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

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

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

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

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

TAKAYANAGI MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION FOR THE ART Complete "La Grima" (Doubtmusic) cd 17.98
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 Dislocation (Jinya) cd 17.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Inanimate (Jinya) cd 17.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Lonely Woman (Vivid Sound) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 17.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Qadhafi (Jinya) cd 17.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Shibito (Jinya) cd 17.98

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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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 16.98
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
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

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 16.98
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

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION UNIT Axis Another Revolvable Thing Part 1 (Doubtmusic) cd 17.98
The late electric guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi is a legend in Japanese free jazz circles, a bold creator and explorer, who from the late '60s through the '90s broke down or went around the inside/outside jazz dichotomy, putting his axe to work in settings ranging from cool post-bop standards to textural tabletop noise experiments. Definitely an original, it's only for our convenience that he could be described as kind of like a Sonny Sharrock, Fred Frith, and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one. Even, say, Wolf Eyes teaming up with Anthony Braxton couldn't outgun Takayangi at his fiercest (by the way, that believe-it-or-not collaboration actually exists and is pretty cool, see elsewhere on this list for a review!). And here is a two volume set documenting the power and beauty of Takayangi's heavy duty, feedback-shaping skree circa 1975, in the context of his New Direction Unit, a quartet also featuring Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and cello, Hiroshi Yamazaki on percussion, and Kenji Mori on reeds.
Originally released on vinyl by a Japanese label called Offbeat, these two LPs have been coveted rarities pretty much ever since. A bit of a Holy Grail to some. So, we were excited (and expect some of you to be too) that these records have now officially reissued on compact disc, in nice miniature LP jacket styled cardboard sleeves, reproducing even the misspelling "Revolable" on their covers. They're Japanese imports on a great avant-garde music label called Doubtmusic (we'll have some other titles from them listed soon, including Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra doing a cover of Eric Dolphy's classic Out To Lunch album reviewed elsewhere this list) but we were able to get them for a decent price, $17, not bad at all considering we just saw that someone sold one of these very cds on eBay as a buy-it-now item for $40! Then again, who can put a price on wild and wooly, freeform "jazz" improv action like this?
Actually, both albums have their more quiet and gentle passages, of delicate string-scrabble, spacious drum-clank, and abstract, pretty reed blowing like birds a-twitter (in Takayangi's theoretical terminology, these pieces are called "gradually projection") that build up into denser, stormier freakouts wherein his guitar is fully unleashed and the rest of the group strains mightily to match (what Takayangi terms "mass projection"). On volume two, you get one gradually and two mass projections, while volume one features one gradually, one mass, and also a 13-minute percussion solo!
These reissues include the original liner notes by Teruto Soejima (translated into English, yay!). One paragraph stands out as being particularly descriptive: "Drifting through all of New Direction Unit's music is the scent of blood. Not old, clotted blood, but fresh blood. This isn't mere semblance of music; it's sound through which the blood of human beings has passed. Which is why, in the group's performances, blood seethes, flows against the current, burns, oozes, rises, congeals, is spewed out, gushes forth. Vivid red blood. Takayanagi's ultimate artistic aim may well be the the color of this blood." You might say ew, but listen and see if that doesn't seem true.
Additionally, for techies who need more than blood, we're provided with an obsessively detailed list of the specific microphones used for these recordings, along with the type of mixing console and tape recorder and even the precise brand of tape! It's a bit like the Fucking Champs do on their albums...
MPEG Stream: "Fragment VI"
MPEG Stream: "Fragment II"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION UNIT Axis Another Revolvable Thing Part 2 (Doubtmusic) cd 17.98
The late electric guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi is a legend in Japanese free jazz circles, a bold creator and explorer, who from the late '60s through the '90s broke down or went around the inside/outside jazz dichotomy, putting his axe to work in settings ranging from cool post-bop standards to textural tabletop noise experiments. Definitely an original, it's only for our convenience that he could be described as kind of like a Sonny Sharrock, Fred Frith, and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one. Even, say, Wolf Eyes teaming up with Anthony Braxton couldn't outgun Takayangi at his fiercest (by the way, that believe-it-or-not collaboration actually exists and is pretty cool, see elsewhere on this list for a review!). And here is a two volume set documenting the power and beauty of Takayangi's heavy duty, feedback-shaping skree circa 1975, in the context of his New Direction Unit, a quartet also featuring Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and cello, Hiroshi Yamazaki on percussion, and Kenji Mori on reeds.
Originally released on vinyl by a Japanese label called Offbeat, these two LPs have been coveted rarities pretty much ever since. A bit of a Holy Grail to some. So, we were excited (and expect some of you to be too) that these records have now officially reissued on compact disc, in nice miniature LP jacket styled cardboard sleeves, reproducing even the misspelling "Revolable" on their covers. They're Japanese imports on a great avant-garde music label called Doubtmusic (we'll have some other titles from them listed soon, including Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra doing a cover of Eric Dolphy's classic Out To Lunch album reviewed elsewhere this list) but we were able to get them for a decent price, $17, not bad at all considering we just saw that someone sold one of these very cds on eBay as a buy-it-now item for $40! Then again, who can put a price on wild and wooly, freeform "jazz" improv action like this?
Actually, both albums have their more quiet and gentle passages, of delicate string-scrabble, spacious drum-clank, and abstract, pretty reed blowing like birds a-twitter (in Takayangi's theoretical terminology, these pieces are called "gradually projection") that build up into denser, stormier freakouts wherein his guitar is fully unleashed and the rest of the group strains mightily to match (what Takayangi terms "mass projection"). On volume two, you get one gradually and two mass projections, while volume one features one gradually, one mass, and also a 13-minute percussion solo!
These reissues include the original liner notes by Teruto Soejima (translated into English, yay!). One paragraph stands out as being particularly descriptive: "Drifting through all of New Direction Unit's music is the scent of blood. Not old, clotted blood, but fresh blood. This isn't mere semblance of music; it's sound through which the blood of human beings has passed. Which is why, in the group's performances, blood seethes, flows against the current, burns, oozes, rises, congeals, is spewed out, gushes forth. Vivid red blood. Takayanagi's ultimate artistic aim may well be the the color of this blood." You might say ew, but listen and see if that doesn't seem true.
Additionally, for techies who need more than blood, we're provided with an obsessively detailed list of the specific microphones used for these recordings, along with the type of mixing console and tape recorder and even the precise brand of tape! It's a bit like the Fucking Champs do on their albums...
MPEG Stream: "Fragment IV"
MPEG Stream: "Fragment V"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI, & KAORU ABE Kaitai Teki Kohkan (Disk Union) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited edition re-issue of an ultra rare 1970 recording by Japanese free improv legends Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar and Kaoru Abe on alto sax, bass clarinet and harmonica. Very noisy, "out" stuff for fans of Derek Bailey and Evan Parker.

TAKE UP SERPENTS Fragile Chess Coils Beige Ebony Set (Dolor Del Estamago) cd-r 4.50

MPEG Stream: "One"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

TAKE UP SERPENTS Swollen And Full Of Parasites (Custodian, Color Zoo Containers) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've all been digging the recent cassette revival. It was inevitable really, as the cd-r became more common place, the tape became the underground format of choice. And in some ways we're all for it. Nowadays you can knock out a cd and a printed cover in minutes flat, the amount of effort it takes to release a cd-r borders on NONE (apologies to the labels who do it right, with gorgeous music, and great attention to packaging, you know who you are, and we love you). But with a tape, even the copying requires more time and effort. And it seems that folks making tapes understand this and have been going way out of their way to customize their releases, and make the look as special as the sound.
But none quite as impressively as Custodian Color Zoo Containers, a new tape label, whose packaging is so intricate and over the top, each one is a work of art, stunning and intricate and incredibly time consuming. So much so that these tapes have been in the works for more than a year, and when you see them you'll understand why. Our new favorite tape label in one fell swoop.
The very first release on the label is from former SF outfit Take Up Serpents, now based in Colorado. Recorded live, the sound is gritty and lo-fi, industrial and textural. It's hard to tell what the sound sources are. But the end result is awesome. Total ghetto-tech noise rock. Tons of space, lots of hiss and whir, huge chunks of pounding percussion, sheets of blown out FX, voices buried in the mix, layers of cricket-like skitter, some muffled drumming, some total old school metal on metal pound, some subtle new wave groove. Part Wolf Eyes, part Whitehouse, think Broken Flag records, Throbbing Gristle -- if we didn't know better, we might think this stuff was recorded in a warehouse in 1982 in London. Awesome.
And the packaging is a knockout. The tape itself has text hand written all over it, liner notes on one side, random text on the other, hand numbered, LIMITED TO 43 COPIES!!! Housed in a full color hand drawn/painted fold out transparent sleeve, all simple line drawings and big blobs of markered color. COOL.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music Of Toru Takemitsu (Nonesuch) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sort of a "Best Of" Toru Takemitsu, the highly acclaimed film score composer from Japan. Features the original music from Harakiri, Woman In The Dunes, Dodes'kaden, Kaseki, Banished Orin, Empire Of Passion & Rikyu. Plus there are three extra tracks of Takemitsu's music recorded by John Adams & the London Sinfonia from the films Jose Torres, Black Rain and The Face Of Another.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 1 (JVC) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 2 (JVC) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 3 (JVC) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 4 (JVC) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 5 (JVC) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 6 (JVC) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU 10th (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Longtime AQ fave Nobukazu Takemura -- ex-Mo'Wax-style club DJ, Steve Reich remixer, Tortoise collaborator, Powerbook maestro -- offers a new full length of bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture, whether it is bass like a quiet heartbeat, or chiming bell-like electronic tones cavorting in the background like Raymond Scott gone minimalist techno, or glitchy clicks goodnaturedly jockeying for position.
On 10th, Takemura also really gets into the frankly-fake casio-filtered vocals that have made occasional appearances in his past work. This time the vocals, often sung in English, are cut up into delightful little snippets, sounding like a happily hiccupping big sister of the sad Mac guy on OK Computer. Fans of Mouse on Mars and other burbly bloopy fun electronica, take note!
RealAudio clip: "A Puff of a Word"
RealAudio clip: "Wandering"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU 10th (Thrill Jockey) lp 14.98
Longtime AQ fave Nobukazu Takemura -- ex-Mo'Wax-style club DJ, Steve Reich remixer, Tortoise collaborator, Powerbook maestro -- offers a new full length of bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture, whether it is bass like a quiet heartbeat, or chiming bell-like electronic tones cavorting in the background like Raymond Scott gone minimalist techno, or glitchy clicks goodnaturedly jockeying for position.
On 10th, Takemura also really gets into the frankly-fake casio-filtered vocals that have made occasional appearances in his past work. This time the vocals, often sung in English, are cut up into delightful little snippets, sounding like a happily hiccupping big sister of the sad Mac guy on OK Computer. Fans of Mouse on Mars and other burbly bloopy fun electronica, take note!

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Assembler / Assembler 2 (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
The first track on highly regarded Japanese electronicist Nobukazu Takemura's newest album harkens back to his first domestically-released record Scope. Its clicks and high end chatters are melodically arranged into an Oval-ish pleasant modern sound. The rest of the tracks on the record, however, are more difficult listening, consisting mostly of machine-generated atmospheric whooshes, seemingly-random (tho' I'm sure that to him they're logically ordered) digital squiggles and sonic exclamations that are about texture and nuance, not melody. Listen to both tracks before buying. Experimental yet accessible.
MPEG Stream: "Conical Flask"
MPEG Stream: "Campagna"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Hoshi no Koe (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Most of us who already love powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura will be familiar with his other domestically-released album, Scope, a brilliant record that is all about austere sonic textures and half-melodic gestures. Another side to Takemura's talent is displayed here, with Hoshi No Koe. It's playful and kooky and sometimes successful, sounding part early-20th century tape experimentalist (a la Luciano Berio), part Krautrock proto-techno (a la Moebius and Roedelius of Cluster), and part quirky soundtrack to, say, an afterschool special undersea documentary (a la "Observe the sex-crazed seahorse as it frolics amongst the coral. [twiddle] [scriddle] [bleep!]"). Some of the best parts feature pristine, emotional piano, like George Winston under a twinkling array of sweet bleeps. We've made audio files of what we think of as the high and low points of the record; the rest falls somewhere in between. Happy listening.
RealAudio clip: "The Sign"
RealAudio clip: "A Theme for Little Animals"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Scope (Thrill Jockey) cd 12.98
Japanese electronicist who was responsible for one of the best tracks on the recent Steve Reich Remixed album. Making the most of very simple sounds (synth, static, skipping cds), Takemura constructs surprisingly melodic and appealing pieces. Oval fans will LOVE this...

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Sign (Thrill Jockey) 2cd 15.98
This cd issue of The Sign 12" from last year might as well be considered a new album from Powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura, cos it's over an hour long. The title track is bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture -- very reminiscent of Moebius' and Roedelius' work in krautrock legends Cluster and thereafter (lazier comparisons might mention Mouse on Mars and Muziq), with even some dorky frankly-fake casio-rendered vocals thrown in to add to the fun. Another two great pieces are trebly, tinny electro along the lines of Doctor Rockit (one of these tracks is "Meteor", an extended version of a piece from a different Takemura 12"). So good! Takemura's been compared to digital minimalists Oval a lot, and track 3 proves this comparison still holds water: it's 35 minutes of Takemura along with Tortoise veterans Bundy Brown, Doug McCombs, and John McEntire, starting off rather like lame recent Tortoise, but soon evolving into prime Takemura powerbook layering of digital murmuring, clicks and whirrs, which you wouldn't think could be melodic but *is*!
There's a second disc with a great animated video of "The Sign" by Japanese artist Moshino, who also did the cover to this record.
RealAudio clip: "The Sign"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Sign (Thrill Jockey) 12" 9.98
Powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura's been compared to Oval a lot, and side 2 of The Sign 12" proves this comparison still holds water. The entirety of side 2 is Takemura along with Tortoise veterans Bundy Brown, Doug McCombs, and John McEntire, starting off rather like lame recent Tortoise, but soon evolving into prime Takemura powerbook layering of digital murmuring, clicks and whirrs.
But it is side 1 of this nice slab o' wax that holds the gems. The title track is bubbly electronica with attention to texture -- very reminiscent of Moebius' and Roedelius' work in krautrock legends Cluster and thereafter (lazier comparisons might mention Mouse on Mars and Muziq), with even some dorky frankly-fake casio-rendered vocals thrown in to add to the fun. (You even get the tried and true 12" cliche of a capella vocals as the last track on the record!) Another great piece is trebly, tinny electro along the lines of Doctor Rockit. Wonderful!
I wish we had sound clips for you but we haven't quite figured out yet how to make Real Audio samples from vinyl.

TAKEN BY TREES Open Field (Rough Trade) cd 13.98
We've been smitten with Victoria Bergsman ever since she first made the scene with her band The Concretes, whose debut album hit the states via Sweden a few years back. Her enchanting voice and melancholic lyrics just hit the spot so right on. We knew it wouldn't be long until the rest of the world would fall in love with her as well.
Last year it was her voice on "Young Folks", the big hit for Peter Bjorn and John that helped get her name out to a wider audience. When the latest Concretes album came out and she was no longer in the band we knew she had to be working on something new. Luckily she was, and it was her new project Taken By Trees. It's a stunningly beautiful album filled with songs that ooze with bittersweet pop perfection. Produced by Bergsman and Bjorn Yttling (of PB&J) the songs are remarkably lush with striking arrangements filled with varied instrumentation including mandolin, harmonium, piano, guitar, zither, flute, synth, and of course the dreamy and mesmerizing voice of Bergsman.
Every single song on Open Field takes you on a soft focus daydream filled with heartache, longing and just that perfect dab of honey to make it all go down just right. Bergsman definitely has that special touch very few possess. A sentimental sound that is as timeless as it is breathtaking. It's not a stretch to say that her voice and songs should fit comfortably alongside legends like Francoise Hardy and Dusty Springfield as well as modern day chanteux like Isobel Campbell and Cat Power. A strong contender for pop record of the year!
MPEG Stream: "Tell Me"
MPEG Stream: "Lost And Found"
MPEG Stream: "Cedar Trees"

TAKEN BY TREES Sweet Child o' Mine (Rough Trade) 7" 3.98
Oh how we love Victoria Bergsman. From her days with Swedish indie pop sensations The Concretes to her new life as Taken By Trees nobody does bitter sweet pop as spot on perfect as her! Open Field, her debut full length as Taken By Trees was one of our favorite pop records of last year. This new 45 finds her doing the Guns N' Roses classic on the A side, of course in her trademark somber and pretty style and the B side is a new original track that's oh so short but oh so sweet.

TAKEOVERS, THE Turn to Red (Recordhead) cd 14.98

TAKING BACK SUNDAY Where You Want To Be (Victory) cd 14.98

TALIBAM! Hungry Hungry Hemispheres (The Fair School) cd-r 8.98
Second blast of spastic, synth drenched, drum splattered free noise psychedelic freakout from this damaged and demented power trio, made up of Matthew Mottel on synth, Kevin Shea (Coptic Light, Storm And Stress) on drums and Ed Bear on baritone saxophone and electronics.
Anyone can kick up a huge noisy squall and call it "free jazz" or even "art" but the guys in Talibam! (yes, punctuation mandatory) aren't fucking around, deftly unfurling the perfect balance of face melting, amp destroying, noise rock pummel, skittery, tangled free jazz skronk, and droney drifty space rock blow out.
This may be a three piece, but the core of Talibam!'s sound is the relentless battle between drums and synth, Like a bear and a hippo wrestling in a bed of skronking saxophones. And the drums are always going, like someone standing at the top of a mile high stairway, tossing hundreds and hundreds of drumkits down the stairs an armful of pieces at a time, while someone stands at the bottom of the stairs, clutching a huge synthesizer, like a baseball bat, swinging wildly at every drum in the strike zone. A truly bewildering, baffling chunk off free music freakout, that manages to be pretty dang listenable, with long stretches of jazzy drone, some mesmerizing raga like buzz, and jumbled heaps of deconstructed free jazz fuckery.
Recorded live before what sounds like almost no one, these guys are on fire, filling the empty room with more sound than it was meant to hold. there's lots of between song banter and it's super cringeworthy, but knowing these guys, we're pretty sure it's meant to be as antagonistic, if not more so then their already difficult music.
As with lots of stuff like this, only the iron-eared need apply, but those so endowed will be richly rewarded with a glorious earful of convoluted groove, problematic prog and freaky freaky free jazz.
MPEG Stream: "Two"
MPEG Stream: "Three"

TALIBAM! Ordination Of The Globetrotting Conscripts (Azul Discografica) cd 12.98
Besides having one of the best band names ever (exclamation point mandatory!) this trio of noisemaking jazz dissidents and post rock outcasts create what in most cases is practically impossible, a noisy record, heck, a NOISE record, that manages to be totally listenable. And we're not talking listenable like 'on the radio' or 'your Mom might like it', no, your Mom would NOT like this, and the only time you'd hear this on the radio is after a nuclear holocaust, when some survivors hole up in an abandoned radio station, only to realize the transmitter still works, and what better way to fight back against the invaders, than by BLOWING THEIR FUCKING EARDRUMS OUT!
No, this is some unholy spawn of the freest jazz and the most tangled and aggressive of math rocks. Due in no small part to the man behind the drums, Kevin Shea, formerly of Coptic Light and Storm And Stress, although his cohorts aren't so shabby either, Matt Mottel on synth and Ed Bear on sax. Add in some electronics, some banjo, even a little 'singing'. Then toss in a handful of beehives, a bunch of smashed and scratched free jazz records, a couple tapes of aborted Don Cab practice sessions, a few Marshall stacks, wrap the whole thing in raw meat and throw it into the middle of a pack of wild dogs and record the result.
There are a bunch of guests this time around too, contributing stuff like bass, trumpet, piano, upright bass, bass trombone as well as some less recognizable instruments: diddley-bo, mouth-bow, twanger and of course wonder metal. Which makes the sound even more thick and intense and seriously HEAVY. The synth is everywhere, and sounds like one of the Wolf Eyes guys was responsible for its upkeep, a snarling, crackling, grinding spewer of fuzz and buzz and smears of new wave blur, adding tons of texture and melody to proceedings, the sax is of course skronky, but isn't everywhere, but what is everywhere is drums. It's exhausting just listening to Shea spew beats everywhere, it's like a 47 minute drum solo, deftly arranged into convoluted rhythms, and dizzying flurries of fills, but its the drums that propel the songs, all the melodies and notes, textures and tones, are hung on, wrapped around, or just plain tangled up in the confusional and relentless rhythmic onslaught.
There are moments where the chaos and intensity abate just a bit, the twisted, FUCKED UP klezmer of "Lunch Break at Naan", with a horrifying break in the middle with what sounds like scraped strings or a squealing pig, the long slow burn of "A Petroglyphic Massacre", and brief little breathers within the songs, but for the most part, Ordination of the Globetrotting Conscripts is a bit like sitting in a cement mixer full of ball bearings, set to music.
But then there's the epic 13 minute finale, "The Spectre of Water Wars", maybe the most 'musical' of the bunch, where the synth takes center stage, even nudging the omnipresent drums out of the spotlight, spewing thick swaths of creepy Goblin-esque whir, haunting and weirdly new wave, but super rocking at the same time, crumbling and distorted, twisted and freaked out, a propulsive alien krautrock. Imagine a horror movie in which Six Finger Satellite were dosed and lobotomized and then let loose in guitar center, to fight off a twisted psycho killer with only the instruments on hand. Might sound something like this. Seriously scary, way fucked up, but wild and amazing and weirdly sort of fun too.
MPEG Stream: "Ordination Of The Globetrotting Conscripts"
MPEG Stream: "Guns And Butter"
MPEG Stream: "Revolutionary Bummer Weed And The Syncretic Narcotraffickers"

TALIBAM! s/t (Evolving Ear) 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.
Awesome band name for sure! We were dying to hear these guys before we had any idea what they might sound like. And they do sort of sound like the name, explanation point and all. A whirling dervish of a three piece, Matthew Mottel on synth, Kevin Shea (Coptic Light, Storm And Stress) on drums and Ed Bear on baritone saxophone and
electronics. The presence of Kevin Shea should give you a hint as to what you're in for. His spastic, impossibly octopoidal drum splatter is all over this disc, a stuttering spastic free jazz soundscape dense and impenetrable. Above this tangled percussive squall, the synth and the sax do battle. And this is a serious fucking knock down drag out battle to the death. The synth seems to come out on top turning what could have been more of a free jazz record into a seriously fucked up freenoise record. Mottel is like Keith Emerson on a serious PCP bender, spitting out thick snarling sheets of synth buzz, spraying it like machine gun fire, melodies are tangled and complicated little knots hurled into the fray like cannonballs made out of steel string and roof nails. The sax is all over the place, adding tonal color, mad squawking, chittering chirps and deep fuzzy moans, this is a massive chaotic free for all. Sometimes the band members lock into a cohesive sort of drone, but even then Shea is still hurling his kit all over a huge concrete bunker, like every free jazz solo drum record played simultaneously, it's never long before the synth splinters and the sax shrieks and suddenly it a big black musical cloud, you know like in cartoons when people are fighting and there's a big black swirling cloud with arms and legs sticking out. Only now there's broken drumsticks, shattered keys from an abused synthesizer, bent saxophones as well as bruised and bloody body parts.
This an exhausting listen, but it's worth it. Heavy and thick, weirdly groovy, totally spastic and really really great.
Comes packaged in spray painted sleeves made out of old chopped up lps, each disc includes a jagged shard of some old vinyl lp as well.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 1"
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 2"

TALK TALK It's My Life (EMI) cd 15.98

TALK TALK Laughing Stock (Polydor) cd 11.98
A million miles away from their Euro-pop roots. Very much influenced by Can and John Coltrane. Elaborately producedbwith orchestrations by members of O'Rang. Somewhere between Nick Drake and Mogwai. Beautiful.