westward Onward (Thread Records) cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The introduction to new SF duo Tartufi comes in the form of this six song EP. From the get go, Westward Onward brings to mind the power pop smarts of bands such as Jody Bleyle's Hazel and Team Dresch or any one of Rob Crow's many incarnations (that is, if he were a she). Very energetic and emotive with lots of lilting vocal counter melodies. A little amusing side note: if you put this album's cover side by side with that of Adult.'s Anxiety Always, you get a complete picture of a car.
MPEG Stream: "Los Lomos"
MPEG Stream: "Why I Am Late"

TARWATER Dwellers On The Threshold (Mute) cd 16.98
Excellent album! Tarwater come out of a very fertile German electronica meets rock scene, one which has also sprouted To Rococo Rot and Kreidler, both big AQ faves. You want details? OK -- Tarwater is the duo of Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram. Ronald and brother Robert are in To Rococo Rot along with Stefan Schneider who is in Kreidler and who also lends his keyboard sound to Tarwater on a track here. Jestram has engineered a couple of To Rococo Rot's recordings.
This close proximity has resulted in a some amazingly beautiful records from all three of these groups, and as a whole they just keep bettering themselves for our delight. Dwellers On The Threshold is one of the very best of the bunch. Just gorgeous! About half instrumental, the album's vocal tracks feature Lippok's vocals which are a morose sort of talk / sing murmur that reminds me of Tindersticks. Several of the tracks feature bittersweet strings and the exact same lush plucked harp-sounding thing that made the last Kreidler record Eve Future so stunning. There's lots and lots of serenely picked guitar amongst the programmed beats that don't call too much attention to themselves; rather it's the melody and songwriting that stand out. And the whole thing runs on a consistently stately pace. And there's a Swans cover. Really well done. Highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of the Notwist, Fridge, Tindersticks, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler, etc. A big fave of Windy and Allan.
RealAudio clip: "1985"
RealAudio clip: "Be Late"
RealAudio clip: "Metal Flakes"

TARWATER Dwellers On The Threshold (Kitty-Yo) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Excellent album! Tarwater come out of a very fertile German electronica meets rock scene, one which has also sprouted To Rococo Rot and Kreidler, both big AQ faves. You want details? OK -- Tarwater is the duo of Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram. Ronald and brother Robert are in To Rococo Rot along with Stefan Schneider who is in Kreidler and who also lends his keyboard sound to Tarwater on a track here. Jestram has engineered a couple of To Rococo Rot's recordings.
This close proximity has resulted in a some amazingly beautiful records from all three of these groups, and as a whole they just keep bettering themselves for our delight. Dwellers On The Threshold is one of the very best of the bunch. Just gorgeous! About half instrumental, the album's vocal tracks feature Lippok's vocals which are a morose sort of talk / sing murmur that reminds me of Tindersticks. Several of the tracks feature bittersweet strings and the exact same lush plucked harp-sounding thing that made the last Kreidler record Eve Future so stunning. There's lots and lots of serenely picked guitar amongst the programmed beats that don't call too much attention to themselves; rather it's the melody and songwriting that stand out. And the whole thing runs on a consistently stately pace. And there's a Swans cover. Really well done. Highly recommended, especially if you're a fan of the Notwist, Fridge, Tindersticks, To Rococo Rot, Kreidler, etc. A big fave of Windy and Allan.